Where: Florissant Fossil Quarry, 18117 Teller Country Rd 1, Florissant, CO 80816 Staff at the quarry provide tools and instruction. Fossils can be kept, though any finds of scientific significance, such as the fossil of a new species of shorebird found in 1997, are donated to the National Park Museum. Ash from a volcanic eruption trapped layers of living animals and plants in shale, and now fossilized insects, plants, small animals, and fish can be found. The quarry was an ancient lakebed during the Eocene Epoch, 34 million years ago. The Mammoth Site is also two hours south and features a museum and an active paleontological excavation site.įossil hunting in Colorado: Florissant Fossil Quarry, Divideįlorissant Fossil Quarry in Colorado is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with an entrance fee of $15. Nearby Attractions: Badlands National Park and the Black Hills are just two hours away. Where: PaleoAdventures, 1432 Mill Street, Belle Fourche, SD 57717 A dig day is $175 per person and the days often fill up before the season starts, so early booking is essential. Fossils that have scientific significance are either sold or donated to universities and museums. Visitors can keep any common fossils, such as Triceratops teeth and unidentifiable dinosaur bone fragments. All tools and gear are provided, as well as expert instruction. Unlike the other sites, Paleoadventures specializes in dinosaur fossils, particularly fossils from the Late Cretaceous Period (100 to 66 million years ago), such as bones and teeth from T.Rexes and Triceratopses. Operating from their field station in Belle Fourche, PaleoAdventures takes visitors to dig for fossils on private ranches. PaleoAdventures in South Dakota offers guided, full-day field trips from March through September. Photo: PALEOADVENTURES DINOSAUR DIGS/Facebook The Buffalo Museum of Science, as of 2022, has an exhibit on dinosaurs in Antarctica. Nearby Attractions: Woodlawn Beach State Park, a mile-long beach on Lake Erie, is just a short seven-minute drive away, and Niagara Falls is 40 minutes north. Where: Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve, 4050 North Street, Blasdell, NY 14219 There are also Dig With The Experts events every June. Staff and volunteers assist visitors, and the park is accessible to wheelchairs, with paved paths throughout. Tools are available for rental, and fossils can be kept, though the park asks to photograph particularly fascinating ones. The park is open from April to October, and there is a $14 entrance fee. When the area was quarried, layers of 380 million-year-old Devonian Period rock were uncovered, filled with brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, and (famously) trilobites. If going to U-dig Fossils they will provide all the tools you need to find fossils.Next up is The Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve, a 54-acre park near Buffalo, New York, that was once an ancient undersea environment.Lots of water, especially in the summer months However, the U-dig quarry does have toilet facilities if you pay to find fossils. The closest amenities are about an hour away in Delta, UT. There are no bathrooms or water on BLM land.Especially when you are in a paid quarry where there are more fossils. Personally, I think 2 hours is plenty of time to fossil hunt. Prices at U-dig Fossils (as of April 2021):Ģ Hours – Ages 7 to 16: $19 Age 17 and older: $33Ĥ hours – Ages 7 to 16: $33 Age 17 and older: $49Ĩ hours – Ages 7 to 16: $58 Age 17 and older: $90Īges 6 and under are free with a paying adult However, other blogs have mentioned that the overall fossil quality is better there than on the BLM land. We went fossil hunting when U-dig wasn’t open so I can’t speak to the success of fossil finding there. This private, 40 acre quarry provides tools and instructions on fossil hunting. There is a paid option up the road about a mile from the BLM land called U-dig Fossils. When to Go: Spring, Summer (morning or evening), Fall COSTįree on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. Difficulty: Very Easy Easy MODERATE Hard Very Hard
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