The Alternate 6 and 12-string Guitar Recordings of Inyo

The Acoustic Guitar of Inyo--Voiume 6

The Music Files

More Pages In This Series

My Other Music Pages

Paleontology-Related Pages

USGS Publications

My Email: Email Address

Alternate recordings of previously released material

The 33 selections will produce a 79:56 cd, with no pause between tracks

1) Proud Mary - 1976 Martin D-35. Lyrics and music by John Fogerty. #2 US Billboard for Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969. Recorded directly to stero digital format on June 25, 2003, with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

2) Heart Of Gold - 1976 Martin D-35; August 6, 2003; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer. A Neil Young composition. #1 US Billboard for Neil Young, 1972.

3) Perfidia (Tonight) - 1976 Martin D-35; recorded directly to stereo digital format on June 27, 2004, with a 1990s Packard Bell computer. An Alberto Dominguez composition, 1939; English lyrics by Milton Leeds. #15 US Billboard for The Ventures, 1960.

4) California Dreamin' - 1976 Martin D-35; May 20, 2002. John Phillips-Michelle Phillips composition; #4 US Billboard for The Mamas & The Papas, 1966; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

5) I'm A Believer - 1976 Martin D-35; May 19, 2002. A Neil Diamond composition. #1 for The Monkees, late 1966-early 1967; recorded directly to digital stereo format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

6) Daydream Believer - 1976 Martin D-35; November 24, 2003. A John Stewart composition; #1 US Billboard for The Monkees, 1967; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

7) Apache - 1998 Sigma DMC-1STE--a cutaway 6-string, with a pickup; December 11, 2001. A Jerry Lordan composition; #2 US Billboard for Jørgen Ingmann and His Guitar, 1961; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

8) (I'll Never Find) Another You - 1968 Stella Harmony H912; 1-6-1984. Composed by Tom Springfield. #4 US Billboard for The Seekers, 1965. Sonny James went #1 US Billboard Country with it in 1967. Recorded with a 1977 stereo Teac cassette tape machine.

9) Cowgirl In The Sand - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; 7-29-1983. A Neil Young composition. From Young's 1969 lp, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere;" recorded with a 1978 General Electric stereo cassette tape machine.

10) Eight Miles High - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string, with high "g" string removed; January, 1980. A collaborative Gene Clark-Jim McGuinn-David Crosby composition; #14 US Billboard for The Byrds, 1966; recorded with a 1978 stereo cassette tape machine.

11) Galveston - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string with high g string removed; December, 1979. A Jimmy Webb composition; #4 US Billboard for Glen Campbell, 1969; recorded with a 1978 General Electric stereo cassette tape machine.

12) Greenback Dollar - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; high"g"-string removed; February, 1979. A Hoyt Axton-Ken Ramsey composition; #21 US Billboard for The Kingston Trio, 1963; recorded with a 1979 General Electric stereo cassette tape machine.

13) Like A Hurricane - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string guitar; high "g"-string removed; February, 1979. A Neil Young composition; from the Neil Young lp, "American Stars 'n Bars," 1977; recorded with a 1978 General Electric stereo cassette tape machine.

14) My Heart Will Go On - 1976 Martin D-35; 12-31-2001. A James Horner-Will Jennings composition; #1 US Billboard for Celine Dion, 1998; recorded with an early 1990s Sansui cassette tape machine.

15) Rebel-Rouser - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; 4-5-1987. Written by Duane Eddy and Lee Hazelwood. #6 US Billboard for Duane Eddy, 1958; recorded with a 1978 stereo cassette tape machine, purchased in Emporia, Kansas.

16) Shenandoah - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string;4-19-1981. Dates to the 1800s during pre-American Civil War days; song's first appearance in print came in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, 1882; recorded with a 1978 stereo cassette tape machine.

17) This Ol' Riverboat - 1976 Martin D-35; June 25, 2004. Usually credited to Randy Sparks. Originally recorded by The New Christy Minstrels for the 1964 Glenn Ford film, "Advance To The Rear." Included on the 1964 LP "Today" by The New Christy Minstrels; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

18) Green Green - 1976 Martin D-35; January 6, 2003. A Barry McGuire-Randy Sparks composition; #14 US Billboard for The New Christy Minstrels, 1963; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

19) Rhinestone Cowboy - 1976 Martin D-35; March 7, 2005. A Larry Weiss composition. #1 US Billboard Pop and Country for Glen Campbell, 1975; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

20) Solitary Man - 1976 Martin D-35; November 11, 2004. A Neil Diamond composition #55 and #21 US Billboard for Neil Diamond--1966 and 1970, respectively; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

21) That Lucky Old Sun - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; February 1978. A Beasley Smith-Haven Gillespie composition; #1 US Billboard for Frankie Laine, 1949); recorded with a 1976 stereo Teac reel to reel tape machine.

