Matt Dillon led a trip to Falcon Lake in January. Seventeen members attended
(see below), and many found agate. (Left: Jim Kendall's really nice black pume in translucent agate.) Neal Immega expected to collect on the gravel exposed by the Texas drought, but the gravel near the lake shore was completely coated by calichi (lime) and algae. There was no lack of material to look at, but there was an abundance of thorny bushes on-site that required boots and heavy clothes. Chert and agate pebbles were scattered through the calichi like chocolate chips in a cookie.

The January field trip to the Walker Ranch is definitely ON, even if we don't get 50 people signed up (there are 29 signed up now).  The trip will occur on January 21-23, 2011.  That's one less thing to be concerned about, so you can finalize your plans! Please contact Teri
to reserve your spot.

For those who have signed up for the January trip, don't forget to send in your deposits.

It is about time for what has become the HGMS Annual Field Trip to Brownwood, TX.
 
The dates are set. Friday-Sunday, March 18-20, 2011. You may begin arriving on Thursday afternoon/evening on the 17th.
 
Lexy and Mike are once again kind enough to let us use the house. You are welcome to stay at the house or in one of the local motels. There is a kitchen, a bathroom, a few beds (usually taken by the ladies) and lots of floor space. Bring a sleeping bag, cot or mat (and a towel). There is camping at Lake Brownwood State Park or you can camp for free in Lexy's back yard.
We will have some community meals or you can eat at one of the local restaurants. There is also a grocery store on the next block and a Wal-Mart in town. Lexy is working up a menu, so we will get back to you with details of what to bring.
 
Collecting will begin on Friday morning, the 18th, through Sunday morning the 20th. We will be collecting Pennsylvanian fossils including urchins, gastropods, bivalves, corals, brachiopods, the occasional rare shark tooth, and other goodies.
 
Of course, what and where we do it will depend some on the weather. We will try to hit our favorite spots. Since Saturday will be the primary day for most people, the plan will probably be to go to Wilson's Clay Pit in the morning for a few hours, a quick lunch, and then go to the spillway. Locations for Friday and Sunday morning to be determined.
 
RSVP back to me at field_trips@hgms.org so we can get a head count.

This notice is to get the date on your calendar. More info will be put out later.

Mike Dawkins
Field Trip Leader

Field Trip to the Pennsylvanian - Brownwood, Texas

We will visit many of our old collecting sites in Brownwood: spillway, Wilson Clay Pit,
Park Road 15, etc.

We also will get to stay with Lexy and eat with the gang. Don't worry about what to bring--she will assign you something, and there is a Walmart close by. Come for any part of the trip. E-mail Neal Immega for a map and details. Special feature: Tully Hair will be showing his fabulous Pennsylvanian collection again.

Petrified Wood in Jasper
$5 fee and you keep all you can carry. But...you have to get it to your car. Bring backpacks, tarps, ropes, and a few strong friends (or lots of weak ones). There is a 12-foot gully between your car and one of the best wood sites. Kids welcome. HGMS Members ONLY, and you must have paid your 2009 dues! Neal is bringing an up-to-date roster to check.

Afterwards: We had a big turnout for Petrified Wood at Jasper. I guess the landscapers wanted material, the lapidary people wanted rock to cut, the mineral section people finally figured out that petrified wood is made of QUARTZ (took you long enough), and paleo people wanted weird kinds of fossil wood. As usual, Scott tormented people by telling them "well you can see that this is not a conifer because it has parenchyma" and such wood anatomy babble. Troy confirmed that my anti-tank ditch would indeed stop the tanks he had been driving in the service, but that given 10 minutes with a dozer, it would stop being a problem. The rest of us wanted to know when he was going to show up with a dozer. Neal

Photo by Steve Blyskal

Brown County Fossil Hunt
The next trip is to Brownwood - March 19-22 (spring break for some schools). Come for part or all of the trip.

We will be doing our old Pennsylvanian age localities: Spillway, Wilson Clay Pit, Cattle Tank, Park Road 15, and some new ones for urchins, corals, brachiopods, crinoids, shark teeth, and sponges.

Field Trip Headquarters is Lexy's Grandmother's house in Brownwood:

You can stay for free at Lexy's house. Bring a cot or something. There are some beds. Eat family style or on Austin Street (just next door). This is a cheap trip.

Each day we meet up at the house (not Wal-mart like last time) at 9 a.m. for the day's caravan out.

Let me know if you are coming.

Inda and I will be there the whole time. In fact, we are visiting King Tut in Dallas the day before and will keep driving north.

This year Inda and I are stopping off in Dallas to see the King Tut exhibit before we get to Brownwood. It is not nearly as old and dead as Pennsylvanian fossils, but there is gold on display, and I am a sucker for museums.

Neal

August 23
11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Field Trip to Damon Mound 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Come anytime in that period.

Who: Joint field trip for Houston Gem and Mineral Society, Houston Geological Society, Houston Museum of Natural Science, and anyone else who sees this announcement.

