Nimravis Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 Today was the opening of the 2017 Mazon Creek Fossil Season at the Mazonia-Braidwood Wildlife Area which encompasses the famed Pit 11 (Essex Biota) . After major storms last night, I figured that I would drive the 50 miles from my house and collect at a location that is difficult to climb up to and ever harder to bushwhack through. I only go to this area at the beginning of the fossil season because of three reasons: First, there are no leaves on the trees / bushes, which makes it easier to see where you are going. Second, there are no ticks- at least I hope so and third, I have found Tully Monster (portions) here in the past. There are various locations around this area to collect, but I have always liked to collect near W 5000N Road which runs between the "Tipple Area" and "Monster Lake". Here is where I was collecting at today- it is a very steep hilly area. The V cut lake is "Monster Lake". Here is a view from the road of where I was heading to. Here is the view of my car from the top, this is where I started going up and down hills and gullies in search of concretions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Here are a few pictures of the area that I had to move through. Here are a couple pictures of concretions as they were found. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenJD Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 Awesome! Hopefully your concretions contain some nice fossils! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 The only concretions that I found today were the ever so common Jellyfish "Essexella asherae". I still like finding them and they are becoming more and more less common to find as the areas become more dense with vegetation, thus reducing erosion and not allowing the concretions to be exposed in the past. Here is a picture of one of my favorite Essexella's that I found at Pit 11 years ago. Here was my haul after a couple hours of hard searching. Hunting Mazon Creek fossils is unlike most other areas. When you hunt for shark teeth, dinosaur bones, shells, etc. you leave the area with actual fossils that you found and show them off on the FF. If you do not find open concretions that contain a fossils at Mazon Creek, you leave with the hope that something may pop open while you are Freeze / Thawing them over months / year(s). Sometimes I get bored and impatient and decide to whack them with a hammer. The good thing is that over the years I did not "whack" too many, so I have many, many 5 gallon buckets full of "potential fossils"- Time will tell. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 To prove that fossils do exist in concretions- here are a couple of mine. Eurypterid "Adelophthalmus mazonensis"- I did "whack" this one and have both halves. Tully Monster Lungfish Scale Fish- Gilpichthys greenei 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 As I mentioned above about erosion being reduced by vegetation, here are three views of the "Tipple Area" that was shown on the first post of this thread. These three pictures are of the same area, but you can see how the landscape has changed. There are still tons of fossils out there, we just can't get to them. 1971 Tipple Area 1993 Tipple Area 2012 Tipple Area 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 I really love that eurypterid. The Tully Monster and the rest are not half bad either. It's very interesting to see how the landscape has changed. Are you allowed to use tools such as a rake or shovel in the park? Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 1 hour ago, FossilDAWG said: I really love that eurypterid. The Tully Monster and the rest are not half bad either. It's very interesting to see how the landscape has changed. Are you allowed to use tools such as a rake or shovel in the park? Don Don, it would not be worth the effort to use a shovel since these are all spoil piles and the concretion are randomly dispersed and you might dig for a day and not find any. A rake would have helped move dead leaves today, but again it does not mean that anything with be uncovered, so I do not use one. It was always hoped that the State would come in on a yearly basis and just turn over some of the land at the Tipple to expose fossils, but that never happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenJD Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 those are some really cool finds, especially the eurypterid and tully! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDudeCO Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Wow! What great fossils! I wish I could hunt Mazon Creek one day! It really looks like fun! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abctriplets Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Wow, never heard of this area before, and that looks like a crazy fossil collecting expedition! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Cheers, Nimravis, I was out there today as well! I actually saw your car and wondered if it was a fellow fossil collector, since it wasn't parked in one of the usual fishing spots. Thank you for putting together this excellent report and background information.Nice finds, too, those split jellyfish are lovely. I was able to explore a couple of spots I hadn't been to before and found a fair number of nodules as well. Unfortunately, I have bad news on the tick front- I found one trying to dig into my side when I got home. That's a bad sign for the upcoming season if they are already out and active on opening day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 10 minutes ago, deutscheben said: Cheers, Nimravis, I was out there today as well! I actually saw your car and wondered if it was a fellow fossil collector, since it wasn't parked in one of the usual fishing spots. Thank you for putting together