New Jersey Pine Barrens

Reptile Hunt and Tree Frog Walk

Saturday, June 13th, 2020

An endangered pine barrens tree frog that we saw during a prior Pine Barrens Reptile Hunt and Tree Frog Walk

     Explore the New Jersey Pine Barrens with naturalist Karenne Snow.  We'll meet in the early afternoon, and head for the amazing Pine Barrens to look for reptiles!  We will most likely see fence lizards and others, turtles, amphibians, and hopefully a few snakes.

     We'll break for dinner, then continue on our adventure into the Pine Barrens at night!  We hope to find the adorable endangered pine barrens tree frogs, spring peepers, leopard frogs, hear carpenter frogs, see fowlers toads, maybe cricket frogs, and hopefully a few more species.

We recommend this trip for adults and for children ages 5 and up.

Cost:  $35 per adult and $25 per child under age 18.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS SPECTACULAR TRIP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.

DURING NORMAL TIMES I DON'T REGISTER PEOPLE WITHOUT PAYMENT IN ADVANCE.  SINCE THESE ARE NOT NORMAL TIMES, I DON'T NEED ANY MONEY IN ADVANCE YET.  JUST LET ME KNOW YOU'RE INTERESTED, AND I'LL PENCIL YOU IN.  I'LL ASK FOR PAYMENT WHEN LIFE IS GETTING BACK TO NORMAL.

Historical Mineral Collecting Trip

Sunday, June 21st, 2020

Nice piece of jasper that had been worked by a Native American that was found last year during our Historical Mineral Collecting Trip.

     Karenne Snow, President of the Philadelphia Mineralogical Society and co-author of Gem Trails of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, will lead us on this fabulous mineral trip.  We will meet in Jasper Park in Vera Cruz, PA near Allentown.  While we walk along the trails in the park and see some of the Paleo Indian jasper mines, Karenne will tell us about the jasper mining that was done there.  We will then go to a local stream and find our own jasper to take home.  We may even find jasper scrapers, arrowheads or other stone tools.  Then we'll go to a park for a picnic lunch and look for quartzite and other minerals in a nearby stream.  Our last stop will be along the Susquehanna River in Easton.  We'll collect several different minerals there, including the mineral eastonite (which is a green mica) and serpentine.

We recommend this trip for adults and for children ages 8 and up.

Cost:  $30 per adult and $20 per child under age 18.  We meet at the sites.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS FABULOUS TRIP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.

DURING NORMAL TIMES I DON'T REGISTER PEOPLE WITHOUT PAYMENT IN ADVANCE.  SINCE THESE ARE NOT NORMAL TIMES, I DON'T NEED ANY MONEY IN ADVANCE YET.  JUST LET ME KNOW YOU'RE INTERESTED, AND I'LL PENCIL YOU IN.  I'LL ASK FOR PAYMENT WHEN LIFE IS GETTING BACK TO NORMAL.

PA Fossil Collecting Weekend

Saturday, June 27th and Sunday, June 28th, 2020

 Straight cephalopod (probably Michelinoceras) which was found at Antes Creek during a prior PA Fossil Collecting Weekend.   

     Karenne Snow, president of the Philadelphia Mineralogical Society and co-author of Gem Trails of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, will lead us on a weekend full of fossil collecting adventures in northern Pennsylvania.  Our home base for the weekend will be Williamsport, PA.

     Saturday morning we'll meet our leader for the morning trip, Dr. Dave Broussard.  Dr. Broussard is a biology professor at Lycoming College who is studying Late Devonian, Catskill Formation vertebrates.  He'll take us to the Blossburg outcrops.  Most common will be fossils of Bothriolepis placoderms and Holoptychius lobe finned fishes.  We may also find fossils of Phyllolepis placoderms and scales of Langleria lobe finned fishes.

     We'll stop at a beautiful picnic area and have lunch.  Then we'll head to McIntyre Mountain.  We'll find Pennsylvanian Age fern fossils there.  This site is especially known for its red shale with pretty fern fossils on them.

     Sunday we'll go to Antes Creek, which has Ordovician Age seafloor fossils.  We'll find brachiopods and possibly trilobites there.

     We'll stop for a picnic lunch, and head for Danville to a Devonian brachiopod site.  A possible alternative to the Danville site is to visit a private shale pit near Shickshinny.  That area has Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian geological units all around.  Recent marine fossil finds there included Michelinoceras (a cephalopod), Spirifer (a brachiopod), and Leiopteria (a bivalve).

