How To Get There

Map courtesy of U-Dig Fossils

Soon you will be able to see the quarry and plain wooden "office" off to the right along with piles and piles of excavated shale full of trilobites.  Take a final right turn down a steep section of road that drops through a wash and back up to the office to check in.  Once there, you will see the price chart on the back wall .

 

Length of stay	Age 7 to 16	Adults - Age 17 and older
2 hours	$16	$28
Half Day - 4 hours	$28	$42
Full Day - 8 hours	$42	$70

  The U-DIG Fossils quarry is located approximately 52 miles west of Delta, Utah, near Antelope Springs. Once in Delta, first travel 32 miles west on Highway 6/50. At the Long Ridge Reservoir sign between mile markers 56-57, turn right. There is a U-DIG Fossils sign at this intersection pointing the way.

Then travel 20 miles down a well-maintained but dusty and rather desolate looking gravel road to reach the U-DIG Fossils trilobite quarry. Any type    of vehicle can travel this gravel road.

  Pick up some gear and go find some Trilobites!

We found the directions to be quite accurate and the location very easy to find.  Stop by West Desert Collectors or The Bug House in Delta for more detailed directions if needed.   You can also find U-Dig on the Utah map here at Rock Picks. 

Our Rock Picks Report

  We left our camp site at Topaz Mountain and drove back to Delta for breakfast.  From there it was off to U-Dig to find some trilobite fossils.  We followed the directions we had and set off to see if we could find it.  Once there, we checked in at the "office" where we were greeted by Bevan Hardy.  Bevan went out of his way to make sure our stay at the quarry was an enjoyable one. We chose the 2 hour option for $20 ($28 for 2008) per person which seemed to be the best fit to our time limitations.   If you do not have your own tools, a chisel point rock hammer and 5 gallon bucket will be provided to you at no extra charge.  From there Bevan took us out to the quarry area and explained which areas we could collect from and which areas were plainly marked as off limits and gave a bit of background on the area.  The shale formations found there are part of the House range and just in case you don't know what a Trilobite is, it is a form of invertebrate marine life that lived more than 500 million years ago in the period known as the mid-Cambrian.  Other types of fossils that can be found include brachiopods, sponges, worm tracks, and phyllocarids.  Bevan gave a brief demonstration on the best way to use the rock hammer to split the shale into flat sheets and how the trilobite fossils lie nearly flat along the splitting planes of the shale.  Every so often, he would drop in on us to see how we were doing and assist in identifying the fossils that we had found so far.  There was gray shale piled everywhere so we each settled in to our own "spot" and began to split away.  It was only a few minutes before the first trilobite specimens were found.  By the time our 2 hours were up, we all had buckets full of shale pieces with some nice specimens.  We were also told by Bevan that if we got tired of swinging a hammer, we could find "popout" specimens that have popped loose from the shale matrix just lying around in the fine debris piles along the sides of the road leading thru the shale piles.  I gave it a try and in just a short time had picked up half a dozen small ones.  When it was time to head back, we packed our buckets back to the office, looking for more popouts all the way back.  Once we had unloaded our buckets into the back of our truck, we turned them and our borrowed rock hammers back in to Bevan.  Winding down our visit, he showed us several fantastic specimens that he had collected recently himself.  At the office, there were also specimens for sale as well as a nice assortment of rock picks, safety glasses and other tools and supplies.  Mike picked up a 10x BeLomo  loupe and lanyard like the one I carry at a price that was surprisingly reasonable.  Many fee based locations tend to overprice anything they have for sale on site but not U-Dig.  We found the entire experience to be quite fun, informative and well worth the price.  Bevan was very knowledgeable, friendly, enthusiastic and helpful which added greatly to the overall experience there. 

Well done U-Dig! 

Additional Photos

A "popout" specimen of Elrathia Kingi with an attached specimen of Peronopsis Interstricta approximately 1 inch in length.

Several more "popout" specimens of Eltrathia Kingi.

 More Pictures Coming Soon!