Search the Community

I decided to try my luck at Cole Hill today after seeing @Calico Jack and @Al Tahan's recent luck. With last night's rain, the roads were a bit slick on the ride out, but not terrible. I arrived around 10 and quickly saw where they had been working. They both said they had only been there for a short time but there sure was fresh rock thrown everywhere. Somebody is fibbing! I decided to work a spot close to where I found my last couple, mostly complete Dipleuras. I wish I had something exciting to report but all I found was a lot of the usual suspects. Cephalons, pygidiums, Bembexia, various brachs, bivalves, and nautiloids. None of them were in great condition, but that being said I still had a good time. The weather was pretty nice and I stayed till 1:30. It was nice getting out of the house. Before I left, I heard a car pull in to the side of the road. A lady got out and told me that I needed to get permission to hunt there as her family owned the property. I asked her if she was the daughter of the lady who lives down the road and she said yes. So I explained that I had gotten permission from her Mother back in 2003 and have been coming there ever since. She said her mom didn't recognize the car. She was very polite about everything and I talked to her for a bit and also explained that I have talked with the mother from time to time and some other family members who hunt the property in the fall. Then she went on her way. I stayed just a little while longer as my back was starting to hurt. Better luck with the trilos next time.

Today was a cold one here in Central New York. I wasn't really planning on doing much today but then I got the fossil itch. I decided to take a quick trip to Briggs Road and try my luck at some trilos. Got to the site around 3:15 pm. On the ride out I saw remnants of snow that probably came down the night before. There wasnt much, but that's not a good sign this early in the season. Anyways when I got there I could see that someone else had been out there recently and had opened up a couple spots. I immediately got to work and was surprised how many partials I was finding. Now I have to mention that I don't keep to many partials unless they are big, well defined, or I think more is hiding in the matrix. But then some whole ones appeared. The first was a roller still imbedded in matrix. I broke it out and lost some thorax in the process. The next was a nice big one which was not in a ideal location for retrieval. It broke into many pieces and then I was very sad. Then the 3rd time was the charm. A nice semi-prone with tail tucked under popped of the matrix as nice as could be. I was glad to get out there as it could very well be the last time for awhile. The road is seasonal use and will close November 1st. But I will still have Deep Springs and Cole Hill until the snow comes down too much.

Yesterday I was in New Jersery for my son, Dylan's marching band competition. We had half the day free until they were playing at Rutgers stadium so we met up with @frankh8147 to hunt one of the Cretaceous streams. We met up around 9am and it was raining. Not a torrential downpour, but enough to soak into your clothes even with a raincoat. I wasn't deterred and neither was Frank. Heck it didn't seem to bother him at all. I would like to say Thanks to Frank for being a great host and guide to me and my family. He has such a great wealth of knowledge of the fossils from that area. Plus this was the second time since July that he was willing to meet up with us. It didn't take long to start finding fossils. Right off the bat frank found a cephalic clasper from a shark! It was a decent size and condition. I found mostly shark and fish teeth. Frank seemed to find more of an assortment including reptile. He gifted Devin a Goblin sharktooth, and myself a partial mosasaur. Sot of a highlight for me is what maybe my first point. I say maybe because frank wasn't 100% sure because it is quite worn but said he has seen similar pieces which after being looked into were in fact points. The key is to find out if the object is made of argonite. An old tribe used argonite for their points and does not occur naturally in N.J. Anyways we stayed about 4hrs before we had to part ways but it was a great time with a great guy. Thanks again Frank for everything, including the pieces you gave me before the hunt. Hope you like the New York trilos. ( Don't forget to get me the info of those pieces) Here are pics of the gifts and finds.

