Here's more info about Clay and his unique fossil find: millardccp.com/featured-local-news/54-featured-news/5493-a-new-dig-chip-away-at-discovery. And here's the Amazon link to the lug wrench I show in the video: amzn.to/48shtry. Happy New Year, everybody! 😁🎉
Great video. A spring, a waterfall, fossil hunting, and Clay seems like a great guy to meet. The time you take, your sincere appreciation of nature, and the expense you take just to make one video is very appreciated Keep up the good work! I watch all of your videos and I watch every minute of them!
Take your fossils and put them surrounded in cement or other material that you can make a pathway or patio for your house. Every time you see them it is a great reminder of your adventure.
What a fun day! Utah has so much to offer throughout the entire state. Love this kind of content and throw in a good hike. Thanks again and keep em coming!
Absolutely appreciate your perspective on true value of an experience and on passing forward kindness when someone needs assistance. What a cool story to hear how Clay found that new species! Another gem found on your journey ✨️
WOW. Go Clay! Would love to dig for fossils. Always a surprise as what you get. Loved the waterfall in the desert especially when it can help man & animal in a pinch. Keep on traveling, Tristan. 👍🏻🙋🏼♀️
Tristan, I’ll say it again, thank You for sharing your adventures 🙏 as a disabled elder who used to do these things, your videos take me back into fond memories and bring me such peace and joy. You are truly a blessing to those of us who can no longer do these things 🙏 in my youth I worked to build the IPP exhaust stack in Delta and several small pipeline projects throughout the region👍😎🙏 and Congratulations to Clay🎉🥳
I recommend having a cheater bar for your lug wrench. If you have a tire shop mount your wheels, it can be almost impossible to loosen the nuts with a short-handled wrench like you showed. Always best to try this stuff at home first.
Really enjoyed your talks in recent videos about emergency preparedness/knowing your vehicle. It’s something I and many may sometimes not think about deeply enough when planning. As someone who rents a vehicle for these kinds of trips, I’ve found there’s definitely a need to do an extra level of research and prep. I live in Florida, so for most of my Western camping trips it’s more time/cost-effective to fly in and rent a vehicle. In July, I rented a Crosstrek via Turo in SLC for a trip up to a friend in Kalispell and back. We were driving up the North Fork Road north of Polebridge near the Canadian border & Glacier NP, a sparsely traveled but fairly well-maintained gravel road, when we must’ve driven over a sharp rock and got a flat. We pulled over and scoured the vehicle - no lug wrench. We sat there with no service, cursing out the Turo renter and myself. Luckily a car would pass every 30 minutes or so, but none had a wrench that fit the Crosstrek lug nuts. After about 2.5 hours and the hatching of a terrible plan to hitch a ride back to Polebridge and find someone with a Crosstrek to borrow their wrench, a guy in his work truck came by that had miraculously just bought a torque wrench set that fit, which we used to put on the donut. It was ~50 miles to a Les Schwab in Columbia Falls and we drove back down the road, radio off, clenched the whole way. If you’re like me and renting a vehicle, and especially if you plan to be out on these types of roads, bring something like the wrench you showed in the video, a small tire plug/patch kit (that you know how to use), and make the vehicle’s tire replacement equipment something you check along with any other pre-trip vehicle inspection. Probably an obvious thing to check for most, especially when using a service like Turo, but I didn’t give it any thought and just assumed it would be there. Of course check your tire tread, and ideally rent a vehicle equipped with off-road tires. Other times, I’ve gotten away with opting for rentals with highway tires (albeit those times it was a 4Runner), but the premium will evidently save a lot of stress even on simple gravel roads. It would’ve been helpful to research/know the jack points before setting out as well. Finally, I’ve since gotten a Garmin inReach for not just hiking, but also for these no-service roadside situations. Happy to see how much the channel continues to grow, have gained so much knowledge and a backlog of trip ideas from your content!
Thank you Tristan for another entertaining and educational year following your travels. This channel is truly a valuable resource for people wanting to see what beauty and mystery this country has to offer. Wishing you all the success in the world for 2024. I'll be here watching and getting motivated to explore some of these spectacular places for myself.
Great adventure and me being a rockhound, I super loved this adventure! Also, thanks for the tip on actually checking out your spare tire and gear to make sure things are in great working order.
Another interesting video. Especially the story about your meetup with Clay. (His name is appropriately associated to his hobby) Very worthy tip and reminder regarding spare tire, etc.
We love going out the west desert of Utah. Most people who live here in Utah never explore west of the Oquirrh Mountains... we just find it's so peaceful and relaxing to explore out there in our van!!!
Wow Triston! These rocks repealed lots of treasures! I forgot how to spell their names! Glad you met clay! Hang with him and you could find valuable treasures!❤️😀🇺🇸🌏
Another piece of kit you might consider is a breaker bar and appropriate sized socket or a pipe extension for your four way wrench in order to give more leverage for frozen lug nuts.
