Purse Park Expedition Number One

[I_gotta_rock]

Finally made it out to Purse State Park, now known as Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area, yesterday. I had read that there was no beach to speak of at high tide, but wow!  Low tide yesterday was at 11:15. We got there at 12:30 and there was already almost no beach! If only we'd gone when @RCW3D went two weeks ago!

 

The air temp was a balmy 50 degrees, but the water temp, not so warm. Did that stop us? No. Did we get frostbite? Maybe. We weren't expecting to have to go wading when we left the house 3 hours earlier, so warm, waterproof shoes were not with us. We went barefoot on the chilly sand, wading occasionally, then warming our feet again. That way, we had warm, dry shoes and socks for the trip home.

 

The only fossiliferous exposure we found, admittedly not going far north as we'd have had to wade waist-deep, was between the two trail openings. There is an exposure of the Aquia Formation that reaches about 10 feet above beach level there. The cliffs further north are much higher, but empty, so not a lot to look at along the walls. That's okay, most people don't go to Purse to look at the walls anyway. There were plenty of teeth to be found on the beach until our toes got numb. I dug a hole in the sand in front of the fossiliferous exposure and to my joy found some blocks of matrix buried there after they'd fallen from the cliffs. There was also a complete oyster hanging  in mid-air from a fine tree root, three feet above the ground, that I managed to slide off without so much as nicking the root bark. Ha!

 

As an added bonus, I got to enjoy the forsythias blooming on the beach!

 

There are almost no fossil shells on the beach. They are so punky in the cliffs that they just disintegrate when they are exposed. However, I am optimistic that when my blocks dry out I'll have some nice specimens that I can eek out with some dental picks, paleobond, and patience. I also brought home a backpack full of micro matrix to sift. Never know what might be lurking in there!

 

 

[HoppeHunting]

Looks like a nice trip to the river! I was at Purse a couple days ago and had to leave early because of the tide. Hopefully conditions will improve in the weeks to come. Glad you were able to enjoy a day at one of my favorite sites! Hoppe hunting!

[caldigger]

For some reason I've never put balmy and 50 degrees together in the same sentence. Spoiled Californian!

Looks like we had a good time despite the cold feet.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice report! 

Not perfect conditions but you seem to have managed pretty well. 

Thanks for sharing. 

[Fossildude19]

Nice report!

Thanks for posting it.  

 

[JarrodB]

That looks like a nice place to hunt. 

[Jeffrey P]

I bring my waders when I visit the Potomac in colder months. I do the same for Calvert Cliffs, and collecting from the brooks in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Looks like you did well there despite less than ideal conditions. There's a lot more biodiversity there than what is readily apparent. Future trips there should reveal that. I've been there three times when there was absolutely no beach at low tide, but the good days clearly outweigh the bad.