Need Advice For Calvert Cliffs Area Tomorrow (July 26).

[AmazoniteJosh]

Heading out tomorrow and are hoping for a little advice!

We have only been to Calvert Cliffs once, and that was very unsuccessful, just one tooth, but since then we discovered hunting the Aquia formation on the Potomac. We find several hundred teeth there each trip, but they are usually small. We would like to try back in the Calvert cliffs area, but would love some advice as to the best place for teeth. Matoaka cottages? Flag ponds or elsewhere? I also hear that the jellyfish can be bad this time of year. Does anyone have any current info on conditions? Are screens the best or just surface searching?

And,... if anyone is going to be hunting the area tomorrow (Friday July 26th) we'd love to learn from some more experienced fossil hunters! It would be me, my Dad and my younger brother, he's 10.

Thanks!

[obsessed1]

The low tide tomorrow will be between 12:00pm and 1:45pm, so the tides will be working with you. The weather is supposed to be great not too hot and a nice NNW wind to help push the water out of the bay. It won't be a blowout tide by any means but it should help. So with the tides and weather on your side now the big question....where to go? If you choose Matoaka Cabins the best hunting is way to the north (to the right as you face the bay). There is a small section of cliffs where high tides can erode the material containing the fossils. The closer you get to that area the better the hunting usually gets. At Flag Ponds the better areas are a very small section of beach between the pier and the fence seperating the park from BG&E property and the northern half of the park where the fallen trees line the beach. Also remember that there are a series of sandbars that roughly parallel the shoreline that are huntable at low tide. And of course there is always Brownies Beach or Bayfront Park. It does get hunted hard but if luck is on your side you could find "the big one" there. I have found two out of my three biggest teeth at that beach. Wherever you go I would take along a screen just in case the surface collecting isn'i going so well.

Good luck!!

[AmazoniteJosh]

I thought I'd let you see a few of what we found. Not much luck at Matoaka cottages, about 40 teeth total, but then we drove over to the potomac and found a little over 500 between the 3 of us. The top few rows are mine, the next couple are my little brother's and the next couple are my Dad's. The bottom rows are the best of the few we found at Matoaka.

[TNGray]

Nice haul of teeth!

[rplatt]

You mention finding more on the Potomac? Is there a particular park or access area you went to when hunting on the Potomac?

Thanks!

Rich

[AmazoniteJosh]

You mention finding more on the Potomac? Is there a particular park or access area you went to when hunting on the Potomac?

Thanks!

Rich

We go to Purse State Park for Potomac hunting, do you think that using a boat or jet ski will take me to a place where fossils are more abundant?

[Trevor]

Yes the harder the access the greater amount of fossils. I have an old friend who goes to purse state park every week or so. I have not asked him that much, but how is the collecting and I hear the cliff area and some beach area is private property, is that true?

[Auspex]

Mind you don't trespass on private property!

In Maryland, the deed is to "mean low water"; the low-tide line.

[hokiehunter]

Auspex, Are you sure? I have always heard and have read in multiple locations on the net that it is the mean HIGH tide mark. Not the low mark in Maryland.

[hokiehunter]

I just googled it again. MD appears to be the High tide mark. VA is the low mark. This link gives a good explanation and state to state rules but I can't vouch for the validity of the info so fossil collectors rely on this at your own risk.

http://papers.risingsea.net/rolling-easements-2-2-1.html

[Auspex]

It depends on how old the deed is, and all the landowners who care about your presence will claim to have an old deed.

[hokiehunter]

True... I know that the Stratford Hall Deed in VA (adjacent property to Westmoreland State Park) goes 20+ feet into the water well below the low tide mark.

[Auspex]

Interesting, since (aside from coves and such) the Potomac River is Maryland's to the low tide mark in Virginia. I wonder how Stratford can legally support their claim?

Legalities are really moot for our purposes, though, since nothing spoils a fossil hunt worse than irate landowners, even when they're wrong. I would avoid landing on someone's beach without their knowledge and consent, whether I legally needed it or not.

[hokiehunter]

As it was explained to me by a property owner who is adjacent to Stratford the Lee family Deed goes back so far that it pre-dates Maryland's claim. Not sure how true that is or what the legalities are but he also told me that one of the Lee's (I won't use her name) used to walk the beach in front of Stratford with a revolver on her hip specifically targeting trespassers and she would wave the gun at those who didn't move quick enough for her taste. Like you said... getting permission is best policy when in doubt.