Cost: Free

Host: Neil Yelderman of the 6E Ranch and Neal Immega of HGS, HGMS, HMNS.

Waiver: Everyone will be asked to sign a waiver by the land owner.

Location: About 50 miles from downtown Houston. Turn off on Hwy 36 south of Rosenburg. About
0.5 mile north of intersection of Hwy 36 and FM 1462, there is a very old billboard for the Dresser Atlas Quarry to mark the spot.

Drive west until you see the headquarters car (red Honda CRV). I will put out orange tape to mark the road.

Look it up on Google Earth (it is free), and put in these coordinates exactly into your GPS to see where you are going.  Meet at N29.298785 W95.754633, Turn off Hwy 36 at N29.304471 W95.736868.

What to see: Caprock of the salt dome and the Miocene reef draped over it. Collect the abundant coral, pectens, rare urchins, and occasional sulfur blebs in the caprock.

The Damon Mound salt dome has produced oil, sulfur by the Frasch process, and finally, crushed stone.

Services: none at the salt dome, but there are plenty in Needville a few miles north. It will be HOT, and yes, there are fire ants, snakes, and cattle.

We have run field trips to Damon Mound in the past, and everyone had a good time. Normally there is a locked gate between you and the pit.

Neal Immega n_ImmegaATswbell.net (replace the AT with @)

POSTPONED! due to high water on 4:23 PM Oct 10th. I will reschedule. Neal

It is time for our annual canoe trip down the Brazos and our not collecting of banned vertebrate fossils from the river bed.
Field Trip Leader: Chris Peek
Where: 7:30 a.m., meet at the Exxon station at exit 723, on I-10 about 50 miles west of Houston.
What: we will canoe down the river  from the San Filipe city park to the I-10 bridge over the brazos.
How long: We will be out of the river by 2 p.m.. It is a 7 mile trip, and we make lots of stops. This is a fossil trip using canoes.
If you have a canoe or kayak, round up your friends and come. Typically, our kayakers serve as safety boats for our typically less experienced canoers. Remember, this is brown water rafting.
Cost: if you do not have river transport, you may send me $20 for canoe rental.
We typically rent 8 canoes, and that means 16 to 24 spaces. We will pair up less-experienced with more experienced people.

The LMRA Rock Club
Field Trip to Brownwood , TX

Purpose: To collect TEXAS FOSSILIZED HORNED CORAL.
Date & Time: Saturday October 31st, meet at 10:00 a.m. in the parking area outside the main entrance to Lake Brownwood State Park. (However if you wish to hunt Friday or Sunday morning, you may call Bob Boyd on his cell. He will make arrangements to meet you.)

Cost:    No cost.  Location:  Near Brownwood , Texas .
Meeting Place:  Parking area outside the main entrance to Lake Brownwood State Park .
Background:  We will be hunting along a road cut. The coral is weathering from the road cut and is on the surface. No digging is required. This hunt will not take more than 1-2 hours. 
Preparations:  Participants should supply all rockhounding and essential gear. For this hunt knee pads, and gloves and a rock hammer should suffice.  A long screwdriver can be handy for prying fossils out of the ground. The area we’ll be collecting in is grassy and hilly, so durable clothing such as jeans and hiking boots are suggested. There is always a possibility of encountering snakes, so be sure to keep children close to the hunt area, and it would be best if  they wore high-top boots of some  kind. Insect repellent is also recommended as there is a problem with ticks. Bring a hat  for sun/rain protection and also a raincoat or poncho just in case.  Be sure to bring  buckets or boxes to carry your treasures home.
Directions--Suggested route: Take Highway 377 southwest from Ft. Worth to Brownwood . Turn northwest on Hwy 279 and travel for about 16 miles to Park Road 15. Turn east and drive
6 miles to the park entrance. We will meet at the gravel parking area just outside  the main gate to the State Park.
Important Note: There is no limit to the number of participants; active members of any rockhound club are welcome to join.  This time of year, weather could be a problem; keep an eye on the forecast.

Brown County
We will visit the spillway and add some new exciting stops to this year’s trip. As a treat this year we have invited some of the local fossil collectors to bring their fossils and tell about fossil hunting as residents in Brown County. One of the invited guests will be Tully Hair, but more about him later.

You may arrive Wednesday the 19th to be ready for a trip the next day. Each day we will meet at the Walmart at 8:30 in the parking lot nearest Hwy 67 (as far from the building as possible). A map showing Lexy's house and the Walmart is HERE. We will be collecting Pennsylvanian age fossils like brachiopods, crinoids, bryozoa, squid family, and sharks. Some stops are extremely easy like Wilson's Clay Pit; others are very difficult like the spillway. Bring serious collecting tools. Neal Immega will have a super pry bar and sledge hammer. Bring bags for bulk collecting as there are many sites with neat micros. 

We are invited to stay for free at Lexy's house and to eat from the common pot - breakfast and dinner. Bring something to put in it. The house is within walking distance from lots of food outlets. You may camp in her backyard, and there is room for RVs (without hookups). Lexy has a limited number of beds, so you should bring something to sleep on. We have done this before and had a great time. Please let us know if you are coming.

