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Brownwood and the Wilson Clay Pits - April 23rd, 2016


dre464

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My dad, my brothers and my 6 year old nephew had all scheduled a trip out to the clay pits on April 23rd. I didn't know that DPS was going until a few weeks later. I was excited to meet them out there.

We drove our typical route into the area, through Grosvenor, but when we came to Jim Ned Creek, we were in for a surprise! The water, which usually flows under the gravel road there was flowing about ten feet above it! It was incredible how much water was moving through there. So I grabbed my scuba gear....

Just kidding. We u-turned and headed back out to the Grosvenor highway. We had had this trip planned for so long that I felt that I needed to find a different route in. Besides, I had been talking up the pit for so long, and my brothers and nephew had never been there. Using a key map, we found another, MUCH DRIER, route in. The pits were damp, but easily maneuverable.

I was waiting for the DPS to show up, and was disappointed when they didn't. But I understood. The water flowing through that creek nearly put us all off the trip.

My brothers found some good specimens, including some trilobites. My nephew had a blast! This was the first trip when I didn't find any trilos. No Petalodus either, though we may have been in the wrong place. My dad found an absolutely perfect one on a previous trip, which I need to post one of these days.

Below are a few examples of what I found.

Lophophyllum (or Lophophyllidium [i get confused... :)]) profundum

post-18428-0-44007200-1462894141_thumb.jpg post-18428-0-44339600-1462894143_thumb.jpg

Basal Plates and Upper Stem of Ulocrinus (?) sp.

post-18428-0-01278800-1462894195_thumb.jpg

Punctospirifer kentuckyensis in Matrix

post-18428-0-21389000-1462894282_thumb.jpg

Driving back into Brownwood, I thought it would be interesting to take everyone out to the spillway. I figured that, since the Jim Ned and Pecan Bayou were running so high, the spillway must have some water running through it. That was an understatement!

post-18428-0-81923700-1462894469_thumb.jpg

So I grabbed my scuba gear...

"Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator." - C.S. Lewis

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Nice report and pics. :)
Thanks for posting them.

Regards,

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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So I grabbed my scuba gear...

Ya, good luck with that visibility thing!

Looks like it would be a great place to scout around with much lower water levels.

Dorensigbadges.JPG       

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