Both Virginia and Maryland are great states for fossil hunting. The general rule is that fossil collecting is prohibited at federal parks. Unless there are parks with an exception (i.e. permission, university sponsored study, etc...). When it comes to federal parks I just assume no fossil hunting.   State parks vary and will post whether it's allowable or not. If it's not listed on a site then assume no collecting.    Calvert county makes it very clear where not to collect. There are areas with heavy erosion around cliff areas but those areas tend to be restricted to university research.   In Virginia, Fredericksburg is a good area for gastropods. Supposedly sharks teeth can be found in Occoquan, but I haven't personally seen them. Only examples from other people's collections.   I've planned for gold once but I can't remember where in Virginia because it was so long ago and it was with a rock and mineral club.    One thing I've always wanted to do was explore a quarry. Especially a limestone quarry for fossils. ... View more

You could bring along a rechargeable  hand warmer. I just bought a Celestron Elements Li-ion rechargeable warmer, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it just yet, since I am testing it out still. So far just putting it through it's paces it appears as if it takes up to six hours to charge for about 4 hours of continuous use. It's supposed to be a power bank as well so you can charge a phone. Zippo makes one (model 9s) that supposedly charges within 2 hours and can heat for 9 hours. I should have bought that one but there was a clearance sale on the Celestron for $27 normally $50. I let clearance sales get the best of me sometimes.    Hope this helps. ... View more

@REI-JohnJ  Thanks for the info. Feel free to pick my brain on anything biology, chemistry and forensics. I'm still getting the hang of posting on this forum. Not sure if any of my replies are going through. Maybe there's a delay or something. ... View more

@coastalxplorer  I worked at a forensics lab and have been working as a consultant. The Occoquan area is fun to hike. Purse park in Md is fun to hike and fossil hunt, as well as the Calvert county area. I'll go anywhere where there are fossils and pretty rocks LOL. ... View more

@REI-JenK  I live in Lake Ridge, near Occoquan. I earned my BS in Biology at the University of Central Oklahoma and MS at University of Alabama at Birmingham I also got my first real job in this DC area as well. ... View more