Fossil sites in Colorado

Florissant Fossil Quarry sits at 8,500 feet in the South Park basin, adjacent to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. The site operates as a pay-to-dig commercial quarry working Eocene lake sediments approximately 34 million years old. Visitors split shale to find insect impressions, detailed plant compressions, and fragments of petrified wood from the ancient redwood forest that once stood here. The elevation means afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer; plan for an early start.

Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, roughly 15 miles west of Denver, is a free roadside geology park where a paved interpretive trail follows a road cut through the hogback. Jurassic Morrison Formation dinosaur bones and Cretaceous ornithopod trackways are both visible in the exposed rock faces. Collecting is not permitted, but the site is accessible, well-labeled, and open daily without a fee or permit.