North Sulphur River Trip Recommendations

[fossil fury]

Hello, fossil fury here. We're going to the NSR August 7 and 8. Anybody know some good places to stay? Would you camp or stay at a inexpensive hotel? If you do stay at a motel, which one?

[CreekCrawler]

Hi Fossil Fury, the closest town/city near the Sulphur river is Ladonia Tx.It's a small town without a hotel/motel.There might be a Bed and Breakfast there,but who knows. I would check into staying in Bonham Tx which is a much larger town that would have a hotel or motel and other conveinences that Ladonia doesn't have..Bonham is about 20-30 minutes from the Sulphur,so it's not too far.If you decide to camp out you are much braver than I am, as it will be pretty hot at night which makes for sleepless nights. Try to plan your trip when the Sulphur gets a good washing from rain because right now the water is very low and there are ATV tracks everywhere in the river bottom which makes collecting difficult.If the Sulphur gets pounded by a substantial rain even it will take up to 3 days for the river to subside enough to get in there and do some collecting.Also check the weather upstream before you enter the river basin to collect.The Sulphur rises very fast and once you are in there the banks are very high and in some places impossible to climb out.

Hope this helps

Barry

[barefootgirl]

You can also stay in Paris. The Victorian Inn is cheap and fairly decent. Whatever you do, DON'T stay at the Budget Inn or especially the Kings Inn. It's hot hot hot down at the Sulphur this time of year. The river runs west to east and there is no shade in most of it. I suggest being out there as the sun is rising and hunting in the early morning hours. Take lots of water and Gatorade.

[FossilForKids]

I stayed at the holiday inn express in Commerce that way I checked out the SOuth SUlpher as well but I actually skipped the South.

[Tony Eaton]

I hope it rains for you. I went down there for the first time in maybe 9 years the other day and it was almost completely dry and pretty well picked over. I had a specific destination to collect micro teeth material in a tributary at the basal Ozan formation but that didn't pan too well (too much erosion I guess from the time my source material was published). So I hit the main river and found that the red bed zone is practically to the 34 bridge now! Erosion again :-) Well, no complaints as the red bed layer is good. Still, I only found one whole shark tooth and nothing too interesting beyond that. My big mistake was forgetting to bring the Fossil Collector's Guidebook to the North Sulphur River or at least a good map. BTW, this book is a very good buy for $10.

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/details/OPv4.htm

http://www.dallaspaleo.org/dpsstorepubs.htm

[Lindsey]

I agree that book is a very good buy, it has been a nice help for me. We might be heading out to the river this weekend since it's a hair cooler that our trip a couple weekends ago. I do want to add that when you do come across what little water is in the river try your best to avoid it, it's not the least bit pleasant and in my opinion scalding hot