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I finally got back to Syracuse to visit family and got some fossil hunting time in. I started the day at Cole Hill and after getting completely skunked (not to mention hot sweaty and frustrated), I went over to Briggs Road to cheer myself up with some guaranteed E. Rana bugs. When I got there, I found the site much different from previous visits. The whole thing is torn up and there is a ton of fresh exposure. I would say the pit is now at least doubled in size. Based on my experience with the weathering rate of Briggs material, the excavation isnt too old. Partials and rollers were lying around everywhere like it was an easter egg hunt. I found a handful just glancing around on the surface. It was the easiest fossil hunting I've ever done. Most of the trilobits I found were on the lower bench and in the spoil piles- I had hoped that the excavation would expose a new trilo layer on the upper bench, but apart from scattered material that didn't seem to be the case. I left the partials and rollers behind for others to enjoy and took home two bugs that I hope will prove complete after some prepping. Safety Note: There is now a lot of loose material along the rim of both the upper and lower benches. I recommend bringing a hard hat or helmet if you're going to dig or sift through the material along the quarry walls.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of leading my local club on a visit to Deep Springs Road and Biggs Road. There was a total of 19 members, which included myself and my 2 youngest boys. We met up at our club house at 8 am. I was surprised by the turnout as not many individuals actually got in touch with me to confirm wether they were coming or not, as I had asked. We drove our caravan of 10 vechles to the site without any members getting separated from the herd! we arrived at DSR about 9:30. I was surprised to see someone there. There was a gentleman who I asked if he happened to be a forum member. He said no, but he has been on the forum browsing. He introduced himself and showed me some Greenops bits and pieces that he had found. He didnt stay very long after we got there even though he stated that he hoped others would be there as he had never hunted this site before. Anyways, after I gave a brief overview of my experience with this site, everyone for a spot, and settled in for some hunting. This group consisted of a few oldtimers, some with intermediate skills, and some newbies. I went into this with the notion that I wouldnt be keeping my finds unless it was something spectacular. So I gave away just about everything I found. One almost complete Greenops, and an nearly complete cephalopod were my finds of the day. The cephalopod was poorly preserved but approximately 7 inches long. Unfortunately I didnt think about pics before I gave them away. Pics were the last thing on my mind as the heat was intense. That was the only downfall of this hunt. Everyone was trying to find any scrap of shade they could find to get a reprieve from the heat. That being said, it did seem that most everybody was enjoying finding the various. Brachs, bivalves, gastros, etc...that DSR has to offer. After a couple hours I made the suggestion of heading over to Briggs. The group all seemed ok with hunting another spot that none had been to before. I told them that the prospect of finding plenty of Eldregeops parts and pieces was high there so they were more than happy to try it out. Once we arrived at Briggs I set up a canopy that I had brought in case we needed shade. DSR atleast has some, Briggs none at all. Just about everyone found trilo bits there. We stayed until about 2 and then decided to call it a Day. I will try to get some pics of the few items that my and my boys brought back but I am having trouble with my phones camera. It seems that my pic files are always too big and most times resizing or cropping still does not bring the file size down to the proper size limit. Anyhow, it was a great day despite the heat. It was also nice to help out my club by showing them a couple new sites. Somebody asked if I would become the new fieldtrip coordinator for the club. I dont know, we'll have to see.......

It seems like an eternity since the last time I was able to go fossilhunting. Yesterday the weather was great, so I decided it was time to get back out there. My two youngest and myself stopped first at Briggs Road to try our luck finding some trilos. I was amazed to find the sight just as it was left back on April 27th when everyone left from the group hunt. I took advantage of the spot where @Al Tahan scored his Eldredgeops. The sun had worked its magic and made the matrix pretty workable. It didnt take long before I found a nice trilo. I haven't taken measurement yet but it is a decent size Eldredgeops, or one but the head is covered with matrix. The thorax and pygidium popped off during extraction but I bit of glue and some prep should fix that. We all found trilo bits and pieces with a couple possible whole ones. The sun was radiating off the pit enough that it felt like an oven for the hour and a half we were there. After leaving Briggs, we headed over to Deep Springs to see what goodies we could score. I saw alot of digging which probably took place during the other half off the group hunt. I really wasnt in the mood for serious digging myself so I resigned to surface scan and shale splitting I was rewarded with some brachs and a nice gastropod.there were many different types of fossils present but I decided to be picky. I only kept a few that I felt were worthy. At one point while surface scanning I saw a familiar sight. It was a negative off a large fish scale, like the one Al had found recently. It was still attached to the host rock so I broke of the chunk and brought it home thinking If it matches the one Al has I would give it to him. We stayed for about an hour and a half there and then it was time to head home the heat was getting to us and the boys were tired. While we were getting ready to leave, we were approached by a gentleman on a tractor. I thought I may be the owner of the property, but as it turned out he was a guy who works for the owner. His name is Mark. He asked if the boys enjoyed themselves and we talked for about a half hour about all sorts of things. He told me about the owner, who he was, and where he lived. He stated that they are amazed that with all of the people who come to hunt the property, they never find trash. That is one of the reasons the owner is more than happy to let people hunt it. We also talked about hunting, fishing, Bee keeping, and of course fossils. I showed him some of our finds and explained what they were. He seemed like a really nice guy. It was a great way to end the trip. I am going to post pics but it may take awhile as some need to be resized. I haven't quite figured out the camera on my new phone. But for now I will leave you with this pic. This is what happens when a bald guy forgoes the sunscreen and only wears a baseball cap. This is also how i looked last night when i went out for dinner and then drinks.

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.

This past Saturday I only had time for a quick hunt due to things that needed to get done around the house. Also it was raining and I had the boys with me. I almost wasn't going to go but the siren song of sweet treasures were calling me, beckoning me to come and find them. I decided to hit up both Briggs road and Deep Springs. I hunted both sites in under an hour and a half. I didn't find much and was mostly surface collecting. The boys found a few things. I did manage to find a my first decent size Dipleura cephalon from Briggs. The past few hunts there I have been finding more and more Dipleura kibbles -n- bits. It is raising my hopes of finding a complete one there. When I got to Deep Springs it looked almost exactly as it was when I left there from the TFF group hunt. It looks like an asteroid hit it! There are plenty off slabs and hash plates laying everywhere. I found a decent Dipleura cephalon from here too, that I think I will try prepping. There wasnt anything else that I really wanted to bring home so I was getting ready to leave but decided to take one last look. It seems that everytime I do this here I find a greenops. Sure enough, I spot one just lying on top of the debris. I really can't believe I spotted it. Even though it was a short hunt and nothing spectacular was found it was nice to be out there.

I'll be heading up to Syracuse this weekend for the Science Olympiad Middle School State finals. That means I'll be able to hunt Sunday anywhere in the area from Syracuse south. Who wants to join? The plan is to hit one or more of the quarries about an hour south of Syracuse, but I could be convinced to head towards Herkimer, Little Falls, or one of the Catskill quarries instead.