What is the coolest or weirdest thing you have found while exploring?

[Seanm26]

Before I got married my buddy and I used gold-panning as an excuse to just go walk around in the forest. We would take old logging road or even game trailes to spots in the many rivers and streams up here in the PNW. We maybe a half gram of gold in all that time. But I got a chainsaw and my buddy got the skull of a Roosevelt elk.View attachment 146526

 

[Chadlyb]

Before I got married my buddy and I used gold-panning as an excuse to just go walk around in the forest. We would take old logging road or even game trailes to spots in the many rivers and streams up here in the PNW. We maybe a half gram of gold in all that time. But I got a chainsaw and my buddy got the skull of a Roosevelt elk.View attachment 146526

Very cool find

 

[Correus]

This is a tough one... I have a knack finding weird, cool, interesting and bizarre items. It has kinda sorta become a hobby and sideline gig.

The biggest item I found was an abandoned cemetery from the mid 1800s. Was just out doing a quick, visual survey for a possible archeological sight out in the middle of nowhere Kansas. Decided to go explore some heavily wooded property along the river the site was next to. Hidden in the underbrush were several tombstones. The site that was being considered was the rumored location of a trading spot (late 1790s to about 1850) along the Arkansas River in South Central Kansas that was washed away during a flood. We never found a record of a family, or community cemetery for that area. It is on private property and the owners never even knew it was there. All we can figure is that it was somehow associated with the group living around that trading spot.

The creepiest thing I found was within our own house. Shortly after buying it I was working on a wall furnace upstairs. Got to poking around and found a small panel concealing an opening behind the furnace, figuring it was additional access to the chimney chase. Got the flashlight out and took a look... I found 3, vintage/antique cheese boxes an a shelf against the chimney. Each box had a vintage, opened 7-Up bottle wrapped in cloth inside it. Amongst these was a preserved, yellow canary in an old mason jar (pictured).


View attachment 146535

 

[Road]

Before I got married my buddy and I used gold-panning as an excuse to just go walk around in the forest. We would take old logging road or even game trailes to spots in the many rivers and streams up here in the PNW. We maybe a half gram of gold in all that time. But I got a chainsaw and my buddy got the skull of a Roosevelt elk.View attachment 146526

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That elk skull and rack is amazing.

Not anywhere near as cool as that, though when I was cleaning up along the beach on Padre INS, I found a really intriguing piece of bone tangled in the debris:

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I couldn't figure out just which part of what animal it was at first. Thought maybe part of a turtle's carapace, perhaps, as the very beach I was on is where the Kemps Ridley Sea Turtles hatchlings are released every year. Seemed very definitely one end or the other of a spine.

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I sent images to my kid, who put the word out to her taxidermy and bone friends for identification.

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Turns out it is the skull cap of an Ocean Catfish, sometimes called the Crucifix Fish for the way the underside resembles a person on a cross. In the piece I found, one arm of the 'cross' is broken:

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Here's an image from online that shows the 'crucifix' a bit better:

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A cool find, mostly for being odd and unique and for the research and involvement of several people to determine what it really is.



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Roaddude - On the Road In North America - ROADDUDE

Roaddude - Traveling Photographer/Writer/Artist On the Road In North America. Gear, reviews, people, places, and culture.

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