This page is where we share science adventure experiences with each other. Everyone is invited to post a summary of where they went, what they saw, and if they recommend it for fun and learning. Send pictures and we'll post them. I will also be posting my summer field trips hunting for rocks and fossils.

Stardates 2010.06.17-26
Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah

On this rock wall I collected my first fossil trilobite, my first fossil from Idaho, and my first Cambrian fossil. It was the same specimen. We were searching for 540 million year old trilobites near Bear Lake, Idaho.

The campground at Bear Lake, Idaho at sunset.

One of the 48 million-year-old fossil fish (herring) from Kemmerer, Wyoming.

One of the collecting sites at Douglas Pass, Colorado. I found many leaves, insects, and my first fossil feather here.

The view looking down toward Dinosaur, Colorado from the cliffs at Douglas Pass. There are fossils in these rocks. Would you climb out and get them? It's only 9,000 feet above sea level. That's the highest elevation I've ever collected fossils from.

There's a great view of the layers of sedimentary rock at Ghost Rock Canyon in Eastern Utah. It's a heavily eroded anticline.

Splitting shale at the U-Dig Fossil Quarry near Delta, Utah. This particular spot is where I found pyritized trilobites.

Some of the wildlife I saw along the way. Indian Paintbrush wildflowers, a fairly large lizard, a scorpion and a butterfly.

And then some of the dinosaurs I found along the way. Most of these pictures are from Vernal, Utah, home of the National Dinosaur Monument. It was still closed when I visited. The Utah Field Museum was nice though.

Stardate 2009.06.28
Sitka, Alaska.

There were no rocks or fossils to collect in Sitka, but there was great wildlife. Here are some of the animals we saw.

Bald Eagles

Baranoff Grizzly Bears

Sea Otters

Stardate 2009.07.20
The fifth annual "crab camp" where we hunt for fossil crabs and other marine animals near Vernonia, Oregon.

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Here is the nicest Bathybembix I've found yet. It's a large snail from the Keasey Formation. I collected this in a cliff wall near Rock Creek West of Vernonia.

Bathybembix columbiana, Eocene (40 mya), Keasey Fm.

Stardate 2009.06.22
A revisit to the Snowshoe Formation near Suplee, Oregon in search of ammonites and sea monsters.

This is fragment from the positive side of a very large ammonite. If it were whole, it would have been the biggest one I've found yet. The next picture is the imprint in the rock wall.

Ammonite, Jurassic (135 mya), Snowshoe Fm.

This is an outcrop of Devonian-age limestone near Suplee, Oregon. It's the oldest rock in the State of Oregon. There are fossils in it, but they aren't much to look at. I mostly found coral and bryozoans.

Devonian bryozoan and coral from the Birdsong Formation. Can you see them?

Stardate 2008.02.14
During the summer of 2007 I joined fellow paleontologist from the North America Research Group (NARG) on an excursion into Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations to search for ammonites, marine reptiles, and evidence of dinosaurs. Our group was joined by a production crew from OPB's Oregon Field Guide. The episode featuring our adventure was aired in February. Here is a link to the OFG online video.

Reptile Fossils in Oregon

Fellow members Andrew Bland and Robert Rose and I authored an article for Oregon Geology magazine on the marine crocodile fossils Andrew found. The publication is only available online in pdf format at DOGAMI's website.... and here too.

Jurassic Crocodile Discovered in Crook County, Oregon 6mb pdf, pages 24-26

This is the largest ammonite I've found to date. It's from the Cretaceous Hudspeth Formation, about 90 million years old.

I carefully popped out the fractured matrix rock with my pocket knife. This one just took time, no special tools.

Collected August 2007, Wheeler County, Oregon.