GMS Field Trip April 2023

GMS Field Trip
Jasper, Agate, Fossils, etc in Alabama
Friday, March 24, 2023

April Fool’s Day played a few jokes on us during this field trip. The first joke was on us that morning as we braced ourselves for a stormy trip. But then, other than a little bit of heavy rain close to the metro area, there was barely a drizzle. It turned out to be a great day for collecting on piles of gravel – recently rain-washed piles of gravel. A big crowd of excited rockhounds gathered under beautiful clear skies, then headed to the quarry.

The second April Fool’s joke was on Charles as he confidently led the trip caravan right up to a gravel pile dead end! Oops! The piles we usually visit had grown so large that they obliterated the road where we park! It was okay though, because we had more than twice as much material to explore (60,000 tons!).

In fact, one member found a spectacular piece of petrified wood right as he stepped out of his vehicle! A few minutes later – trilobites! The first trilobites we have ever seen there. The fun continued with more petrified wood, stromatolites, pretty jaspers, incredible agates, gravel with sparkling druzy crystals, oolitic pieces, a pisolitic piece, and a brooksella! I even found a pile of sand full of micro-fossil shells! Every few minutes someone would come to show something incredibly cool, and that’s when the third April Fool’s joke happened to me. My silly cell phone camera decided to focus everywhere but where I pointed it! A momentary panic followed by a quick reboot of my phone and all was well.

By mid-afternoon, everyone had plenty of goodies and the wind was picking up, so we called it a day. It was a fantastic trip! We are forever grateful to the property owners and plant manager for allowing us to visit such a fun place where we always find something we haven’t seen there before. Thank you to the plant manager who donated a gorgeous petrified wood log covered with crystals to be displayed at GMS. Many thanks to the company, plant manager, field trip attendees, and thank you to Charles for arranging this April Fool’s Day trip!

P.S.
No one found any aprifulite.

Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, Field Trip Chair
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