22) The Bells Of Rhymney - 1976 Martin D-35; April 15, 2002. A Pete Seeger melody to a poem by Idris Davies; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

23) When Johnny Comes Marching Home - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; 7-25-1984. A Patrick Gilmore composition, published under the pseudonym Louis Lambert, 1863; recorded with a 1977 stereo Teac cassette tape machine.

24) White Rabbit - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string, with high "g" string removed; January 1980. A Grace Slick composition; #8 US Billboard for Jefferson Airplane, 1967; recorded with a 1978 stereo General Electric cassette tape machine.

25) Highwayman - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string, with high g string removed; June 1980. A Jimmy Webb composition; #1 US Country for The Highwaymen, 1985; but Glen Campbell first recorded it in 1978 for his 1979 lp, "Highwayman;" recorded with a 1978 stereo General Electric cassette tape machine.

26) Nights In White Satin - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; 7-29-1983. A Justin Hayward composition; #2 US Billboard for The Moody Blues, 1972; recorded with a 1977 stereo Teac cassette tape machine.

27) No Milk Today - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; 1-6-1984. A Graham Gouldman composition. #35 US Billboard for Herman's Hermits, 1967; recorded with a 1977 Teac stereo cassette tape machine.

28) Mr. Tambourine Man - 1998 Sigma DMC-1STE--a cutaway 6-string, with a pickup; 1998; recorded with an early 1990s stereo Sansui cassette tape machine. A Bob Dylan composition; #1 US Billboard for The Byrds, 1965.

29) There's A Place - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string, with high g string removed; February 1979. A John Lennon-Paul McCartney composition. #74 US Billboard as b-side to #2 US Billboard "Twist And Shout" for The Beatles, 1964; recorded with a 1978 stereo General Electric cassette tape machine.

30) The World Turns All Around Her - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; 4-19-1981. A Gene Clark composition. Included on the album "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds, released in December, 1965; recorded with a 1978 stereo cassette tape machine.

31) Freight Train - 1976 Martin D-35; 4-13-2002. An Elizabeth Cotten composition, early 1900s; recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

32) Song Sung Blue - 1968 Stella Harmony H912 12-string; February 4, 1984. A Neil Diamond composition; #1 US Billboard for Neil Diamond, 1972; recorded with a 1977 stereo Teac cassette tape machine.

33) I Call Your Name - 1976 Martin D-35; 6-22-2003. Written primarily by John Lennon, with some contribution from Paul McCartney. First appears on the 1964 US-released LP, "The Beatles' Second Album"--next, in a UK Beatles ep called "Long Tall Sally;" recorded directly to stereo digital format with a 1990s Packard Bell computer.

More pages in my series: The Acoustic Guitar of Inyo:

The Solo Acoustic Instrumental 6-String Guitar Covers of Inyo - I play 30 solo acoustic instrumental covers on a 1976 Martin D-35.

The Solo Acoustic Instrumental 6-String Guitar Covers of Inyo Volume 2 - I play 33 solo acoustic instrumetal covers on 6-string guitars.

The Solo Acoustic Instrumental 12-String Guitar Covers of Inyo - I play 35 solo acoustic instrumental covers on a 12-string guitar.

The Original Acoustic 6 and 12-String Guitar Instrumentals of Inyo - I play 32 original acoustic instrumental compositions on 6 and 12-string guitars.

The Solo and Double-Tracked Acoustic Instrumental Guitar Covers and Originals of Inyo - I play 66 solo and double-tracked acoustic instrumental covers and originals on 6 and 12-string guitars.

Inyo and Folks--A Musical History in 4 Volumes - Here my parents and I play 160 acoustic arrangements recorded during the "Golden Age" of our occasional, impromptu, completely spontaneous musical get-togethers from 1975 to 1993. Every selection here was a so-called "one take wonder"--that is to say, without having first rehearsed a single song, we'd simply leave a tape recorder running while we sang and played, and let the musical chips fall where they may, so to speak. What's included here, then, is probably best representative of those many periodic spur-of-the-moment "jam sessions."

