2025 IN REVIEW
Psalm 19 NIV
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of
his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 6 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Photo: Hungry Hollow fossil trip in 2025 with the Chatham/Kent homeschooling group
It's been another busy year including the annual open house and a lot of fossil trips. Another new fossil trip location was added this year to the Arkona/Hungry Hollow area. Thanks to Laura, Marc, Frank, Carol, Timothy Hartley, Mike (Rock Glen Conservation Area) and many more to make this year run smoothly. Enjoy this late and long newsletter! Martin
MUSEUM EVENTS COMING UP
Photo: Indoor fossil hunt
​It's open house time again at the “Creation Research Museum of Ontario” in Goodwood, Ontario on
Saturday, June the 6th, 2026 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

​Day activities include... 
-Fossil hunting. Learn about different types of fossils and the evidence for a quick burial. 
-The “Rock Pile Dig” where you can collect a bucket of fossils and minerals to take home.
The beauty in minerals and crystals has always defied the theory of evolution.
-Tour the museum for free! Participate in the self-tour quiz and get a chance to win
​a fabulous local fossil in the draw. 
-Creation resources, t-shirts, fossils and minerals available for purchase at the rock store.
-Free gift bag with creation materials, while they last.
-Visit the hands-on activity tables. ​
​-Creationist, teacher and researcher Timothy Hartley will be back again with his talks and displays.
For more info click button below.
Come on a Spring, Summer, or Fall 2026 public ​fossil trip with ​Martin
​Legemaate, Curator of The ​Creation Research Museum of Ontario
Photo: Kawartha Lakes fossil dig in 2018
Spring
Kawartha Lakes trip: Saturday, June 13th, 2026. 
Contact Curator Martin Legemaate: [email protected] 
Dates and times may change due to quarry operations.
Photo: Hungry Hollow fossil trip in 2025
Summer
​ July 18th, 2026 Arkona/Hungry Hollow fossil trip.
Contact Curator Martin Legemaate: [email protected] ​
AND NEW THIS YEAR
Photo: Collecting minerals in Bancroft 2023
Photo: Biotite mica in nepheline
Summer
Mineral collecting field trip to the Haliburton and Bancroft area. Saturday August the15th, 2026.
Photo: Niagara Gorge field trip in 2024
Fall
​ Niagara Gorge Field Trip Saturday September 19, 2026
Click button for more info on all fossil and mineral trips.
Contact Curator Martin Legemaate: [email protected] ​
Can't make it out to the open house? Book your own group for a 2026 museum tour. More details @ MUSEUM TOUR
Can't make it out to the public fossil trips? Book your own group for a 2026 fossil trip. More info @ FOSSIL TRIPS
2025 IN REVIEW
MAY
ARKONA/HUNGRY HOLLOW
With the first public fossil trip to Arkona/Hungry Hollow coming up in Summer, Laura and I wanted to do a little scouting around the area ahead of time to fine tune the trip. The last time I visited the area was in 2011 so I really had to re-familiarize myself with the sites. 
Still closed for the season, this museum in Rock Glen Conservation area houses local fossils and will be the first stop on the July trip.
​
Rock Glen Falls.
On to site 2 in the little town of Hungry Hollow.
Pointing to a tabulate coral (species goldfussi).
At the bottom of Rock Glen Falls. This is a river bank shale exposure of the Hamilton Formation. Perfect for collecting.
Quickly found were several Horn and Rugose coral specimens and several Mucrospirifer brachiopods. Since only one specimen per person can be collected here in the park, participants will have to choose wisely. Not to worry though, site 2 is an "all you can collect" area.
Laura collecting in the clay beds along a dead end road aptly named "Fossil Road"! This road cut also exposes the Hamilton Formation. 
Another cool tabulate coral (favosites).
The scouting trip was a success and a program was planned out. Participants won't be disappointed at the number of fossils they will find! 
MAY
LINCOLN QUARRY, BEAMSVILLE
This annual quarry dig in Beamsville is organized by the CCFMS  (Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies). I have not been collecting here since 2015 so I was excited to get back into it again. Although spare in fossils, the quarry can yield some amazing crystals and minerals.  
Sign upon entering the quarry.
Collectors on a blast pile searching for anything that glistens.  
Laura pointing to white gypsum occurrences in limestone.
Pink dolomite crystals.
David hamming it up as collectors gather and wait for the safety lesson.
The quarry cuts though part of the Silurian rocks and exposes the Lockport Formation.
Close-up of the gypsum. These rocks make pretty yard and garden stones.
Gypsum nodules dubbed, "Snowball Gypsum"!
Large clear and white calcite crystals with smaller brown sphalerite crystals (ore of zinc).
Beautiful Galena cubed crystals (ore of lead).
Purple fluorite.
MAY
Kawartha Lakes Fossil Trip
With Pioneer Baptist Church having another event going on, we held our opening introduction at this beautiful wedding venue at Moncks Landing and Golf Course. Thanks to Moncks Landing and Pastor Ross for setting this up for us!
These Ordovician rocks contain a dark blue seam belonging to the Gull River Formation, which is full of trilobite bits.
Sofia found the first great find...
After lunch at Moncks Landing we headed off to the second site near Fenelon Falls.
Ebenezzer found an excellent 3D specimen...
Ella found a brachiopod mortality plate.
Alex showing off an excellent find...
Arrival at the first collecting site. A working quarry. Really impressive when driving in.

