Hiking! Love it way more than coins. The body of water in the last image is actually the same body of water in the second to last image, only viewed from about 1000’ higher.
I love hiking too but sine I've had over 10 surgeries on both feet and a total knee replacement, well, 3 miles and I'm swollen to the point I have to stop. My avatar is from the AT Trail. I've had the pleasure to hike some beautiful sections before the surgeries. Thanks for the memories.
You don't really hike here in southern Florida, at least not unless you are prepared to come close to these sweet, gentle, well mannered residents.... They are awful hard to spot in the murky swamp waters, but rest assured they can spot you without any problems. Their favorite delicacy is northerners who visit Florida and think taking a stroll here is like taking a walk through the countryside in Maine or New Hampshire. Here is one waiting to see if I'm gullible enough to take his invitation to tea time and a lively discussion on Gallic coinage. Do you see the head? That was a 10 foot Florida gentleman, though I've seen some as big as 14 feet. Needless to say, as tempting as the conversation on Gallic coinage seemed, I declined his invitation. If only he had offered free candy or a free puppy, that might have been harder to refuse.
I saw an 8 footer in Louisiana years ago (decades) when I was stationed at Ft. Polk. Also have a fossilized head of a croc about 16" long packed away somewhere in this house.
@gregarious I love to see your weapon and armor I only have one sword from 1200 BC I always wanted to have an armor or helmet from 5th-8th century AD but never found any yet it seems most helmet and armour are from BC the bronze age not iron.
Nature is really breathtakingly beautiful when you're actually out there surrounded by it. Long long ago during the last century I used to do quite a bit of hiking and mountain trail climbing in the White Mountains. Mt. Madison was the highest peak that we climbed. Beautiful photos also, @bsowa1029 !
I also have an Aborigines Spear from Australia. It's 7'7" tall with a black stripe every 7". The entire spear is wood, even the tip and barb. The barb is a separate piece of wood. A thin but strong string made of plant fiber holds the barb in place. The tip and barb are sharp but not enough to cut you unless force is used. It took several photos to get it all in.
Im a fellow crinoid collector too. Where I live its hard to find any size concretions with lots of full fossilized silurian beauties. I mainly find segments that the lake has broken up and washed up onto the beach. Here's a pic of the largest Ive found: Im not sure what the last fossil is of but it also came from the shores of Lake Michigan. The crinoid above it is about 1" in diameter. But the majority of them I spot are about 1/4" or smaller. Like the ones on the left hand side of this pic.... I mainly just walk the beach after work and if I spot one I'll keep it. I have a necklace I made out of them that my girlfriend refers to as my wampum beads...
Your largest fossil seems similar to a genus of corals I've seen before, called Hexagonaria. They were a type of rugose coral (horned coral) that lived in colonies. In fact, that's probably what it is. You are looking at a type of colony of organisms that existed between 416 million years ago and 360 million years ago. They are found in great abundance in rock formations in Michigan, though I've seen some of these also come from similarly aged rock formations in North Africa. If you can measure the diameter of the individual organisms in the colony I could probably tell you what species of Hexagonaria it is.
Wow.... thank you very much. I've been trying to get to thethe bottom of that one for a few years. Much appreciated.
No problem. I've been into invertebrate fossils for a few years, and I routinely still run across stuff that I have no idea what it is. Lots of interesting ancient critters our there. But it helps that there's always someone else out there who probably knows what it is, which is why the internet is such a great tool for hobbyists like ourselves.
I have a fossil similar to the large one but it's hard to tell from your photo. Is it possible that it's a fossilized turtle shell? It does have the shape of a turtle. It could also be a type of coral.
I'm pretty sure it is a species of Hexagonaria. His is badly worn, but look carefully at the details within the hexagon shapes. Definitely coral-like structures. Compare to this one below that's in better shape. Besides, that rock formation by where he lives is far too old to contain turtle fossils. Turtles would not evolve for another 100 million years or so, and the details I see on his fossil are all wrong for a turtle fossil anyway. It's definitely a coral colony. What's neat is that most rugose coral species were solitary, so finding a species that lived in colonies is a fantastic find. Here is my rugose coral fossil from a more typical solitary species that lived around 380 million years ago near New York state. The fat portion is where the mouth would be.
Wherever I travel throughout my region on my daily journeys, I always imagine the landscape as it was throughout the ages. One of the benefits of living here in Valparaiso is that after the ice ages had come and gone, minerals from way above the canadian shield that broke off from mountains transported by the ice and were deposited in the ground here. One year I rented a motorized post hole digger to ease the digging in my largely clay backyard, in which I planted my mini orchard. Up from the ground I pulled out a 9oz. piece of jadeite. I was thrilled. I'll post a picture when I get a chance. In addition to rocks in the ground we also have what are called erratics, which are boulders transpoted by the ice, and they come in many different sizes and mineral makeups. What Id really like to see is the bottom of Pinhook Bog, which is near Michigan City. It used to be a 90 foot deep kettle lake, that became a true quaking bog after sphagnum moss grew on the top of it and created the bog environment. No one knows what type of animals or artifacts lie in wait at the bottom, but they do know that whatever they do find will be perfectly preserved due to the anerobic environment that bogs create that can preserve "bog mummies" for thousands of years. I don't think that I'll ever find out what is down there. It is owned by the Federal Government and has been managed by the National Park Service since 1962. You can take a ranger guided tour and they let you jump up and down on the mat of living moss covering the lake causing trees to shake all around you. TALK ABOUT A COOL EXPERIENCE. The day I got to do that is in my top 10 coolest natural phenomena I've ever witnessed.