Member of the Month - April 2019 - UtahFossilHunter

[Kane]

Welcome to April, a month for budding trees and flowers as parts of the world wake up from under cold, downy blankets of snow. It is a time to put thoughts about collecting -- kept on ice during the winter season -- into practice, to take some good risks in exploring new sites, and get the hammers swinging again. In short, a time for adventure and thrusting one's chin out, and to be greeted in return by a milder breeze, a bath of warm sunlight, and springtime's ambient energy that seems to titrate up once weary winter bones.

 

By unanimous staff decision, this month's crown goes to: 

 

 

  UtahFossilHunter! 

 

UtahFossilHunter is no stranger to adventure as he pores over maps and embarks on journeys to spacious, awe-inspiring vistas under big skies. A member with us since 2014, in that time he has been able to distinguish himself here with great contributions, engaging questions, ample curiousity and wonder. Welcoming by nature, and always willing to share his knowledge (and fossil literature in his "Classics" topic), he continues to be a good companion in our virtual travels together over our fossiliferous Forum terrain. I hope all will join us in celebrating UtahFossilHunter's significant and helpful contributions to our beloved Forum. 

 

 

Congratulations Sir! Wear this Crown with joy as you earned it!

 

Here is your opportunity to tell us your story - about your passion for fossils, and how you came to TFF!

 

On behalf of the staff here on TFF, congratulations!

[Max-fossils]

Congrats @UtahFossilHunter!!!

Definitely well-deserved, I expected you to be one of the next MotM's. 

I'd love to hear your story!

 

Max

 

 

PS: @Kane, it appears to me as though the smiley's didn't work for you...  

[jcbshark]

Congrats, certainly well deserved 

[Manticocerasman]

congrats  

[FossilDAWG]

Congratulations  and thanks for taking us along on so many tours of Utah geology!

 

Don

[Darktooth]

Congratulations!

[Bobby Rico]

Congratulations.    

My friend Clayton. I really enjoy your posts and photos that often accompanies your trips out  . Have a fantastic month and I am looking forward to reading your story. 

  

All the best Bobby 

[Al Tahan]

Congratulations @UtahFossilHunter .  A well deserved honor!!!! I love your fossil hunting trips into the wide expanses!!....so much different (more beautiful I should say) than my roadcut nonsense hahaha.

[Fossildude19]

Congratulations!  

Thanks for your content here - I find it informative and enjoyable to read about your trips. 

Please continue to post  your great content. 

Regards, 

[Archie]

Congratulations!  

[digit]

Thanks for taking us along on your trips and for being an important part of what makes this forum great--members who provide valuable content to this growing archive of fossil knowledge.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Auspex]

Thank you, my friend, for making Paleontology and Geology the epitome of outdoor adventures: you bring good stuff!

[Troodon]

Congratulations very well deserved, enjoy your posts.

[Pagurus]

 

Your posts and your trips often have me humming to myself, "O give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above..."  

[ricardo]

Congratulations! I enjoy your great outdoor posts 

[Pemphix]

Congrats !

 

[old bones]

Congratulations, and keep the fantastic content coming!

[PFOOLEY]

 Congratulations!

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

First, I hope this isn't some kind of April Fools joke which may break my heart. Anyway, when I joined back in 2014, I had been collecting fossils for about a year or so but was still very new to the game and had a lot to learn. I searched the web high and low for information and would always end up back on here as a lurking guest. I wanted to ask some questions so I joined. 4 years later and I'm still here because this is such a great community. A little backstory leading up to the moment I joined: All my life I loved dinosaurs and fossils. I mentioned in another topic I had a collection of casts from local museums. Later, I learned I could collect the real deal and got my parents to drive me out to U-Dig fossils where I got my first taste of collecting. I was forever changed. I bought any local rockhounding guides, reprints of Rocks and Minerals magazines with articles on Utah's fossils, and basically any fossil book I could find and afford. I asked museum staff where they got their fossils and if I could collect my own. I became intimate with laws regarding fossil collecting. I attempted to read scientific articles (usually they were way over my head but I tried). I scoured the web always ending up on one site in particular that always had the answers I needed and that was the Fossil Forum. If you were to look at my posts, you may see I have learned something over the years (at least that is the hope and you'll also see that my first few posts were very noobish , we all start somewhere, though!). Those first few posts were just before I decided to go to college to get a degree in geology. 4 years later and I now have a bachelor's degree in geology and will hopefully get a masters and PhD in geology and paleontology soon and I'd argue that's because of you guys being patient with my questions, posting such wonderful articles and fossils, helping ID all my finds, and fostering my love for paleontology and fossil collecting. I hope to stay on for another 4+ years of fossil fun and thank you all once again for being such a great community! 

Thanks,

Clayton

[Malcolmt]

Well done....

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Jolly good show, Clayton, a well earned accolade. 

Nice story too.

 

 

[FossilsAnonymous]

Congrats my knowledgeable friend!

[JohnJ]

Clayton, your story is an example of what we hope the information and community of TFF can inspire.  Congratulations on this award and for your contributions to help make this Forum the best it can be. 

 

 

[digit]

Thanks for the backstory, Clayton. I think I can speak for the membership when I say your praise of this forum has made us all blush.

 

We try to keep this place inviting for "noobs" (as you attest) and we are proud that our ranks include a number of "professionals". With luck, we'll count on your continuing membership as it transitions from the former to the latter.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

26 minutes ago, digit said:

Thanks for the backstory, Clayton. I think I can speak for the membership when I say your praise of this forum has made us all blush.

 

We try to keep this place inviting for "noobs" (as you attest) and we are proud that our ranks include a number of "professionals". With luck, we'll count on your continuing membership as it transitions from the former to the latter.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

I know it’s not the longest backstory as it’s not the most complicated and is a very recent endeavor in contrast to geologic time. I can remember the first time I had found a trilobite, an Itagnostus interstricta. I had only seen them in Museums and threads on here. I learned much about trilobites I had collected from threads on here. I can’t stress enough how much you guys have helped me.