This trip is great for adults and for children ages 8 and up.

Cost:  $110 per adult and $60 per child under age 18.  Cost does not include transportation (we meet at the sites), food or lodging.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS FABULOUS TRIP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.

DURING NORMAL TIMES I DON'T REGISTER PEOPLE WITHOUT PAYMENT IN ADVANCE.  SINCE THESE ARE NOT NORMAL TIMES, I DON'T NEED ANY MONEY IN ADVANCE YET.  JUST LET ME KNOW YOU'RE INTERESTED, AND I'LL PENCIL YOU IN.  I'LL ASK FOR PAYMENT WHEN LIFE IS GETTING BACK TO NORMAL.

Children's Paleontology Camp at Stratford Hall Plantation in VA

Monday afternoon, July 6th through Friday afternoon, July 10th, 2020

Beautiful megalodon tooth found by one of our Campers during our Paleo Camp at Stratford Hall last summer.

     Children ages 8 through 17 will have the opportunity to collect fossils and learn about paleontology with paleontologists at historic Stratford Hall Plantation in Virginia.

     We will be staying in the Stratford Hall Cheek Guest House, right on the stunning Stratford Hall Plantation!  This guest house sleeps 2 per room, and each room has its own bathroom.  Stratford Hall will provide all of our meals.

     We will collect fossils each day at locations along the Potomac River.  Every evening a paleontologist will be with us to give a talk about fossils. Monday night Dr. Steven Jasinski, Curator of Geology and Paleontology of the PA State Museum in Harrisburg, PA will give a program about dinosaurs.  Dr. Bretton Kent, Director of Undergraduate studies in the Dept. of Entomology at the University of Maryland will give a talk on Tuesday night.  Dr. Kent is the author of Fossil Sharks of the Chesapeake Bay Region and wrote the shark section in the new book Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Calvert Cliffs, MD. He is featured in a National Geographic special on Monster Sharks.  Dave Bohaska, Museum Specialist in Collections Management, Department of Paleontology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution will give us a program about fossil whales on Wednesday night.  Thursday night he will ask the children to bring their fossil whale, bird and turtle bones that they collected during the week, and compare them with pictures of a whale, chicken and turtle showing their skeletons.  The children can then figure out what part of the body their fossil bones were from.  Dave will also help the children collect fossils on Thursday and Friday.

     One of the evenings, the Campers will make shark tooth necklaces using the shark teeth they find.

     One of the days, we'll be given a tour of the Great House of Stratford Hall, home of 2 signers of the Declaration of Independence, and General Robert E. Lee's birthplace,

     Stratford Hall beach is closed to the public - except for a small roped-in area.  We have special permission by the President of Stratford Hall to take groups far past the ropes to collect fossils.  This site is Upper Miocene Age (6-14 million years old).  Shark teeth, whale bones and teeth, crocodile bones and teeth and turtle shell are among the many fossils found here.  Occasionally, even a megalodon tooth is found.  A megalodon is an extinct giant shark - the huge monster whose teeth can reach 5" or 6" long.  Some complete whale, dolphin and crocodile skeletons have been collected here by paleontologists.  There are also some beautiful fossil shells found here, including chesapectens and ecphora.  Some of the chesapectens have both valves attached, and some of the ecphora are complete, or almost complete.

     We'll have motorboats with us to take us to other sites along the Potomac River.  One of the days we will drive to Fairview Beach, Virginia, put the boats in the water, and stop at many beaches on the Virginia side of the Potomac to collect fossils.  Then we'll cross the Potomac to the Maryland side (depending upon the water conditions), and collect fossils along several beaches there.  Most of these sites are Paleocene Age, Aquia Formation.  They are just above the Cretaceous Age.  We'll find many small shark teeth, hopefully some larger Otodus teeth, hopefully some crocodile teeth, lots of turitella shells and some beautiful frilly oysters.

 Cost: $900 per person.  If a parent, grandparent or sibling joins them, the charge of the parent or sibling is $850.  This includes all meals, lodging, boat rides, lectures, Great House tour, everything.

     You may pay in installments.  To register, the downpayment is $200.

Installments - $250 due 2/1/20

                         $250 due 4/8/20

                         $200 due 6/8/20

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS SPECTACULAR CAMP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.

