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Kane

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It is the last hurrah for me before the school year begins and I'm back riding the lectern. As some of you already know, I am due at a very special quarry near Lake Simcoe to collect with our intrepid @Malcolmt after his jaw-dropping Astrocystites finds. This space will record some of my journey there, and of course our time in the quarry.

 

We made our way out from London going north by northeast this morning and took the back roads. Those of you who have traveled the Grey Highlands and Blue Mountains area know how breathtaking the scenery can be. We found ourselves in Craigleith by about 2 pm. As some will know, the Craigleith and surrounding areas along the lake are full of Whitby Fm shale from the Ordovician, similar to that which one may find in Ottawa's Billings group. They are full of Pseudogygites latimarginatus moults.  Of course, it is not legal to collect at the provincial park. The first is a display piece of a full Pseudogygites.

 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Here is a nice orthoconic nautiloid. The Park ranger told us that the shoreline was largely inaccessible beyond some campers, so we went east to the public beach. I scouted out a "no man's land" with a few shale chunks washed up by the river to split.

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This is my first conularid (I'll do a crop and closeup once I get back home):

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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By this point, my pockets are full and I've also hauled off some larger shale for later splitting. The hash plates of the moults are always impressive. But I'm also collecting for trades and gifts. Here is a moult plate:

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The neat thing is that the Lindsay also underlies the Whitby, so there are good limestone chunks . Here is just a simple pleural fragment of an Isotelus. There were a few pygidium pieces in the mix, but had lost their shields, and only were steinkerns.

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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And for those who dig some graptolite action, here they be. 

 

So these were collected legally with some sniffing around. It is not easy to find spots around here for open collecting. Much of the shoreline is developed private property or under provincial control. There are only some very tiny pockets left I know of. I did grab a lot more than these pictures attest, but I'll wait until I get back home. 

 

Currently in Shanty Bay, just on the west side of Lake Simcoe and enjoying the stars without light pollution. Tomorrow will involve some local touring with Deb's aunt who has been so kind in hosting us tonight, and then to our B&B almost next door to the quarry where we'll be working with Malcolm on Saturday. Not sure if I'll find any fossils tomorrow, but this has been a fun appetizer for me! Stay tuned for more as we make our way steadily to the quarry.

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Thanks for bringing us along on your odyssey.  Here's hoping you guys have a spectacularly successful time in the quarry.

 

Don

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1 minute ago, FossilDAWG said:

Thanks for bringing us along on your odyssey.  Here's hoping you guys have a spectacularly successful time in the quarry.

 

Don

Thanks, Don. :) I know you are an old hand in these formations. I'm hoping this is but just a tiny opener to whatever we may chance upon in the Verulam and Bobcaygeon.

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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I know I'll be packing the car up tomorrow for an early start before the sun comes up on Saturday morning. If anyone else is interested I have some other Fossil Forum friends making the trek up here for the weekend of September 23. We don't always find amazing fossils but we always have an amazing time...... Any day out in the field beats a day on the couch!!!!!!

 

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Thanks for showing us some of your finds, Kane - they look beautiful!

 

Have fun at the quarry with Malcolm - I wish I could be there!

 

Monica

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Nice finds so far, bud! 

Thanks for the play by play reporting. :) 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Solid finds @Kane I'm always impressed at how you can go to the most remote spots and still find some neat fossils. :dinothumb::ptero:

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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Love the conularid. I know this is just an appetizer for the main course which I hungrily wait to hear about. Good luck and have a great time with Malcolm. .

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Orthocones, graptolites, conulariids... these are a few of my favourite things. Pretty good for a 'warm up', and you haven't yet gotten to the real honey hole.

:popcorn:

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We are hoping that it is a honey hole because it actually is a big hole in the ground with as of last week still about 10 to 15 feet of water in it. For the excavating in the side of the wall it is actually probably safer that there is water below most of where we are. Not sure if I am hoping that they will have pumped more out during the  week or not.

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At the moment, I am actually about a 5-10 minute walk from the site, and it is tough in having to wait until tomorrow!

 

Today was not about fossil collecting, but more about touring small town Ontario. We spent the morning in the largely secluded gem of horseshoe valley, and the afternoon around the Simcoe area.

 

But I still couldn't pull myself from the rocks. I did try, though. :D I didn't find anything exciting as much as simply keepsake pieces. This first one is a simple slab of crinoid bits from Beaverton. The larger one does look interesting.

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And here is one pulled from the locks area in Gamebridge. Mostly bryozoans, but there are some very tiny trilo fragments.

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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And another little hash from the same bank, and a loose Prasopora for the fun of it.

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And last of the bunch today (remember, I wasn't hunting today!) is, well, a bit beat up, but not bad for being found by the river. It's a... crinoid with what appears to be half its calyx and impressions of its arms and pinnules. I choose to take all of this as a good omen for tomorrow when the main event occurs.

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Cool... car is packed here and ready to go...... leave some for me when I get there!!!!!!!!!

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:fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed:

 

:popcorn:

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Ok, time to share the end part of the journey...

 

So I was up around 4 am Saturday morning as I was too excited to sleep. I was about 5 minutes walk from the B&B to the quarry, and made my way there at about nautical twilight (5:30). I poked around in the twilight but mostly waited until the sky lit up a bit more at around 6:15. 

 

Poking around the piles, first blood was a semi-prone Flexicalymene senaria.

 

It was lying there beneath a few leaves in the scree. It was already in two pieces, so I attempted to stabilize it with some crazy glue. But, of course, the pin that functions as the glue bottle's stopper snapped off and was stuck in the nozzle, so I had to scrape the nozzle against something to free up some glue. That pretty much meant that I would have nothing on hand to stabilize broken stuff for the rest of the day. Note to self: carry more than one tube of crazy glue!

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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