Well folks Spring has finally arrived in Central New York! We actually had two days in a row of sun! The thermometer is reading 70º as I write this. Me and the boys were busy this weekend. Yesterday we collected some gypsum specimens, shot their BB gun and a found an old Coke bottle. Today we went to Briggs road for a short Trilo hunt, went fishing and went to one of the nicest waterfalls in our area. We all enjoyed being outdoors and soaking up the sun. While at the fossil site I found a huge spotted salamander wedged in between the shale. I felt bad for disturbing it but I didn't see it until I had already destroyed its resting place. I don't think it was actually out of hibernation yet as it was very sluggish. Here are some pics. 1- Gypsum 2-Coke bottle 3- Salamander 4-Dylans finds 5-Davids finds 6&7- Devins little trilo roller 8- My finds

I took a trip to Cole Hill yesterday, and it turned out to be a decent day weather wise, than what was forecast. Iwas expectins rain but that didn't happen thankfully. This was the first time that I have been there since all the snow is gone from the site. I went to my favorite spot and immediately saw how weathered it was. This can be a double edged sword. On one hand it makes digging easier, while on the other had sometimes the fossils will crumble apart. I got to work right away and was rewarded instantly with some nice Spinocyrtia granulosa. They popped right out of the matrix. I had a feeling this was gonna be a good day and it was. While I didn't find a nice Dipleura, I found many cephalons and pygidiums. Bembexias are very common at this site and the where popping out left and right but many of them fell apart. I did get a couple decent ones. While I was hoping for company on this trip. I soaked in the solitude. I found a couple of decent cephalopods but these too crumbled. I spent about 5 hrs digging. Every once in awhile I would stop what I was doing a take a look around to see if I good spot something either on the ground or sticking out of the cliff. I do this when my back needs a break. Found a few items this way but nothing special. Part of the reason that I wanted to make it out there is that I wanted to collect some material for forum members who are planning on coming to Deep Springs April 28th and have never had a chance to hunt at Cole Hill. Some of the items that I had earmarked for that broke in transit on the way home, while a couple items somehow got left behind. I still have plenty of things from this, and previous trips out there though. I will say time seemed to fly by and I would have liked to stay longer but I promised my wife I wouldn't be out all day. It was fun while it lasted and I am glad I could get out. Here are some pics. These pics are of the Dipleura, Cephalons and pygidiums

I am planning a trip to Cole Hill on Saturday April 14th to search for my favorite trilobite, Dipleura dekayi. Wondering if anyone would like to join in the fun? I plan on arriving at sunrise and staying till 12-1 pm. Maybe longer depending on how things go. Dave

I made it back out today with my boys. The weather made it into the 50's with full sun, so it was a very nice day to be out. I managed to grab some of the goodies I left behind yesterday plus some of what I found today. I have moved a lot of rock these past two days and there are slabs and hash plates everywhere. Hopefully they will get a chance to weather before I get back there to split them. If somebody else gets to them first then that's just the way it is. Dylan did good on the trilo parts today. Devin just kind of did boy stuff. Similar to the last time I brought them out. Here is todays haul. A Small Greenops,a Eldregeops cephalon, a couple Dipleura pygidiums, a few bivalves and a brach. Nothing fancy but a good day in my book.

I am currently getting over the flu so I decided to put off my trip to New Jersey till I am more ready for a long roadtrip. With that being said, I needed to get my fossil fix and decided to hit up my favorite local site. I left the house at 5:30 am, during which it was lightly raining. I got to Deep Springs by 6:40 and was surprised by how much snow was still lying around even though it hasn't snowed for around 2 weeks. Luckily the snow was melted on a good portion of the site, particularly the ledge that I wanted to work. I managed to find a nice piece of fossil wood around 14 inches long. While I did not find any complete trilos, I did find a dis-articulated Dipleura thorax and pygidium around 4 inches wide, a Small Dipleura thoraxand pygidium, and a Small but decent Dipleura cephalon that popped off the matrix. There was many other things that I found which I left behind. I plan on going back tomorrow with the boys to get what is left and hopefully get some new material.

I am planning a trip to hunt the cretaceous streams of N.J. on Saturday March 31. I am bringing my boys along for this one. I was wondering if any of you Jersey hunters would like to meet up and join us for the day or just stop by and say hello? I was going to go to Maryland but I don't like to have my boys out at the cliffs, its a little much for my youngest. Plus it has been 2 years since I have been to NJ, I want to get my hands on some Cretaceous goodies!

