Way back in March, 2007 I had made the run down to the area northeast of Socorro, NM in search of fossilized sea shells, and, maybe, a fossilized fish. A salesman, Jerry G. who visits the hotel regularly had told me about the area and given me detailed directions. I spent a Saturday night in the camper down there, the temperature went down to 13º, the camper battery died and I nearly froze to death. Busted rocks the next morning for 3 hours before giving up.

Now, on Saturday, September 22, 2007, Jerry & I had talked it over and agreed to meet at the rail commuter parking lot near his home at Bernalillo, NM and go together to the fossil digs. When we got there and climbed up onto the hillside in this scenic country, we talked it over and realized that we had had a mis-communication and I’d been a little off on my choice of digging areas. Here, I’m on the proper hillside, in the proper level - location is critical - and hard at work with hammer and chisel. The hillside I’d worked so hard on in March is the red area in the upper right of this shot. Just above center, where the road makes a hard 90 around the patch of green, there’s a clearing just right of the road. That’s where I had camped on that miserable, frozen night. ……………

Looks like Jerry’s a good guide, eh ?? Just a few minutes into the effort and already had a rock with fossils in it………..

Meanwhile, Jerry had focused on a large outcropping of layered rock and was hard at work………….

It helps to know what you’re doing. He & his son have found 1,000’s of fossils in the past, and it wasn’t long before he’d found a rock with dozens of tiny fossils of a variety of species in it. Good thing he keeps his fingernails clean, eh ?? :-)…………..

Meanwhile, ol’ Lar had followed his lead and was busting rock like any good convict - making little rocks out of big ones…………..

I found that the 20 oz straight clawed framing hammer worked about as well as Jerry’s geologist’s pick, tho’ his pick was much superior for fine work. Fine work ?? Busting rock with a hammer ?? ………..

Well, fairly fine, and it worked. Soon, I, too, had found another rock full of fossils, but I wanted better…………

………and soon found it. Here’s a rock with 2 shell halves embedded with the open sides up. I found several like this and broke them trying to get the shells out……………

After several tries, I succeeded in popping one out, and found a surprising level of detail. How many millions of years have these been here ??…………..

Meanwhile, back at the rock ledge, Jerry was banging away, and suddenly called me over. He’d turned a piece of rock over and found an unhappy resident. This thing was close to an inch long, and after looking it over, he carefully replaced the rock slab. Lookit those fangs…………..

While I was there, he showed me a very nice piece of a crinoid - a big tube worm - that he’d found. I’ve seen and photographed the modern equivalent over 30 years ago, while teaching scuba diving in the Los Angeles area……………

Both of us had found several very nice specimens to keep us happy and justify the effort………….

This one of Jerry’s has many small crinoids and shells, as well as the bigger one………….

After a few hours we had enuf to satisfy us and give good souvenirs of the trip……..about ½ dozen each, so after enjoying the scenery some more, and commenting on the cloud formations, we walked back to the car and headed home.

Socorro is about 120 miles from home and I was back in Santa Fe by 2:00 PM, enjoyed a good lunch and kicked back at home after a very pleasant, interesting day. Thanks, Jerry ! ! ! Lar.

P.S. Our timing was good. I woke up Sunday morning to a drizzling rain storm, and we had more rain later in the day. Yup - good timing and a little luck.

Posted: September 25th, 2007 under 07-9-22 Socorro Fossils, 08 New Mexico.
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