Remember - bring the signed Assumption of Risk Form mentioned above. Really!

If you have a canoe, line up some paddlers. We will rent canoes for a price of $25/head - payable in advance, or a promise that you will pay even if you do not show. (Really!)

Collect Pleistocene vertebrates like elephants, bison, and horse - plus petrified wood. (B. Mace even found snakewood!) Mace found the best elephant toe bone I have seen. Our Congress creature Culberson found a wolf jaw (verified by the Smithsonian).

 Meet at the Exxon truck stop at exit 723 on I-10 50 miles west of Houston at 7:30 a.m. (really). Don't come late.

We will try to be on the river at 8 a.m. and off the river by 2 p.m. Seven mile trip, four excellent stops. Brown water rafting at its best. Kayaker needed because they make the best safety guys though the river is so low that you could walk most of it.

We can rent eight canoes + what you will bring. One time we had 16 canoes on the river for the HGMS navy.

Details - See a Map. If you do NOT have canoes/kayaks/etc and are in a lightly filled vehicle, go to the take out point under the I-10 bridge (see map). The access road on the north side of I-10 is two way all the way. Park your vehicle there and car pool to the put in point (see map).  We need vehicles at both places to ferry drivers back to the put in point. Immega will be under the bridge to encourage the process. Peek will be at the Exxon truck stop.

2007 Club Field Trips

Field Trip Objective: Petrified wood from the Catahoula Formation, Oligocene age. The Catahoula is known for its great abundance of silicified wood. The silica and mineral impurities (for color) come from volcanic ash originating from west Texas during that time. Palm is common in the Catahoula, but it gets picked up as soon as it weathers out of the formation. Large pieces of wood are common. The three most common types I have found so far are live oak, hard elm, and conifer.

2006 Club Field Trips

January 28-29

North Sulfur River for Cretaceous Vertebrates   North Sulfur River Field Trip  (It didn't rain enough!)

March 22

Brazos River Walk-in

HGMS Show Committee hosted a spring field trip for the entire club to the Alcoa Three Oaks lignite mine.

2005 Club Field Trips

March

Mineral Wells/Jacksboro—Sponge Fest!   Mineral Wells/Jacksboro

April 27–29

Lake Bridgeport, TX   A.J. Petty Thesis covers this area. Right-click to save PDF to your disk. 300K file

May 27–30

Lake Texoma, TX    Search for ammonites    Lake Texoma, TX

July 23

Dolese Quarry in Lawton, OK     Permian reptiles  
Lawton OK Panorama    31 Photos    Small Panorama (125K)
                                                       Huge Panorama (5.5MB)

Date?

Chisum Quarry, Gore, OK        Blastoids and Corals 
Gore, OK Panorama  9 Photos Dry Quarry (97 K)  Dry Quarry (Huge--5 MB)
                                            Wet Quarry (97 K)  Wet Quarry (Huge--2 MB)

August 6

Glen Rose, TX    Dinosaur tracks on the Paluxy River  Glen Rose, TX

October 21

Midlothian Ash Grove Quarry Purpose    Map1    Map2

2004 Club Field Trips

2003 Club Field Trips

2002 Club Field Trips

January 25

Lake Brownwood, TX  Pennsylvanian fossils   Lake Brownwood

February 3

College Station, TX   Petrified wood    College Station, TX

Downloads—PDF files (Acrobat Reader is required for these files.)
Right-click to save target to your disk.

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Houston Building Stones Walking Tour - guide and map
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------Middle Eocene, Clairborne Group, Stone City Member at Whiskey Bridge at the Brazos River------

                        Whiskey Bridge, Eocene marine fossils
Locality info            Fossil Guide           Outcrop Guide
                        Collection Cards     Teachers Guide       Article on the site by Dr. Yancy   
Squid Beaks explained by Dr. Yancy

-----------------------------------Pennsylvanian, Finis Shale, Jacksboro spillway --------------------------------------

Article by Lobza, Schieber, and Nestell on the geology of the spillway. - 6 meg PDF

-------------Pennsylvanian, Winchell fm, Lake Brownwood spillway --13 meg PDF---------

Ph. D Thesis by Christie Lynn Schneider

---------------------------------Permian, Arroyo Fm, Seymour, Tx, HMNS dig site----------------------------

Xenacanth shark coprolite.--1.5 meg PDF

Xenacanth shark cartilage. -- 1.5 meg PDF

-------------------------------------------Wilson Clay Pit, Brown County------------------------------------------------

Shark Cartilage -- 1.5 meg PDF

--------------------------------------College Station Petrified Wood-------------------------------------

Article on Snakewood - 4 meg PDF

All materials copyright 2002, 2005 by the Houston Gem & Mineral Society. All rights reserved. For details or higher-resolution versions of the images, contact the Field Trip Chair.
Field Trip Chair:   Mike Dawkins
To avoid spammers, I attach a version of my e-mail address; change AT to an @:    mdawkins_2000ATyahoo.com