Matt Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 After reading up on The Peace River through this site and in a couple books from the library I decided it was time to go and get in the river. My girlfriend and I went to Pioneer Park in Zolfo Springs to camp. We bought a Coleman 2 person inflatable kayak and it worked great,also built a floating sifter from pictures seen on this forum and that too worked great. First we went downstream from Zolfo and as my first impression of the River it looked alot deeper than it actually is but the green aquatic plant that you find in parts of the river was totally coating the entire bottom of the stretch around Pioneer Park. We did find a couple of sand bars and that was all we found was sand but it was still good practice for what lay ahead. We paddled back to meet my brother and his wife at the boat ramp and I was already thinking that they might not have a good feeling about being in the water around the campground. I said, lets get in the car and drive to Gardner boat ramp. It was a totally different river visually than what I had seen just a few miles upstream...clear water with hard sandy bright bottom, sometimes limestone and perfect clarity with only little patches of that green swampy feeling aquatic plant. Mostly bright feel good sandy bottom with only about 12 to 16 inches of water. Also there was lots of gravel which meant fossils and we did find some interesting stuff. Lots of rib bones, maybe 20 shark teeth from half an inch to almost an inch in length. The huge limestone walls are amazing to look at, you just dont see stuff like that in Florida but here we are and there it is. At both Pioneer Park and Gardner there were locals who were very friendly and offered advice and even gave my brother a pasta strainer to use. I noticed a sense of community that you might find in fishing where fellow fossil hunters will tell you where the fish are and at both places a guy with a huge fish story, in both cases it was finding a big meg tooth. I like the people we met and shared the river with, learned alot. Next time we are going to camp at Brownville Campground and keep farther South where the water had more clarity and less depth. Speaking of the water, it was a really good temperature, you could spend hours wading and walking and not even think about the temperature, felt warmer than the springs. Here are some pictures of what we found. We found lots of rib bones as most people on this forum already know but we found some to be really smooth and shiny and felt cool to the hand. It was a great time and this coming weekend we intend to camp at Brownville and paddle upstream. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cris Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Lots of nice looking stuff there. Funny that you say that, I also noticed the fossil hunting community there seemed a lot like a community of fishermen. Glad to hear you all had a good time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 That, my friend, is one of the most enjoyable trip reports I've had the pleasure to read! Thank you for posting it, and congratulations on your finds "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bmorefossil Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 nice finds and great story behind your trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worthy 55 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I need to make a return trip to the Peace River this coming Fall. Great finds. It's my bone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandpa Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I've GOT to get to Fla - and soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 got any picts of the actual river? In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefossil Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Very nice! I'll be there this coming weekend. Yes, most of the people are very nice. You may even run into the authors of some of those books. Plenty of knowledge around the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Thanks, we should all meet up and go there this spring. I have one picture of the river and it was around Zolfo, I brought my camera with me when we went to Gardner but it was so exciting that I didnt even think about a camera until we left Soon as you see the river you want to get right in and even though it is the perfect picture spot and your camera should be the first thing in your hand...splash! You just have to get right into the river and I did for sure and totally neglected to get my camera out of the car. This weekend I am definetly getting some nice pictures. This one picture makes the river seem dark and deep but it is really a natural illusion because that water never got deeper than 3 feet or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefootgirl Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Thanks, we should all meet up and go there this spring. I have one picture of the river and it was around Zolfo, I brought my camera with me when we went to Gardner but it was so exciting that I didnt even think about a camera until we left Soon as you see the river you want to get right in and even though it is the perfect picture spot and your camera should be the first thing in your hand...splash! You just have to get right into the river and I did for sure and totally neglected to get my camera out of the car. This weekend I am definetly getting some nice pictures. This one picture makes the river seem dark and deep but it is really a natural illusion because that water never got deeper than 3 feet or so. You Lucky Dog! That is beautiful. In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of defeat: but in the evolution of real knowledge, it marks the first step in progress toward victory. Alfred North Whithead 'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Nice sifter! Double-screen and all; you could go into business "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mango Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Nice sifter! Double-screen and all; you could go into business The Peace River always produces enough treasures to get you to come back. Very nice report. I tried out brownville for the first time yesterday. You should like the campground. I didn't get there until noon on Sunday. There were only a couple of the sites taken. Park was very clean. Ramp is very nice as well. I left the park around 4pm. The campground hosts had already cleaned up the park from the weekend visitors. It sounds like this stretch of the river has what you are after. shallow, clear, and lots of the nice soft strings of weeds. I came home with some goodies. Lots of small teeth, one nice aligator tooth, and a decent piece of horse tooth. Funny that I didn't see the dugong ribs that there are so many of in the Gardner area. I also have had great experiences with other hunters in the Gardner area. Only saw 2 others at Brownville. Could have been the nasty weather though. Pentax Optio W60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mango Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Here are a couple of pics of the river including a couple of members of my hunting team. These are from Gardner area. The Peace River always produces enough treasures to get you to come back. Very nice report. I tried out brownville for the first time yesterday. You should like the campground. I didn't get there until noon on Sunday. There were only a couple of the sites taken. Park was very clean. Ramp is very nice as well. I left the park around 4pm. The campground hosts had already cleaned up the park from the weekend visitors. It sounds like this stretch of the river has what you are after. shallow, clear, and lots of the nice soft strings of weeds. I came home with some goodies. Lots of small teeth, one nice aligator tooth, and a decent piece of horse tooth. Funny that I didn't see the dugong ribs that there are so many of in the Gardner area. I also have had great experiences with other hunters in the Gardner area. Only saw 2 others at Brownville. Could have been the nasty weather though. Pentax Optio W60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Here are a couple of pics of the river including a couple of members of my hunting team. These are from Gardner area. Great pics; that sure is a beautiful area! Judging by the arsenal of tools, you've done this before "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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