​
Show and tell time after about 20 minutes of collecting.
​
...an almost complete Bathyurus trilobite.
This road cut exposes the Verulam Formation and a hammer is rarely needed. The limestone  slabs can be pulled out of the wall containing fossils on the surface or the fossils fall out of the clay seams in-between the limestone.
...a brachiopod with some of the original shell material intact.
The kids were excited to show off their finds.
A mortality plate is a slab of rock that is full of usually one kind of creature. In this case Brachiopods. Mortality plates are great evidence that creatures were washed in in great numbers and then fossilized.
...a coiled gastropod (snail)
JUNE
Back to the Kawartha lakes area, with some better weather than in May.
Collecting in the one of the old blast piles.
Joshua is holding an interesting specimen.








Evolutionists argue that most shrinkage cracks were formed above ground (called desiccation cracks) and are solid evidence that there were periods of drying out times in-between the laying down of sediments, ruling out any argument that the entire stack of sedimentary rock was laid down all at once. Shrinkage cracks are not necessarily evidence of a drying out period as in modern mud cracks. Shrinkage cracks can form underwater by salt water flowing over mud or can form by compaction and dewatering of sediments*. Therefore the sequence of rocks at the quarry could have been all laid down at once. These Gull River Formation rocks extend into New York State and Pennsylvania!  All this evidence points to a large scale flood (such as Noah's Flood) only a few thousand years ago!

*Ref: ​(www.icr.org/articles/3111/109/)




​



Jake intently examining the rocks.
Hannah showing off her find...
Collecting at site 2.
Hannah took home another nice specimen.
And adding to Joshua's haul...
Here is the find of the day...
A short video showing all sides of the Conulariid. 
After a time of collecting we brought our specimens together for some fossil identification.
These are known as shrinkage or desiccation cracks.
A desiccation crack slab on top of freshly formed mud cracks.
Jake holding a trilobite bit. He found so many trilobite pieces that we named him the trilobite king!
...a mid section (thorax) and tail (pygidium) of a Bathyurus trilobite.
Another show and tell time.
A small Brachiopod.
...coiled and spired gastropods.
...a 3D Conulariid! Conulariida are thought to be marine creatures classified together with jellyfish, hydroids, sea anemones and corals. 
Pausing for a group photo.
JUNE
CREATION RESEARCH MUSEUM OF ONTARIO OPEN HOUSE 
It was nice weather for the annual Creation Research Museum of Ontario open house and it was extra special partnering with local creationist Timothy Hartley this year, who provided several of his own exhibits and talks. 
Checking out the main museum area.
Timothy explaining evidences for creation through many of his teaching posters.
Collecting​ at the rock pile.
Laura explaining a fossil at the fossil collecting tables.
An amazing trilobite tail found in this easy splitting oil shale.
Jake found a hard to find fossil...
Carol helping with fossil identification. When splitting open this shale there was a strong oil smell. An indication that organic matter was buried quickly and preserved in the rock as oil!
At the activity tables added for special events and open houses.
Outside activities including the rock pile, fossil hunting and teaching posters.
Folks were able to take home a bucket each, of pretty minerals, rocks and cool Ontatio fossils.
Martin identifying the different fossils found in the these rocks.
A nice straight coned Nautiloid (Orthocone)
...a mouth part of a trilobite called a hypostome.
Checking out the teaching posters.
Timothy explaining how the earth's interior functions.
Group photo with long-time supporters.
​ Check out Timothy Hartley's web sites:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7OV-7HKOsbmUiSre_R_QuA
https://thebiblejourney.ca/
Open House comments
Hi Martin, good to see you today!  Our annual meet-up!  Your ministry is so edifying and encouraging.  May the Lord continue to strengthen and equip you to continue glorifying Him. Melissa
 
