Mineral Wells Fossil Park

[danielp]

Check this out. According to them it is opening on May 8th.

http://mineralwellsindex.com/homepage/x1439681782/MW-fossil-park-to-open-May-8

http://www.facebook....id=111955749008

Edited March 26, 2010 by danielp

[BLM63]

Thank you for sharing this, Daniel. It's great to see people making things like this happen !

[MikeD]

Thanks.

[JarrodP]

We just returned from the Grand Opening today, what a great turn out and hunting!

Here is the new website for the park.

http://www.mineralwellsfossilpark.com/

Here are some of the finds!

Edited May 8, 2010 by JarrodP

[Fossildude19]

Nice Finds!!!

Looks like a neat park, too.

Lots of nice crinoid stems and corals!

I like the partial Trilobite on the right in pic1!

Thanks for sharing!

[LanceH]

I found a decent large trilobite and a good small one. I could not find the star shaped (pentaridica) crinoid columnals this time. A lot of the people were turning dirt when really they should have just been surface collecting. But I guess the exposure could use some turning to expose new stuff after a few big rains.

Ribbon cutting:

Trilobite (Ditomopyge?)

Allegecrinus crinoid cup found by someone else (no scale)

And here's the interpretive sign I designed:

Edited May 9, 2010 by LanceHall

[LanceH]

Fossils4Kids (John) found a nice crinoid cup:

Lance & John:

[Roz]

A few pics of the trip, I will add here

Fossils for kids was there Thanks John for the shark tooth!

Some of the youngest hunters....

This young hunter was looking for trilobites. Pretty sure

that's what he said...

[JarrodP]

A lot of the people were turning dirt when really they should have just been surface collecting.

I saw the same thing, a few folks whacking away with shovels, mostly enthusiastic kids. Ironically, the best finds of the day we noticed were all easy to spot on the surface, very little movement of material was needed.

I agree though...a good rain will expose more. I wonder, is there a plan to periodically turn over sections of the park after a certain time, or just let erosion work the pit over?

I think we have the fossil bug now......help!

[LanceH]

I wonder, is there a plan to periodically turn over sections of the park after a certain time, or just let erosion work the pit over?

It's been eroding for 17 years. I think if they turned everything over it would take a long time to get back to what it is. So small scale turning via foot traffic yes, large scale machine turning no.

Edited May 9, 2010 by LanceHall

[Roz]

Oh, I forgot the bumper stickers they were handing out

and I'm doing my part..

[FossilForKids]

If you like families, fossils, and fun this was the day for it! The cryy heard over and over from the very beginning..."I found one!" Roz and Lance it was great to meet both of you. This park is a great thing for fossil enthusiasts!

John

[JarrodP]

John, I think your absolutely correct...."I FOUND ONE!"

We could not resist the temptation and returned today for another walk around the site...and that phrase was still being shouted across the pit over and over, what a hoot!

We were again rewarded with some great finds..including another Trilobite!

[Roz]

That is a larger one than I am used to seeing. very nice find..

[racevw112]

Looks like everything turned out well and thanks for the pics. Sheldon and I were planning on going, but we had a change of plans at the last minute.

Lyle

[HeritageFossils]

I dropped by the fossil park on Sunday and there were still people coming in and out, at least 6-8 carloads of people were there at a time. It's a nice park with plenty of surface collecting.

Advice: drive carefully on the gravel road that leads to the site, its quite easy to spin out when you're driving at even moderate speeds.

-YvW