Dry Dredgers Field Trip
June 7-9, 2013
Ridgemount Quarry, Ontario
Penn Dixie, New York

The  Dry Dredgers met with members of the New York Paleontological Society, the Buffalo Geological Society, the Kentucky Paleontological Society and the KYANA Geological Society for a joint field trip to the Penn Dixie site in Hamburg, NY and the Ridgemount Quarry in Ft. Erie, Ontario.

Here are some "teaser" photos. The full set of photos can be found at the links below.

TEASER#1: Finding great Eurypterids at the Ridgemount Quarry in Ft. Erie, Ontario.

 Photo by Ken Peterson
Jim Cox and Malcolm Thornley with THE prize find
at Ridgemount Quarry.
Photo by Ken Peterson
 
John Spina digging out Ron Fine's prize find.
Photo by Bill Heimbrock

Bob Zimmerman finds multiple complete Eurypterids.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

TEASER #2: Finding Great Trilobites at Penn Dixie, NY


                     Bill Reppert (NYPS) lets Don Bissett examine his prize find from Penn Dixie.        


Thanks also to field trip chair Bob Bross, shown here with his son Taylor Bross, for leading this very successful field trip.

On June 6, many of us made the drive from home (presumably Cincinnati, Ohio) to Hamburg or Buffalo, NY. Jim and Kim Cox, arrived at Penn Dixie early that day and began digging in the pouring down rain. Yes, it rained hard all day long! They were greeted by a soggy Don Bissett who had already been digging trilobites at Penn Dixie the day before.

Jim's photos of his Thursday pre-trip adventures at the Penn Dixie site.

  Meanwhile, Bob Bross on Thursday drove his son Taylor, Ron Fine and Bill Heimbrock from Cincinnati in the pouring rain. When they arrived Thursday, they visited the Naval Park in Buffalo, NY.

Here are Ron Fine's and Bill Heimbrock's photos of the Buffalo Naval Park.

Each morning the Dry Dredgers met at "Base Camp" for Breakfast at Denny's before heading out fossiling.

On Friday morning (June 7), we proceeded from Denny's over the Canadian border, through Fort Erie to the Ridgemount Quarry to dig Eurypterids. Skies remained overcast, but we did not see rain. There, local expert Malcolm Thornley was waiting for us. He had spent the previous Friday digging a ditch, exposing the Eurypterid layer and leaving many Eurypterid heads and body parts for us to break out or simply pick up. Thanks, Malcom, for all the work you did to make our dig easy!

Pictures from Ridgemount Quarry, Fort Erie, Ontario:

Page 1 - The site and digging photos
Page 2: Malcolm Makes It Easy
Page 3: Bob Zimmerman Has Twins and Ron Fine With His Fine Find
Page 4: Jim Cox Finds The Top Prize In The Last 15 Minutes

On Saturday, June 8, after Denny's and before heading out to Penn Dixie, we first made a stop to at John's Corner Store to get supplies and particularly sandwiches to take with us for lunch. They cater to people heading to Penn Dixie and have things like rain ponchos, which Bill Heimbrock used when it wasn't raining.

Pictures from Penn Dixie Site:

The Penn Dixie Site and Digging Pictures
Trilobites Found at Penn Dixie
Brachiopods Found at Penn Dixie
Other Fossils Found at Penn Dixie

While at Penn Dixie, we participated in Astronomy Night.

Pictures of Astronomy Night at Penn Dixie

Also while at Penn Dixie, Bob Bross and John Krueger set up a field station and made several contacts with other Ham Radio enthusiasts.

Pictures of Ham Day

Our final day, Sunday, was planned to be a trip to nearby 18-Mile Creek. But due to a closure in the access road that would take us to the site, we did not go. Some went back to Penn Dixie Sunday. The sun had finally come out and stayed out that day. On Saturday, it was cloudy with occasional rain.

Before heading back to the Penn Dixie site Sunday, Bob and Taylor Bross, Bill Heimbrock and Ron Fine visited the "Past and Present" Rock Shop in Hamburg, NY. This shop is both a great place to buy fossils and also a museum full of even more spectacular fossils not for sale. 

Pictures of Past And Present Rock Shop and Museum

That's all for this trip. Join us in September for our first field trip of the Dry Dredgers fiscal year.

Previous Trips to this site

June 2012
June 2008
June 2006

June 2003
June 2002

Now let's see pictures of our September 2013 picnic/field trip to Brookville Indiana

For more information

Penn Dixie Site see: penndixie.org
New York Paletontological Society see www.nyps.org
For more information on the Buffalo Geological Society, see www.bgsny.org.
For more information on the Past and Present Rock Shop, see www.pastpres.com.
For more information on the Dry Dredgers, see drydredgers.org

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