Intellectual curiosity is an essential component in all interesting personalities, and you've got that in spades. It's just one reason why you've got a great channel. Thanks for making an interesting and unusual video, and thanks to amateur scientists like Clay for his devotion to searching for fossils. Amateur scientists contribute a lot to science, but don't often get credit for it. It had to be pretty sweet for him to have a genuine footnote in paleontology journals for Clay after his years of digging!
The 4-way lug wrench is a good idea. (Especially the collapsible version.) I carried one for many years starting in the '60's. Now I carry a socket that fits, a ratchet wrench, and breaker bar for stuck lug nuts. You never know who tightened those lugs and they can be hard to loosen without a long bar. However, the 4 way allows you to get power on the nut using both hands and making it less likely to get crooked and breaking off the lug bolt when struggling with a typical original equipment lug wrench. Spinning the 4-way also makes it quick to remove the loosened lug nuts.
I used to visit East Coast limestone quarries and WV coal mines for work and often times we would find fossils among the mine tailings . It was always a thrill to find them.
We've loved our adventures in the west desert. Spent quality time at the Geode Beds, but haven't been to the Trilobite mine. Added to our list! Great meeting you.
Here is a tip for using the 4 way lug wrench: Nuts that were over-tightened by an ape at the shop can be too hard to loosen by pushing down with one hand and pulling up with the other. Find a belt or sturdy strap in your car. Loop it over the far side of the arm (the arms of the wrench should be parallel with the ground). Pull up on the strap, while standing on the arm on your side. I had to do a kick down on the arm with the tightest lug. This works best with someone else holding the 4 way in place and pushing in, so it doesn't bounce off the nut. Not the best way to do it, but it has never failed to get the lug off.
When you are finished and looking to get the tire fixed or replaced, take it to a different tire shop. Lug nuts are supposed to be torqued to spec. Over tightening will warp your brake rotor/drum.
Your comments about the lug wrench is correct. But you need to go one step further and make sure your tire wrench works on the vehicle you are carrying it in. I got new wheels on my previous vehicle, and it turned out the the "wells" (for lack of a better term) were too small for both the stock lug wrench and the cross wrench I had. Luckily I discovered this when I went to rotate my tires, and not when I got a flat in the middle of nowhere.
The Trilobite beds are fun. When I was a kid many years ago I found Trilobite fossils in the Stansbury Range. Can't remember he exact place now as it's been so long ago. Love the west desert. Also just across the Nevada border up to Ely, Great Basin NP and Lehman Caves. Better than Disneyland for me. It's partly what got me to pursue a career in Geology. Another excellent video!
Exellent reminder to have lug wrench in the size or sizes, you need. It is always a good idea to change a tire, or even rotate tires yourself to see what is missing or could be improved. I would think the longest of the X type would be better for those of us who aren't really strong. I actually use a different style that uses sockets, since I also like to check the torque and carry a Harbor Freight torque wrench. Having a better jack that will fit into your rig might also be something to look into.
Higbeeeeee!!! Great vid, man. So enjoyable to watch. Take care out there, bud. Let me know if you ever need a hand out there for whatever reason. Much love🫶🏻 -Джексон
My 33 year old son bought a house on 3 1/2 acres in Maricopa, AZ when he was 28 years old. He owns his own tree removal business and he's a Journeyman Electrician. When he bought the house, he was told that the city was going to dig a new well in his area. 5 years later, they have no intention of following through. He hauls his own water because the water that comes out of his faucets are poison and not consumable. They wash dishes, clothing and have a filter for the water that comes out of the showers; however, he and his wife are expecting their first baby in June and so my husband and I will be purchasing a whole home well water filtering system for them. All this to say, that when we see trickling spring water, especially in a desert area as is Maricopa, AZ (30 minutes south of Phoenix) and western Utah (my daughter lives in Salt Lake City), we have a genuine appreciation and do not take it for granted to the point of thanking God. This clear, clean spring water you came upon is a miracle to us. On another note, while I believe in a young earth-thousands of years- flood age of the earth view -and not billions of years, the archeological dig was super cool and helping him out with his tire situation alone was well worth the $80. I truly hope he finds another one of those shrimp fossil's, it's a long time comin' for him : ) Thank you for your content Tristan. As always...amazing!
Great trip! Clay sounds like a very colorful fellow. Lucky for him you happened by. TFS your travels, Tristan. It’s always a joy to view your vids! Happy New Year 2024 🎆
Nice tip on the lug wrench. But I have a better tip! Battery powered impact wrenches are very affordable now and you can use them for other things plus they are small and easily storage. Make sure you have the right size socket for the drive and lugs.
@brucewunderlich4949 You probably haven’t either used the newer (last five years) tools, or you are way over tightening your lug bolts. The better 1/2 inch drive models (red or yellow) are strong enough to change a tire on an 18 wheeler.
@@kurtclark8560 my Milwaukee will twist the lug studs off if I'm not careful. I snug the lug nuts up then finish up the torque with tire iron/lug wrench. HOWEVER, a lug wrench won't take up the space a 1/2" drive impact will take up.
That would certainly make it easier, but you'd also have to consistently check to make sure it's charged. With how little I use these things, I'm fine with having the non-battery-powered version. Of course, ask me that again when I'm on the side of the road with a flat tire 😄
@SUVRVing it's definitely worth a stop. Plentiful in topaz, and if your lucky enough you can find some red beryl which was discovered by Thomas Maynard and the reason that range was named. After that head down the road to the hot springs after a long day's digging and soak up the desert sunset.
