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Hello all my fellow fossil lovers! This is my first post on here for a while, I've been lurking around and admiring everyones finds. But y'all have motivated me to actually get out and start hunting! I will be driving up with my girlfriend from Los Angeles to Ernst Quarries in Bakersfield, CA on March 28th. For people who may not be familiar, this is part of the infamous Shark Tooth Hill, dated to the Miocene at 12-15 mya. It is a pay-to-dig site, and not too bad at $40 for a full day of digging. Is anyone on here planning on going that day or have been recently? How does the quarry look like after all the rain we have been having? Does anyone have any tips on what extra tools that are helpful to bring? From what I have read on here, a Pickaxe is helpful for exposing the bonebed. I will also be purchasing my first Estwing Geologic Hammer (the 22 oz with pick end) for the occasion and also to celebrate finishing my semester of Paleontology. Some brushes are also helpful for cleaning up the teeth in matrix too. Anything else that is suggested? Please feel free to share your Ernst Quarry experiences and advice, if you do feel so inclined I will update the thread with pictures of the results - hopefully we will be able to find some goodies

So today Ive went down to the bay that I was planning to find fossils in for awhile, only to come back empty handed (I couldnt reach any of the shale quarries and just decided that its layers are too flat to house fossils anyways). Being a Palos Verdean, There are small pockets of quarries which are generaly unprotected by preserves (usually alongside roads, sometimes beaches). Palos Verdes has a rich history of Miocene-Quarternary fossils, but much of the fossiliferous zones are protected by preserves. Because I cant really go far just to find fossils, I can only hunt in the small pockets I can find. Ive studied some geological maps and do know where the according-to-theory fossiliferous shale are, I just dont know how exactly to find fossils without destroying the place and getting under a legal flat. Are there any tips and tricks for this kind of fossiling?

We are heading out the last week of March our first stop will of course be Black Cat Mountain. We have heard about another quarry near there named the Theisen quarry. Does anyone have any info and a contact E-mail for this quarry? What is their fees and is it worth a couple of days?

Like many people here in eastern NC my first full fledged exposures to fossils was at the Aurora Fossil museum. Growing up here, I had seen and found my share of smaller sharks teeth and "petrified" clams as we called them, but never thought much about it. Never had anyone able to expose me to the world of fossils.(Plus, I was much more interested in baseball ..... then girls.) After I had grandkids a friend said, hey you should take them to the fossil museum in Aurora. So I did and the rest is, as we say, history. I was amazed at the teeth and everything else that was on display there. The first day in the piles there my grandson Nick(who I hunt with regularly and the one who coined me sixgill pete) found a 2 plus inch meg and a 2 plus inch mako. We were hooked. We went back to those piles tirelessly, as often as we could. We found huge numbers of mako's and tiger's and some megs and some cow sharks. Everything the piles had to offer. Then I got into the mine, wow, I found some amazing things in there, my favorite being the cow shark teeth. But there had to be more, so I found GMR and then all the MM quarries here in the eastern part of NC. Did research and found out about the beaches and rivers and much more. Then I discovered micro's and as many of you know, they are among my favorites. Beautiful little things the eye can barely see, but amazing and in many cases some of the rarest teeth. I also discovered shells, and echinoids. Then came The Fossil forum. Without a doubt, the finest fossil site on the web, great people and a plethora of USEFULL information. And the knowledge here is 5 star A+. I have learned so much and continue to learn everyday I am able to log in. I recently was able to get my first trilobite from fantastic forum member xonenine. Here in NC, there is no where to find them. My collection has come along way since its humble beginnings. So here are a few highlight's of it, some of my favorite pieces. Don a.k.a. sixgill pete my first big meg, 4 3/8" from GMR a 2 1/8 lower hastalis from Lee Creek two upper hastalis 2 1/8 and 2 3/8 from Lee Creek my two favorite rics a beautiful gun metal blue perfect 2 1/16 and a very rare parasymphyseal, both found on the same day at the Onslow Martin Marietta Quarry From GMR a very nice about 1 1/4 Great White in matrix Also from GMR a 2 1/2 inch great white