I wanted to thank you for the amazing time that we had. We
have not yet stopped talking about it. The kids keep asking
if we can go again next year!
Our box of wonderful keepsakes arrived last week and they
are as beautiful to us as they were when we found them. We
have great memories of the trip and hope to see you all
again sometime. Thank you again for everything. You are a
wonderful family and we are glad to have taken part in the
Dinosaurs Rock experience!
Thanks for everything. We can only imagine how much work
went into putting the trip together.
Check out Scenes from our last Fossil Dig in
Utah...
DAY 1 DINOSAUR BONE
HUNTING
Jurassic Dinosaurs of
Utah
The Morrison Formation
Allosaurus, Utah's State Fossil,
was the dominant predator of North America
during the Late Jurassic. It is known from
numerous skeletons, ranging from 10 to 40 feet
in length, from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur
Quarry in east-central Utah. Mounted skeletons,
cast from Cleveland-Lloyd Allosaurs, are
displayed in over three dozen museums around
the world. With sharper teeth and a more
graceful build, Allosaurus rivals
Tyrannosaurus rex as the supreme
meat-eater of the Mesozoic.
Day 1 started out with a drive through the most
beautiful country and
through 6 miles of dirt road to reach our Dinosaur Dig - here
we are before we start.
Walking and searching the ground for
Dinosaur Bones.
Walking through areas where
dinosaurs once
roamed.
A Discovery!!
Brushing away at some real fossil
dinosaur
bone.
Our guide Craig describing what to look for
when identifying a dinosaur
bone.
We learned about how fossils are
formed.
Uncovering a genuine dinosaur rib
bone
Dinosaur rib being
examined
Prepping a dinosaur bone with "super glue" to
prevent breakage.
Our group searched everywhere and we found some
really cool fossils.
A vast area to hunt for dinosaur
bone.
Collecting Petrified Wood and Dinosaur
Bone
Off to see Permian amphibian tracks but driving
on dirt roads made it hard to see sometimes but
was very exciting.
Permian Amphibian Tracks
just off the side of the
road.
Gorgeous red shear cliffs surrounded us on our
beautiful drive this first
day.
Rest time at the lake after a hard day
collecting Dinosaur Bones and other
fossils.
Everyone Wins With Our Daily Raffle for Cool
Fossils and Minerals.
Lakeside scary story
telling!!
Skipping rocks at the
lake.
Navaho Tacos were a real treat for a hungry
group.
Everyone
loved the food on this Fossil
Dig.
DAY 2 HUNTING TRILOBITES
What is a
trilobite?
A trilobite is form of invertebrate marine life that lived
more than 500 million years ago, but are now extinct. These
hard-shelled prehistoric critters roamed the sea floor and
coral reefs in search of food. Because of their great
diversity and often perfect preservation in fine-grained
rock, they are one of the most popular fossils among
collectors. The fossils are found in a limestone shale.
This shale splits easily into flat sheets, revealing the
trilobite fossils. Fossilized trilobites lay nearly flat
along the splitting planes of the shale.
All the kids made friends very easily and worked
together
to find some great fossils to keep and take
home.
Digging for Trilobites in 500 Million Year Old
Limestone Shale.
This area of Utah
was once under a shallow sea of water and now
is 6000 ft above sea level carrying a wide
variety of really cool Trilobite
Fossils.
Parents had a great time discovering
Trilobites as well.
The 500 Million
year old shale was easy to split and find
trilobites.
Rock hammers and
protective eyeware were necessary to be safe
when we cracked open these
rocks.
DAY 3
TOPAZ GEMSTONES
GEODES
WONDERSTONE
Topaz and other minerals found at Topaz
Mountain, Juab County
Topaz Mountain
Geologic Information: Topaz, Utah's state gem,
is a semiprecious gemstone that occurs as very hard,
transparent crystals in a variety of colors.
The topaz crystals at Topaz Mountain are naturally amber
colored, but become colorless after exposure to sunlight. The
crystals formed within cavities of the Topaz Mountain Rhyolite,
a volcanic rock which erupted approximately six to seven
million years ago (Tertiary Period) from volcanic vents along
faults in the area.
Other minerals that can be found at Topaz Mountain are red
beryl, amethyst, garnet, pseudobrookite, bixbyite, opal, and
hematite.
Gemstone hunting
at Topaz Mountain
Everyone found
some really cool Topaz
Gemstones.
Really cool Topaz
Gemstones were discovered.