Adults Only Paleontology Camp at Stratford Hall Plantation in VA

Sunday afternoon, August 2nd through Friday morning, August 7th, 2020

Sorry - this trip is totally booked up

Gorgeous megalodon tooth collected during our Winter Stratford Hall Fossil Collecting Weekend last year.

     Join us for 5 evenings of fabulous talks by paleontologists and 4 days of fossil collecting adventures at our Adults Only Paleo Camp.

     You'll arrive Sunday afternoon, August 2nd, and settle in your room at the Cheek or Astor Guest House on Stratford Hall Plantation.  Stratford Hall is the birthplace of General Robert E. Lee, home of 2 signers of the Declaration of Independence, a world-class fossil site along the Potomac River, and a gorgeous plantation.

     We'll have a delicious dinner in the Stratford Hall Dining Hall, then go to our living room for a fabulous paleontology talk by a paleontologist.  We'll hang out for a few hours, then retire.

     Monday morning we'll have a scrumptious hot breakfast in the Dining Hall, then grab our gear and head for the beach to collect fossils.  Stratford Hall cliffs are Miocene Age, Calvert, Choptank and St. Mary's Formations (6-14 million years old).  You will mainly find shark teeth (including possibly mako and megalodon teeth, whale bones and teeth, crocodile bones and teeth, beautiful fossil shells (including chesapectens and ecphora), and crab concretions.  There is also a layer of Pleistocene, Bacon's Castle Formation, which sometimes yields Pleistocene mammal footprints.  

     There is a small roped-in area on Stratford Hall Beach which is open to the public.  However, we have special permission from the President of Stratford Hall to take groups over a mile or more past the roped in area.

     We will be given box lunches from the Dining Hall for lunches.  We'll have dinner Monday again in the Dining Hall, and another great paleontology talk by another paleontologist.

     Tuesday (winds permitting) we'll ride in our motorboats to Namini Bay, and collect fossils along some low cliffs.  We often find whale bones and fossil shells in these cliffs, including ecphora, isignomen and chesapectens.  The age of these cliffs is also Miocene Age, and sometimes we will also find shark teeth along the cliffs, including mako and megalodon.

     After dinner, we'll have another amazing presentation by another paleontologist.

     Wednesday, winds permitting, we'll drive to Fairview Beach, put the boats in there, and collect fossils along several beaches both on the Maryland and Virginia sides of the Potomac River.  The ages where we will be collecting fossils are Eocene and Paleocene Ages.  We will mainly find small shark teeth, possibly some larger otodus teeth, crocodile teeth, and fossil shells - including turitella and frilly oysters.

     Wednesday night we'll have another great presentation by another paleontologist.

     Thursday morning after breakfast we'll be given a tour of the Great House (where General Robert E. Lee was born).  After the tour, we'll head for the beach at Stratford Hall and collect fossils the rest of the day.

     Thursday night after dinner we'll have our last wonderful presentation by another paleontologist.  Our Camp will be over on Friday morning after breakfast.

Cost:  $1,300 per room for single occupancy or $1,800 per room for double occupancy.  These costs include everything - 5 nights, 5 dinners, 4 boxed lunches, 5 hot breakfasts, 5 fabulous persentations with paleontologists, 4 days of fossil collecting adventures, the boat rides, Stratford Hall's Grounds Fees, and the Tour of the Great House.

     You may pay in installments.  To register, the downpayment is $200 for single occupancy or $400 for double occupancy.

Installments:  Single occupancy - $375 due 2/1/20

                                                          $375 due 4/1/20

                                                          $350 due 6/1/20

                       Double occupancy - $475 due 2/1/20

                                                          $475 due 4/1/20

                                                          $450 due 6/1/20

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS SPECTACULAR CAMP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.

North Carolina Gem and Mineral Collecting Trip

Wednesday evening, September 2nd, Thursday, September 3rd, Friday, September 4th and Saturday, September 5th, 2020

Sluicing for sapphires, rubies, moonstones, garnets and rutile at a mine during a prior NC Gem and Mineral Collecting Trip.

     Join us for 3 days of gem and mineral collecting adventures in the famous and beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain Belt of western North Carolina.  We'll start with a geology and collecting orientation given by our trip leader, Karenne Snow, Wednesday evening, September 2nd in Franklin, NC, "The Gem Capitol of the World".  Karenne Snow is President of the Philadelphia Mineralogical Society and co-author of Gem Trails of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

     Thursday is a full day of mining at one of the sapphire mines in Franklin.  We'll go to one of the mines that offers native sediments, so the sapphires, rubies, garnets, rutile and moonstone you find as you sluice the sediments are actually from their mine.

