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Monday, June 17, 2013

Fossil Hunting in Georgia

Many, many years ago, back in 2006 to be exact, we took the kids fossil hunting. Chris had found information about a trilobite fossil site near Chatsworth. I didn't want the kids to think we were definitely going to find a fossil, so I warned them that we might come up empty handed. Boy was I wrong! We found over 20 trilobite fossils within 10 minutes!

Well, that was 7 years ago. The kids had been asking to go back there. Then last week, Chris mentioned it to a friend of ours and offered to take him and his kids out there sometime. But since it's about an hour and a half drive from home, we wanted to scope it out first to make sure it was even there before taking our friends out there!

There's an overgrown path that leads down to the Conasauga River.

There was a spot to park the car.

A closer look at the head of the path.

The path down to the river was rough and steep. There had been some definite erosion here since were here before.

The kids wasted no time looking for fossils.

There's the river.

More searching.

Look at the rock formations.

I included this picture with Chris' legs to show a size comparison.

You could just break off pieces from it with your hands. Then you would split those apart and in many cases, you would find a trilobite fossil.

 
Here's a happy girl with some fossils!

A close up of one of Hannah's fossils.

And more fossils.


Once again, we found many fossils in a very short time. We chose the best of the best to take home. 

This picture gives a better view of the path we had to take down to the river.

A better view of the overgrown path.
 
 
And for fun, here's a picture from our fossil hunt in 2006. Look how little James & Hannah were! And how young Chris was! 
 
Now we can plan another trip back with our friends.

25 comments:

  1. Hi, We stumbled upon your blog post about a nearby fossil site. Would you mind emailing me more specific directions? My children are so hopeful they can go too. Thanks! rickandluci at bellsouth dot net We live in Kennesaw.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Sorry for not replying earlier. I expected to get a notification that I had awaiting comments! If you leave me your email address, I will send it to you. I did have some more specific directions in the comments before, but I received a nasty comment from someone about doing that so I removed them.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Hello!

    Would you be willing to share the location of this trail? We're looking for something fun to do this weekend and we thought fossil hunting would be a blast!

    Thanks,
    Travis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leave your email address and I will send them to you. I used to have specific directions in my comments before, but someone left an angry comment that I had done so.

      Delete
    2. Leave your email address and I will send them to you. I used to have specific directions in my comments before, but someone left an angry comment that I had done so.

      Delete
  4. Can you email me more specific location directions. I am a school teacher and would love to take a look.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leave your email address and I will send directions to you.

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  5. This site is actually publicly known on a local geologist's page: Link.

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  6. Hi there, we are planning a fossil hunting trip with my kids. Would you be able to give us more specific directions? Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Provide me with your email address and I will send it to you.

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  7. I would love to take my son fossil digging. He has always looked for special rocks and recently gotten into fossils after finding a few fossils in our yard. Not sure how they came about being there but they were sea creatures and we live above the belt line. But would love to know this location. It's also a bonus that I have kin in Chatsworth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. leave your email address and I will send it to you.

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  8. Just went to this site on Saturday, and the path isn't as overgrown now. Info for anyone going to this site: The trilos here are approx.498-496 million years old, and the common trilo is Aphelaspis brachyphasis. Overall, it was a great experience and I thank Laurie for leading me there in the first place.

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  9. Could you share more detail directions? Would love to go there with my son.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Provide me with your email address and I will send it to you. Thanks!

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  11. I would like the directions as well Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please provide me with your email address and I will send it to you. Thanks!

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    2. Laurie, is this spot still open? My wife and I will be through there next month and would like t ask you for directions.

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    3. Leave your email address and I will send them to you. Thanks!

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    4. Laurie, thank you for such a great post! Would love to take my son. Can I get more directions? BridgetRandels@gmail.com

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  12. Hello,
    Would love to take the grandkids to this. Are more specific directions available?
    BJ

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello,
    Would love to take the grandchildren to this spot. Are more detailed directions available?
    Thank you.
    BJ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leave your email address and I will send them to you.

      Delete