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3018 Lyndale Avenue South - Minneapolis, MN TEL 612.824.1068
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Let's get Rockin! Make your plans soon to join us! 
If you're like many people we know, these warm spring days have ignited sparks of enthusiasm for outdoor exploration and adventure. We have a terrific lineup of experiences underway for the 2012 Fieldtrip Season. Hopefully you can make plans to join us for some of the intriguing fossil, crystal and mineral collecting opportunities listed below and made available through the ZRS Guided Fieldtrip Program! ZRS strives to provide wonderfully educational collecting experiences complete with planned itineraries, informational handouts, geological and paleontological discussions (age-appropriate for group), hands-on individual collecting guidance and specialized packets with maps and lists of take-along equipment and necessities ... all put together to make your trip easy and enjoyable! Transportation, meals and accommodations are your responsibility, but we will provide suggested routes and accommodation and campground options. Car-pooling is always a possibility to be arranged with other participants, if needed.
Registration for all of the ZRS Guided Fieldtrips can be completed at the ZRS Fossils and Gifts retail store. Alternatively, please call 612.824.1068 to register over the phone via credit card. Feel free to send us an email at info@ZRSfossils.com with any questions that we can help you with.
Remember that all participants MUST register in advance of desired fieldtrips. We are eager to share our enthusiasm and passion for collecting fossils and minerals with you this season as we explore great sites, experience spectacular nature and create memorable friendships throughout our adventures together.
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MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW FOR MOROCCO!
Register your intention for 2013 Fieldtrip
If you are interested in collecting fossils, minerals and crystals while experiencing some of the most breath-taking countryside and wonderfully hospitable cultures -- then this ZRS Guided Adventure to exotic Morocco is just what you're looking for! Our incredible experiences throughout this fascinating part of the world has spirited us into planning one or two repeat visits each year. ZRS will provide an in-store special presentation on this unique excursion later this summer ... watch for details.
This amazing adventure is a fossil and mineral utopia for the collector -- in addition to being a sensory feast in countless ways. You will spend sixteen active days immersed in delightful experiences ranging from visits to the enchanting cities of Marrakech and Rabat -- as well as touring quaint southern villages and visiting remarkable Berber families in their goat-hair tents and mud-brick homes. This fieldtrip provides endless educational opportunities - particularly related to fossils and minerals. Additionally, imagine continuous photographic inspirations around every bend - daily picnics under beautiful palms with fresh olives, almonds, monstrous sweet oranges - evenings of music and dance alongside culinary oohs and ahhs - intricate North African handcrafts - brilliant patterns of color and texture - superb art and architecture - camel treks through the Sahara to meet the twinkling night skies - dayglow green lizards and friendly Barbary apes - amazing agates - intriguing tribal history at every bend - and delightful exchanges with new Moroccan friends all along the route. The entire trip covers approximately 2500 kilometers, including all major environments from high mountains to vast deserts and the Atlantic Ocean as well. Participants will visit primary outcrops and famous sites for fossils and agates, along with mine sites and dumps for minerals and crystals. Included will be stops to visit local miners, villagers and Moroccan fossil and mineral dealers. You can anticipate a collecting experience of a lifetime!
If you are interested in becoming a part of next year's group, please let us know so that we might add your name to the list to send you application forms once available, and keep you specifically updated as we further develop our incredible itineraries for next spring and/or fall.
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LILYDALE PARK - ST PAUL, MN
Saturday, June 9th
PLEASE NOTE: This ZRS Fieldtrip has filled -- however if you are interested in participating with a potential second Lilydale Fieldtrip scheduled for later in the season, call 612.824.1068 to be placed on our waiting list. You will then be contacted once the additional date has been set and register your participation at that time.
Join ZRS for a trip back to the Ordovician Period - 450 million years  ago, when Lilydale Park was a shallow water tropical sea ranging about 100 to 150 feet deep -- not unlike today's Florida Keys! Life in this ancient ocean included familiar animals such as corals, clams, snails and a variety of sea shells (brachiopods) along with exotic, now-extinct animals including trilobites, crinoids and squid-like cephalopods. Due to past excavations for clay to make bricks, in addition to natural erosion of the Mississippi River, these rocks are now exposed for fossil collecting.
