She loved being able to find her own trilobites. It seemed like every couple minutes someone said: 'Mom, I found a trilobite!' It didn't matter how many we found, we loved finding every one of them. Usually, the softer rock is what's been sitting in the weather for a while.ĪLLL the kids and parents loved searching for Trilobites. Some of the rock is really hard to break apart and some literally needed a little tap and it split right open.

It's right next to the office and it's just piles of shale everywhere! Once you've got your bucket and hammer you head out to the pit.

I don't want to say you are pretty much guaranteed to find a trilobite, but it really wasn't hard to find them.Įveryone gets their own bucket and rock pick. While we were waiting for instructions we literally found trilobites just laying on the ground. We met Beven and his wife and Bevan had worked at U-Dig for like 14 years! You can just show up during the designated hours, someone is always out there. There are a few rolling hills on the dirt road and it's SUPER fun to speed up while on those! We saw some wild horses and they were magnificent.īe sure to read out tips below before you head out on your own trip! U-Dig Fossils is quite the destination and you have to commit to the drive. I follow a few random rockhounding facebook groups and somehow facebook kept pushing U-Dig ads at me. The Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center is 20 minutes away and features world-class exhibits of dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles, and has a working fossil laboratory.I've been waiting to go to U-Dig Fossils in Delta for YEARS! Years. Nearby Attractions: Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument, which does not allow digging, is a great place to visit before going to the quarry to learn about the geographic history and fossils in the area. 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. 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.

Udig fossils