Fossil Hunting at Calvert Cliffs

Even before moving to Chesapeake country I have heard of the Clavert Cliffs. They're famous for the large fossils that are found there. I really like rock and fossil hunting, so I've been looking forward to taking a trip there. I've been waiting for a good weekend to go by boat, but with the boat in the shop and a rare Saturday with no plans, Dianne and I decided to drive south toward Calvert County yesterday. I'm glad we did. It's about a 2 mile hike from the Calvert Cliffs State Park entrance to the beach at the base of the cliffs. We were very surprised that the trail turned out to be very scenic, following a little creek that eventually turned into a large swamp. It was a very unexpected and lovely area filled with lilly pads and other native plants, and almost over-populated with butterflies, dragonflies, beavers, and small frogs. (Believe it or not, the first frogs I've seen in Maryland.) The trail opened to a small beach with high cliffs on both sides. Maybe a dozen people were already there sifting the sand for sharks-teeth and other finds. There was a sign that said the area directly below the cliffs was closed due to landslides, but not many people paid attention. After all, that's where the fossils are! The cliffs are made of sand and clay, and the fossil lie in stratified layers near the base. It's not hard to see why they warn of danger because there were lots of dead trees that had fallen down the steep bank. Since most of the fossils are sea shells, they don't look much different from what you might normally expect to find at the beach, except that you soon realize that you're looking at ocean shells and not those usually found in the Chesapeake Bay. We didn't turn up any shark's teeth, but I dug out a couple of giant sea-scallops fossils so we didn't go home empty handed. Afterwards, we drove down to Solomon's Island where we had dinner on the Pier. -S