When hunting for fossils in upper state New York, there are a couple of excellent places to find shale that’s been blasted away, making it easier to locate the fossils of ancient time periods:
Abandoned quarries
Sides of highways
These are the locations where we spent our days. The highways are pretty self-explanatory, but the quarries were quite remarkable.
Young me looking very pleased about my tool belt.
Martin sorting samples at the side of a highway.
The first quarry we explored was clearly used for target practice. A scattering of rusted-out pieces of metal and car parts were riddled with bullet holes. Remains of orange clay pigeons crunched under our feet.
A bullet riddled piece of a vehicle.
Layers of shale, perfect for fossil hunting.
Below “target practice quarry” was a canal overflowing with muddied water where the layers of rock were plainly obvious and easy to access despite the overflowing banks.
Looking down from “target practice quarry”.
Martin and David examining a fossil.
The most beautiful location was a quarry surrounded by a lush forest. David and I wandered off to explore the forest, leaving Martin to his fossils. We stumbled upon a shallow stream with a clay bed. We took off our shoes and followed the water. Pausing to make clay pots and to leave messages with the chalky stone. I wonder if they were ever discovered by another such wanderer.
Bonus photos from the canyon:
