Anyone know what I might find in the Black Hills?

[Got Bones?]

My largest fossil trip I've ever done is underway, I'm going fossil collecting in the Black Hills of South Dakota! Could someone perhaps please tell me what I'm to expect? Thanks!

[Troodon]

Not much I can help you with your specific question but there is a lot to see fossil related.  The Black Hills Institute in Hill City is an awesome place to get a good view of dinosaurs in that region.   Just east of Rapid City Badland National Park is very interesting and the other area I can recommend  is in Hot Springs the Mammoth site, very cool.  Unless you have access to a ranch Dinosaur collecting is probably not going to happen but there are ammonites and shark teeth that may be in public areas but I cannot help point you in any direction.  Enjoy you stay

 

http://blackhillstravelblog.com/stones-bones-and-automobiles/

[Got Bones?]

26 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Not much I can help you with your specific question but there is a lot to see fossil related.  The Black Hills Institute in Hill City is an awesome place to get a good view of dinosaurs in that region.   Just east of Rapid City Badland National Park is very interesting and the other area I can recommend  is in Hot Springs the Mammoth site, very cool.  Unless you have access to a ranch Dinosaur collecting is probably not going to happen but there are ammonites and shark teeth that may be in public areas but I cannot help point you in any direction.  Enjoy you stay

 

http://blackhillstravelblog.com/stones-bones-and-automobiles/

 

Thanks for the reply! My goal is to hopefully find some neat ammonite specimens like my friend found last year, or shark teeth would work too!

[jpc]

The museum that got me started lo so many years ago is the School of Mines Geology Museum in Rapid City.  Great little museum.  The best fossils are found outside the Black Hills... dinosaurs, White River mammals, and ammonites.  The tough part is getting permission.  Collecting vertebrate fossils on federal land is illegal, and they do keep an eye on things up there because there are soooo many good fossiliferous outcrops on Forest Service land.  i.e. Buffalo Gap National Grassland.  But if you get a map of the National Grassland and find out where the Pierre Shale outcrops are you can theoretically look for ammonites  (inverts) on the Grasslands.  Also interesting is the Fairburn Agate area east of the little town of Fairburn.  The Forest Service office will show you where to go for those, cuz that is legal.   

 

The heart of the Hills is all Precambrian Granite and has no fossils, but it is encircled by progressively younger beds, some of which have fossils.   

 

Good luck and have fun.

 

[Jdeutsch]

Buffalo gap grasslands has a national forest headquarters in Wall.  You can get a map from them that identifies several agate areas that are closer to I-90 besides those farther to the south at Fairburn.  The agates in all these areas are mostly picked over, but there are nice jaspers to be had by the bucketful at all sites.  You can find calcite crystals, some massive banded agates and shell fossils going into the Black hills from the Wyoming side.  The picture shows an 80 lb piece I hauled out of a canyon on my back- so there's more to find than just fossils.