Today I took a trip to a much underrated fossil site, Briggs Road, in Earlville New York. For those who don't know Briggs is only a couple miles North from the much talked about Deep Springs site. I had been wanting to get back to the trilo layer here as this is a great spot for Eldredgeops rana But this road is a seasonal use road so when it snows they only plow until the last house before the site and leave a big pile of snow blocking the road. Finally after a few days of warmth the snow pile was gone. The rock here is quite weathered right now and all I used was a small pry bar to help break off pieces from the main wall. My older son David had rehearsal for an upcoming play at school. So only Dylan and Devin were with me. Me and Dylan did the most searching while Devin was just being a boy. Throwing rocks and ice into the small pond that formed in the quarry was his thing today. We found tons of cephalons and pygidiums. I found a nice almost complete prone trilo in the rubble pile that I thought was whole. I was very sad when I saw that most of the left side was gone. I did find one small complete roller in matrix and a few that may be wholebut will require prep to fi d out for sure. Dylan seemed pretty content as he found more trilo parts then he ever has before. We stayed for about 3 hours. I wanted to stay longer but I promised them we would only be there a couple hours and I didn't want to push it. Here is some of our finds.

Yesterday turned out to be a great day to go on a fossilhunt in Central New York. We arrived at Deep Springs at 10am and found that while there was still some snow and ice, there was also plenty of exposed rock to search through. On the ride out, the sun had stayed behind the clouds mostly. And then when we arrived, almost on cue the sun popped out the entire time we were there. We immediatly got to work. For me the day was about collecting "fossils", not just Dipleuras. It has been so long since my last hunt I wanted to collect any worthy specimens. For those who know me, I am not much of a shale splitter. I much rather pull up slabs. But due to the weathering that has gone on from the emtreme freeze/ thaw the rock was not cooperating to pull slabs. That was fine though because there were plenty of slabs lying around from previous trip that only needed a light tap of the hammer to break. Many I could break with only my fingers. But this turned out to be a blessing and a curse as many worthy items ended up crumbling. We all found some decent items though. Trilo parts and pieces were abundant. Greenops, Eldregeops, and Dipleura pygydiums and cephalons. Devin and I both found nearly complete greenops, just missing spines. Dylan found an imprint from a decent size Dipleura thorax. As always there were plenty of brachs, bivalves, gastros,and a few cephalopods. I found a nice criniod piece with a bunch of segmentswhich later got stepped on by tiny feet and broke in half. But I kept it and will glue it back together. David found a few things but he isn't as into fossils as the rest of us so he only kept a few small items. We stayed for about 2 1/2 hours and decided to hit up Cole Hill, which is about a half hour drive from Deep Springs. Sadly , on the drive over the sun disappeared. The temp definitely got cooler, but it was still not but for January. When we arrived there it was pretty much the same conditions, some snow and ice, but plenty of exposed rock. I climbed up to the ledge while the boys looked in the talus pile at the base of the cliff. David decided he was done for the day so he sat in the car to take a nap. Unlike Deep Springs, the matrix is much harder here. Not easy to split but I did what I could. I told the boys we would only be there a few minutes. Yeah right! Soon I heard the luring siren call of 6 inch Dipleuras. Cole hill is getting harder to dig at due to the fact that those who have been digging there the past couple years are leaving their tailings right on top of the trilo layer. Years ago when I first started going there, the ledge was clean as a whistle. Everone tossed all the loose broken bits over the side of the cliff. Now everyone just leaves it where it falls at their feet. So now to get to the layer you have to spend a lot of time and energy clearing this out. I know in some locations this can't be helped, but here there is a cliff. Throw it over! Anyways at one point I lost my footing and toik a 25 foot ride down the talus pile on my hands and knees. I didn't have my gloves on at that moment and tore up my knuckles a little. It felt much worse than it was. Banged up my right knee too, but I am ok. It started getting late so we left a little after 3pm. I found a couple pygidiums and cephalons and was about it. Even though there were no amazing finds today, I did have a great day fossilhunting with my boys in January, which is, for us New Yorkers a rare occurrence. I will be posting pics thoughout the day as I have some chores to attend to so please bear with me. Hope you enjoyed! First few pics are of Deep Springs. #1 The entrance #2 a slab that I was trying to break down #3 the main area that I was digging at