The Musical History of Inyo and Folks--1974-2010 - A site that not only consolidates into one page all the music from this page (The Alternate 6 and 12-string Guitar Recordings of Inyo) and the six other stand-alone webpages listed in this section--More Pages In My Series: The Acoustic Guitar of Inyo--but also now includes special supplemental additions that provide an even broader perspective of our musical history: The webpage contains at least one selection from every year in which my parents and I recorded together, and separately--1974-2010 --a total of 359 music files.

Music-Related Pages

Web sites I have created pertaining to music

Paleontology-Related Pages

Web sites I have created pertaining to fossils

  • Fossils In Death Valley National Park: A site dedicated to the paleontology, geology, and natural wonders of Death Valley National Park; lots of on-site photographs of scenic localities within the park; images of fossils specimens; links to many virtual field trips of fossil-bearing interest.
  • Fossil Insects And Vertebrates On The Mojave Desert, California: Journey to two world-famous fossil sites in the middle Miocene Barstow Formation: one locality yields upwards of 50 species of fully three-dimensional, silicified freshwater insects, arachnids, and crustaceans that can be dissolved free and intact from calcareous concretions; a second Barstow Formation district provides vertebrate paleontologists with one of the greatest concentrations of Miocene mammal fossils yet recovered from North America--it's the type locality for the Bartovian State of the Miocene Epoch, 15.9 to 12.5 million years ago, with which all geologically time-equivalent rocks in North American are compared.
  • A Visit To Fossil Valley, Great Basin Desert, Nevada: Take a virtual field trip to a Nevada locality that yields the most complete, diverse, fossil assemblage of terrestrial Miocene plants and animals known from North America--and perhaps the world, as well. Yields insects, leaves, seeds, conifer needles and twigs, flowering structures, pollens, petrified wood, diatoms, algal bodies, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, bird feathers, fish, gastropods, pelecypods (bivalves), and ostracods.
  • Fossils At Red Rock Canyon State Park, California: Visit wildly colorful Red Rock Canyon State Park on California's northern Mojave Desert, approximately 130 miles north of Los Angeles--scene of innumerable Hollywood film productions and commercials over the years--where the Middle to Late Miocene (13 to 7 million years old) Dove Spring Formation, along with a classic deposit of petrified woods, yields one of the great terrestrial, land-deposited Miocene vertebrate fossil faunas in all the western United States.
  • Cambrian And Ordovician Fossils At Extinction Canyon, Nevada: Visit a site in Nevada's Great Basin Desert that yields locally common whole and mostly complete early Cambrian trilobites, in addition to other extinct organisms such as graptolites (early hemichordate), salterella (small conical critter placed in the phylum Agmata), Lidaconus (diminutive tusk-shaped shell of unestablished zoological affinity), Girvanella (photosynthesizing cyanobacterial algae), and Caryocaris (a bivalved crustacean).
  • Late Pennsylvanian Fossils In Kansas: Travel to the midwestern plains to discover the classic late Pennsylvanian fossil wealth of Kansas--abundant, supremely well-preserved associations of such invertebrate animals as brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, echinoderms, fusulinids, mollusks (gastropods, pelecypods, cephalopods, scaphopods), and sponges; one of the great places on the planet to find fossils some 307 to 299 million years old.
  • Fossil Plants Of The Ione Basin, California: Head to Amador County in the western foothills of California's Sierra Nevada to explore the fossil leaf-bearing Middle Eocene Ione Formation of the Ione Basin. This is a completely undescribed fossil flora from a geologically fascinating district that produces not only paleobotanically invaluable suites of fossil leaves, but also world-renowned commercial deposits of silica sand, high-grade kaolinite clay and the extraordinarily rare Montan Wax-rich lignites (a type of low grade coal).
  • Ice Age Fossils At Santa Barbara, California--Journey to the famed So Cal coastal community of Santa Barbara (about a 100 miles north of Los Angeles) to explore one of the best marine Pleistocene invertebrate fossil-bearing areas on the west coast of the United States; that's where the middle Pleistocene Santa Barbara Formation yields nearly 400 species of pelecypod bivalve mollusks, gastropods, chitons, scaphopods, pteropods, brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, ostracods (minute bivalve crustaceans), worm tubes, and foraminifers.
