Need Some Help For Ny Vacation

[tuscarora-th]

Hello all,

first of all I tried to search New york and I got an error saying one or more words had less than 4 characters. So I come to for any info you are willing to share. I am vacationing with my wife, son(7) and niece (8) in central New York . Tenative plans are to go to one of 3 herkhimer diamond mines the 1st day and a half. If anyone has experience with any of these mines I would love to hear your opinion.

After that we will be visiting the watkins Glen area for 5 days. I know the geology in this area is very unique and has been documented for hundreds of years. I also know that you cant collect on government owned property, which is mostly what I will be in the middle of. I dont mind traveling a little to get to some good sites. we'll be enjoying all of the beautiful waterfalls and gorges that this area hass to offer, but the chitlin's have there rock hammers and are looking for some safe productive fossiling. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I searched pretty hard online and didnt find much, or maybe just nothing I could understand. Then as I said I tried to search this site and all I got was an error. We're not terribly picky, as long as the kids are finding something.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[jax]

I grew up in the southern part of NY, (Owego, if ya know where that is...) ANyways, I have never been to the diamond mines. You should Check out "Taughannock Falls State Park" Another LINK with more pics of the falls. This place is just off of Cayuga Lake. The trail to the falls winds thru huge tall walls of falling shale. You also follow the water to the falls, so you can walk thru the water and check for stuff there too. When I was a kid, I use to sit in the big piles of shale and look for pieces that I thought looked cool, that was before I knew what fossils were. Wakins Glen is a great place. The trail to the top is a long one, so I hope the kids make it. There is an old cemetery that we found off of one of the senic trails from the top. Pretty cool to see some of the old graves. We found a moselem that had a Titaic survivor laid to rest inside.

If you want to go fishing by chance, theres a cool park just off of the same lake called "Stewart Park". It has a beach to the lake, and some nice fishing holes.

The last thing I can sugest for fossils in this area is to check out this POST.

Justin

[lordpiney]

i have a good friend who has a claim in fonda n.y. ive been up there twice and heres what i came home with...

plus lots of small crystals, and junkier stuff. check out fonda.

[TheFossilHunter]

Ace of Diamond mine for herkimers is one of the best in the area....

watkins glen is a beautiful place.

there are fossil sites in the area. If i have time to look them up I will message you

[tuscarora-th]

Thanks all,

That sure is an impressive crystal and the cluster is just awesome! I will check out fonda, thanks lordpiney. Fossilhunter, I would appreciate any info you could dig up. I cant wait to see all the beautiful sites in the finger lakes area. I think we're leaving the 23rd of June. When you look at the picure of those gorges you just know theres some good fossil collecting in that area.

Thanks again,

Mike

[matt cable]

I will actually be in that same Finger Lakes area for a family vacation the next week (June 27-July 4th). I plan to do some fossil hunting when I'm up there. Drop me a PM if you'll still be in the area. Maybe we can meet up.