Finally- Cephalopods!

While out hiking near Iosepa, I looked down at the ground and spotted an unusual rock.  I bent over, picked it up, then examined it closely.  At that point I got really excited.  It was a cephalopod!  I'm not much of a fossil expert, but I know a cephalopod when I see it.  The most famous/well known example of cephalopods are ammonites. 

I've wanted to find one for a really long time.  We even went hiking up Cephalopod Gulch above Salt Lake City looking for them, but only found examples that were so-so and impossible to collect without destroying. So, finding this little guy was amazing.  I showed him around, then we continued on our hike to Story Rock. 

On the way back down, we stopped and made a bigger and more thorough search.  We found lots of fossils that were low quality.  Some were pretty big though.  More searching. 

 We found a lot more, but only a few that were good enough to take home. 

I really liked this one with two small cephalopods right next to each other.  A "double" is pretty uncommon.

My two year old even got in on the fun.  She found this "doggy rock" that she wouldn't set down.  Apparently the rock looked like a bone.  We looked at it more closely when we got home and saw the tell-tale spiral shape of a gastropod!  The rest of us didn't find any of these while we were looking.  Amazing!  We've gotta go back! 


Nearest City: Iosepa, UT
Location: N 40° 32.540 W 112° 43.400
 Time Needed: at least an hour
Difficulty: Moderate
Kid Friendly:
Additional Info: