South Pit Shenanigans

[Kane]

So My missus drove me out to Arkona for one last stab at Arkona for 2017. It was cold, but I had to get out and play for one last time. This pic shows the south pit in the morning. A lot was under ice.

As I was walking to an already existing bench, this was by my foot. One of many orphaned coral "pies."

[Kane]

The bench in its clean state. Looks inviting, but it was not long before underground water seeped out as I removed rock, turning this into sticky orange-grey sucking mud. Mud and rock slides became the norm from this point on.

[Kane]

So it was an aggravating time. I made trips to the river to clean my tools from mud, but also to refill the spray bottle to see anything as all the rocks were muddy. Matrix was either like concrete with lots of horn coral (or in one case, a two ft diameter tabulate) or mushy flakes with little in between. But I did find some fragments of the trilobites Pseudodechenella (maybe complete once I tinker with it at home) and Crassiproetus. My goal was these two trilos, as I have enough  Eldredgeops and Greenops. I might have had more fun or luck looking for Greenops, but I do not have a full specimen of either of the specimens referred to above. 

 

It took me over half an hour to clean my boots and tools when I got home. I pocketed the usual crinoids etc., but I think a full trilobite eluded me. It was a bit too cold to operate here, and the mud got in my way. Still, I need to get through my trip bucket and see if anything I collected might be gainful. 

[Manticocerasman]

nice trip report Kane

 

[Fossildude19]

For those of us in the Northern climes, it is rare to get out at all in December!

A bad day fossil hunting is better than a good day at work.

Nice report, Kane.

[Shamalama]

On 12/6/2017 at 12:00 AM, Kane said:

So it was an aggravating time. I made trips to the river to clean my tools from mud, but also to refill the spray bottle to see anything as all the rocks were muddy. Matrix was either like concrete with lots of horn coral (or in one case, a two ft diameter tabulate) or mushy flakes with little in between. But I did find some fragments of the trilobites Pseudodechenella (maybe complete once I tinker with it at home) and Crassiproetus. My goal was these two trilos, as I have enough  Eldredgeops and Greenops. I might have had more fun or luck looking for Greenops, but I do not have a full specimen of either of the specimens referred to above. 

 

It took me over half an hour to clean my boots and tools when I got home. I pocketed the usual crinoids etc., but I think a full trilobite eluded me. It was a bit too cold to operate here, and the mud got in my way. Still, I need to get through my trip bucket and see if anything I collected might be gainful. 

Awww.... poor coral. All shattered apart and in pieces. ;(

 

On the other hand, that Crassiproteus looks promising!

[RJB]

Hey Kane, this report reminds me of the good ole days.  I always use to go fossil hunting in the middle of rain storms, (making for lots and lots of mud).  I hope you get a whole bug or two from this trip. 

 

RB

[Greg.Wood]

I was back here on Monday and saw the newly excavated areas, looks like you did a lot of work!

[jcbshark]

Nice hunt, supposed to get cold even here this week...for us anyways. I don't expect much sympathy from most on here tho lol 

[Kane]

@Greg.Wood I can't take the lion's share of the credit there . We've had a few of our members working diligently throughout the entire season who initially authored and continued extending those benches. I'm just sad that some of them have collapsed, and I may have to perform the responsible duty of cleaning it up for the next person. I didn't bring my shovel, which is why I somewhat left it a bit of mess.  

 

And thanks all for your kind words! I was just fiddling with the trip bucket, putting aside some dirty Hungry Hollow Mbr rocks. I did pick up a few other trilo-bits as well, mostly Eldredgeops rana, so nothing earth-shattering.

 

That being said, I always pick up Platyceras. This one is in fairly good shape and quite robust in size. Platyceras conicum is easily distinguished from P. arkonense by its distinctive "cone" shape:

[Peat Burns]

Ooooh!  Nice P. conicum!

[MikeA]

Hello all! I just joined yesterday and am thrilled to be here. My family and I relocated to London Ontario (my wife grew up here) this Summer, so naturally I am excited at the prospect of some day visiting Arkona/Hungry Hollow.

