Taking My Son To Hershey Pa For Some Fun Making Chocolate And Theme Park Need Some Help

[terirobert]

i was wondering if anyone new of any good spots to take him fossil hunting near Hershey PA or going on the way there.

also looking for some to take us on a fossil trip around the syracuse area or surounding areas will travel. will be willing to pay.

thank you

[MarcusFossils]

I don't know how far you're willing to travel, but about 228 kilometers away in Gilboa, NY, the worlds oldest fossil forest was recently discovered (385 million years old). Though the collecting isn't overwhelming (I found a few pieces of branch, lepidodendron and the like), there is a nice little museum and and the Nickerson Campground is located right near the fossil forest in question. Do please ask questions if the idea interests you.

[MarleysGh0st]

also looking for some to take us on a fossil trip around the syracuse area or surounding areas will travel. will be willing to pay.

The Museum of the Earth leads one fossil collecting trip each month during the summer. They'll be going to Moravia, NY on July 19 and Schoharie, NY on August 16.

http://www.museumoftheearth.org/events.php?page=atthemuseum/fossilcollectingtrips

There will also be field trip on August 3, during their Summer Symposium. The sites we'll visit on this trip haven't been announced, but the trip leader, Dr. Gordon Baird, is one of the top experts on the Devonian formations in New York.

http://www.museumoftheearth.org/research.php?page=548301

[terirobert]

thanks guys for the the help, ill take a look at museum of earth and Gilboa,ny sounds like fun. is it a pay site and can you give me more details. thank you so much

[terirobert]

does anyone know or have heard of a fern fossil place in PA

[MarcusFossils]

I haven't actually been to the museum so i can't help you out there

[erose]

The museum is small but very well done. Someone could probably point you to a few nearby road cuts for collecting in the Middle Devonian.

Pennsylvania? Fern sites? Heck, the entire North American Upper Carboniferous is named for Pennsylvania. I wish I had maps and directions handy but all around Carbondale most of the old mine dumps are good collecting and of course there is the classic St Clair site for those wonderful white plant fossils. Do both a Google search and one here on the forum for both.

[Brewcuse]

Terirobert, a fun place close to Syracuse is Tinker Falls. Take 81 to Exit 14 Tully, turn left onto Route 80 and head a little over 4 miles to Route 91 south. Turn right, and the Falls are about 3 miles on the left. Parking is on right, a big dirt lot. The falls are an easy walk into the woods and the creek is littered with Devonian age fossils, mostly the "shells" like brachiopods, etc. My kids are 11 and 9 and after setting ground rules, they explored mostly without "close" supervision.

I was there a few weeks ago and they were building stairs to walk up and under the falls. Very cool experience, but no fossils up in that shale that I could see.

As with all creeks in CNY, right after a rain is a good time to watch the falls and a bad time for creek walking. When I was 8, I found my first fossils in a creek in Tully, so my kids are following in my footsteps.

My daughter found this hash plate there:

[mammothhunter]

Good luck!