  • Trilobites In The Marble Mountains, Mojave Desert, California: Take a trip to the place that first inspired my life-long fascination and interest in fossils--the classic trilobite quarry in the Lower Cambrian Latham Shale, in the Marble Mountains of California's Mojave Desert. It's a special place, now included in the rather recently established Trilobite Wilderness, where some 21 species of ancient plants and animals have been found--including trilobites, an echinoderm, a coelenterate, mollusks, blue-green algae and brachiopods.
  • Fossil Plants In The Neighborhood Of Reno, Nevada: Visit two famous fossil plant localities in the Great Basin Desert near Reno, Nevada--a place to find leaves, seeds, needles, foilage, and cones in the middle Miocene Pyramid and Chloropagus Formations, 15.6 and 14.8 to 13.3 million years old, respectively.
  • Dinosaur-Age Fossil Leaves At Del Puerto Creek, California: Journey to the western edge of California's Great Central Valley to explore a classic fossil leaf locality in an upper Cretaceous section of the upper Cretaceous to Paleocene Moreno Formation; the plants you find there lived during the day of the dinosaur.
  • Early Cambrian Fossils Of Westgard Pass, California: Visit the Westgard Pass area, a world-renowned geologic wonderland several miles east of Big Pine, California, in the neighboring White-Inyo Mountains, to examine one of the best places in the world to find archaeocyathids--an enigmatic invertebrate animal that went extinct some 510 million years ago, never surviving past the early Cambrian; also present there in rocks over a half billion years old are locally common trilobites, plus annelid and arthropod trails, and early echinoderms.
  • Plant Fossils At The La Porte Hydraulic Gold Mine, California: Journey to a long-abandoned hydraulic gold mine in the neighborhood of La Porte, northern Sierra Nevada, California, to explore the upper Eocene La Porte Tuff, which yields some 43 species of Cenozoic plants, mainly a bounty of beautifully preserved leaves 34.2 million years old.
  • A Visit To Ammonite Canyon, Nevada: Explore one of the best-exposed, most complete fossiliferous marine late Triassic through early Jurassic geologic sections in the world--a place where the important end-time Triassic mass extinction has been preserved in the paleontological record. Lots of key species of ammonites, brachiopods, corals, gastropods and pelecypods.
  • Fossil Plants At The Chalk Bluff Hydraulic Gold Mine, California: Take a field trip to the Chalk Bluff hydraulic gold mine, western foothills of California's Sierra Nevada, for leaves, seeds, flowering structures, and petrified wood from some 70 species of middle Eocene plants.
  • Field Trip To The Alexander Hills Fossil District, Mojave Desert, California: Visit a locality outside the southern sector of Death Valley National Park to explore a paleontological wonderland that produces: Precambrian stromatolites over a billion years old; early skeletonized eukaryotic cells of testate amoebae over three-quarters of billion years old; early Cambrian trilobites, archaeocyathids, annelid trails, arthropod tracks, and echinoderm material; Pliocene-Pleistocene vertebrate and invertebrate faunas; and late middle Miocene camel tracks, petrified palm wood, petrified dicotlyedon wood, and permineralized grasses.
  • Fossils In Millard County, Utah: Take virtual field trips to two world-famous fossil localities in Millard County, Utah--Wheeler Amphitheater in the trilobite-bearing middle Cambrian Wheeler Shale; and Fossil Mountain in the brachiopod-ostracod-gastropod-echinoderm-trilobite rich lower Ordovician Pogonip Group.
  • Fossil Plants, Insects And Frogs In The Vicinity Of Virginia City, Nevada: Journey to a western Nevada badlands district near Virginia City and the Comstock Lode to discover a bonanza of paleontology in the late middle Miocene Coal Valley Formation.
  • Paleozoic Era Fossils At Mazourka Canyon, Inyo County, California: Visit a productive Paleozoic Era fossil-bearing area near Independence, California--along the east side of California's Owens Valley, with the great Sierra Nevada as a dramatic backdrop--a paleontologically fascinating place that yields a great assortment of invertebrate animals.
  • Late Triassic Ichthyosaur And Invertebrate Fossils In Nevada: Journey to two classic, world-famous fossil localities in the Upper Triassic Luning Formation of Nevada--Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park and Coral Reef Canyon. At Berlin-Ichthyosaur, observe in-situ the remains of several gigantic ichthyosaur skeletons preserved in a fossil quarry; then head out into the hills, outside the state park, to find plentiful pelecypods, gastropods, brachiopods and ammonoids. At Coral Reef Canyon, find an amazing abundance of corals, sponges, brachiopods, echinoids (sea urchins), pelecypods, gastropods, belemnites and ammonoids.
