Trip to Minnesota

[smt126]

We went on vacation to the Wisconsin Dells for a couple days, and planned some fossil hunting to add to it. We were originally planning to spend a day in Minnesota, then head down to Iowa to the Rockford Fossil Park, but unfortunately my father in law called us unexpectedly the night before we left for Iowa to tell us he couldn't watch our dogs the next day. Thus we had to cut the trip short, but we will make it there some day, maybe next year.

I had contacted Bev from here on the forums in advance of the trip to meet up and hunt for fossils together. She has a great website filled with great information at bluffcountryfossils.net if you are traveling up into that area. I would recommend contacting her as she was very kind and knowledgeable of the area. I wish I would have taken some pictures at the site or at Bev's (she's got a mini museum going on at her house), but fossil hunting with 4 small children was pulling me in multiple directions.

The first site we went to was down in a little creek, but we didn't find much except for a few little crinoid pieces...

[Raggedy Man]

[smt126]

My daughter had really wanted to get a gastropod, so we headed to site #2 where Bev said we had the best chance of finding one. Shortly after we got out, Bev found a gorgeous Hormotoma and told me to call my daughter over. She came over, and I dug it out for her. Bev was very generous and let us keep all the finds on the night, even though I offered to let her take what she wanted. She insisted they were ours for the taking. When we got home we couln't find the Hormotoma anywhere. I tore the van apart and all of our stuff, but couldn't find it anywhere. When my wife put her beauty products away, we found it in there. All was not lost lol.

[smt126]

My 2 oldest boys were playing with one of Bev's grandchildren. They were excavating an entire wall of limestone. For them it wasn't as much about finding the fossils, as showing that wall who was boss. I went through some of their destruction and found some more pieces of gastropods and some coral.

[smt126]

Bev called me over as she had found another decent sized hormotoma. This one I haven't taken out from the limestone around it. My daughter had found something, and Bev came to look at it as I had no idea what it was. They are called fisherites Bev said. Apparently they glow green under a black light, but we haven't been able to pick one up yet to check it out. Lila of course thought it would be great to add to our collection so I went to task, trying to chisel out around it out as it was in a wall of limestone.

[smt126]

As I'm chiseling out around it, I hit a treasure trove of cephalopods and small gastropods. I show Bev, and she says it's the most she's ever seen come out of this site. I kept working around this fisherite and pulled out some more. I must say, they were 2 great hash plates of new stuff for us as we mostly have just collected brachiopods.

[Raggedy Man]

Bev is a sweet and wonderful person. While she insists on not knowing much, don't let her fool you. She is a mountain of information that can and will bury you if you don't keep up. Thanks for the report.

Best regards,

Paul

[smt126]

At this point Bev had promised her grandkids that she would take them swimming so she getting ready to head out. I had found a piece that was sticking out where the 3 boys were excavating and showed her one of my last finds. She wanted me to post it on here to see what the forum thinks about it as she thinks it might be a newer species of cephalopod. I don't see any suture lines, but it's also not prepped at all. I've only tried my hand at prepping out a specimen twice so far, and have yet to even think about attempting at cleaning this up so it's hard to say what is underneath all that. If anyone wants more detailed pictures I can definitely take more pictures at some point and with different views. Bev took off then, and we looked around for a couple more minutes before the skies changed dark. We scrambled into the car and got there just before the rain hit. There were 60mph winds and quite a bit of rain, but we and Bev both made it to our respective homes safe thankfully. It was hot, but a lot of fun, and hope to get out there again some day. Thanks again Bev!

[Raggedy Man]

Is there a mesh type pattern around the outer ring?

[JohnBrewer]

Looks like a fun and productive day for adults and children alike

[FossilDAWG]

I'd be more inclined to suspect a bellerophontid type of gastropod in post #8. I don't see any suture lines or anything to indicate a cephalopod.

Don

[Bev]

For some good pictures of the sites, and the kids, and of course the fossils, go here to my blog on Lila's Big Vacation Fossil Hunt. :-)

http://www.bluffcountryfossils.net/blog/lilas-big-vacation-fossil-hunt/

And yes, that could be some kind of gastropod, but sure needs a bit of prep to know more. I had a great time with Mike and his family! Always fun to meet TFF friends!!!

Bev :-)

Edited August 25, 2016 by Bev

[Twinlukers]

Nice finds!!!!!! Keep on huntj

[ynot]

Nice report and finds.

It is nice to have a guide like Bev!!

Tony

[smt126]

Paul,

I took a little time to examine the piece a little further. There is still quite a bit of matrix on and around it, but I didn't see anything that resembled a mesh pattern from what I could see. I'm going to guess it's just a gastropod unless I find out otherwise.

[Raggedy Man]

Paul,

I took a little time to examine the piece a little further. There is still quite a bit of matrix on and around it, but I didn't see anything that resembled a mesh pattern from what I could see. I'm going to guess it's just a gastropod unless I find out otherwise.

Sounds good. I asked because there is a sponge that resembles your find, but there is a distinct pattern visible.

[minnbuckeye]

Sounds good. I asked because there is a sponge that resembles your find, but there is a distinct pattern visible.

Hey Raggedy Man,

I know just what you are talking about. Is there a species name for this sponge? By the way, thanks so much for the info you forwarded me. Have been busy and not had time to go thru it yet. It is on my bucket list for next week.