Geode and Fossil Hunting in Lindsay Wilderness, Bonaparte Iowa

April 06, 2020

Geode and Fossil Hunting in Lindsay Wilderness, Bonaparte Iowa

Hello and greetings and love to all of you. I thought I would share with you yesterday's adventure. When I am in Iowa two of my favorite activities are geode and morrell mushroom hunting. The best time for both of these is the spring.

Inside of a geode. Unfortunately I could not capture how sparkly a geode is !

Geodes are the state rock of Iowa. They are really fun to hunt...once you know what to look for. Each spring a new cache of them is washed into the streams of southeast Iowa. Their boring concrete-looking surface belies the lovely crystals inside. No one knows exactly how they are formed but they are found in the presence of limestone shale of our area in Iowa.

Equipped with a bag and knee high boots, in the company of Lucky and Tom Siegel, I set out to walk the streams in Lindsay Wilderness.

Lovely spring flowers brightened the way

Dutchman's Breeches one of my favorite of the delicate spring flowers

Unfortunately I did not get as big a haul as I usually do. The streams were very dry and a new crop of geodes is dependent on the washing of the stream banks to dislodge more geodes

The best geodes have hollow space inside so that the quartz crystals have more capacity to reflect light. The first one I found was also the best. Though small there was a lot of reflected light because of the hollowness. Here is the before and after breaking photos.

It is usually better to break the geodes at home where you can control the breaking and you don't loose the pieces as easily. Here is the total "catch".

Here are the best after the cracking. I can not capture with my iPhone how glittery and sparkly they are.

Also scored a fossil probably of some kind of ancient coral on left side and brachiopod on right side

I am pretty sure this is part of a fossilized shark tooth- also found yesterday. The tip is broken off but the "root" part intact.

Well it was a fun afternoon and for a few hours the healing balm of Mother Nature washed away all thought of the current pandemic. Lucky had a blast running in the streams - one of his favorite activities.