This collecting adventure is a convenient local afternoon excursion for adults and children alike to learn about these ancient environments. ZRS will provide age-appropriate paleontology background orientation along with useful handouts. Collecting guidance and specimen identification will also be available for all participants in this family-friendly fossil hunting experience. If you have never been out collecting in the field before, this is a great opportunity to get started under the guided expertise of our paleontologist! If heavy rain should prevail, an alternative rain date will be set for this adventure.
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 | | Crinoid Stems |
COST: $20 Each Participant
Register with nonrefundable payment in full by June 7th
Informational packet will be provided after registration.
PLEASE NOTE -- Space is limited and advance registration is required!
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NORTHERN MN - PRIVATE GRAVEL PITS
TO COLLECT LAKE SUPERIOR AGATES
Sunday, June 17th
PLEASE NOTE: This ZRS Fieldtrip has filled -- however if you are interested in participating with a potential second LS Agate Fieldtrip scheduled for later in the season, call 612.824.1068 to be placed on our waiting list. You will then be contacted once the additional date has been set and register your participation at that time.
ZRS is very excited to be able to offer this opportunity to spend a day in Northern Minnesota collecting
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our Minnesota State Gemstone - the Lake Superior Agate - in a series of privately-owned gravel pits -- a very rare opportunity today! These pits are being actively worked on a regular basis and the owners are only allowing our group access if we meet certain requirements related to participant safety and liability issues. Everyone who joins us on this special adventure is required to hold valid MSHA Certification -- obtained by taking a class in Hazard Recognition and Safety Training for Rock Collecting in Mines and Quarries. ZRS is offering this training / certification and incorporating this cost into the fieldtrip fee. The training is relatively simple and the certification will also be helpful to you for gaining access into additional collecting sites as well. Fieldtrip participants will also be required to sign special liability waivers at the time of registration.
NOTE: At time of registration for this fieldtrip, you will need to either present your valid MSHA Certification (acquired through previous instruction) or select a date to take the ZRS Hazard Recognition / Safety Training class to earn your MSHA Certification, which is mandatory for this fieldtrip. Valid dated copies of this certificate must be presented on the day of the agate fieldtrip as well or participation will not be allowed.
Safety Training will be offered at ZRS Studio-Lab on:
- Wednesday - June 13th from 4 to 7PM
- Saturday - June 16th from 12PM to 3PM
If you are interested in collecting agates in these otherwise off-limits active gravel pits, register for this trip early. Participation is limited and registration fills quickly!
COST: $45 - Must be 10 years of age and up
Informational packet will be provided after registration.
PLEASE NOTE -- Advance registration and MSHA Certification is required!
 
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GLENDIVE, MONTANA
Weekend of August 4th & 5th
This intriguing collecting locale is about a nine-hour drive from the Twin Cities. If possible, it is best to make this adventure a long weekend by planning for an extra travel day on both ends of the trip. On Saturday we will be collecting beautiful ammonites and other marine invertebrate fossils from the Pierre Shale formation of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 80 million-years-old. At that time this part of Montana was a shallow-water, inland sea - and now produces a wide variety of exceptional fossils - including ammonites, nautiloids, snails and clams -- magnificent with their beautiful original mother-of-pearl shell. ZRS provides identification manuals, geological information and collecting guidance. You'll be thrilled with your discoveries from this interesting site!
| Sunday we will drive to a private ranch deep into the rolling badlands where we will be collecting dinosaur bones and teeth as well as abundant and beautifully agatized petrified wood. This badlands property produces many dinosaur fossils -- including skeletons of several species from the 70 million-year-old Hell Creek Formation of the Cretaceous Period. The ranch owner will take us to a designated area for our day of fossil collecting at this site. Again, ZRS will be there to assist in fossil identification and with collecting guidance. There may be some restrictions on your collecting activities. Depending on weather conditions, the daily itinerary for the weekend may be reversed.
COST: $190 Adults / $125 Ages 12-18 yrs / $45 under 12 yrs
Informational packet will be provided after registration.
If you are interested in participating with this fieldtrip, it is important to register and make hotel reservations as soon as possible because available rooms in this area are limited this season.
Please note -- Advance registration is required! RETURN TO TOP |
ROCKFORD, IOWA
Saturday, September 29th
This is an exciting educational day trip for families with children!