I have decided it is time for my first fossilhunt of the year. I have been itching to go, and the weather is supposed to be decent. So I plan on checking out Deep Springs Road or Cole Hill or maybe I will hit up both. I am bringing the boys with me. I am really hoping for some decent finds. Winter has been very rough the past couple months. This was a last minute decision and I am getting very excited. If anyone wants to meet up, feel free to PM. I know this is very short notice. I will give a report on how things turn out. Wish me luck!

It has been awhile since me and my boys have been to Deep Springs. I decided to go today and I brought along my Dad and brother. It was the first time either of them have came along for this type of fossilhunt. Both have gone sharktooth hunting with me. We got there around 11:45. The sun was out in full force. I found plenty Dipleura parts and pieces, but unfortunately no whole ones. Dylan my middle boy, found a lot of Greenops pieces including his most complete to date. He was happy with himself. Everyone else was finding the common brach, gastros, bivalves, and other assorted goodies. Two guys showed up and we talked for a little bit. The one guy said he was a fossil forum lurker. A highlight of the day was finding a nest of snake eggs mixed in with the rubble. But I feel bad because I think I broke two of the eggs open by accident. The babies were still alive but I am not sure they were ready to hatch. Later I caught, what may have been the mother. My brother really didn't do much , but my Dad took I chisel and hammer and made some good finds for a newbie. We stayed till about 2:30. All in all it was a nice day to be there. I was glad to has my dad and brother along as well. I made my best find of the day on the way out. A nice little Greenops just laying on the ground waiting to be picked up.

Today my poor boys suffered. All because their father felt the need to find a trilobite. Yesterday was my nephews birthday. He lives almost three hours away. We left about 8:30amand didn't get home till almost midnight. I already knew that they would be exhausted in the morning and when they are tired it is hard for them to get excited about anything. BUT good old Dad had big plans so I got them up at 7:30 and I could tell it was going to be a rough day. We arrived at 10am and I debated on were to start. There was a lot of debris sitting on top of my favorite layer. I decided to try working a bit higher then I normally do. I was finding some decent things right off the bat. Then I started finding a lot of parts and pieces of Dipleuras. I just knew I would find a whole one. The boys didn't even get into it all all. They just wanted to leave. I tried to talk words of encouragement. They weren't having it. Then I told them we would leave as soon as I found a whole one, and I'm getting close, so it shouldn't be long. Well at about 1:00 I thought it wasn't going to happen and I should end their suffering and take them home. But just a couple more minutes. And then it happened! I grabbed a piece of matrix and it all crumbled into a hundred pieces and I saw the pygidium and partial thorax hung upside down from the cliff face. My heart started pounding, I had high hopes it was all there. I gave a couple gentle whacks with my hammer and then pryed it off with my prybar and Whalla! A semi prone, approx. 3 3/4 inch Dipleura. Unfortunately the left eye and cheek is missing. I tried in vain to find it, but to no avail. But most off the cephalon is there and its enough too make me happy. And my kids were happy that we could finally leave. A win for all! Here are some pics enjoy!

Before I start my story I have to explain something. My wife has been on me about going fossilhunting at Deep Springs so much. She is complaining that I am burning up to much gas on all these trips. So today I told a fib about going fishing at a local stream instead. After I got home I talked to @Ropterus on the phone and when I started to tell him about my morning my wife happened to come out to where I was so I had to give him a different story. So Scott when you read this post this explains why. Anyways I got to Deep Springs about 6:15 am within 15 mins I found another Dipleura thorax and pygidium. I dont know why I keep finding these without the cephalon, but hey I was happy none the less. I found a few poor quality cephalons and a couple Greenops which unfortunately split in the middle. This was another short trip, I left after two hours so I could get back home and spend the rest of my day with my family. This was a great start of a wonderful Fathers Day! The first pic was the Dipleura as found. The rest of the pics were after I got home and trimmed it up a bit.