     Friday we'll head eastward to the Burnsville area to the Ray Mine.  The Ray Mine is a former mica mine, known best for its aquamarine form of beryl.  Other minerals at this site include schorl (tourmaline), columbite, feldspar, muscovite mica and apatite.  We'll collect during the day in the area, go to dinner, then come back at night with our UV lights - looking for the fluorescent minerals!

     Saturday we'll either head for the Crabtree Emerald Mine for digging and sifting and splitting rocks for the best beryl of them all - emeralds, or we'll go to another former mica mine with good collecting in a white pegmatite matrix containing mica, garnet, tourmaline, thulite and apatite.  Where we go will depend upon whether the Crabtree Emerald Mine has been turned over, so hopefully productive.  If it hasn't been turned over, it won't be worth going to.

This trip is for adults and children ages 7 and up.

Cost:  $200 per adult and $100 per child under age 18.  Cost does not include food, transportation or lodging.  We meet at our hotels and caravan to the sites.  It also does not include the cost for buckets of sediment at the sapphire mine, parking at the Ray Mica Mine, or the fee to enter the Crabtree Emerald Mine if we decide to go there.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS FABULOUS TRIP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.

Fall Nebraska Fossil Collecting Trip

Choose a 3-Day or a 5-Day Trip!

Saturday, September 26th through Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

The M&M Ranch where we will collect Eocene and Oligocene Age mammals and turtles

     The M&M Ranch in Crawford County, Nebraska will be hosting Mid-Atlantic Fossil and Nature Adventures for a fossil collecting trip on September 26th (arriving September 25th) through September 30th, 2020 (departing October 1st).  Both 3 and 5 day trips are available during this time period, both having special reduced pricing for MAFANA customers.

     M&M Ranch is located in the northwest corner of Nebraska in an area called the High Plains, at an elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level.  M&M Ranch consists of 365 acres of buttes and stream beds with Eocene and Oligocene fossil bearing exposures.  Millions of years ago, this area thrived with terrestrial animals such as pigs, oreodonts, sabre tooth cats, camels, canids, 2 species of pre-equus horses, rhinoceros, titanotheres, squirrels, rabbits, mice, snakes, lizards, turtles and many more.  Besides the special pricing for MAFANA customers on the trip, we will also be able to keep "everything" we find.  Many other fossil hunting locations in the upper mid-west do not allow customers to keep the prized specimens like a sabre tooth cat, but M&M Ranch is granting MAFANA customers this privilege as part of the group trip.

     If you register early, you will be able to stay close to the Ranch.  Your lodging is NOT included in the pricing.  There is a quaint western town nearby that has 6 rooms for rent.  It's located on an adjoining property to the M&M Ranch, and it has original buildings of an old ghost town.  In addition to the "bunkhouses" where we can stay, this "ghost town" has a General Store, a Post Office, a Saloon, and of course the Jail (so behave yourselves or else).  A continental breakfast is included if you stay there.

     If you don't register early, there is a B&B down the road, and a motel about 25-35 miles away.

     Crawford Nebraska is a 26 hour drive from Richmond, Virginia, a 3-hour drive from the Rapid City, South Dakota Airport, and a 5 1/2 hour drive from the Denver, Colorado Airport.

     Persons wishing to participate in this trip should take into account the 4,000 foot elevation and hilly terrain.

This trip is great for adults and for children ages 12 and up.

Cost:  $250 per day per person for a 3-day trip, totaling $750 per person.  This does not include transportation (we meet at the Ranch), food or lodging.

           $225 per day per person for our 5-day trip, totaling $1,125 per person.  This does not include transportation (we meet at the Ranch), food or lodging.

Payments:

     For a 3-day trip - $200 deposit is due when registering for the trip.  $275 is due by 6/15/20 and the balance of $275 is due no later than 8/18/20.

     For a 5-day trip - $200 deposit is due when registering for the trip, $475 is due by 6/15/20 and the balance of $450 is due no later than 8/18/20.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO REGISTER FOR THIS SPECTACULAR TRIP, e-MAIL [email protected] OR CALL ME AT 610-209-0758.