We will be collecting marine fossil shells from the Late Devonian Period (375 million years old) Cerro Gordo limestone member of the Lime Creek formation. This area is recognized as one of the most fossiliferous and easy to collect localities in the upper Midwest - with nearly 200 different species of marine invertebrates and micro-fossils described from the area. We will visit both a public collecting site as well as an additional location on private property. These collecting locations are about a 2 1/2 hour drive south from the ZRS Fossils and Gifts store in Minneapolis. Details included in info packet.
During the Devonian Period, this portion of Iowa was a shallow sea shelf and shelf-margin environment that bordered a deep-water basin in eastern Iowa and central Illinois. A major global extinction event immediately followed the time represented by these interesting Rockford deposits.
ZRS will provide sample specimens, informational handouts and age appropriate details for everyone on this collecting adventure -- along with collecting assistance and specimen identification. Make sure to pack a picnic lunch and get ready to have fun!
| COST: $20 Adults & Kids Register with nonrefundable payment in full by September 25th.
Informational packet will be provided after registration.
RETURN TO TOP Please note - Advance registration is required!
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BLACK HILLS & BADLANDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA
Weekend of October 13th & 14th
Contact ZRS to register for this unique opportunity to spend cooler weather days exploring these gorgeous South Dakota back-country areas collecting fossils and minerals! Day one will include guided opportunities to collect fossil mammal bones, skulls and teeth on privately owned badlands near Hot Springs, South Dakota -- this area also produces superb fossil turtles. The fossils are found in the Brule Formation of the Oligocene Epoch - 25 to 40 million-years-old. At that time this portion of South Dakota was a subtropical flood plain for several major rivers. We will spend the day collecting surface finds and specimens still in the soft rock matrix. To remove the latter requires patience and some skill. ZRS will provide orientation background on the geological details of this badlands area, information regarding what material you can expect to find, collecting instructions, identification manuals -- in addition to individual guidance to help you remove any specimens you discover. Last year our group collected SIX skulls from this site (in addition to numerous teeth, jaws, misc. bones) -- we'll see if 2012 can top this record!
 
The second day we will travel through some of the scenic Black Hills back country to explore three or four of our favorite abandoned mines and collect a wide variety of crystals, minerals and rocks. The mines are relatively safe, but may require hard rock techniques. Again, ZRS will be there to provide geological background information, along with mineral identification and collecting guidance. This is a fantastic experience where you will collect beautiful specimens of rose quartz, tourmaline, feldspar, mica and spodumene crystals -- all the while enjoying the peacefully spectacular environs and wildlife viewing opportunities. This trip is purposely scheduled later in the year to avoid the heavy tourist traffic and challenging temperatures that occur in this area during the summer months. Early fall adventures also ensure superb nature and wildlife experiences as well.
| COST: $150 Adults & 17-18 yrs
$75 Ages 12-16 yrs
Informational packet will be provided after registration.
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FILLMORE COUNTY, MINNESOTA
This trip will be scheduled for the late fall season / exact date to be determined
(Feel free to register your intention to participate to reserve your space)
This is a pleasant day-trip for adults only with the  collecting site situated about 2 1/2 hours south of the ZRS Fossils store in Minneapolis. On this adventure we will be collecting unique marine fossil shells and corals from the Stewartville member of the Galena formation in one or two limestone quarries in Fillmore County, Minnesota. These fossils date to the Middle Ordovician Period (450 million years old), when this portion of southern Minnesota was a shallow water, tropical sea. This quarry will require significant work to find the fossils, which will include exceptionally large snails (Maclurites). ZRS will provide orientation and background information on the geology of this area, as well as examples of the fossil material you can find, identification manuals, and collecting instructions -- in addition to individual guidance to help you remove any specimens you discover! COST: $50 - Adults Only
Register with nonrefundable payment in full by June 22nd Informational packet will be provided after registration.
Please note -- Advance registration required!
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Register for the above ZRS Guided Fieldtrips
at the ZRS FOSSILS AND GIFTS Retail Store
OR - Call 612.824.1068
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SUMMER HOURS - Now Open from 11AM to 7PM every day of the week!
3018 LYNDALE AVENUE SOUTH - MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55408
TELEPHONE 612.824.1068 EMAIL info@ZRSfossils.com
 
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