FJC Fossil Excursion

[uphill]

500,000,000 (five hundred million) years ago the Cambrian Period marked an important point in the history of life on earth; it was the time when most of the major groups of animals first appeared in the fossil record. This event is sometimes called the "Cambrian Explosion", because of the relatively short time over which this diversity of forms appeared.

Today an intrepid group of amateur fossil hunters went in search of the remnants of that ancient time in the Latham Shale, near the almost Ghost Town of Chambless, California.

UPHILL (Ti FJ), VOLHOO (Col Mustard FJ) and friends James (Jeep Wrangler) & Mike (Ford Bronco) -- with families-- trekked back into the dim and distant past through their explorations on "Black Friday" when most of the people in SoCal were crowding into shopping malls in a mad panic to spend their hard-earned money.


VOLHOO stops by a road sign to find the way to the fossil shale. The confusion is enough to drive a species extinct.


Mike recruited the best spotters he could find!


UPHILL discussing "the line" with James.


Sometimes an old mining road will turn into a trail making the turn-around interesting. (note turn-around carnage on rear bumper)



EXPLORATION


VOLHOO directs a team of crack paleontologist at his "dig".


Emilie (MISSUPHILL) examines shale for fossils. She found some ancient coral and another example of petrified algae between slabs of shale.


Éamon scores a big find!


Heavily ladened with fossils, a handy hatchet and a water bottle, a notorious desert rat makes her way back toward the Jeep.


The truth is out there...I know it is.

AFTER FOSSIL HUNTING, it's time for firearms instruction and target practice:







Another successful desert run with fossils and spent cartridge casings to show for it!

[mir207]

uphill previously said:

note turn-around carnage on rear bumper

First off, that looks alot more fun than the office did today.

Second, good job that Kaymar is on the way. (BTW: that's what prompted the end of my cheap-o-plastic-stock rear bumper - about 10 days into ownership )

[1911]

Geology, paleontology, guns, four-wheeling, family and friends - could life possibly be any better?

Thanks for the report and photos and enjoy your holiday.

Sitting at home with kids, grandkids, and great-grandparents from Scotland. Four generations of our family at the compound for the holidays. We'd be out shooting except for the steady rain we're getting. Might have to drive all the way to Dallas for the big indoor gun show.

[jferg]

Thanks uphill for the nice pictures and the information on how your hunt went. It must be nice to go out and look for fossils this time of year in short sleeves. I wish I could do that up here.....

[Woodsman]

Those photos make me miss my little Ruger with bull barrel . . .

and they make me wish I wasn't so dang far from the Great American West.

[uphill]

1911 previously said:

Geology, paleontology, guns, four-wheeling, family and friends - could life possibly be any better?

No. That's about as good as it can get. On top of that, I forgot to mention that we had leftover home-made rolls with stuffing, turkey and cranberry sauce made into sandwiches - and the ubiquitous deviled eggs for lunch. It was like eating Thanksgiving dinner all over again.

jferg previously said:

It must be nice to go out and look for fossils this time of year in short sleeves. I wish I could do that up here.....

I know that Southern California is the land of fruits and nuts - I know that there are earthquakes and fires. But the near perfect weather EVERY DAY, the 4-wheeling availability all year round, etc. is great compensation. Where else can you lay on the beach in the morning and be skiing in the afternoon? (ski slopes are about an hour's drive away - later in the year when there's snow on the mountains)

Woodsman previously said:

Those photos make me miss my little Ruger with bull barrel . . .

They are fine target pistols. Great to train kids with and I have to admit that I enjoy plinking too.

The great green land out east is attractive, but the arid west provides a lot of opportunities to explore. The Latham Shale is one of several cool places in the Amboy area.

Amboy was established as a city in 1858 and turned into a ghost town. Very recently an investor bought the town and is restoring it. When we drove through yesterday, restoration was in progress - but it's not done by any stretch of the imagination.

Marble Mountain is adjacent to the Latham Shale (a massive limestone ediface), there are cool spots to explore all around there and the best part is that there are just meandering desert roads that come into existence and are reclaimed by the desert through disuse. There's no definitive way to get anywhere once you leave Route 66. While we did tread lightly, we were forced to drive cross-desert in a few places because there was no option in order to find the fossil beds.

On my way out, I found myself driving down a disused aircraft runway - something out of the Twilight Zone, with a tattered wind sock fluttering in the breeze, old hangars. I just happened on this spot because I was trying to get out. It wasn't really exploring. That's one of the cool parts of running the desert in this part of California.

Sometimes you run onto things - historical things - WW2 training facilities used to prepare American troops for landings in North Africa in 1942 complete with crates of old equipment - crashed aircraft - lost mines (which you don't want to go into) - Indian arrowheads - cool rocks including jasper, turquoise, and yes, gold - and even the ruins of towns, with only the ghosts remaining. It's a massive desert but it's not the wasteland that people paint it to be. It's very interesting.

[Shadow-Warrior]

It looks like a great day out with family and friends on the trail. I wish I could have been there myself, thanks for posting the pics Larry

[abophx]

That's one of the best trail threads I've seen for awhile. The WWII, Native American and turquoise stuff also caught my attention.
Thanks for the post up!!

[pokerDawg]

Shadow-Warrior previously said:

It looks like a great day out with family and friends on the trail. I wish I could have been there myself, thanks for posting the pics Larry

x2

Great read and photos

[volhoo]

We all had a GREAT time yesterday Larry.

Thanks a lot for putting this together and for showing us this incrediable spot.

We found a bunch of fossils and will definately go back up there.

I have a stock rear bumper wing for you here at the house.

Give me a call and come over for a Beer and pick it up.

Thanks again....