this excellent report and background information.Nice finds, too, those split jellyfish are lovely. I was able to explore a couple of spots I hadn't been to before and found a fair number of nodules as well. Unfortunately, I have bad news on the tick front- I found one trying to dig into my side when I got home. That's a bad sign for the upcoming season if they are already out and active on opening day. Yes, that is not good with the ticks. I did drive down the road to the Ponderosa area and saw a car with, I believe Virginia plates, but did not see the owner. Glad you enjoyed this report and I am also glad you found some nodules- hopefully they contain something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-tree Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Great report and location pictures, hope you get some good finds in your nodules. John 1 Be happy while you're living for you're a long time dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 13 hours ago, Nimravis said: Yes, that is not good with the ticks. I did drive down the road to the Ponderosa area and saw a car with, I believe Virginia plates, but did not see the owner. Glad you enjoyed this report and I am also glad you found some nodules- hopefully they contain something. Yup, that was me. (I'm not from Virginia, but my rental car had VA plates.) Thanks and I hope you have some excellent finds in your nodules too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 1 hour ago, deutscheben said: Yup, that was me. (I'm not from Virginia, but my rental car had VA plates.) Thanks and I hope you have some excellent finds in your nodules too! Ok-I was looking for the driver (you)since I saw the Virgina plates and I was going to give away all of the concretions that I found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landolincoln Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Great write up. I haven't been back there since 1993 for a grade school science trip. I was hoping to get back there for opening day, but new baby means very little available time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 7 hours ago, Landolincoln said: Great write up. I haven't been back there since 1993 for a grade school science trip. I was hoping to get back there for opening day, but new baby means very little available time. Congrats on the little one and the area has changed a bit since 1993- hope you get a chance to re-visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilcrazy Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I found it disappointing, property laws don't allow you to walk the Mazon Creek to get loose and in situ nodules. There are places that you can still collect, too bad the vegetation won over the areas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted March 10, 2017 Share Posted March 10, 2017 Nice write-up. Brings me back to some of my bushwhacking days at Mazonia when I finally realized that I'd have to get off the trails/roads and venture into the brush in search of nodules. Didn't take long to realize that looking for steep sloped and eroded areas were the best place to find nodules. Despite my best efforts I rarely come home without a tick when I spend the day crawling around in the most inaccessible areas I can find loaded with underbrush. Early in the season is the best time to be there surface hunting since, as you mentioned, there is less foliage on the brush and layering the ground. I'd love to be up there right now hunting nodules but seeing your in situ photos was the next best thing. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smt126 Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 The ticks are supposed to be terrible this year. I was reading that last year mice populations were up significantly which correlates to a next year tick surge. Those are some great fossils you found in the past. I'm kind of hesitant to do the esconi dig this year with my kids with that tick situation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Russell Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Fortunately, the location where Esconi holds their function can be hunted without touching a single weed. Finding my way through life; one fossil at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landolincoln Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 1 hour ago, Rob Russell said: Fortunately, the location where Esconi holds their function can be hunted without touching a single weed. That is why I signed up for Esconi this year. I can't be dragging the kids through the ticks and my daughter is old enough now to appreciate the hunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted March 16, 2017 Author Share Posted March 16, 2017 7 hours ago, Rob Russell said: Fortunately, the location where Esconi holds their function can be hunted without touching a single weed. I have hunted the Braceville Shaft mine for years; the best time was about 15 years ago when construction was being done on the overpass on I-55, right next to the mine. The State or County used the overburden at the hill to build up all 4 sides of the overpass. I could go there after a rain and collect 5 gallon buckets full of concretions in a short period of time. Unfortunately, a number of weeks later they seeded the area and put down ground cover, the collecting at that part ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDiva#1 Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 wow. This place seems very interesting ! the Nodules look alot like the fossil nodules in the conasauga formation in Georgia! I would Love to go there and collect some. So this area is only open to hunt for a certain time of year? Or can you go there in the winter if theres no snow of coarse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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