 

A little background:  I grew up in Alberta (born Calgary, moved to Edmonton) but have been in the Vancouver area since 1990. Worked in interpretation at Stanley Park at one point - lifelong natural history fanatic. Paleontology, mollusks, insects and other inverts, birds, botany, herps, geology, whatever I'm obsessing on at any given time. I have the VERY good fortune to humbly claim John Acorn as a friend starting at age 14, he lived a few blocks from me when I started middle school.

 

Anyway I guess the season is well over now, but hope to visit HH in the Spring and hopefully get to meet some of the local crew. I have exactly zero fossicking experience despite many trips to the Badlands, so am eager to learn. I was drawn to this thread right away, not just because of the subject but Kane's statement about his missus. Whatever Kane's reason might be, the biggest reason for my no-experience issue is that I'm a non-driver - lifelong lousy vision resulting in phobia about  hurting people - so am hoping to hook up with someone who travels there, hopefully from the London area. Plenty of time to get to know some folks I hope and see what results. Meanwhile I'm already enjoying the heck out of the forum, so bye for now and best wishes -

Mike.

[Fossildude19]

7 minutes ago, MikeA said:

Hello all! I just joined yesterday and am thrilled to be here. My family and I relocated to London Ontario (my wife grew up here) this Summer, so naturally I am excited at the prospect of some day visiting Arkona/Hungry Hollow.

 

A little background:  I grew up in Alberta (born Calgary, moved to Edmonton) but have been in the Vancouver area since 1990. Worked in interpretation at Stanley Park at one point - lifelong natural history fanatic. Paleontology, mollusks, insects and other inverts, birds, botany, herps, geology, whatever I'm obsessing on at any given time. I have the VERY good fortune to humbly claim John Acorn as a friend starting at age 14, he lived a few blocks from me when I started middle school.

 

Anyway I guess the season is well over now, but hope to visit HH in the Spring and hopefully get to meet some of the local crew. I have exactly zero fossicking experience despite many trips to the Badlands, so am eager to learn. I was drawn to this thread right away, not just because of the subject but Kane's statement about his missus. Whatever Kane's reason might be, the biggest reason for my no-experience issue is that I'm a non-driver - lifelong lousy vision resulting in phobia about  hurting people - so am hoping to hook up with someone who travels there, hopefully from the London area. Plenty of time to get to know some folks I hope and see what results. Meanwhile I'm already enjoying the heck out of the forum, so bye for now and best wishes -

Mike.

@Kane

 

Welcome to the Forum, Mike.   

Regards, 

[Kane]

43 minutes ago, MikeA said:

Hello all! I just joined yesterday and am thrilled to be here. My family and I relocated to London Ontario (my wife grew up here) this Summer, so naturally I am excited at the prospect of some day visiting Arkona/Hungry Hollow.

 

A little background:  I grew up in Alberta (born Calgary, moved to Edmonton) but have been in the Vancouver area since 1990. Worked in interpretation at Stanley Park at one point - lifelong natural history fanatic. Paleontology, mollusks, insects and other inverts, birds, botany, herps, geology, whatever I'm obsessing on at any given time. I have the VERY good fortune to humbly claim John Acorn as a friend starting at age 14, he lived a few blocks from me when I started middle school.

 

Anyway I guess the season is well over now, but hope to visit HH in the Spring and hopefully get to meet some of the local crew. I have exactly zero fossicking experience despite many trips to the Badlands, so am eager to learn. I was drawn to this thread right away, not just because of the subject but Kane's statement about his missus. Whatever Kane's reason might be, the biggest reason for my no-experience issue is that I'm a non-driver - lifelong lousy vision resulting in phobia about  hurting people - so am hoping to hook up with someone who travels there, hopefully from the London area. Plenty of time to get to know some folks I hope and see what results. Meanwhile I'm already enjoying the heck out of the forum, so bye for now and best wishes -

Mike.

Welcome, neighbour!  I'm sure once the warm weather returns, we'll figure out a way for all of us to make a trip or ten to good ol' Arkona. 