I am planning a fossilhunt at Cole Hill Road in Sangerfield New York, on 6-25-17. I invite anyone who wishes to go to meet me there. I plan on arriving somewhere between 9-10 am.

Hi, I moved to NYC recently from Texas (where the fossils are plentiful and everywhere) and am very interested in finding out about fossil sites around New York City or in the (relatively) nearby upstate area. Does anyone have any locations or suggestions? I'd rather not trek as far as ithaca and buffalo, i will get to those at some point, as I have read about the sites there, but if anyone knows anywhere closer, i would greatly appreciate info! And if anyone from the area would like to plan a trip and wants some company, please let me know. Thanks in advance! H

Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with @Dsailor at The Cole Hill Dipleura site in Sangerfield. After getting blasted with snow earlier in the week, I wasn't sure if we would have favorable conditions to hunt but decided to give it a shot. We were greeted at the site with aleast a couple feet of snow in the pulloff and about a foot or so up on the cliff. We both decided we didn't drive all this way for nothing. I brought my trusty snow shovel and he he'd a small shovel, so after trudging up th side of the cliff wecleared a spot for us to start working. It really didn't take to long to clear a decent spot. Also it did not take long before we started spotting stuff. I was surprised at the amount of stuff Dom was finding. He found quite a few cephalons and pygidium s from Dipleuras and even some Greenops which are more rare from this site. He also was finding a lot of cephalopods amongst other goodies. I seemed to find a lot of gastropods this trip. Then our hearts started beating when he uncovered the body of a Dipleura. We thought for sure it was whole. After a while of trying to carefully remove the surrounding matrix he was able to extract the body with pygidium intact but the cephalon was missing. Still a great find. I was very excited for him and glad he was able to leave with some good stuff. My collecting was kind of meager but I had good company and the sun came out which made the day a blessing. I hope Dom will share his own input into todays hunt when he gets a chance. Here are some pics. 1- This is how we we greeted. 2- After we had dug for awhile. 3- Gastropods 4-5-6- Dipleura pygidiums

I woke up this morning, the last day of vacation, wondering how I was going to spend it. Then I read Ropterus' s trip report about his pristine meg. Well it was decided for me! I was just going to have to show you southern guys and gals that you can't keep a New Yorker down! I have had enough with all your balmy weather and sharkteeth! I was going to show you a thing or too about some real fossilhunting. So I loaded my 2 youngest in the car and off we went heading for Deep Springs Road. After the roughly 1 hour drive this is what awaited us.....

http://londonpavementgeology.co.uk/ Cool project in London... soon with a free app available for apple and android. Others should follow suit.... I`ll definitely check it out on my next trip to London. "There is a wealth of high quality rock samples of all types to be seen in the capital [London], mostly visible to the public from the pavement. A searchable collection is offered here for the benefit of students, amateurs and professionals alike. Please respect the fact that in many case the geological specimens are somebody else’s property, please only take photographs, after asking permission, wherever possible."

Dear All, please let me start my very first post with Sir Ernest Shackleton´s "pseudo real" ad from London newspaper The Times: “Ah, when ships were made of wood and men were made of steel…” I am looking for an experienced fossil hunter to join an adventure in the Swiss Geneva Region or neighbouring France, Jura... I have literally zero experince, but willing to learn new things. No equipment but I would love to invest in a small hammer and a chisel for a reasonable price... by the way thank you for the warm welcomes. Looking forward to hear from you... All comments, ideas and suggetions are welcome... With kind regards Phileas Fogg Ps: I was tinking to open a topic on movies/documentaries about fossils... where do i post it? in the general discussions?

Hello to all, I am new to fossils and forums... Looking for an adventure with an experienced fossil hunter in the (Swiss) Geneva region or nearby France... Looking forward to learn new things and to go down the rabbit hole.... All the best...