minnbuckeye Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 In Late December, Minnesota is a land impossible to hunt fossils in. So when I took a trip to Ohio this Christmas, I was hoping mother nature would be kind to me and allow me to peak under a few rocks. While visiting my sister in NW Ohio, I convinced her to run up to Paulding with me to check out the Lafarge Quarry. Have seen postings about trilobites from there. We left Lima with no signs of snow on the ground. Two miles from our destination, the ground turned white, and snow was about 4 inches deep. Now I remember why I hated lake effect snow growing up in Ohio!! As long as we drove this far, we decided to travel on just to see the place. Fortunately, there had been a brisk wind that night and the tops of the rock piles were blown fairly clean of snow. Good enough for me. My sister thought I was nuts and remained in the vehicle. Here are the results of my short venture. Would love to visit this place in better conditions. I know how darctooth felt when he posted about his winter, snow covered excursion last week. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Yes I did find some partial trilobites just sitting out on top of the mounds! So I was very happy with the results of this snowy hunt. Not all my holiday time was spent in Lima. I also visited family in NE Ohio. Again, no snow on the ground at my relatives. So, maybe another trip is needed. This time I headed to the Ohio Pennsylvania border to look for carboniferous fossils. On the way, again the ground turned white. But my hunting location was in a valley that must have been a few degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. NO snow! And for me, results were great seeing I had no idea of what I was doing. This was out of my comfort zone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Enough ferns were collected to share my finds with family ,friends and local nature centers. I made each a display like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peat Burns Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Wow ! Those ferns are nice. Congrats on the winter success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 I am really glad you were able to get out and find some nice stuff. Those ferns are great! Another hard core winter hunter! I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Very nice finds! Those ferns! Especially for a winter hunt. Glad you were able to get out. Thanks for the report. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Nice looking finds for a winter hunt!! Congratulations! Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Your plant fossils are gorgeous! Great that you were able to get some good items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Great finds Mike glad you got out for some hunting! Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aek Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 Nice finds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smt126 Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Man you and Darctooth are some crazy guys lol. Although I'd consider doing the same. I spent quite a few hours doing some research reading some old literature and old maps, and went and did a little recon. I was not as successful as there was a nice big "no trespassing and no fishing" sign up on this now filled in and built upon quarry I read about. With the snow and ice I don't think I would have explored it though as the only exposed areas are in water. I hope you guys are being safe out there. As fun as this fossil collecting stuff is, you don't want to risk your lives for something that will be there for you when the weather warms up. By the way did you prep the trilobites or were they that nice looking exposed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted January 13, 2017 Author Share Posted January 13, 2017 5 hours ago, smt126 said: Man you and Darctooth are some crazy guys lol. Although I'd consider doing the same. I spent quite a few hours doing some research reading some old literature and old maps, and went and did a little recon. I was not as successful as there was a nice big "no trespassing and no fishing" sign up on this now filled in and built upon quarry I read about. With the snow and ice I don't think I would have explored it though as the only exposed areas are in water. I hope you guys are being safe out there. As fun as this fossil collecting stuff is, you don't want to risk your lives for something that will be there for you when the weather warms up. By the way did you prep the trilobites or were they that nice looking exposed? The trilobite bits were touched up just a bit but 90% of the pieces were exposed just as seen in my post. The shale that these came from was so crumbly, it didn't take much to remove matrix that clung to these. My guess is the better trilobites were already extracted from these rocks. These bits were likely leftovers that no one wanted. A preservative was applied to the pieces to prevent the trilo parts from disintegrating like the matrix did. As for your disappointing trip,it is through research like you did that exposes special sites!! Hopefully your next exploration will be more productive. I will be doing a winter hunt in 2 weeks even if below zero here in Minnesota. It fortunately will be in Florida. Ha. Continuing education seminar to attend. One day will be spent with the Tampa Bay Fossil Club exploring a quarry. I hope to sift in the Peace River also. And with any luck, I can post my finds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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