Tire change dry run. GOOD IDEA! Especially if you've never changed a tire on your current vehicle. Get a scissors jack that has a six sided nut drone. Then you can use an electric drivv/nut driver to operate it. I also carry an impact driver in case it needs more torque. If you're vehicle gets flat in the siu in triple digit heat, it'll save a lot of time and maybe heat stroke.
a good break over bar a socket and extension easy to store and get lug nuts off a lot easier then that thing u bought especially after they put you wheels on at 100 lbs of torque, i keep one in my jeep along with an aluminum floor jack and a piece of plywood to put on the ground just makes thing easy
I recently retired from 40+ years of lab work. One of my many testing duties was parasitology. The first trilobite you showed reminded me of a big Giardia cyst.
What a fun adventure! Being a rockhound and hiking enthusiast, I love your channel. I'm going to need to make it out there to spend the day looking for trilobites. It's kind of funny...your channel focuses more on hikes and occasionally does some rockhounding, my channel focuses on rockhounding and occasionally does the hikes.
Great video. I loved the fresh spring, I hope that the animals know about it or come across it.. I love rocks. I always walk with my head down. I have found some beautiful ones but nothing like yours
It was definitely worth it. It’s more fun to find things yourself than buying them, like you did with the geodes (I think last week). And finding a unique, new species is incredible. I hope he finds one.
Another tire repair item is Colby Valve replacement for your tire valve stem. Installs from the outside of the rim. I need to get to that U-Dig place, very interesting to me. Nice video.
Your experience of digging and meeting Clay was definitely worth the money😊. Hope you enjoy your adventures as much as we do. Thank you. Happy new year to you,Cassie and Bowser🎉🎉
Super cool Tristan! Loved the water discovery, waterfall, fossil exploration, helping Clay. Well done. I was just travelling with my elderly mother when the camper lights quit in the dark. We pulled into a hotel lot. 2 HVAC vans were sitting next to each other, I walked up and asked for help. The guys jumped out and fixed the problem. Thank goodness. Happy New Year!
I have one of those tire irons for my travel trailer. Good thing about that set up there are multiple bolt sizes with that unit which is important. Another good thing to have is a impact wrench with multiple sockets.
$80 for a memorable experience is honestly very much worth it. Plus it's a very unique one. I stayed in Delta last year on a road trip and found some mighty tasty tacos there!
A once ancient seabed where aquatic trilobites once flourished going back to the Cambrian age or around 285 million years before the dinosaurs. Yeah, its great that Clay found an undiscovered specie and then had it is named after him, the Clay shrimp. He deserves it, he's put in a lot of hard work and many years. Ya know, you might just want to pack a mental detector ?....take care and see you next year !!
check for wheel locks and key..(remove them, throw them away!) also a 16 inch slip-on piece of pipe to add leverage. Owners manual will have some helpful info
Sure! Here's my PO box: Tristan Higbee 2829 Commercial Way #313 Rock Springs, WY 82901 I'll send you an SUV RVing sticker and magnet (assuming I can find them) in return, so be sure to include your address in/on the package.
There is a BLM trilobite site just off US 93 in Nevada near the town of Caliente. The Oak Springs Trilobite Site has tools in the trail register box at the trailhead and is free. It was absolutely worth the stop on a recent road trip.
You should try unscrewing a couple lug nuts by hand. Some tire shops use impact wrenches and tighten them down so hard that the lug nuts can't be unscrewed by hand. I've seen it happen. The car had to be towed to a tire shop to get the lug nuts off.
Are you familiar with American Fossil Quarry near Kemmerer, WY? You can split rocks there and find fossils around 52 million years old. Mostly you find two species of fish, but if you get lucky and find a turtle, or exotic plant it could be worth some serious money.
Wow, that was cool! Looks like you and Clay hit it off! I had no idea places like that existed. You motivated me to check my jack and tire iron situation. Thanks for sharing.
Great way to spend a day/weekend in a little visited area of the west. Doesn't always have to be a postcard spectacular destination to make a good adventure and memorable experience.
If shopping for fossils visit Tucson January thru mid February for the annual Gem and Mineral Show. There are fossil dealers offering any and all types, sizes, prices of fossils it is a paradise for fossil hunters and not to be missed.
It was cool that you included a clip of you shooting the rifle. Ive always wondered if you carry a pistol or anything during your camping trips. A personal question I don’t expect you to answer, but after seeing that clip I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a few yourself! Thanks for the great videos as always
This was so cool! I’d love to get a rockhounding kit so I saved one on Amazon. I’ll save this video so I can go back and see how you got the $80 site. 😉
That was so amazing to watch. I live in the UK and a few years ago I uncovered a small ammonite at Lyme Regis. It was my only find and the first bit of mudstone I opened. I was so excited!
your trilobite haul might not be worth the $80 you spent but helping pay for fuel to get closer to the next shrimp is way worth it. thanks for sharing!
