Friday, July 26, 2013

U-Dig Trilobite Quarry

Yesterday we went to the western Utah desert, past Delta, past Hinkley right up into the Swasey Mountains to a dusty dirt road to find some particular rocks. Rocks with Trilobites in them! At the U-Dig rock Quarry we found several very nice specimens of Trilobites. Trilobites are fossils of sea creatures that came into existence as the first invertebrate way before even the dinosaurs lived!  These rock-like copies are not very interesting to some, but for our little crew to go out and smash rocks and find fossils to take home was very exciting. Not only that, but they got to feel what it's like to enjoy satisfying work. I enjoyed smashing some shale too and I must say it was well worth our while in the hot summer sun to find those little hundred-thousand year old fossilized creatures. Good thing we had the Geologist with us to help us find the best rocks! It was a good day :)