Heading to Schoharie NY tomorrow, any advice

[Dsailor]

Hi folks, 

I am heading to Schoharie NY tomorrow to find some fossils. As of right now, I am going to the road cut since I do not know the area. Any tips? I will update on what I find when i get back.

 

thanks,

 

Dom

[Darktooth]

Sorry I can't help. I have never been to that site. Just wanted to say good luck!

[Fossildude19]

I've been told that, as you are driving downhill, the right side is more productive than the left. 

I posted a report about the Rickard Hill Road site, if you want a preview of what can be found there.

Good luck, and let us know how you do. 

Regards,

[Jeffrey P]

Route 20 just west of Leesville (just west of Sharon Springs-both sides of the road) is the same formation (Kalkberg) as Rickard Hill and from my experience more productive.

[squali]

Yes the down hill right side is the most productive at least from 2014.  You will most likely approach the site heading uphill so it will be on your left.  It is worth the research prior to or during your visit.

TFF's own Karl is an expert check out his profile/ posts.

a quick link here with some basic info from 

http://donaldkenney.x10.mx/SITES/NYRICKARDHILLRD/NYRICKARDHILLRD.HTM

i really enjoyed the location.  FYI any pull off with a rock outcrop is likely to yield some fossils from Binghamton heading North.

Good luck, wish I was up there.

trying to add Jeffrey P is a valuable resource 

 

Edited January 15, 2017 by squali

[Pagurus]

I think you mentioned in another post that you were planning on taking your kids. The Rickard Hill Rd site is great with kids. It's not a busy road and there's lots of room to park the car and get away from the road. Plenty of fossils for the kids to find, though I've found them difficult to prep. The matrix is very hard. Enjoy yourselves and good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing what you find.

 

Mike

[erose]

When I was with the NYPS as field guide editor we scouted the Rickard Hill site and I went home with almost 20 different species of brachiopods. Now maybe brachs are not your thing but that was just an indication of the diversity in that formation.  This site has produced rare Lower Devonian coprolites and weird echinoderms. It is equal to some of the best Middle Devonian Hamilton  Group sites.

 

As mentioned above, this is a kid-friendly site. You can find plenty crawling over the flat areas as well as the talus and cliff face.

 

Although I think IMHO this is a better site, Leesville did produce more trilobites. Or I should say trilo-bits since complete ones were RARE.  But you could find bits of many species.

[Dsailor]

Hi guys,

 

So I found a bunch of stuff and will do a real trip report when I get everything sorted. Lots of brachiopods and then these three: 1 looks like a branching coral type thing, 2 is an awesome weathered rock I happened to flip over with lots of biodiversity, and third is what looks like a coral colony and is very fragile unlike the rest of the fossils I found

[Dsailor]

2

[Dsailor]

3

[erose]

Good stuff. Those two coral specimens are really nice.  Of all the sites back east I miss the most Schoharie is top of the list.

[Darktooth]

Nice to see you got out and found some good stuff!

[Fossildude19]

Neat finds - glad it was a success.  

Regards,

[Dsailor]

Thanks guys, now I need my book to show up in the mail so I can start identifying. There seems to be a lot of mat corals or algae. I am really surprised by the diversity of the stuff I found. One of the layers of the cut was a really loose, soft, shale type rock that was weathering much faster than the others. Any insight on that layer?

[Fossildude19]

14 minutes ago, Dsailor said:

Thanks guys, now I need my book to show up in the mail so I can start identifying. 

 

You can always start with this PDF.   

I've got something else that might help - check your messages.  

 

[erose]

On 1/17/2017 at 7:27 PM, Dsailor said:

Thanks guys, now I need my book to show up in the mail so I can start identifying. There seems to be a lot of mat corals or algae. I am really surprised by the diversity of the stuff I found. One of the layers of the cut was a really loose, soft, shale type rock that was weathering much faster than the others. Any insight on that layer?

The diversity is what makes this such a great site.  The softer layers are the Kalkberg Formation. Above that is the Beecraft and down the hill below the Coeymans.  Karl Wilson does a great job explaining the site here: LINK

There is also a field Guide on the site I wrote many years ago that the NYPS still uses(?). But you will have to contact them about that.

 

 

[Dsailor]

Thank You,

 The Karl Wilson link is great. I think the really weathered part of the cut was the Bentonite layer.

 

-Dom