mercy · crinoid date

the crinoid date.

a fossil older than every memory either of us has. a quiet afternoon, a song, and us, somewhere near bloomington.

why this

three reasons

geology. southern indiana is one of the best crinoid fossil beds in the world — sea lilies pressed flat into limestone 350 million years ago.
slow. the right pace for a first day together. you walk. you look down. you pick up something old.
portable. we don't have to commit to the whole day — a couple hours at salt creek or along an outcrop is enough.

a soft itinerary

what it could look like

i drive in late morning. coffee somewhere on the way.
we meet at a quiet outcrop — salt creek, or one of the road cuts the kids at IU geology call crinoid alley.
walk. look. you take one home if you find one you like.
food after. nothing big — wherever you want.
i drive home that night, or i don't. up to you.

~190 mi 3.5 hr drive no plans need locking yet

three real candidates

where we could actually go.

i did the homework on this one — picked three spots reachable from bloomington, each different. you tell me which feels right.

option 1 · the soft afternoon

mccormick's creek state park

~25 min from you. easy 1.5-mile loop into a salem-limestone canyon — crinoid columnals visible right in the canyon walls. waterfall at the end. picnic tables.

no collecting (state park) — we just look and photograph.

25 min drive ~$7 entry easy walk picnic friendly

option 2 · the actual hunt

borden group roadcuts · west of spencer

~45 min west on sr-46. mississippian siltstones along the highway shoulder. legal to pick up loose pieces from the right-of-way. crinoid stem segments are common; full crowns are the lottery.

safety glasses, hand lens, sturdy shoes. we park where it's wide and stay off the embankment.

45 min drive free you take one home go after rain

option 3 · the legend day

crawfordsville · sugar creek

~3 hours north. the world-famous mississippian crinoid beds. museums display crinoid crowns from this exact valley. full day, breakfast on the way, dinner on the way home.

best with a guide or the indiana fossil club — collecting on private land needs permission. i can arrange.

~3 hr drive whole-day plan world class save for round 2

the packing list

what i'll bring.

water + two cold brews the tea-thermos kind, not the can
small picnic whatever sounds good to you. i'll text the morning of
a blanket the soft one. not the practical one
hand lens · 10x for the small ossicles. you'll want one
safety glasses + a small rock pick for option 2 only
a notebook for the ones we leave behind — site + date written under each
a backup plan if it rains coffee + the geology museum at iu, free, climate-controlled, lots of crinoids on display

when

the window.

june through early october is the easy season. afternoons after a dry morning rain are best — the creek beds get washed clean. i avoid the 2–5pm thunderstorm window in summer; we go mid-morning into early afternoon.

give me a saturday or sunday morning that works for you. i'll watch the radar two days out and confirm by friday night.

soundtrack

one song for the drive

title fight — safe in your skin. it's already on the mixtape. if you say yes, it's the first thing that plays when i hit the highway.

→ open mixtape

your turn

what do you think?

when feels right? (optional) tell me anything you want him to hear