My daughter is about to start her final year of the Master's Degree that will allow her to be a full-fledged paleontologist -- a dream she's had since she was in junior high. It began on the day we visited Ashfall Fossil Beds, which is in Northeastern Nebraska. We'd visited it a few times prior because it's not too far from our home, but on this particular visit there were interns from the University of Nebraska Lincoln working in the rhino barn -- the active dig site -- and I struck up a conversation with one of them. While the intern and I visited, my daughter was listening, quite attentively as it turned out. When we left, she said to me that she wanted to do that when she grew up.
She never wavered. She attended UNL and majored in biology (she preferred that to geology, which is the other undergrad major a future paleontologist can choose). While at UNL, she spent two summers interning at Ashfall and also worked for the collections department of UNL's museum and learned how to become a preparator in a laboratory, which is what she wants to do. Now, she is in her master's program majoring in paleontology.
She recently came home for a short visit, and in that time, she and I revisited Ashfall and we made a fast trip to western Nebraska to visit three sites in two days. Her trip culminated in Cherokee, Iowa, at the Sanford Museum, which houses an assortment of fossils found in Turin, Iowa, years ago. Her thesis is about these fossils, so she spent two days photographing and measuring a lot of fossils. Now, she can work to finish her thesis, so she can graduate and become the paleontologist she's always wanted to be.
I, myself, never had a huge interest in fossils, but that has definitely changed over the years in which she has been studying them. I don't pretend to know a lick about them, though, but I will share here some of the interesting places in Nebraska that you can visit if you want to see them and/or learn more about them.
Let's start where her journey began.
Ashfall Fossil Beds is located north of the tiny town of Royal, Nebraska. It's been open since 1991, and the site contains a large collection of rhinos that have been left preserved in-situ. You can visit this link to learn more about it: Ashfall Fossil Bed. On that page, you will see the following photo of my daughter working there a few years ago. If you visit the site, you can even buy a magnet of this same photo!
When she and I visited Ashfall a couple weeks ago, she had a pleasant talk with her former boss, Rick Otto, who has been the caretaker of Ashfall ever since it opened.
Naturally, I had to take a photo of her where it all started for her. I think she wanted to climb back down into the rhino pit and start digging like she did for those two summers.
Her professors in Tennessee have asked her many times if she'd been to Agate Fossil Beds, which is in Nebraska, too. She said that she hadn't because it is on the opposite side of the state and a good six hour drive away, but while she was home, we decided to make a fast trip out there. To make even more use of the drive out, we also planned two other important stops.
The first was to Trailside Museum, which is located inside Fort Robinson State Park. Trailside Museum belongs to the University of Nebraska, just as Ashfall Fossil Beds does. Trailside is famous for the mammoth display it contains. It's called "Clash of the Mammoths," which is a fossil display that features two bull mammoths who died with their tusks locked together -- most likely while battling. The fossil was found a few miles from where the museum that now houses it is located.
The two mammoths were named Cope and Marsh for two dueling paleontologists who were at the heart of the Bone Wars. Here's a little video about them if you are interested:
Cope and Marsh
There are other interesting displays in the museum, and it's a very small museum, too, so it doesn't take long to visit it. There is a gift shop in the basement, too, that has a lot to offer.
Not too far from this museum is Toadstool Geological Park. If you visit, prepare yourself for fifteen miles of gravel roads to get to it. I wasn't expecting that, so it was a surprise to me -- thought I'd forewarn anyone reading this. I think I'll be cleaning dust from those roads out of places on my car for years to come! Because of how dry it's been this summer, there was a veritable dust storm behind me as I drove out there and back.
We also visited on one of the hottest days of the summer with temperatures over 100 degrees. It couldn't be helped because we only had a small window of time in which to visit, but the heat did make it a bit unpleasant -- at least for me. However, we still walked and hiked around a good part of it -- naturally, on a cooler day and with more time, we would have done more (or at least my daughter would have if she hadn't had her old mom dragging her down!).
Toadstool is smack dab in the middle of nowhere. In fact, having not met a single car on those 15 miles of graveled road, I was actually surprised to find others at the site, and more arrived after us. We took our water bottles and headed down the trail. First we attempted to do the hard part, but then we backtracked and took the flatter trail around the backside and up into the formation.
Proof that I actually did go into the park.
We spent the night in the tiny town of Harrison, which is only a few miles from the Wyoming border. Even though it has fewer than 300 inhabitants, the town has everything you need -- a couple motels, a gas station, a saloon/restaurant that serves excellent pizza burgers and is definitely the social hub of the town, the county courthouse, and the county school. There's also a general store and a museum as well as a library and other things I'm sure I missed.
We had to visit Wyoming while we were that close, of course.
The next day, we drove to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, which is about twenty miles south of Harrison. Remember that I said that Toadstool is smack dab in the middle of nowhere? So is Agate!
It was another hot day when we went there, but at least there was an air-conditioned building staffed by friendly park rangers to visit and escape the heat for a while. Agate preserves the Miocene mammals that were found in the area as well as the relationship that was fostered between a rancher named James Cook and Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota.
Through the window you can see the raised area where the fossils were discovered and to which we hiked after touring the museum.
My future paleontologist in her element.
There is an interesting book by this that explains every image depicted on this.
Before going outside on our hike, we viewed the twelve-minute movie about the site. My daughter knew three of the people in it because she worked with or met them while studying and working at UNL in the collections department. The movie is a bit dated, but it is still very informative and well done.
There is a two-mile loop walkway that takes you up to the two peaks where the fossils were discovered years ago. Once again, lucky us, it was 100 degrees out, but we did the trek anyway. We had our water and the couple shaded benches that are located along the way to cool us a bit as needed. The hike is well worth it, in my opinion.
From the top, you can see forever it feels like. The Niobrara River valley stretches as far as the eye can see, and the view is spectacular. My photos don't do it justice, but I will post some. I enjoyed knowing that same Niobrara River that runs not far from where I live was responsible for the magnificent views.
We begin the long walk.
See those peaks behind us? That's where we're going!
A tiny bit of wetlands in a vast expanse of dry area.
At the top. Checking out the original discovery site.
One of the two peaks.
There are also signs that say there are active rattlesnakes, so I was on high alert for the sound of any rattles. Unfortunately, there are the noisiest grasshoppers I've heard that abound here, and they make this crazy rattling sound every time they take off. It's really loud, and I realized that I wouldn't even have been able to hear a rattlesnake's warning anyway! Thankfully, we didn't see any snakes, and thankfully the entire trail up is paved and well maintained.
After driving back across the state, we had a few days of rest before heading to Cherokee, Iowa, for two days prior to her return to Tennessee.
She spent those two days in the basement collections area of Sanford Museum where she photographed and catalogued a bulk of the Turin fossils. I spent that time in the Cherokee Public Library and in the independent bookstore there called The Book Vine -- it sells books and wine.
The museum is a nice small museum that also has a small planetarium.
One of the many oddities that are housed in the basement of the Sanford Museum.
So, if you are interested in fossils and you live in or will visit Nebraska, be sure to visit Morrill Hall at UNL, but also go to the far-flung parts of the state and see Ashfall Fossil Beds, Agate Fossil Beds, Trailside Museum, and Toadstool Geological Park. Be prepared for a lot of driving, and take lots of water with you for the hikes.
If possible, take along a paleontologist, too. It makes the trips a lot more interesting!
