need a little help

FUZZY · 01-13-2010, 06:13 AM

From our mountain friends.

Later this summer (August) Our Boyscout troop is taking a trip out west. We have stops planned for:

Day 1, Mitchell, SD Corn palace http://www.cornpalace.com/index.php

Day 2, Wall drug, SD, SD Badlands, Bear countryUSA, Mount Rushmore (at night)

Day 3, Wyoming Keyhole state park , Gold mine or wind cave, Crazy horse memorial

Day 4, Devils Tower, Open pit coal mine

Day 5, Buffalo bills historical center, Some of Yellowstone National park

Day 6, Yellowstone National park

Day 7, Tour Grand Tetons

Day8, Snake River rafting trip

Day 9, Nebraska, Great Platte river road Archway Monument

Day 10, Strategic Air and Space museum.

We will be camping in tents the entire time at various campgrounds.

My question for all of you is this. Are there any geode(stones with crystals inside) or shale(for fossils) diggin sites near these places that the Scouts could go out explore for a while? Looking to help advance their Geology, and archeology merit badges.

Or perhaps a suggestion of something else that would be of interest for the Boy Scouts?

Your help is appreciated.

Other possibilities:

Mammoth dig site SD

Jewel Cave,

HotRodGirl · 01-13-2010, 06:47 AM

In 1995 we took a family trip out west with the kids

Here are some of the places they enjoyed and still talk about today

Woodcarving Museum Custer SD
Wind Cave National Park-Jewel Cave (they have a ranger program) SD
Big Thunder Gold mine Keystone SD
The Mammouth Site Hot Springs SD (the kids dug for dinosaur fossil here)

YellowDZH · 01-13-2010, 07:48 AM

Now, you could make a stop in Las Vegas, NV. We have a lot of godes and fossils out here and the troop could even watch them gamble

. And it would be educational

.

FUZZY · 01-13-2010, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YellowDZH

Now, you could make a stop in Las Vegas, NV. We have a lot of godes and fossils out here and the troop could even watch them gamble

. And it would be educational

.

Unfortunately we're not going that far west or south.

BTW HRG two of your suggestions are in the list. I'll look into the woodcarving museum. and the Mammouth site.

Buffalo · 01-14-2010, 02:01 PM

Fuzzy,

The Mammoth Site is located here in Hot Springs, SD, as Deb indicated in her post. It is an in situ site where they actively dig for mammoth bones during July (Earthwatch). They have uncovered close to 60 mammoths so far and it is very educational. Wind Cave is about 12 miles north of Hot Springs and has some great boxwork formations. There is also Jewel Cave which is just west of Custer, SD, and is one of the longest caves in the world. There were geodes found just west of Hot Springs but I am not sure of the exact location and it may be on private land. I have a geode at home that has been halved and polished.

If you need some further information, feel free to let me know.

Randy

Cash · 01-14-2010, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YellowDZH

Now, you could make a stop in Las Vegas, NV. We have a lot of godes and fossils out here and the troop could even watch them gamble

. And it would be educational

.

Seagull fossils?

(That's my bad attempt at Bugsy Siegel humor)

FUZZY · 01-15-2010, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buffalo

Fuzzy,

The Mammoth Site is located here in Hot Springs, SD, as Deb indicated in her post. It is an in situ site where they actively dig for mammoth bones during July (Earthwatch). They have uncovered close to 60 mammoths so far and it is very educational. Wind Cave is about 12 miles north of Hot Springs and has some great boxwork formations. There is also Jewel Cave which is just west of Custer, SD, and is one of the longest caves in the world. There were geodes found just west of Hot Springs but I am not sure of the exact location and it may be on private land. I have a geode at home that has been halved and polished.

If you need some further information, feel free to let me know.

Randy

Thanks Randy. I'll look up Jewel cave as a possability. The digging for geodes would be cool if it were close enough to the travel route. They were thinking of replacing the Little Big Horn stop with something else, and this would allow the boys to work off some pent up energy from the road trips.

smokey · 01-15-2010, 02:16 PM

Hey Fuzzy dont replace the little Big Horn, that is a very special place and your boys need to see it. You will feel the vibrations when you get there.

FUZZY · 01-15-2010, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smokey

Hey Fuzzy dont replace the little Big Horn, that is a very special place and your boys need to see it. You will feel the vibrations when you get there.

Some of the boys have done this in years past and felt it wasn't worth the time. They were looking for hands on interactive things to do, and Little Big Horn didn't have that for them. They said there was a monument and a park area, but nothing else. You know how borde kids can get with out somthing to do.

Buffalo · 01-16-2010, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUZZY

Thanks Randy. I'll look up Jewel cave as a possability. The digging for geodes would be cool if it were close enough to the travel route. They were thinking of replacing the Little Big Horn stop with something else, and this would allow the boys to work off some pent up energy from the road trips.

I will check to see if there is a place nearby to dig for geodes. The Mammoth Site offers a Junior Dig where participants can dig for bones. If you want me to check on this I will and have the Mammoth Site send you information if you want to PM your e-mail and snail mail address.

FUZZY · 01-17-2010, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buffalo

I will check to see if there is a place nearby to dig for geodes. The Mammoth Site offers a Junior Dig where participants can dig for bones. If you want me to check on this I will and have the Mammoth Site send you information if you want to PM your e-mail and snail mail address.

PM sent

Thanks for the help so far

FUZZY · 01-18-2010, 07:29 PM

Just heard back from the Great Platte River Road Archway museum. It is one of our Scheduled stops on the last day or so of the trip.
http://www.archway.org/

They have two option available to us with a variation thrown in.

They have a Civil war program and an Indian lore program. Both are an overnite program, and the boys can earn merit badges for either or.

They said the can also do a shortend version of the program if we needed to keep traveling to get closer to home.

Has anyone been here and or done either program. I'll be bringing this up to our Troop tuesday night for their evaluation of the programs, so any input would be appreciated.

FUZZY · 01-19-2010, 04:09 PM

Today I recieved a response form the Mammoth dig site in SD.

http://www.mammothsite.com/
They are willing to set upa one of two merit badge programs for the boys to participate in.
(1) Geology, which I think most of the boys already have

(2) Archeology, which is more hands on with the fossils and tools.

Down loaded the outline for the programs to present to our scout troop tonight at the meeting.

Magic Carpet Ride · 02-01-2010, 04:36 PM

Check out the Dinosaur National Park Outside Vernal, UT in the extreme NE corner of Utah and into Ccolorado, Dinosaur National Monument (U.S. National Park Service). The permanent visitirs center bldg is being demolished and re-constructed but theres a temporary bldg up and theres lots of fossils to see and, last time I was there, a short hike and some fossil digging. Might be worth looking at.