  • Fossils From The Kettleman Hills, California: Visit one of California's premiere Pliocene-age (approximately 4.5 to 2.0 million years old) fossil localities--the Kettleman Hills, which lie along the western edge of California's Great Central Valley northwest of Bakersfield. This is where innumerable sand dollars, pectens, oysters, gastropods, "bulbous fish growths" and pelecypods occur in the Etchegoin, San Joaquin and Tulare Formations.
  • Field Trip To The Kettleman Hills Fossil District, California: Take a virtual field trip to a classic site on the western side of California's Great Central Valley, roughly 80 miles northwest of Bakersfield, where several Pliocene-age (roughly 4.5 to 2 million years old) geologic rock formations yield a wealth of diverse, abundant fossil material--sand dollars, scallop shells, oysters, gastropods and "bulbous fish growths" (fossil bony tumors--found nowhere else, save the Kettleman Hills), among many other paleontological remains.
  • A Visit To The Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed, Southern California: Travel to the dusty hills near Bakersfield, California, along the eastern side of the Great Central Valley in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, to explore the world-famous Sharktooth Hill Bone Bed, a Middle Miocene marine deposit some 16 to 15 million years old that yields over a hundred species of sharks, rays, bony fishes, and sea mammals from a geologic rock formation called the Round Mountain Silt Member of the Temblor Formation; this is the most prolific marine, vertebrate fossil-bearing Middle Miocene deposit in the world.
  • High Sierra Nevada Fossil Plants, Alpine County, California: Visit a remote fossil leaf and petrified wood locality in the Sierra Nevada, at an altitude over 8,600 feet, slightly above the local timberline, to find 7 million year-old specimens of cypress, Douglas-fir, White fir, evergreen live oak, and giant sequoia, among others.
  • In Search Of Fossils In The Tin Mountain Limestone, California: Journey to the Death Valley area of Inyo County, California, to explore the highly fossiliferous Lower Mississippian Tin Mountain Limestone; visit three localities that provide easy access to a roughly 358 million year-old calcium carbate accumulation that contains well preserved corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, and ostracods--among other major groups of invertebrate animals.
  • Middle Triassic Ammonoids From Nevada: Travel to a world-famous fossil locality in the Great Basin Desert of Nevada, a specific place that yields some 41 species of ammonoids, in addition to five species of pelecypods and four varieties of belemnites from the Middle Triassic Prida Formation, which is roughly 235 million years old; many paleontologists consider this specific site the single best Middle Triassic, late Anisian Stage ammonoid locality in the world. All told, the Prida Formation yields 68 species of ammonoids spanning the entire Middle Triassic age, or roughly 241 to 227 million years ago.
  • Late Miocene Fossil Leaves At Verdi, Washoe County, Nevada: Explore a fascinating fossil leaf locality not far from Reno, Nevada; find 18 species of plants that prove that 5.8 million years ago this part of the western Great Basin Desert would have resembled, floristically, California's lush green Gold Country, from Placerville south to Jackson.
  • Fossils Along The Loneliest Road In America: Investigate the extraordinary fossil wealth along some 230 miles of The Loneliest Road In America--US Highway 50 from the vicinity of Eureka, Nevada, to Delta in Millard County, Utah. Includes on-site images and photographs of representative fossils (with detailed explanatory text captions) from every geologic rock deposit I have personally explored in the neighborhood of that stretch of Great Basin asphalt. The paleontologic material ranges in geologic age from the middle Eocene (about 48 million years ago) to middle Cambrian (approximately 505 million years old).
  • Fossil Bones In The Coso Range, Inyo County, California: Visit the Coso Range Wilderness, west of Death Valley National Park at the southern end of California's Owens Valley, where vertebrate fossils some 4.8 to 3.0 million years old can be observed in the Pliocene-age Coso Formation: It's a paleontologically significant place that yields many species of mammals, including the remains of Equus simplicidens, the Hagerman Horse, named for its spectacular occurrences at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument in Idaho; Equus simplicidens is considered the earliest known member of the genus Equus, which includes the modern horse and all other equids.
