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My trip to St. Leon and Trammel Park


Eastonian

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I returned last night from three days of fossil hunting in southern Indiana and southern Ohio. (My specimens are soaking in water, so no pictures yet.) I hunted in two spots: the road cut along Route 1 north of St. Leon, Indiana, and the Trammel Fossil Park in Sharonville, Ohio. Both are Ordovician formations. The first day I hunted on the east side of the cut for about six hours, and found lots of brachiopods, bryozoa, a couple of gastropods (my first) and a lot of shell on shell on shell. The next day I switched sides, and in addition to the above examples, I found trilobite pieces. I just sit on my kneeling cushion and a bucket, and sift through the rocks with my fingers. I'm tellin' ya, I get in a zone and the time flies. So quiet and peaceful. In two days, I saw one other person collecting.

 

The final day was spent at Trammel Park. It's a 10-acre site with lots of the specimens I found at the road cut. I got there at about 9 a.m. A woman walked up to me and asked me if I was here with a group. "No, just me." She replied, "Well, it's fossil day at the park." Peace and quiet were quickly out of the question. I think it's great when little kids get a taste of the hobby. But this is what I heard all day: "Did you find any gold?" "Can I help you look?" "I found a trilobite (pronounced trill-o-bite)!" " I found an arrow head!" "I found a dinosaur bone!" "Look, guys! Silver dollars!" (They may have been referring to Rafinesquina?) Anyway, I had the pleasure of meeting David Meyers, a professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati. It was great to chat with him, though much of his time was spent helping kids identify their finds. "No, that's not a trilobite. Just a rock. But keep looking." 

 

We stayed outside Cincinnati, so it was long trip (6+ hours) back to Grand Rapids, Mich. My wife was a trouper, and found plenty of things to do and see in Cincinnati and environs. But I think the six hour trip took its toll, because she informed me that for the next few trips, I would be on my own. "I love that you have a new hobby. But next time, go and have fun. And I'll do my own thing. And we'll both me happy!"

 

Works for me.

 

 

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Nice report. I will be loking for those pics!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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Looks like the weather was great as well. I've dreamed about having a full two days at St Leon. That site virtually exposes the entire Richmond Group and includes some extra cool layers like the coral-bearing Saluda and Upper Whitewater and the trilobite-rich "Waynesville".

 

EEE gads, hoards of kids at Trammel... Hope it didn't distract you too much from the fossils. That site is great because it includes some of the best formations in the Maysville Group. I have left there with large Flexicalymene rollers and beautiful Constellaria bryozoans.  After you get your specimens cleaned up, make sure to keep them separated. Although there are many identical species at both sites there are some different species between the two.

 

I had a crazy experience many many moons ago when visiting another popular SW Ohio site: Caesar Creek Spillway.  I was out crawling the flat area for tiny trilobites and two buses full of middle school kids pulled up and unloaded. There weren't many adults amongst them and the kids immediately started doing everything they were not supposed to do. They were climbing the small cliff and talus, throwing rocks at each other, I think I saw a shovel being used, and finally my favorite moment was when the metal head of a claw hammer flew past my head and bounced across the ground in front of me. The kid was hammering away at who knows what, and that thing just snapped and flew. He didn't even come looking for it, just went on with his hyper-activity.... Luckily they were there all of a short hour.

 

Oh, and for what it matters, my wife of almost 30 years has been with me on exactly one collecting trip... We also have a mutual agreement to find pleasure in different locals on occasion.

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Seems like a wonderful location! 

Another one for the "never going to get there but i can dream" bucket list. 

Glad you had fun and a productive trip. 

Look forward to seeing the finds!  :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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On 4/30/2018 at 1:53 PM, Eastonian said:

I returned last night from three days of fossil hunting in southern Indiana and southern Ohio. (My specimens are soaking in water, so no pictures yet.) I hunted in two spots: the road cut along Route 1 north of St. Leon, Indiana, and the Trammel Fossil Park in Sharonville, Ohio. Both are Ordovician formations. The first day I hunted on the east side of the cut for about six hours, and found lots of brachiopods, bryozoa, a couple of gastropods (my first) and a lot of shell on shell on shell. The next day I switched sides, and in addition to the above examples, I found trilobite pieces. I just sit on my kneeling cushion and a bucket, and sift through the rocks with my fingers. I'm tellin' ya, I get in a zone and the time flies. So quiet and peaceful. In two days, I saw one other person collecting.

 

The final day was spent at Trammel Park. It's a 10-acre site with lots of the specimens I found at the road cut. I got there at about 9 a.m. A woman walked up to me and asked me if I was here with a group. "No, just me." She replied, "Well, it's fossil day at the park." Peace and quiet were quickly out of the question. I think it's great when little kids get a taste of the hobby. But this is what I heard all day: "Did you find any gold?" "Can I help you look?" "I found a trilobite (pronounced trill-o-bite)!" " I found an arrow head!" "I found a dinosaur bone!" "Look, guys! Silver dollars!" (They may have been referring to Rafinesquina?) Anyway, I had the pleasure of meeting David Meyers, a professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati. It was great to chat with him, though much of his time was spent helping kids identify their finds. "No, that's not a trilobite. Just a rock. But keep looking." 

 

We stayed outside Cincinnati, so it was long trip (6+ hours) back to Grand Rapids, Mich. My wife was a trouper, and found plenty of things to do and see in Cincinnati and environs. But I think the six hour trip took its toll, because she informed me that for the next few trips, I would be on my own. "I love that you have a new hobby. But next time, go and have fun. And I'll do my own thing. And we'll both me happy!"

 

Works for me.

 

 

IMG_5916.JPG

Hey! I was just there about half a week before you!
I haven't had time to report my finds, however. 
I found a handful of trilobites over the two days I spent hunting. 

Spoiler: a 3D partial Isotelus maximus cephalon+hypostoma!

Will upload soon. :) 

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3 hours ago, FossilSniper said:

Hey! I was just there about half a week before you!
I haven't had time to report my finds, however. 
I found a handful of trilobites over the two days I spent hunting. 

Spoiler: a 3D partial Isotelus maximus cephalon+hypostoma!

Will upload soon. :) 

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

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