I want to tell you about a weekend fossil hunting trip I took a few weeks ago. It was a cold, but sunny Saturday in December. I live about three and one half hours from the beach I was planning on visiting, so I started out rather early, about 4:30am. I was going to Edisto Beach State Park in South Carolina.
This was a trip I had been anticipating for quite some time. Because I live in South Carolina, most of my fossil hunting trips have been limited to the beaches of my state. I had not visited Edisto Beach before this. The majority of my trips have been to the beaches of Myrtle Beach and Hunting Island. I had read that Edisto Beach State Park was an excellent beach to hunt fossils so naturally I was eager to visit.
First, a little history about my fossil hunting. Some twenty years ago or so I was invited to go to the beach with an aunt. During the trip, Aunt Nita introduced me to hunting sharks teeth. Maybe I was a little young, but I did not enjoy this past time. Several years later, I was walking along the beach and happened to look down and see a sharks tooth. I reached to pick it up and suddenly remembered the excitement my Aunt Nita displayed upon finding a sharks tooth. I must have been about 20. That was 23 years ago. Today, I don't miss an opportunity to go fossil hunting.
This particular Saturday was before Christmas and the weather forecast was for a clear, day of sun and cold. I figured that would be the ideal time to hunt fossils. I was right! We arrived at 8:30 clock and bundled against the cold to protect us and began our expedition! I was really glad to see many shell beds up and down the coast! I have pictures on my site. We started walking towards the camp on the beach. There was nobody on the beach and soon we began to find shark teeth and some petrified wood. There was also a wealth ofshells some of which I couldn't pass up.
As the morning turned into afternoon, the temperature rose enough that we were able to shed our heavy coats and stocking hats. We were now beachcombing in light jackets under beautiful blue skies. By now, other people were coming to the beach, probably from the campground. We left the beach heading home about 3:30pm.
We had a great experience at Edisto. We found many fine specimens to add to our collection. I have had good luck finding sharks teeth and petrified wood at both Myrtle Beach and Hunting Island. Now I can add Edisto Beach State Park to my list of great beaches to find fossils.
We found 34 sharks teeth, numerous bits of petrified wood and an excellent vertebrae specimen. I was very happy with the days take and was already planning another trip. I have pictures of Edisto Beach and our finds at my website http://www.saturdayafternoonhobbies.com
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