My sister and I just "happened " to be driving to though Goodwood on Saturday and saw the sign for the open house.  We were so impressed with the displays and so enjoyed the cube presentation and chatting with the volunteers.  Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to presenting the wonderful truths of creation! Shirley 
JULY
ARKONA/HUNGRY HOLLOW FOSSIL TRIP
This is the first (test) fossil collecting trip to the Arkona/Hungry Hollow area. The trip started at the picturesque Rock Glen Conservation Area. Thanks to Richard Fangrad from CMI (Creation Ministries International) for joining us and helping out with the final conclusion talk.
We were able to rent this small pavilion for the opening introduction in the chance there was rain.  
Richard Fangrad beside a monster coral head (Favosites). Note the growth rings!
Down at the bottom of Rock Glen Falls. An impressive spot for collecting.
August is a great time for collecting here, as the water level is low.
Different sizes of the brachiopod, Mucrospirifer. 
Many horn coral as seen in the side of the river bed. They're not in nice neat colonies as you would expect, but are found pointing in all directions, laying down and even upside-down! This indicates they were washed in by a strong currents and not slowly buried over millions of years! 
Picture
A quick group photo and on to lunch and then site 2.
Collecting in the clay beds along the Ausauble River.

​A tiny but beautiful (pyritized) ammonite was found.  (Tornoceras)
After the introduction to fossils we headed over to the small fossil museum located on the park site.
A profile of the local rock formations with the fossils you find in them.
Martin identifying some of the fossils found in the clay bed along the bank of the creek that leads into the Ausable River.
A fine Brachiopod (Genus Atrypa)
The kids always have the best eye for the tiny micro fossils.
Here is a cluster of extinct horn coral.
A nice trilobite tail (greenops).
Picture
Close up of the multiple number of fossils here. In the conservation area  we were limited to collecting just one specimen per person, but at site 2 folks were not disappointed, as you can collect an unlimited number here!
An excellent horn coral specimen!
Final conclusion with Martin and Richard.
After the fossil trip conclusion Laura and I headed over to what would have been site 3 on the fossil trip program. But since this was a "test trip", it was agreed that a 3rd site visit would have been too long of a day. Here we are at nearby Kettles Point on the shore of Lake Huron, to look at some interesting and rare geological oddities.
Laura in front of what's known as a concretion. These are not glacial deposited boulders that you find in and above the soil...
...rather these concretions formed within layers of rock. note the draping of the sediments (Kettle Point Shale) above the concretion.
To top it off, these concretion grew from the center outwards (concentric). Note the radiating lines originating from the center on this broken one found on the beach.
These concretions are featured on the page "7 GEOLOGICAL WONDERS OF ONTARIO" . Click the link and scroll to wonder number 5 to find out why these concretions fit into a catastrophic flood model rather than a slow burial model over millions of years!  
AUGUST
LITTLE FALLS NEW YORK
A return drive from Long Island NY brought us to Little Falls NY. It's a little gem of a town that is slowly changing from industrial to tourist by re-purposing the old century commercial buildings. I was originally looking for some Utica Formation shale exposures, but a local directed us to the rapids on the Mohawk river that flows through the town. 
Laura heading down to Mohawk River.
I've reported on limestone potholes before, but these ones are in granite, a much harder material. For the water to carve this, there must have been a high velocity flood flow of water!
To learn more about naturally formed pot holes go to the page "7 GEOLOGICAL WONDERS OF ONTARIO". Click the link to find out why these geological features point to a catastrophic past.  
A picturesque view of some of the buildings of a by-gone era.
A view looking up stream.
We didn't find any Utica shale, but we did find these cool naturally formed potholes in granite. 
SEPTEMBER
Arkona/Hungry Hollow fossil trip with the Windsor Essex Homeschooling Group
Due to the success of the test fossil trip to Arkona in July, word got out that there was now a fossil trip available to the South Western part of Ontario. Here we have 2 back to back fossil trips with homeschooling groups of the area.
Back at the Rock Glen Conservation Area museum sponsored by the Arkona Lions Club. Folks familiarized themselves with the local fossils found in the area.
Sarah found the first great find...
Wading through the water at the bottom of  the picturesque Rock Glen Falls.
Close-up of the trilobite (Phacops). This one is definitely a keeper!
A few varieties of brachiopods all with some pearly white shell material on them.
Group photo by Rock Glen Falls.
Along the creek with the exposed Hungry Hollow Formation Shale. 
... a straight coned cephalopod (Genus Dolortheceras). Note the gold coloured pyritization. Pyritization of a creature indicates a low to no oxygen environment. Great evidence that things here were buried quickly and deeply by the sediments.
Anita found a complete trilobite.
