stellabear Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Hi...I am new to the group and new to fossil hunting so i can use all the help i can get! My daughter joined science olympiads this year...she has always had an interest in fossils so she competed in the fossil event (she even won a medal!) anyway this has lead to the whole family getting a new hobby. I am taking a road trip from NC to NJ in the next couple weeks. I thought to break up the trip maybe we could look for some fossils along the way. I drive I77 until just into VA then to I81 past harrisburg PA, then I78 into NJ. I found a place called swatara state park in PA...trilobites are my daughters new favorite thing in the world so i thought we could look around there. my questions are: Is it safe? It will be just my daughter and me as my husband cannot get away for the trip so is this a safe area to be in by ourselves? Is there anything left to find there? I saw that it is a .5 mile walk to the site but is there anything to find once we get there? Does anyone have any other suggestions of places to stop...hopefully not to far off the interstates? we went to aurora nc over christmas and brought back some dirt that she is constantly looking through so even something like that...the quality of the finds does not have to be the best, just fun for her to find something. thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 not sure if collecting is allowed in the park. Hopefully some locals will chime in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Welcome to the Forum. Swatara State Park, (from what I have heard) was productive, at least up until a few years ago. Collecting is allowed and encouraged. They dumped Ordovician spoil pile material there from a Swatara Gap road construction project years and years ago, ( which is long gone) , but supposedly still some Devonian Mahantango Formation finds to be had within the park. About a half an hour to the north, from Hamburg PA ( which is right on Interstate 78) up Route 61 is the famous St. Clair fossil fern site. If you have time for the side trip, it is certainly worth the effort. You would also pass right by Deer Lake, another Mahantango formation collecting site, with typical Devonian fauna. PM me if you would like detailed directions to either of those sites. Good luck! Regards, Edited March 18, 2015 by Fossildude19 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockwood Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 There are still fossils at Swatara but I'm afraid it may be frustrating for a child. The ratio of rock to fossil is pretty high for most of the layers that I sampled a couple years ago. The ranger told us about a starfish fossil from there that is in the Smithsonian now though, so one never knows. You should be aware that the back side of the hill is a dangerous slope down to the stream in places, but otherwise it's quite accessible . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 This summer, I visited the fossil site at Swatara and did not even see a fragment of any fossil. It is a long but easy walk to the site.Maybe if it rains hard and exposes new material it would be worth checking. As Fossildude mentions, Deer Lake is full of Devonian fossils. They have had much construction along the highway and many of the exposed rock piles are worth checking out. St Clair is my vote but zero trilobites! Your daughter will love the beautiful ferns littering the ground. Easy area to collect,but is dirty, and entails a nice but long walk through the woods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stellabear Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 (edited) Thank you everyone for the help! I really appreciate it. I think I will skip swatara and head right to st clair. I will hopefully find another site for trilobites a a later time. I think she will be happy to find anything Edited March 20, 2015 by stellabear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW9090 Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Sad to say, the old classic Swatara Gap site, on the steep slope under the bridge, hasn't been accessible for decades. I collected there when I was 12 years old. Found a very nice starfish which is in the North Museum at Franklin and Marshall College. The plural of "anecdote" is not "evidence". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Sad to say, the old classic Swatara Gap site, on the steep slope under the bridge, hasn't been accessible for decades. I collected there when I was 12 years old. Found a very nice starfish which is in the North Museum at Franklin and Marshall College. 'Twas over zealous collectors undermining the highway that got it closed. It had gotten quite dangerous! I have wondered whether a private pay-dig quarry/education center into the same strata nearby would be feasible (assuming land acquisition is even possible). "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stellabear Posted April 5, 2015 Author Share Posted April 5, 2015 (edited) Thank you so much for the help! Our trip was this weekend and it was threatening thunderstorms so we stopped first at deer lake..didnt think it was a great idea to be in the woods with rock hammers during a thunderstorm... the restaurant is now called deer lake pub and restaurant...but they were super nice and did not mind us searching at all. In fact the person we spoke to was very surprised there was anything to find...this was a great place for people like us with limited knowledge but lots of excitement at finding anything. As we were leaving it began to rain so we did not make it to Saint Clair but that is ok we will try there another time...thank you again for helping us...we never would have known where to look without help! Edited April 5, 2015 by stellabear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Looks like you found some Tropidoleptus brachiopods. Congratulations. You're off to a great start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stellabear Posted April 10, 2015 Author Share Posted April 10, 2015 Thank you!! My daughter is starting to catalog and label her fossils so that is very helpful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrangellian Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 That is a good start. Good also to be cataloguing and labeling right away.. I wish I had been better that when I started out - could have had fewer 'orphaned' specimens by now! (not to mention those I have acquired from other collectors who also could have been more careful at recording especially the location data) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idrxdoc Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I took the kids out to Swatara State Park on August 1st. Found some small fossils, more importantly the kids had a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Well done: the first object (in the dark matrix) is part of a Cryptolithus trilobite pygidium. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiggieCie Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Actually that's part of a Cryptolithus cephalon. Nice find- must be from the "old" Ordovician Swatara Gap material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Actually that's part of a Cryptolithus cephalon. Nice find- must be from the "old" Ordovician Swatara Gap material. Argh! I wrote pygidium! It is cephalon, as I know well... "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pachyrhinosaurus Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Good to see you found something nice. I was recently trying to learn more about fossil sites in the area and saw that the restaurant is now closed. Is collecting near there still allowed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinS Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I am also curious about Deer Lake- If indeed there restaurant is closed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 (edited) I am also curious about Deer Lake- If indeed there restaurant is closed? You could try to contact them by phone. Regards, Edited August 25, 2015 by Fossildude19 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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