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Liberty and Calhoun counties in the panhandle of Florida are two of my favorite areas to fossil hunt. They include the famous areas af 10 mile Creek, Chipola River, Alum Bluff, Farley Creek. After last years devestating hurrican, I was anxious to get back. I camp at Torreya, and had seen photos of the devestation there. The park is named after the Torreya tree, an evergreen, with unusually sharp needles and a unique form. Species of it are found only along the Apalachicola River and in China...It is quite rare. At one time, it was said there were over 600,000 of the trees in this river valley.. Before the hurricane there were approximately 600 or so left. They had been chopped mericilessly for their wood (some think it is the same as the "gopher wood" use int he Bible), and cut down even for Christmas Trees. They are apparently hard to cultivate, though a preservation society does exist to start new trees and replant them in the area. The hurricane cut the population in half....by a quick census taken after the storm...from 600 to 300, including the 10-15 saplings planted in the a park...bent, twisted, set back, but still alive. The area is recovering, and seemed to have been on the eastern most edge of the storm. Very few houses were blown away, though many sustained the roof damage expected in a hurricane. The area seems to be recovering. The canopy of the Park is gone for our life time the Ranger told me...(expected for me, I am 74, a jolt for him at 35) But nature has a way of making lemonaide...when one area suffers, another seems to thrive. With the opened canopy we saw more moths and butterflies than we had seen before. Some of the unique wildflowers seem now to be thriving with more sunlight. As always, i guess it is a matter of perspective. Some areas I fossilhunted before are now cut off at least for a generation. The famous 10 Mile Creek, though mostly on private land and inaccessible by the owner who threatens with a shotgun and jail time no longer has worries...the trees and branches down make it impossible to access areas even under the various bridges that cross that creek as well as Farley creek. The owners arent going to have to worry about trespassers any more...the cat briars will take care of protecting the area from now into the foreseeable future. The Apalachicola River was low, 3 feet, so it was a struggle kayaking and I decided because of the heat not to paddle all the way up to Alum Bluff from Bristol. That said, the east side of the river that contains the bluffs showed extensive collapse...so I am assuming a whole new set of fossils will be washing out from the area and will make for some good collecting in the area in the future. My friend and I did kayak the Chipola river, putting in at Lamb Eddy boat ramp and traveling down river to our spot. The river has to be low to have access to the bed of Scallop we like to collect...the Nodosus condylomata. They are uniquely small , offset and knuckle shaped.. Since I posted nice shots of them on the forum last year after my trip, I am omitting the them this year. My nicest fossil is the pristine Vasum haitense. One of my very favorite shells. I have also included an image of the Strombus chipolanus, and the Strombus aldrichi ( bottom peristrombus and uncleaned). The large cone is one of my favorite cones. I think the flat top is great. As I am typing this, I don't remember its name, though I do have it listed in my "cone box". The last little Busycon is unknown to me. It has that lovely distinct shape and scalloped edge that appealed to me. I will be anxious to look thorugh Gardner's or Dalls references to pick up more information. Thanks for coming along on the trip. If you can plan one yourself, the park is a lovely place to stay and needless to say, the economy can use the boost after the hurricane.

I have been looking for something like this to help I'd it from my recent trip, but keep coming up short. Perhaps someone acquainted with the narrow field of chipola shells can help me.