  • Field Trip To A Vertebrate Fossil Locality In The Coso Range, California: Take a cyber-visit to the famous bone-bearing Pliocene Coso Formation, Coso Mountains, Inyo County, California; includes detailed text for the field trip, plus on-site images and photographs of vertebrate fossils.
  • Fossil Plants At Aldrich Hill, Western Nevada: Take a field trip to western Nevada, in the vicinity of Yerington, to famous Aldrich Hill, where one can collect some 35 species of ancient plants--leaves, seeds and twigs--from the Middle Miocene Aldirch Station Formation, roughly 12 to 13 million years old. Find the leaves of evergreen live oak, willow, and Catalina Ironwood (which today is restricted in its natural habitat solely to the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California), among others, plus the seeds of many kinds of conifers, including spruce; expect to find the twigs of Giant Sequoias, too.
  • Fossils From Pleistocene Lake Manix, California: Explore the badlands of the Manix Lake Beds on California's Mojave Desert, an Upper Pleistocene deposit that produces abundant fossil remains from the silts and sands left behind by a great fresh water lake, roughly 350,000 to 19,000 years old--the Manix Beds yield many species of fresh water mollusks (gastropods and pelecypods), skeletal elements from fish (the Tui Mojave Chub and Three-Spine Stickleback), plus roughly 50 species of mammals and birds, many of which can also be found in the incredible, world-famous La Brea Tar Pits of Los Angeles.
  • Field Trip To Pleistocene Lake Manix, California: Go on a virtual field trip to the classic, fossiliferous badlands carved in the Upper Pleistocene Manix Formation, Mojave Desert, California. It's a special place that yields beaucoup fossil remains, including fresh water mollusks, fish (the Mojave Tui Chub), birds and mammals.
  • Trilobites In The Nopah Range, Inyo County, California: Travel to a locality well outside the boundaries of Death Valley National Park to collect trilobites in the Lower Cambrian Pyramid Shale Member of the Carrara Formation.
  • Ammonoids At Union Wash, California: Explore ammonoid-rich Union Wash near Lone Pine, California, in the shadows of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Union Wash is a ne plus ultra place to find Early Triassic ammonoids in California. The extinct cephalopods occur in abundance in the Lower Triassic Union Wash Formation, with the dramatic back-drop of the glacier-gouged Sierra Nevada skyline in view to the immediate west.
  • A Visit To The Fossil Beds At Union Wash, Inyo County California: A virtual field trip to the fabulous ammonoid accumulations in the Lower Triassic Union Wash Formation, Inyo County, California--situated in the shadows of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States.
  • Ordovician Fossils At The Great Beatty Mudmound, Nevada: Visit a classic 475-million-year-old fossil locality in the vicinity of Beatty, Nevada, only a few miles east of Death Valley National Park; here, the fossils occur in the Middle Ordovician Antelope Valley Limestone at a prominent Mudmound/Biohern. Lots of fossils can be found there, including silicified brachiopods, trilobites, nautiloids, echinoderms, bryozoans, ostracodes and conodonts.
  • Paleobotanical Field Trip To The Sailor Flat Hydraulic Gold Mine, California: Journey on a day of paleobotanical discovery with the FarWest Science Foundation to the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada--to famous Sailor Flat, an abandoned hydraulic gold mine of the mid to late 1800s, where members of the foundation collect fossil leaves from the "chocolate" shales of the Middle Eocene auriferous gravels; all significant specimens go to the archival paleobotanical collections at the University California Museum Of Paleontology in Berkeley.
  • Early Cambrian Fossils In Western Nevada: Explore a 518-million-year-old fossil locality several miles north of Death Valley National Park, in Esmeralda County, Nevada, where the Lower Cambrian Harkless Formation yields the largest single assemblage of Early Cambrian trilobites yet described from a specific fossil locality in North America; the locality also yields archeocyathids (an extinct sponge), plus salterella (the "ice-cream cone fossil"--an extinct conical animal placed into its own unique phylum, called Agmata), brachiopods and invertebrate tracks and trails.