[FossilDAWG]

Welcome to the Forum.  You've got several active collectors in your area so you shouldn't lack for company.

 

Don

[MikeA]

Thanks all for the very kind welcome! First week I was here I walked to a nearby branch of our bank to set things up, and passing by a drugstore my eye was drawn to some large white blocks of stone bordering the parking lot. I wandered over and saw that they were STUFFED with fossils! I was a bit dazed, and wondered where the heck I'd landed. Then I started noticing the blocks everywhere - other mini-mall parking lots, schoolyards...you kinda have to see it to believe it. Prior to this, the only use of highly fossiliferous stone I'd seen in public spaces was on actual museums and the like.

I think I'm going to have fun here.

[KimTexan]

On 12/5/2017 at 11:00 PM, Kane said:

 

Is this coral? It looks like it.

I saw an NSR post from Monday or Tuesday I think with a pattern similar to this, though not exactly, that they were trying to figure out what it was. Although it seemed like it was on a piece that looked a bit like an ammonite fragment. Their pattern was very regular though. This one isn’t so much.

Cool finds. Quite different from my part of Texas, but the mud is not a foreign thing. Last time I went hunting I had to keep stopping every 15 min or so to clean my boots off from the thick clay that kept accumulating on them. 

[Monica]

On 12/7/2017 at 10:30 AM, MikeA said:

Hello all! I just joined yesterday and am thrilled to be here. My family and I relocated to London Ontario (my wife grew up here) this Summer, so naturally I am excited at the prospect of some day visiting Arkona/Hungry Hollow.

 

A little background:  I grew up in Alberta (born Calgary, moved to Edmonton) but have been in the Vancouver area since 1990. Worked in interpretation at Stanley Park at one point - lifelong natural history fanatic. Paleontology, mollusks, insects and other inverts, birds, botany, herps, geology, whatever I'm obsessing on at any given time. I have the VERY good fortune to humbly claim John Acorn as a friend starting at age 14, he lived a few blocks from me when I started middle school.

 

Anyway I guess the season is well over now, but hope to visit HH in the Spring and hopefully get to meet some of the local crew. I have exactly zero fossicking experience despite many trips to the Badlands, so am eager to learn. I was drawn to this thread right away, not just because of the subject but Kane's statement about his missus. Whatever Kane's reason might be, the biggest reason for my no-experience issue is that I'm a non-driver - lifelong lousy vision resulting in phobia about  hurting people - so am hoping to hook up with someone who travels there, hopefully from the London area. Plenty of time to get to know some folks I hope and see what results. Meanwhile I'm already enjoying the heck out of the forum, so bye for now and best wishes -

Mike.

 

Hi Mike!

 

Welcome to TFF!

 

Another London-er who you might want to connect with is Bob O'Donnell (I believe you can send him a personal message on the forum - he's simply @Bob) - he's the liaison for Hungry Hollow, and I'm pretty sure that he's also very involved with the London Gem and Mineral Society.

 

Best of luck with your fossil-hunting - perhaps I'll see you at HH on April 28th (when the NPGS is planning on going)!

 

Monica

[Monica]

Hi again, @Kane!

 

It looks like you had beautiful weather (for Ontario in December, at least! ) when you last visited HH - it's too bad that the mud got in your way of making some epic finds .  Spring is right around the corner, though (she says hopefully...!!!) - I'm sure that lady luck will be on your side then and help you find some new and interesting trilobites! 

 

Monica

[MikeA]

On 12/29/2017 at 7:35 AM, Monica said:

 

Hi Mike!

 

Welcome to TFF!

 

Another London-er who you might want to connect with is Bob O'Donnell (I believe you can send him a personal message on the forum - he's simply @Bob) - he's the liaison for Hungry Hollow, and I'm pretty sure that he's also very involved with the London Gem and Mineral Society.

 

Best of luck with your fossil-hunting - perhaps I'll see you at HH on April 28th (when the NPGS is planning on going)!

 

Monica

Thanks very much for the greeting and info Monica, and happy new year! Checked out your Society's web page and that sounds like a great field trip, so maybe will see you then.