The 2019 NYSCamp delegation recently returned from their first overnighter in the Monongahela National Forest. Delegates had the option to either fossil hunting with Ryan Haupt or backpacking, climbing, caving, and mountain biking with Staph*.

Collin Preston, a Kentucky delegate, was excited that he had the opportunity to swim on the Seneca Creek trial, a hike in the Dolly Sods Wilderness.

The Fossil hunting overnighter was funded in part by the Paleontological Society and Mr. Ryan Haupt, who put together and donated “paleontology field kits” for exploring the fossil sites around the NYSCamp and to create a program to take delegates to various fossil localities in the Appalachian region for a hands-on fossil collecting experience. This allows the NYSCamp to continue to offer the fossil hunting overnighter in the future, and the kits can be used by other National Youth Science Foundation (NYSFoundation.)

An extended gallery can be viewed here (once available.)

*not misspelled; a traditional NYSCamp spelling that reflects an infectious enthusiasm.