On a Search for Fossils and Geodes: An ATV Ride

On a Search for Fossils and Geodes: An ATV Ride

This article actually covers two different ATV rides but they can be done in one day. Plan on a long day if you do both. Pack a meal and lots of water.

My husband once told me that he came across some really cool fossils when he was working one of the roads. I, of course, acted like I didn?t believe him.

I gave him the ?No way! Whatever!? type thing. This way he would have to take me so I could see for myself. This started the first part of this quad ride.

To get to the point where we started you take Highway 87 north out of Payson until you get to the Flowing Springs road (272); take a right off the highway. Follow the road across Flowing Springs and continue until you pass the 1579 road. Somewhere in this area is a big pull off to the right where we usually park our truck and trailer and offload the quad.

Backtrack to the 1579 road, take a right, and follow it through some really beautiful country and creek crossings. Continue until you get to the junction of the 1579 road and the 1171 road. Stop here and just look around at the ground, you will find thousands of pieces of fossils just littering the ground. The best spot to find them is up on the hill opposite the head of the 1171 road.

I?m not sure what types of fossils these are but they are definitely marine fossils of some type. There are a lot of fossilized shells and some type of tubular critters and even some smaller, in mass, ones that look like Spaghetti O?s. You can find lots of little ones if you look closely at the ground or find bigger ones that are embedded in the bigger pieces of rock.

We found some pretty cool cactus here too. I?ve never seen this type before. They are about the size of a baseball, but I sure wouldn?t want to pick them up. Ouch!

This area and the meadow along the 1171 road have shown signs of deer and elk. My husband and I have heard the elk bugle from a distance but we haven?t actually seen them in this area. Maybe you?ll get lucky and actually see some.

When my husband and I went on this ride we saw a 4-wheel drive club driving the Cherry and Webber creeks in this area. It looked like fun but I still prefer my quad.

Okay, when you are finished oohing and awing over all the fossils you find, take the 1171 road up and around to the East Verde River. This part of the ride has lots of scenic views and the river here is gorgeous. (You can continue on this road if you cross the river and you will end up on the Houston Mesa Road; aka the 199 road). At the time we took this ride the river had run wide the day before and there was no room on the other side to continue on the road.

We crossed the river to a rock platform, parked the quad, and had lunch. I absolutely love water so this was my favorite and most relaxing part of the whole day.

If you can get to the opposite side of the river, walk around and look in all the rock. There is some gray rock there that I believe is a limestone that contains some fossils. This is a much harder search though. I did find one good piece with the tail of a fish. It was so good that even the scaling on the fish?s skin was intact and colored like a rainbow trout. This fossil I didn?t find in the gray limestone but in a more pinkish rock.

Deer and elk do visit this area but we didn?t see anything until on our way out. My husband saw this little critter way down in the canyon. I guess it takes a true hunter to actually see this little head sticking out of the manzanita bushes. I swear it must have taken me a good 10 minutes to spot it and I didn?t see it until it moved. It?s a good thing my camera has a pretty good zoom on it!

This is where the first part of the ride ended for us. We backtracked to the trailer and headed for home. If you wanted to continue this ride to look for geodes you would backtrack and end up back at the 1171 and 1579 roads.

Take a right here and continue along the 74 road. (The 1579 turns into the 74 road). Keep your eyes open and you might just see very large rocks that look as if they have dinosaur bones sticking out of them. It is either fossilized trees or other smaller rocks that are embedded in these larger rocks.

The 74 road also has some spectacular views of the canyons.

Continue on the 74 road until you come to the 64 which is also called the Control Road. Take a right at this point and continue on the Control Road for quite some time until you come to the Verde Glen camping area. Drive through the camping area. Straight ahead is a camping spot where we stopped. (The road continues on to some residential areas.)

If you walk up the residential road or the embankment from the camping spot and look around you will find what are called ?brain geodes?. They are called this because they are textured like a brain on the outside. Some are lighter colored and some are a blacker color. The ones that we found were kind of small but still had some pretty crystallization inside. If you walk around the general area enough you may find larger ones.

If you continue driving up the residential road you might just run into these guys. They?re quick so have your camera ready just in case!

This was the end of our trip and we backtracked to our vehicles. It was a good long ride but we had a blast.

A few warnings about this quad ride:

1. The Control Road tends to get very busy and dusty so be aware and be careful. Not too many vehicles pay very much attention to the smaller quads on the road.
2. Watch for cattle. When we went, there were cattle being rounded up and they were crossing on a blind corner.
3. I don?t know the law about picking up and keeping rocks or fossils. Be sure to check with the Forest Service if you want to keep any so you don?t end up with a hefty fine.
4. Oh yeah, take a hammer to break open those geodes. Take it easy at first or they might just explode!
5. And, if you can, take your dog with you! LOL.

This is another ride that is great for people who like a smoother quad ride. There are no major obstacles. There is plenty of fun and some gorgeous Arizona country.

If you have any questions please email me and I will try to answer them. I hope everyone enjoyed this ATV photo essay and can someday use the information and enjoy the places that we have enjoyed. Arizona has some awesome country!!! Please share with us the places that you?ve been.

P. S. ?I know he?s going to take this jump! I just know it!?

Yes, HE did!

?For rude!?