The Fossil Digging Experience

The Florissant Fossil Quarry is located in the small Colorado mountain town of Florissant which lies in the shadow of Pike’s Peak. Our family friendly fossil digging quarry is essentially a large shale bed. Many millions of years ago, volcanic ash trapped layers of living animals and plants in the shale. The shale is easy to split apart to find the fossils embedded between the layers, giving you the opportunity to become an amateur paleontologist!

You will be provided with everything you need to experience the thrill of fossil digging between layers of shale. We will provide you a mound of freshly excavated, fossil-rich shale from the bottom of a 34 million-year-old lake.

Our fossil-loving staff will provide you access to all the tools and personal instruction you need to hunt for fossils hidden in the shale. Our experts will show you how to pick the best rocks and split the shale to reveal the fossils. The staff is knowledgeable and will help you identify your discoveries.

This is a hands-on paleontology experience where we guarantee you will find fossils.

Normally an hour is plenty of time to find a few fossils and for kids and adults to have a great time fossil digging and hunting. The time will go by quickly once you start finding fossils. Young people love the experience; many kids want to spend all day here.