A Mucrospirifer brachiopod. Note the pearly white shell sections on the specimen.
Original shell material on fossils indicate that they were buried quickly and deeply as not to decompose. They were buried so deep that even boring and drilling marks were not found on them, caused by shell-boring creatures. 
Site 2. The clay beds of Hungry Hollow.
SEPTEMBER
Arkona/Hungry Hollow fossil trip with the Chatham Kent Homeschooling Group. (Day 2 of the back to back fossil trips.)
Opening session at the small pavilion. 
...the most iconic brachiopod found here, the Mucrospirifer.
...a mortality plate consisting of the brachiopod ​Rhipidomella (Genus).
Remember, a mortality plate is a cluster of washed-in creatures (many times the same species), indicating wide spread flooding and sorting. These ones have become compacted. 
We're getting accustomed to these group shots!
Friend, supporter and fossil enthusiast Maria joined us for the trip and also afterwards, to do some more intense collecting. 
Even though this site is very popular through spring ,summer and fall it can never be fully picked over as seen in the amount of fossils we found today.
Trevor's find. A complete coral head! (Favosites)
The coral all cleaned up.
Ausable River bank cut.
Laura intently working on a fossil.
...she found a cool tabulate coral (species goldfussi)
Huge limestone slabs of the Widder Formation with the Hungry Hollow Shale in the background.
Jeremy found some cool fossils...
Michael found and amazing slab...
Identifying some of the fossils on another limestone slab.
On to site 2
Trevor had an exciting find!
Poking around that coral, another bigger coral head was found.
The underside of the coral showing the growth rings.
After the fossil trip Maria, Laura and I went off the beaten track, even crossing the Ausable River to get to a remote collecting area.
Maria is a happy camper...
I always find at least one ammonite at this location and this time was no different.
Conclusion for all 3 Arkona/Hungry Hollow trips. The evidence shows that things were buried quickly, (as in the laying down positioning of the horn coral) and that things were buried deeply (as in the pyritization of some of the fossils and preservation of the shell material found on brachiopods. The Hungry Hollow Formation can be traced into Indiana, northwest and north east Ohio and into New York, indicating large-scale flooding.
Correlation Ref. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP278.5 
SEPTEMBER
The final public fossil trip of the day with a smaller group and a much needed slower pace. 
Site 2. The fossils are abundant here.
...consisting of crinoids, trilobite bits, bryozoans and brachiopods.
A serious fossil hunter!
A nice variety of fossils found by Abby...
A nice pronounced trace fossil (chondrites) created by marine worm like organisms. Trace fossils are good evidence that things were buried quickly. Slow burial by accumulating sediments brought in by water would have destroyed the traces.
If there is time or if the group is small (like today) I like to stop by in Coboconk to visit one of their tourist attractions. Canada's smallest Jail!
SEPTEMBER
Being involved in creation ministry I occasionally get to meet VIPs from the creation world. In September I was able to meet Keith Miller president of C.S.S.I. (Creation Science of Saskatchewan Inc.). Keith promotes the creation position through different resources and has visited most North American creation museums.
​Visit their web site at:  ​https://www.creation-science.sk.ca/
SEPTEMBER
GIANT'S CAUSEWAY NORTHERN IRELAND
The highlight of a September trip to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland was of course the geological wonder of the Giant's Causeway, renowned for its 40'000 interlocking basalt columns.
Looking west at the bay.
On the walk down to the causeway we were met with these spectacular volcanic formed basalt rocks.
This volcanic basalt was cooled down rapidly, producing these amazing hexagonal and pentagonal shaped columns.
A very high stack of columns with no change in the position of the cracks. 
Here's one singled out.
Looking east at toward the Causeway.
These basalt rocks were cooled down slowly, as there are no visible fractures.
These structures look almost man-made and lets the imagination run. No wonder legends have been formed like that of a giant, Finn MacCool, who built the causeway to fight a Scottish rival!
Laura showing the size of these basalt columns. They're about the size of a large patio stone! 
A shot of the tip of the Causeway. No one was allowed to go near it due to the rough water.
These basalt rocks are part of the Thulean Plateau that extends from Scotland to eastern Greenland. Noah's flood is the best model to explain this massive basalt occurrence.  "As the earth’s plates moved rapidly apart (opening up the Atlantic Ocean), huge fissures opened in the crust. Massive amounts of thick lava flowed through these openings into the North Atlantic, covering Greenland, Iceland, western Scotland, and northeast Ireland. These land areas were closer together then but shifted apart as the plates continued to move at the Flood’s end and rapidly decelerated in the early post-Flood era."*
*​Reference:
https://answersingenesis.org/geology/natural-features/giants-causeway/srsltid=AfmBOorjMMqj9KaEw1uep3nnzIRluyjMUsPDdNLK50-SGMAl6zgqzCKz