Mazon Creek Day Hunt

[CBOB]

Last Thursday decided to get out to Pit 11, Mazonia South Unit, Illinois for a day of collecting nodules and fossils.  We've had a lot of rain and Thursday was clear.  With all the rain, nodules are easier to see when wet as they jump out as a bright red compared to the green forest floor.  And the rain hopefully erodes some fresh nods out of the ground.  I sometimes go on foot for collecting but thought I would break out the kayak to get to where I need to go more efficiently.  

 

 

 

 

The woods are getting quite overgrown already but I haven't been out much this season yet so I had to make do.  Its pretty physical climbing through the woods, up and down hills, looking for the bright red rocks.  I usually start at the bottom of hills and scour for an area with concentrated concretions and work my way up the hills scanning for fossils and nice shaped nodules to bring back for the freeze/thaw. 

 

Here's an area where you can see some of the iron concretions/pieces.  This is a good place to start really scanning.

 

 

Not more than 30 minutes into the hunt I spotted this!  I usually don't find much of anything with detail or size when it comes to already opened nodules at Pit 11 but this one was a prize for me!

 

 

I was out there for about a good 4 hours hiking, climbing, slipping, falling, army crawling, etc. on the search for nodules.   I collected some fern pieces, a couple big jellyfish, and the nice neuropteris.  I also collected about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket of nodules that are currently soaking for their first freeze/thaw cycle in a few days.  A great day in the woods lookin for fossils!

 

 

Here's the finds for the day cleaned up.

 

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Great trip report and great Neuropteris.

[smt126]

I love the toothbrush for size reference. That's something I'd do. Nice finds. I missed out on the spring esconi trip due to work. I'd like to get down there and collect again some day. I hope they reopen the campground.

[CBOB]

9 hours ago, Nimravis said:

Great trip report and great Neuropteris.

 

Thanks!

 

3 hours ago, smt126 said:

I love the toothbrush for size reference. That's something I'd do. Nice finds. I missed out on the spring esconi trip due to work. I'd like to get down there and collect again some day. I hope they reopen the campground.

 

 

I was using the toothbrush to clean them and was just pure lazy on getting a ruler out for size reference.  haha!  I also missed the spring esconi trip but hopefully they have the fall trip in september.  And the campground was my favorite place to hit!   I drive by it every time I go down that way just to see what's going on there.  There was a landscape crew there cutting the grass and chopping down trees.  I was tempted to ask them if I could drive back there but just made my way down to South Unit.  

[old bones]

That sure looks like fun. It must be a 'bonus' when you find nice ones already split. What is the 'Y' shaped one upper left in the first collection pic?

Julianna

[CBOB]

52 minutes ago, old bones said:

That sure looks like fun. It must be a 'bonus' when you find nice ones already split. What is the 'Y' shaped one upper left in the first collection pic?

Julianna

 

 

The 2 sets of larger fossils are jellyfish.  I found those already split but found both halves.

[Fossil-Hound]

Excellent report

[Rob Russell]

Nice little haul!  I almost went down there today. Seeing your trip report now makes me wish I had!  

[deutscheben]

 That Neuropteris is lovely! Thanks for the report, and the update on the former Fossil Rock Campground- although recent history suggests it is unlikely, I'm still hoping it will be open again for collecting some day.

[Darktooth]

Nice finds, congratulations! 

[Pagurus]

Thanks so much for the photos! I've seen lots of nodules and I've opened a few but I never really had a good picture in my head of the site they came from, or at least one of the sites. Maybe I'll get out there some day, though it's looking less likely. I appreciate the excellent report on your trip. Great finds too!

 

Mike

[Runner64]

Sounds like a great trip and love the ferns you found. I'm heading backwards out there on Sunday. A couple days of rain might help expose some of the nodules and it'll be cooler. What pit were you at when you found these?

[CBOB]

4 hours ago, Runner64 said:

Sounds like a great trip and love the ferns you found. I'm heading backwards out there on Sunday. A couple days of rain might help expose some of the nodules and it'll be cooler. What pit were you at when you found these?

I was at south unit Mazonia, Pit 11 last Thursday