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It has been a long time since I've logged onto the forum. I've been so busy with AP exams and finals that I really just got out of the habit of checking it. My hiatus is over, however, and I look forward to diving back into the rich information this site offers. I had the pleasure of going on a guided trip to some of Virginia's Miocene cliff exposures. Until this point, I had only ever hunted in parks with public access and well-known sites, but this trip presented me with the opportunity to finally hunt in more remote areas that don't get picked over by the crowds. The site where the trip took us is technically private property, but for this special event, the leaders of the trip gain special permission from the owners to bring people onto the grounds. My dad bought us two spots on the trip as a very early birthday present, and I was thrilled to hear I'd get a chance at some better finds than usual. We drove down early Saturday morning and arrived in a parking lot to meet up with everyone. In total, there were about 50 people who paid to come along. The weather was amazing; warm and sunny. Some people opted to simply walk past the usually off limits ropes, but most chose to take a ride in one of the boats that the leaders were running to get to the desired areas of the cliffs faster. One of the boats was run by the fantastic @SailingAlongToo who I finally had the chance to meet. He's a great guy, and I can't thank him enough for helping transport me and my dad along the cliffs. I hope to run into him again at some point. I was eager to get on the very first boat to depart, and I did just that. After a short ride, we hit the beach and started to hunt. The first hour of so was not the best for me. I found a couple decent teeth, but hadn't even hit a dozen yet. I was going at a slow pace as usual, and eventually a young girl caught up to me. She asked how I was doing and we talked for a minute. She showed me a beautiful transitional meg she had found. Finding a meg tooth was certainly a goal for this trip for me, as it was for everyone else as well. As we were still talking, she picked something up and said, "Huh, isn't that interesting?" and showed me a large flat rock covered in moss and barnacles. Only it wasn't just a rock. As she showed the front side to me, she saw the clean back side and screamed, "THAT'S A TOOTH!" and showed me the back. Sure enough, it was a MASSIVE, nearly 4" meg tooth. Happy for her, but also disappointed that I didn't find it myself, I congratulated her as she proceeded to run back to her family to show them. I couldn't beat myself up too much, though, because it wasn't my fault for not seeing something that no one would've though was a tooth. Besides, that was just proof that the big ones were out there. That tooth ended up being the largest tooth found on the entire trip, of all 50 people over the span of two days. And it was her first time ever fossil hunting! Talk about beginner's luck. Congratulations again, nonetheless. My finds starting getting better as the day went on. I think I finally found my specialty in fossil hunting: large, broken Hemipristis teeth. I was finding plenty of Hemis, but I just couldn't get my hands on a whole one. It was a shame too, because had they been complete, some of the teeth would have been absolutely beautiful, and Hemis are my favorite. As I was hunting in the water, I saw what I thought was possibly a meg tooth root sticking out of the sand, and pulled it out. It was big alright, and VERY heavy, but it wasn't a tooth. It was a rib fragment from a prehistoric dugong! I didn't know that's what it was at the time, but I certainly suspected it was a rib based solely on the shape. Later on, I eventually found a small cove as the water was rising. I had it all to myself for a while. There was tons of gravel and sand in the cove that was dry and far away from the waves, and in digging through that I found one of my biggest teeth ever. It was a beautiful mako, Isurus desori. I took that as a sign that this spot was a nice place to settle down for a while. Just then, SA2 came to the cove in his boat to pick a couple people up who wanted to move elsewhere. He happily threw me his sifter so I could thoroughly search the wake. After sifting for about 20 minutes, I found the best tooth I've ever found in that sifter. It was a PERFECT and HUGE hastalis! I was so thrilled. That one cove gave me my two best teeth of the trip, and possibly ever. Although I didn't find a meg, I did find a few "fraglodons", which I've never found before. That wrapped up the first day. My dad and I grabbed dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and went to our motel to get some rest in order to have the energy to hunt again the next day. The second day was much less nice in terms of weather, and we got a little less time to hunt. Regardless, my dad and I tried to get on some of the first boats again. This time, I asked SA2 if he'd bring me in the opposite direction as most people were going, and he kindly agreed. I was one of the only hunters on that side, and for a while I was completely alone because he had dropped me off at the very edge of the property. I finally got to hunt on cobble, which I've never done before. I often see videos of people finding huge teeth in cobble, which is why I was sure I'd find something decent. I didn't find anything too big, but I got some unique finds for sure. I found my first crab claws, and a croc tooth! I ended up just gradually walking all the way back to the starting point, hunting along the way. My finds were not quite as nice and the previous day, but I was still satisfied. In the last hour of hunting, a storm started to come in and the boats stopped running. Many people left before the stated time because of the weather, but I stayed out there. I got my last nice find of the day: a cow shark tooth; my first from Virginia. Near the end of our day, I ended up in a scary situation when I got stranded by the crashing waves that had completely engulfed the beach. I ended up wading through the water, letting it fill my boots completely and trying my best not to slip on the clay-like cliff material beneath my feet. I made it out alright, but got totally soaked. With that, my dad and I were some of the last to head out. It was an absolutely phenomenal trip. I got to hunt on usually restricted grounds with lots of great people and came away with some really nice fossils. I found a lot of everything, really. Tigers, Hemis, Makos, Whalers, Lemons, hastalis, fraglodons, Croc, Cow, crab, ray, vert, dugong, gastropod, shell, etc. All of them will make great additions to me ever-growing collection. A big thanks to @SailingAlongToo and all those who led this excellent trip. I know there were a few other forum members there, including @I_gotta_rock, so if you were there be sure to let me know! Hope everyone else who participated had a great trip as well. Hoppe hunting!