  • Fossil Leaves And Seeds In West-Central Nevada: Take a field trip to the Middlegate Hills area in west-central Nevada. It's a place where the Middle Miocene Middlegate Formation provides paleobotany enthusiasts with some 64 species of fossil plant remains, including the leaves of evergreen live oak, tanbark oak, bigleaf maple, and paper birch--plus the twigs of giant sequoias and the winged seeds from a spruce.
  • Ordovician Fossils In The Toquima Range, Nevada: Explore the Toquima Range in central Nevada--a locality that yields abundant graptolites in the Lower to Middle Ordovician Vinini Formation, plus a diverse fauna of brachiopods, sponges, bryozoans, echinoderms and ostracodes from the Middle Ordovician Antelope Valley Limestone.
  • Fossil Plants In The Dead Camel Range, Nevada: Visit a remote site in the vicinity of Fallon, Nevada, where the Middle Miocene Desert Peak Formation provides paleobotany enthusiasts with 22 species of nicely preserved leaves from a variety of deciduous trees and evergreen live oaks, in addition to samaras (winged seeds), needles and twigs from several types of conifers.
  • Early Triassic Ammonoid Fossils In Nevada: Visit the two remote localities in Nevada that yield abundant, well-preserved ammonoids in the Lower Triassic Thaynes Formation, some 240 million years old--one of the sites just happens to be the single finest Early Triassic ammonoid locality in North America.
  • Fossil Plants At Buffalo Canyon, Nevada: Explore the wilds of west-central Nevada, a number of miles from Fallon, where the Middle Miocene Buffalo Canyon Formation yields to seekers of paleontology some 54 species of deciduous and coniferous varieties of 15-million-year-old leaves, seeds and twigs from such varieties as spruce, fir, pine, ash, maple, zelkova, willow and evergreen live oak
  • High Inyo Mountains Fossils, California: Take a ride to the crest of the High Inyo Mountains to find abundant ammonoids and pelecypods--plus, some shark teeth and terrestrial plants in the Upper Mississippian Chainman Shale, roughly 325 million years old.
  • Field Trip To The Copper Basin Fossil Flora, Nevada: Visit a remote region in Nevada, where the Late Eocene Dead Horse Tuff provides seekers of paleobotany with some 42 species of ancient plants, roughly 39 to 40 million years old, including the leaves of alder, tanbark oak, Oregon grape and sassafras.
  • Fossil Plants And Insects At Bull Run, Nevada: Head into the deep backcountry of Nevada to collect fossils from the famous Late Eocene Chicken Creek Formation, which yields, in addition to abundant fossil fly larvae, a paleobotanically wonderful association of winged seeds and fascicles (bundles of needles) from many species of conifers, including fir, pine, spruce, larch, hemlock and cypress. The plants are some 37 million old and represent an essentially pure montane conifer forest, one of the very few such fossil occurrences in the Tertiary Period of the United States.
  • A Visit To The Early Cambrian Waucoba Spring Geologic Section, California: Journey to the northwestern sector of Death Valley National Park to explore the classic, world-famous Waucoba Spring Early Cambrian geologic section, first described by the pioneering paleontologist C.D. Walcott in the late 1800s; surprisingly well preserved 540-510 million-year-old remains of trilobites, invertebrate tracks and trails, Girvanella algal oncolites and archeocyathids (an extinct variety of sponge) can be observed in situ.
  • Petrified Wood From The Shinarump Conglomerate: An image of a chunk of petrified wood I collected from the Upper Triassic Shinarump Conglomerate, outside of Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado.
  • Fossil Giant Sequoia Foliage From Nevada: Images of the youngest fossil foliage from a giant sequoia ever discovered in the geologic record--the specimen is Lower Pliocene in geologic age, around 5 million years old.
  • Some Favorite Fossil Brachiopods Of Mine: Images of several fossil brachiopods I have collected over the years from Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic-age rocks.
  • For information on what can and cannot be collected legally from America's Public Lands, take a look at Fossils On America's Public Lands and Collecting On Public Lands--brochures that the Bureau Of Land Management has allowed me to transcribe.
  • In Search Of Vanished Ages--Field Trips To Fossil Localities In California, Nevada, And Utah--My fossils-related field trips in full print book form (pdf). 98,703 words (equivalent to a medium-size hard cover work of non-fiction); 250 printed pages (equivalent to about 380 pages in hard cover book form); 27 chapters; 30 individual field trips to places of paleontological interest; 60 photographs--representative on-site images and pictures of fossils from each locality visited.

United States Geological Survey Papers (Public Domain)

Online versions of USGS publications I have created