This past weekend we drove to the Catalina Mountains just north of Tuscon in search of Trilobites in the soft grey limestone. We found the collecting site from Gem Trails of Arizona by J. R. Mitchell It was written in 2001, so some of the accuracy in the ‘freshness’ of gathering sites may be outdated. However, we went with high hopes of finding something and if not, at least having an adventure!
2/15/08
After a few hours on the road, we reached the Catalina Mountains and struggled to accurately follow the hand drawn map in the book to a little town called Oracle. We passed the road titled “Biosphere” with a bit of hesitation, seriously considering pausing our fossil hunt for a side trip to the unknown ‘biosphere’, but giddily declined: the possibility of fossils waiting to be found too tantalizing to let linger.
Turning into Oracle we passed a few small town icons: the one gas station, cows along side the dirt road, and abandoned houses. The dirt road winded up and around hills finally reaching the base of a large hill (or small mountain… I’m still not sure which one it was). Our little 4 door crawled up the dirt switchbacks, rounded the top of the hill-mountain. I held my breath as we drove over a washed out part of the dirt road that revealed a steep cliff overhang just inches from the driver side wheels. Parking at the base of the hill on the other side, we walked 100 paces to the wash where said fossils were supposedly waiting to be found and adored in a collection by adventurous fans.
When we turned into the trench, a hillbilly family was occupying the entrance with their well worn Ford Truck. They moved timidly away from us. We gave a kind hello and asked if they had found anything, seeing them picking about with a metal detector. We passed them quickly after they gave a few grunts in our direction, the woman continuing to search and her son swinging about in the trees, breaking them and tumbling into the ditch. Many people search for gold nuggets in the bottom of washes, as they usually settle there. If they had found anything they certainly were not sharing information with us.
The soft grey limestone dotted the sides of the deep trench-like wash. A pine like tree grew alongside the cactus in the wash and up the hillsides, making it easier for us to climb up the steep bank to hack away at the stones. The limestone had evidence of eager hunters before us. We searched for 3 hours. Nothing. Except one little thing… a baby lizard. We found him next to a scorpion huddle (they huddle under rocks together to keep warm).
The sun was setting, so we drove home passing along the way the part of the road that was threatening to wash out down the cliff, this time I was the one inches from the edge starring down the rocky, cactus-laden slope. We plan to try a new spot each weekend, so be prepared for a little Arizona adventure sprinkled into whatever else I decide to throw on my blog.
Gary, the baby lizard we found, has taken up residence in a home-made habitat inside a plastic spinach box on our kitchen counter. We’ve had to tape it down because our cat Autumn has a particular fondness towards Gary.
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