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My wife and I are planning a trip to Vermont, new Hampshire and Maine this fall. Does anyone know where to fossil hunt or somewhere to rock hunt. We love it all? Thank you in advance

I have been here at the forums for quite sometime now ( I think since I found my first fossils on a trip to Missouri close to 20 years ago?!) Work and life has been very busy and had prevented me from anything more than online hunting, you tube video's, and the lack of actual sites close to where I currently live. (Currently I live above the San Joaquin Valley, in a small mountain community named North Fork. I have had wonderful years here hunting arrow heads and various rocks and minerals, Have found many crystals at the old gold mine sites which are numerous over in Mariposa county next to me, and have had a great time up here! However, I took a trip to Missouri many moons ago to help a family member relocate out here to Nevada, which is when the unexpected happened. When we went to rent the moving truck to begin loading, my mom went inside to handle the rental, and as per my "norm" I took off walking across an open fields with, eyes to the ground,, towards the back of the lot and behind the row of trucks parked ready for rent, towards the railroad tracks. I was finding different minerals and such and then by chance I kicked over a plain down rudy clay looking rock, when I noticed it had a pattern to it. I looked closer and it was a plant fossil ! I was ecstatic, and thrilled does not even begin to cover it. I found several more all of different varieties when I began to notice what the 'commonalities' were with the ones I was finding. From that point on I was hooked! I made several trips back there just for the rock hunting and had found many wonderful 'treasures' which I cherished. I then began to explore more of Missouri to see what else there was to find in this state, and lets put it this way, the first thing on my bucket list is to return to Missouri!!! It got even better, after having my eyes opened so to speak as when we left there we headed to a ranch to spend the night that was owned by family back there. They have an 80 acre ranch. When we got there and I stepped out of the truck, I looked down and could NOT believe my eyes. There were fossils just laying around and exposed all up and down the dirt road which lead from the highway and into the 80 acres. I hunted for the rest of that evening and found more treasures. I have never forgotten that trip, and like I said I plan on gong back there one day before I die, and attempt to find more of those little treasures which made so darned happy so many years ago....and the family back there still owns the ranch too! I have since retired due to disability (heart) and find I have more time available than money naturally, so I am here to begin exploring what is available or close by where I live now, and also any near Fernley NV.. where I spend several months at at time there helping my Mom. I have small amounts of silver in quartz rock, (no gold yet though) many heads, awesome crystals, but my real desire is to find more fossils! So if anyone has any information or recommendations for me I would love to know about them! I am aware of the fossils found down in the Valley at the old landfill dump site in Madera, (wooly mammoth bones, sabre tooth tiger etc.) and I have heard of a dry creek bed somewhere down around the town of Dos Palos and of course Shark Hill and the Ernst Quarries and Ant Hill which is now closed. However its a vast area there, with miles and miles of open high desert area, which leads me to hope that those are not the ONLY areas where one can hunt for sharks teeth and other sea life fossils. Here's to hope! and forgive my long winded introduction but I am happy to be here once again and I'm looking forward to getting to know other members here. Thank you! Debra

[taken from my blog: http://redleafz.blogspot.ca] Me and my buddy Matt went for a trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia November 26th, 2011 to snoop around the city and try to collect rocks and minerals. Why snoop around a big city for minerals? URBAN HUNTING! Halifax lies on top of a granitic pluton, a mass of magma located under the surface which has slowly cooled. The batholith intrusion was exposed over a long period of time, over several million years. The granite that you see on most road cuts leading in and out of the city was part of that feature. With igneous rock comes the chance to find interesting crystals. The area is known for its quartz (smoky), feldspar (K-feldspar), tourmaline, pyrite (fool's gold), and gold among other things. When we arrived in Halifax, we had driven by some road cuts that had yielded several minerals. We parked the car close-by so that we could go take a look before going for a bite to eat. We took some of our gear and headed out to check the outcrops. The granite contained fine to bigger size grains of quartz, feldspar, and other silicates (pyroxene). We had also spotted some tourmaline and a green mineral that we couldn't identify at the present (looks like Beryl). We spotten some open veins and Matt peered in some of them, finding this: This beautiful green crystal was the first thing that we found, and right there made the trip well worth it. Matt will try to get this identified as he hasn't seen anything like this here before. I'll have to update if we get the chance to get this identified. After lunch we drove to another location in Bayers Lake. This area had yielded in the past large specimens of smoky quartz. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the location, they had built a parking lot on top of it. We stayed around to check a few blocks of granite, probably left over from previous blasting. There were all sorts of minerals growing on top of each other: feldspar, quartz, tourmaline, mica, some others I didn't recognize. Pointing at a large smoky quartz Tourmaline (black) The picture about shows granite displaying odd features. This is probably due to contact between two plutons, causing friction and heat to change the composition. The difference in temperature is shown by the different stages of cooling by layering. From fine crystals when at high temperatures to larger crystals as the rock lowers in temperature. Not far from here, Matt directed me to drive to another location within Bayers Lake where he had previously found plates of crystals. The outcrop was the remains of previous blasting. The last location we went to before heading back to Moncton was just outside the city at an industrial park. After walking a bit in the snow, we reached the said so rocks that Matt wanted to show me. These rocks are pyrite bearing rocks: fool's gold. I've seen pyrite samples that came from Halifax that were pretty big. Matt inspecting the rock for pyrite Pyrite Pyrite! Although we didn't find gold or huge specimens, the trip was fun. It was nice to explore Halifax's geology and learning about its formation. I had thought that with snow my traveling would be nil, but come to find out that there is no such thing as taking a break when you're a rock hunter. I've already made plans for more excursions soon, so stay tuned! Cheers!