Spring Ice Out Meetup

The ice is partially off some of the higher lakes now and that means the full on season of chasing big lake resident trout is almost here. I met up with Mark, Marc, and Scott to find out if the big fish could be found and we had a nice time catching up, talking fishing, drinking various beers, and generally relaxing and enjoying the day. A few trout were found here and there but the hot fishing hadn't yet materialized. At the end of the day I did hook into a nicer brown of about 20 inches which seemed like a good way to end the evening on the water. I took a walk up the hill in a short search for some Jurassic invertebrates and came away with a couple finds but nothing spectacular. It did get me up above the lake for some beautiful evening views and I caught some pretty wildflowers blooming as well.

Mark spotting fish for Marc in the calm morning water

A typical rainbow up here on one of the lakes

Mark working to the rainbows

Jake patiently waiting on us to actually catch something

The brown trout that completed my evening

Wildflowers blooming out on the hillside

What I think is a Jurassic era Camptonectes species of bivalve

Sunday Muddy Sunday

A long drive to start the day, I arrived at the river hoping for some good fishing. It was a roiled muddy mess with the best water up at the dam. I talked to some locals and they said big storms had pummeled the area on Friday and Saturday with some actual flooding in Casper. I tried swinging some big stuff up at the dam a while and after finding nothing moved on to Alcova to search for some invertebrate fossils on the BLM side and hiked up a creek bed for a little while. I found a few scattered examples of belemnites and a pelecypod but didn't really understand the topography until I did the Cottonwood Creek Dinosaur Trail hike across the other side of the reservoir. That really reveals the way the uplift occurred and the different layers of time and at what levels they reside in the surrounding landscape. Plenty of viewable pelecypods on the trail as any collecting is prohibited, so I got some nice photos instead.

Whirlwind Trip On The Fourth

I was up and moving early on the fourth with a starting destination for the day mapped out and ready. Devils Tower was a spectacular start to the morning. I pushed through the fog and overcast from Spearfish into northeastern Wyoming, wondering if I would even get to see the tower. As I turned north the sky opened up and the viewing was beautiful. I walked the Tower Trail around the base of the Bear Lodge as a nice start to the morning. The view of the tower constantly changes as you walk around it with the sun rising and its changing angle of light. Walking 20 feet down the trail seemed to present an entirely new viewpoint. It was nice to take it all in with only a handful of people around this early in the morning. After sitting and contemplating life at the tower for a while I pushed on to my next stop in the Mowry Shale. I searched around for some of the fossil fish scales present in the shale from 95-100 million years ago. At first, I wasn't finding anything but eventually a few began to reveal themselves. Time was short however and I had about 150 miles to cover to get to my afternoon fishing destination and meet up with Adam. We plied the waters of a high country river in the Big Horn range and found some nice cutthroat trout. Adam also managed some rainbows and browns to round out the evening. A storm chased us off but we were thrilled with the outcome. Capping the day with a 1554 black ale, we got some sleep in preparation for the next day of weekend adventure.

Fishing For Knowledge At The Museum

The university is closing the Geological Museum here due to budget cuts and it has been a hot topic in town. It is one of the more popular attractions for visitors and residents alike. I decided to make a trip over and spend some time taking it in before access to this wonderful resource is either severely restricted or completely non-existent. The hope around town and campus is that the budget crisis will subside and they can resume operations but there is no timeframe or way to predict what or when that will happen. The fossils are world class and specifically focus heavily on Wyoming and the ancient life that filled our region over millions of years past. I am saddened to see it close.

"Big Al" the Allosaurus


Monosaur


Wooly Mammoth


The giant bird


Stingray


Fossil Fish


Crocodile skull


Sauropod infant


50 million year old gar - fishing large duckling patterns probably would work


Horned Dinosaur


Triceratops


74 million year old crustacean - Crayfish patterns or buggers would have worked :)


Bite marks on the fossilized bone


Finally of course T. Rex

Chairlift To The Skies And Ancient Seas

Faeron and I headed for a mid morning chair lift ride to the top of Freds Mountain at Grand Targhee to get a nice view of the peaks and the surrounding valley. It was a beautiful morning to be at the top and although the clouds came and went we had some great views. At the top of this mountain also lies the bottom of an ancient sea as evidenced by the fossils embedded in the rocks at nearly 9900 feet above sea level. Referencing the geological map for Wyoming it appears to be Mississippian era seabed (about 320 - 360 million years old) from my admittedly amateur investigation. I can't identify any of these really except for a piece of a crinoid in one of the photos. These are macro photos so they are fairly close up. I wish I had a little better scale in them. If you know what any of these fossils are please post a comment. I would be very grateful.