{"id":11793,"date":"2020-05-25T22:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T02:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/?p=11793"},"modified":"2023-06-19T19:57:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T23:57:27","slug":"agate-fossil-beds-national-monument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/11793","title":{"rendered":"Agate Fossil Beds National Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we first arrived in the area of the agate fossil beds we thought we were going to find some great rockhounding. Oops. The name \u201cAgate\u201d comes from the Agate Springs Ranch which was owned by James and Kate Cook. They had bought the ranch in 1887 and with in a few years discovered some petrified remains.<\/p>\n

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In 1892 the University of Nebraska explored the Devil\u2019s Corkscrew at Agate, which is the fossilized burrows of a Palaeocastor, which is basically a dry-land beaver. We didn\u2019t go to see that feature. In 1904 the Carnegie Museum discovered the bone bed, which we are on our way to, now. Scientists from Yale , the American Museum of Natural History and other explored this area for many years.<\/p>\n

Now that we know why we are here\u2014at first glance I thought this was a picture of the trail we were going to be taking. From what we can see of the paved trail leading 2.7 miles into the plains this is what it looks like. On second glance, it is a warning about rattle snakes. Ooohhhh.<\/p>\n

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There are supposed to be 12 different kinds of snakes in this area. I would like to see some from a distance, of course. Wow, this feels like a long, slow-uphill walk. Oh, that\u2019s because it is. We stop at all the rest areas to just sit and listen and look around. Hey! There we are!<\/p>\n

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We are still walking. Still stopping. There is a song bird that is serenading us on our walk but I can\u2019t seem to get a look at it. I think there is too much grass. As we approach the fossil beds it becoming more rocky. And there the little guy is, sitting on one of the rocks, a horned lark. From this angle his horns are hard to see.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve arrived at the fossil beds and we are not impressed. We really thought there would be more fossils or at least bone like structures sticking out of the rock. The plaque says there may be bones lying around and that if we pick them up to examine them we should put them back where we found them.<\/p>\n

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After some careful looking we find some bones.<\/p>\n

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We can tell they are bones by the porous structure of the interior, weight, and color as compared to the surrounding rocks. There is a perfect way to test to see if they are bone, but I\u2019m not doing it. You lick the specimen. Even smoothly polished, your tongue will stick to the rock. it feels similar to a cat\u2019s tongue on your skin when they lick you.<\/p>\n

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It is finally starting to warm up. When we started this hike we were both in jackets and bracing against the breeze. The walk is becoming much more pleasant now.<\/p>\n

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There is another rock formation that is supposed to have fossilized tracks. We take the dirt path around it but we are not seeing any tracks.<\/p>\n

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We did however find another horny toad (short-horned lizard). They are so cute and angry all at the same time.<\/p>\n

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There are lots of unfamiliar flowers along our journey and John is such a dear to stop and take pictures of all of them for me.<\/p>\n

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Oh my gosh! Our first snake siting. It is a baby prairie rattler. Babies are cute no matter what species.<\/p>\n

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Thank goodness for zoom lens and photo editing software. We are able to get a closeup look without having to get close up.<\/p>\n

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How exciting, now I want to see more. We are almost back to the Jeep and having seen anymore.  But dang, these horny toads are everywhere. Now this guy looks more brown than the other one we saw. They must be able to change their color or something.<\/p>\n

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Just when we think we have seen all the snakes we are going to John see\u2019s one sticking its head out of its hole about six or seven inches. It sees us and pops back down. We wait and wait but he isn\u2019t coming out again anytime soon. We keep walking and see two more slithering through the grass. One stops just long enough for John to get a picture. It\u2019s a smooth green snake. Cool, we saw two different species!<\/p>\n

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This is our last day here. Tomorrow, Tuesday, we are heading for Toad Stool in the northern most part of the state.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_4314\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we first arrived in the area of the agate fossil beds we thought we were going to find some great rockhounding. Oops. The name \u201cAgate\u201d comes from the Agate Springs Ranch which was owned by James and Kate Cook. They had bought the ranch in 1887 and with in a few years discovered some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1109,1092,1098,981],"class_list":["post-11793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-agate-fossil-beds","tag-nebraska","tag-pavement-ends","tag-sightseeing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200523_101253.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3hvz5-34d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11757,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/11757","url_meta":{"origin":11793,"position":0},"title":"Pavement Ends Campground","author":"Wendy","date":"May 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We are on our way to South Dakota and have stopped in Nebraska on our way. It\u2019s Memorial Day weekend and we were worried that finding a campsite might be difficult. Apparently, if you can find one far enough out of the way not only will you find a site,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200524_115109.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200524_115109.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200524_115109.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200524_115109.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3580,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/3580","url_meta":{"origin":11793,"position":1},"title":"Rockhound Sunday….again","author":"Wendy","date":"March 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I know\u2026.seems like d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu but \u201ctreasure hunting\u201d is fun and it gets us out exercising. Sunday we headed for a spot outside of Payson AZ to a place called Agate Mountain. Apparently the agate is colorful and plentiful. Here is the view from the top. The agate is just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2386_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C412&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2386_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C412&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2386_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C412&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11946,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/11946","url_meta":{"origin":11793,"position":2},"title":"I Can’t Believe We Made It","author":"Wendy","date":"May 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The road to the Toadstool campground was 15 miles down a dusty, white-gravel road. The RV, motorcycle, and Jeep were completely covered in white dust by the time we got to the campground. Yuck. Luckily, it rained last night and seems to have, more or less, rinsed off the RV\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200528_104620.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200528_104620.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200528_104620.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200528_104620.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11925,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/11925","url_meta":{"origin":11793,"position":3},"title":"Leaving Toadstool","author":"Wendy","date":"May 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This is our last day at Toadstool. I still have some work to finish up so John is going to do some scouting for our ride out and to see if he can find a good place to rockhound. During his travels he sees cattlemen moving cattle and some pretty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200527_201619.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200527_201619.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200527_201619.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/20200527_201619.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2725,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/2725","url_meta":{"origin":11793,"position":4},"title":"Kadoka, SD–Let the Fun Begin!","author":"Wendy","date":"June 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We pulled into the Kadoka RV Park and it didn\u2019t take John long to buddy up to the camp caretaker and get info about prairie dog towns to hunt and locations of rock piles to search. For two days John was in his glory, 200 hundred kills in all. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/IMG_1367_thumb2_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C436&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/IMG_1367_thumb2_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C436&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/IMG_1367_thumb2_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C436&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6868,"url":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/6868","url_meta":{"origin":11793,"position":5},"title":"Oatman AZ","author":"Wendy","date":"February 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is our first full day in Bullhead City. Part of our reason for coming here is to hunt for fire agate. The other is to visit the Grand Canyon. Turns out the only way to get to the Canyon from here is through Indian land, and the reviews of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/general"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSCN0997_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C323&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSCN0997_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C323&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DSCN0997_thumb.jpg?fit=580%2C323&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11793"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14163,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11793\/revisions\/14163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.2dogsbarkin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}