Another Topaz
Gemstone Successfully
Found.
These rocks didn't give up their cool gemstones
easily!
Dugway GEODES:
Dugway Geode Beds, Juab
County
by Carl Ege
Geologic information: Approximately 6 to
8 million years ago (Miocene epoch), volcanic activity
occurred in western Utah and deposited an extrusive igneous
rock called rhyolite. Trapped gasses formed cavities within
the rhyolite, and millions of years of ground-water
circulation allowed minerals to precipitate into the
cavities. The result is geodes with spherical shapes and
crystal-lined cavities.
Roughly 32,000 to 14,000 thousand years ago, a large
body of water known as Lake Bonneville covered most of
western Utah. The lake's wave activity eroded the
geode-bearing rhyolite and redeposited the geodes several
miles away in the Dugway geode bed area as lake
sediments.
Most geodes are typically hollow whereas others are
completely filled with massive, banded quartz. The most
common mineral found within the geodes is quartz in various
colors: clear (rock crystal), purple (amethyst), and pink
(rose).
We found
these geodes about 15 - 20 feet under
ground.
A beautiful
large geode with magnificent
crystals.
Close up view of a geode embedded in
the soft earth.
Everyone was successful at finding
really cool geodes
to keep and take home.
Wonderstone:
Wonderstone in the Vernon Hills, Tooele
County
Wonderstone found at Vernon Hills.
A striking feature of Vernon Hills wonderstone is its
intricately folded bands that create colorful designs in
cream, yellow-brown, and multiple shades of maroon.
Geologic information: The Vernon Hills
wonderstone is a welded-vitric tuff (vitric means glassy)
of rhyolitic composition. It is a volcanic rock composed
predominantly of volcanic glass particles which have been
welded or stuck together by heat and compacted by the
weight of overlying material. Alteration of the rock by
circulating ground water produced the colorful banding. The
maroon and yellow-brown colors are due to the presence of
iron oxides.
We found a
huge area where we were able to collect
some gorgeous specimens of
wonderstone.
The
Wonderstone quarry was our last stop on our
3 day Dinosaurs Rock Fossil
Adventure.
There was
plenty of really cool Wonderstone to choose
from.
DANGER?- the small
print read only when
Blasting!
Great
Wonderstone specimens to take
home.
Wonderstone -
one of the pretiest rocks we
found.
Sarah and I both had a
marvelous time on the trip. The geology and
scenery, especially on the first
(mars-like) day, were so spectacular that
they would have made the trip worthwhile
even without the fossils.
However, finding that
femur, rib bone, etc. positioned to suggest
a whole giant skeleton under the surface
was a thrill of a lifetime! The trilobites,
topaz, wonderstone, and geodes were also
fantastic, as were all the little extras:
the ancient amphibian tracks, the abandoned
mars rover training site, the unexpected
picnic by the lake. Sarah was delighted
with everything -- including your prize
raffles, the motel, and all the other
children. In fact, she loved everything so
much that she can't decide on any single
favorite moment after the femur, and wants
to go back again next year.
Three days of adventure
traveling with a child and not a single bad
moment must be some kind of record. For me,
I think the most fascinating thing was
probably seeing the geodes embedded in the
rock as round stone bubbles in their
natural state. I learned a great deal on
this trip, and even the flat tire we got on
one of the unpaved roads on Day 2 turned
out to be virtually painless, as the
guides, the two of you, and all the members
of the group were all so wonderfully kind
and helpful. So thank you once again for
designing and organizing this great
experience, and I look forward to meeting
again some time.
If you come with us on our next
Dinosaurs Rock Fossil Dig in Utah, why not extend your
time either before or after the dig with the following
fun activities:
Arches National Park in Moab offered
some really cool rock formations. The movie
"Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade" was filmed
right here.
The ARCHES them selves were
ENORMOUS!!
One of many Arches.
I wouldn't feel too safe just sitting
underneath that arch!
Timpanogos Caves are really cool after
a long steep climb.
"My seven year son had a fabulous time at his EXTREME party...I have had several mothers inform me that it was the coolest party this year" Kind Regards Tamara
"I highly recommend this program for your camp" Doug Pierce Pierce Country Day Camp
"The Best School Assembly All Year!" Christine Viola Elementary School
"Dinosaurs Rock has become a favorite event amongst the thousands of visitors to our Holiday Lights Program." Rachel Libretti Bronx Zoo