I'm going to change my name to "Robert,"
or some other masculine name, when I'm communicating on fossiling message boards
because I suspect I would get a different response from the mostly male community.
I recently had an opportunity to go to Arizona with a friend and decided to do some
vacation multi-tasking:
fossil/mineral hunting when I wasn't hanging out with her.
I queried on The Fossil Forum, seeking info for easy access locations where I might find a fossil or two or some petrified wood. I know we fossilers are a guarded bunch but the men's reactions ranged from condescending (referring back to me as if I weren't on the same message board and stating that my goals were unrealistic) to warnings so over-the-top dire, I suspected they were tinged with the caustic mental remains of a bad divorce. Know that I didn't post a message stating I was planning on wandering off into the desert in a sundress and flip flops and could you please help orchestrate my demise. I made it clear I had a small rental car (no high clearance areas), was willing to drive long distances, and had traveled/hiked in the state before so was well aware of its inherent dangers.
One man on TFF came through and messaged me 2 locations with very specific directions.
I am forever grateful.
I also received 2 replies from rock hounders on YouTube, found one low-difficulty site in a book about Arizona's minerals, and gleaned a couple more locations from reading old threads on TFF regarding Arizona petrified wood. I was often referred to the T-Rat.com site which is filled with a wealth of interesting information about Arizona but not many specifics and since I was short on time, I couldn't do a lot of hunting for areas to hunt.
Here's the scorecard:
6 location goals
1 tiny rental car
1150 miles traveled in
4 days
2 fails
2 moderate successes
2 wild successes
Winning!
#1 Daisy Mountain
My first location was Daisy Mountain in the Sonoran desert, just north of Phoenix and my goal was geode-like clusters of druzy quartz. I saw this on someone's YouTube video and while they were kind enough to give me the best directions they could, they weren't willing to meet up with a stranger from the internet and show her the way. Understood.
I did not find any druzy quartz but I had a fabulous 5 mile hike in stunning terrain.
At one point I thought I had found a shed rattlesnake tail
but it turned out to be someone's creepy mouthguard:
#2 Camp Verde
Camp Verde is known for glauberite pseudomorphs.
Allow me to explain it in terms that I was able to understand: the glauberite mineral forms characteristic crystals but over millions of years, the original glauberite is replaced by other minerals, sometimes selenite, sometimes gypsum, etc., and the replacement minerals take on the shape of glauberite crystals, NOT their own specific crystalline shape.
I chose this location out of the Arizona mineral book because it was an hour north of Phoenix, on my way to other locations, and seemed easy to get to.
The directions were perfect and not very far from my parked car I found the target mineral,
and lots of it!
Here's a pseudomorph in hand.
These were very easy to collect, sweeping them out of the loose soil sides of the gully with my fingers, or gently prying them out of crumbly clay with my chisel.
Here are a few of the clusters after a basic cleanup.
Super cool!
#3 Nowhere, just south of Utah
My plan, after Camp Verde, was to continue north and spend the night in Page, Arizona, but I had found fairly specific directions to a petrified wood location by reading through old threads on TFF. It was a 100 mile RT detour on my journey to Page and took me through some of the most beautiful red stone areas of Arizona. Once I found the proper mile marker, the directions said to drive through the gate and park about 1/4 mile from the highway but it was immediately obvious that my rental car couldn't handle the terrain so I walked in with my collection bag and got to work.
Petrified wood was EVERYWHERE!
I tried to focus on finding pieces with obvious wood grain and nice color but it was difficult because not only was the wood fascinating but the ground was covered with rounded pebbles in a rainbow of hues, all against a background of orange-red sand. I could've used a couple of days there but I only had an hour. It was late in the afternoon and I was about 90 miles from Page, in the middle of nowhere, on a 2-lane unlit highway. I do have some common sense and it prevailed.
Here's my selfie.
You can see the peaceful, fossil-rich, happiness radiating out of me.
Check out the detail in this petrified wood:
Arizona's petrified wood is from several varieties of coniferous trees and is approximately 211-218 million years old. The fossils I found are not as colorful as some of the "rainbow" petrified wood you can see on the internet, but I am pleased as punch with what I found.
I got my druzy quartz after all, and it's on a piece of petrified wood.
Fantastisch!
#4 Big Water, Utah
The BLM area of Big Water, Utah was my northernmost destination, about 15 miles past Page, Arizona. This was one of the locations from the TFF member and his directions were great. I took the well-graded gravel road slowly and although I did have to cross a "river", it was only a couple inches deep and I watched another vehicle drive through it before I tried it myself.
Once again, awesome scenery!
The fossils of the area are associated with the dark gray "tropic shale" layer at the base of the cliffs and the BLM allows you to hunt the eroded flats up to the cliffs. I covered some serious ground and only came away with a handful of fossils but the TFF member said I did OK for a first-timer.
He said the piece on the left is from a type of giant ammonite. The slim tubular fossils in the middle are segments of a long, straight, tapering ammonoid called a baculite. The fossil to the right is an oyster shell, numerous and indicative of the areas where other fossils can be found.
The minerals of the area were interesting
so I also collected some samples of those.
It was cold enough, I initially thought these were thin sheets of ice but I think it may be a form of selenite. I found it in sheets, chunks, and "threads".
#5 Paleo Site
The Paleo Site near Kohl's Ranch in Payson, Arizona is a well known fossiling site that is extremely easy to find and access. The weather for most of my Arizona trip was cold and rainy and my last day of fossiling was no exception. The problem this presented with the paleo site is that it's best experienced by clinging to a hillside and picking apart the layers of rock in search of fossils. With temps in the low 40's and steady rain, I couldn't maneuver on the hillside AT ALL, so I hiked the trail to the top of the hill to see if I could find anything. The ground was covered with brachiopods and in the rain, they looked so shiny and perfect I had a flash of confusion:
were there live clams up here?!
Well, of course not.
These were fossil "clams" from the Naco formation which apparently puts them in the age range of 300 million years. I collected enough to make a big pot of "fossil clam" chowder.
#6 Joseph City
Joseph City was way out of the way for me but it was a location given to me by the TFF member and my last opportunity to collect petrified wood and since it was closer, geographically, to the rainbow wood of Petrified Forest National Park, I was hoping to find some brighter colors.
As before, his directions were very good and I would have been able to drive all the little backroads until I found the exact spot IF IT HADN'T BEEN RAINING IN THE DESERT FOR DAYS.
What a terrible convergence of weather and intent.
Driving on those muddy, slippery, dirt and gravel roads was the one stupid thing I did but the only thing I was risking was hurt pride if I got stuck as I could see the highway the whole time and I was never more than 2 miles away from town.
I gave up after slipping and sliding along 2 roads that quickly dead-ended in
"No Trespassing" signs.
Back to Phoenix.
You served me well, little Fiat.
Now I just gotta get my rocks home.
