Introducing: The Face of Charleston Fossil Adventures
Good evening!
As we continue to post more, it's fitting to include a proper introduction.
The face, primary tour guide, and mastermind behind Charleston Fossil Adventures is Ashby Gale. Ever since he was young, Ashby was fascinated by the field of paleontology and the fossils found on this earth. Like any aspiring fossil hunter, Ashby received many dig-your-own fossil kits and model dinosaurs to fuel his imagination of finding an entire fossilized skeleton belonging to prehistoric beasts.
Like all good stories, our protagonist must face perils... One day, during third grade out on the playground, another student taunted Ashby by stating that being a paleontologist wasn't a lucrative job: "You know they only make money if they find something." Alas, Ashby heard these words and allowed them to dash his hopes of becoming a paleontologist for over 15 years.
During those 15 years, however, Ashby spent some time visiting his first fossiliferous beach: Edisto Beach. From his early days of combing Edisto, Ashby was hooked.
Fast forward to 2014, when Ashby took a position with the SC State Park Service at Edisto Beach. During his time on Edisto, Ashby expanded his collection of Pleistocene vertebrate fossils, eventually exploring other areas in the South Carolina Lowcountry. From the local rivers and streams to freshly scraped land for construction sites, fossils seemed to pour forth from the earth.
Ashby also expanded his fossil hunting horizons to include other states: North Carolina, Florida, and Maryland. Hunting at these sites, Ashby collected along the Potomac River and Miocene exposures of Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, and the famous beaches around Jacksonville in Florida. The Outer Banks of North Carolina held some hidden gems just waiting to be found, and even urban centers in the mountains held fossils, as fossil-laden sands were occasionally trucked in for playgrounds or driveways.
As a part of his job in SC, Ashby led tours on the beach to help visitors find their own fossils on Edisto. During the years he led these tours, he noticed how excited people became to discover fossils, and how infectious his own excitement was to those holding fragments of beasts that lived thousands of years ago. However, these tours only lasted an hour, once a week. So, after some research into other fossil hunting excursions, Ashby decided to found Charleston Fossil Adventures.
CFA is designed as a family-friendly resource for those wanting to find fossils in South Carolina. Similar to prospecting for gold in the Yukon or gem mining in the Appalachian or Rocky Mountains, fossil hunting on beaches and rivers offers the thrill of the search, coupled with the reward of discovery!
So book your adventure today and create memories that will last for a lifetime! Keep picking up!
