Conger Spring

These are the days in the middle of winter where you see more air traffic than road traffic........

When the weather cooperates we try to get out and enjoy the short daylight hours while we can. 

 

 

Last week we drove around to find Fossil Mountain and the GPS coordinates Bryan found on the internet failed us. We'll have to try again sometime. It was a cool drive anyway and we saw some neat features, such as this pothole-looking ridges next to the road. The BLM also failed us by not having informative signs.......

lol 

Ava made use of the rock hammer first ......................

When you explore in this part of the desert - you are likely to run into a heard of sheep and a sheephearders camp..........
"Baa Baa black sheep have you any wool?"

 

We ended up driving up to Conger Spring to find some fossils there. So, the great search began......

There was an obvious hole where other rockhounders were before.
Bryan & Isaac found most of their fossils on the surface while walking in a wash......
Meanwhile, I was happy to sit in the hole and dig them out.........

Success! These are called Crinoids.
Here is the description I got online:
Crinoids are unusually beautiful and graceful members of the phylum Echinodermata. This is the phylum that brings you starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars. The crinoids are a breed apart however, they resemble an underwater flower. Some even have parts that look and act like roots anchoring them to the ocean floor. They are commonly called sea lilies. Their graceful stalks can be meters long. Other varieties have no stalks or root like parts. They are commonly known as feather stars. Unlike the sea lilies the feather stars can move about on tiny hook like structures called cirri.
They are some of the oldest fossils on earth.

It's nice to actually find what you go in search for....... we didn't leave empty-handed on this day ~
Horray for Crinoids!

Another beautiful winter day comes to a close as the sun sets over Conger Spring............

We are growing fond of these rockhounding adventures..........