Oyster Shell Beds

Wind and water patterns left in rock

Saturday afternoon a new person joined our team: Neal and Jessica’s friend Melanie came out to work with us for a few weeks to kickstart our olla collection program.  So on Sunday we all piled into the Jeep and headed out into the Yuha to go off-roading and show her some of the awesome sites.  Neal wanted to drive out and find the oyster shell beds that he’d heard about but never seen.

That’s right readers, oyster shell beds.  What are oysters doing in the desert you ask? Well as we’ve been telling the kids in all the field trips we’ve done this month, this entire area used to be ocean.  That’s why you can find shark’s teeth, shells, and oysters fossilized out here in the desert today.  You can also find areas of fossilized ocean floor.  Amazing what stays over time isn’t it?

Fossilized muscle

When we first got out at the location the map claimed were the oyster beds some of us weren’t that impressed.  Neal and Jessica had been hoping to find large fossils like we have in the museum.  Mel and I were pretty happy with it.  We were seeing amazing ground formations from the water currents or shores, Mel started finding little fossilized mussels, and I found pieces of purple glass. Before about 1929 clear glass had something in it (I think it was magnesium but my science friends can tell me if I’m wrong) that over time and exposure to the sun turned the glass purple.  We have a great lantern slide image with dozens of pieces of purple glass.

Piece of purple glass

Mel and Jessica decided to climb up a tempting hill and Neal and I decided to drive the Jeep around to the other side of the hill and pick them up.  That turned out to be a really great decision because not only did we see a hawk carrying off a large lizard (or maybe a snake, it was a little far away to be sure) but on the other side of the hill we found some great oyster beds where there were still whole fossilized oysters. There were enough to satisfy even Neal and Jessica’s expectations. 

Fossilized Oysters

Fossilized Oyster

We did a little exploring and off-roading, saw some great parts of the Yuha Desert and some mountains that Neal said were actually part of the San Andreas fault. On the way back into town we found an area called the Crucifiction thorn reserve, which was roped off as one of the only 2 or 3 places in the country where Crucifiction thorn grows naturally.  It’s surrounded by barbed wire, which we all found a little ironic.  All in all, I think this may have been my favorite trip out so far.

Crucifiction Thorn