First Fossil Hunting Trip to NSR, Texas (A Success)

[CrankyMa]

My daughter and I took our very first fossil hunting trip to the NSR near Lavonia, Texas last weekend (10/27/2019).

We dug a little, sifted (just with our hands) a little, and just walked around, but we still had great success finding treasures!

The steps down to the river bank are impressive. Some of the steps are about 3 x 3 feet square, and the length of the stairway is about 70-80 feet. The bottom of the steps have a large, nearly vertical slab of concrete that is easier to slide down than it is to climb back up. especially with about 5 pounds of very sticky mud stuck to our boots. There is also a mud pit at the bottom of the slab to navigate that makes coming back up a bit of a challenge and a workout. Of course, afterwards, we found that there are two much easier to navigate entry/exit points, one to the left and one to the right of the steps.

And we found out later that on the previous weekend, this site had hosted a group meeting for fossil hunters. So were feel particularly fortunate to found the things we did.

 

[Darktooth]

Thanks for sharing. Can you post pics of your finds?

[CrankyMa]

Picture of our fossil finds:
I think we found (clockwise):

An Ammonite impression (orange)
A possible crinoid (tube shaped, white, black, yellow)
Unknown (round, textured)
A worm tube (rust colored, hook shaped, word started with an "h" but I forgot it now)
Unknown (black)
A bit of petrified wood (brown, white)
A snail (Most in the area were whitish. This one we kept because of the color.)
Unknown (it could just be a rock but we thought it was coral shaped)
And our favorite- a shark tooth! (middle)

We threw some stuff back including a black thing that we are pretty sure was a baculite fossil in hindsight.

We were really tickled to have so much success on our first try!
 

 

Edited November 2, 2019 by CrankyMa
typo

[The Jersey Devil]

Shark tooth is Cretalamna. The worm is Hamulus

[FossilNerd]

Very nice finds! Congratulations on a successful first hunt! Sounds like you found some good fossils and made some better memories. Which are just as important as the fossils you found! In my humble opinion.  

[BobWill]

Your daughter and you did very well at a site that can be very stingy sometimes and very fruitful other times. I have climbed out of there with far less.  The inknown black thing may be a worn baculites. Use magnification to look for their elaborate sutures. The piece of wood could be worn bone. Crinoids are extremely rare in the Cretaceous and I haven't heard of any from the river so you should contact a museum if you can verify that. If it is one one and it was in the wash someone could have dropped it there. Next time you're up this way check out Post Oak Creek for a pocket full of shark teeth.

[CrankyMa]

On 11/2/2019 at 5:10 PM, The Jersey Devil said:

Shark tooth is Cretalamna. The worm is Hamulus

Thank you!

[CrankyMa]

22 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Very nice finds! Congratulations on a successful first hunt! Sounds like you found some good fossils and made some better memories. Which are just as important as the fossils you found! In my humble opinion.  

Thank you!

So true!

We wrapped up our day by shooting rocks back down into the riverbed with a slingshot that my daughter had in her pack. I gotta say- it's a super fun person who trecks around with a handy-dandy slingshot in their pack!

I hit my target exactly zero times! LOL!

Such a fun day!

[CrankyMa]

18 hours ago, BobWill said:

Your daughter and you did very well at a site that can be very stingy sometimes and very fruitful other times. I have climbed out of there with far less.  The inknown black thing may be a worn baculites. Use magnification to look for their elaborate sutures. The piece of wood could be worn bone. Crinoids are extremely rare in the Cretaceous and I haven't heard of any from the river so you should contact a museum if you can verify that. If it is one one and it was in the wash someone could have dropped it there. Next time you're up this way check out Post Oak Creek for a pocket full of shark teeth.

I obviously don't know much about fossils other than what I've gathered here in a very short time, but I can't wait to reinspect our finds using the info you have provided. 

Thank you so much for your suggestions and the recommendation!

I appreciate it!
 

[fifbrindacier]

Thank you to share this with us Cranky.