Fossil Safari and Fossil Butte National Monument
If you are ever anywhere near Southwest Wyoming, I have a place to go off the beaten path. It is Fossil Safari. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. It is almost 9 miles down a dirt/gravel road to get there. The closest town is Kemmerer. You definitely have to hard map it because Google Maps got us nowhere close to the place. It is great when directions say go through 4 cattle gates!
Fossil Safari is one of the few places in Wyoming where you can keep your own fossils that you dig yourself. You cannot hunt fossils in the rest of Wyoming because it is against the law.
They give you the tools (hammer and chisel) and you get to pound away at rocks until you find fish fossils. It takes a little practice, but eventually you get it. We found multiple full fish fossils. It takes work to “clean them up” once you get home, but finding them is the fun.
There is absolutely no shade and it was hot even in the mid 60s. So bring a hat and sunscreen. Also, the road out there would have been horrible if there had been rain.
Remember, these are rocks so if you flew, you would have to be very careful on what you take. We ended up getting a partial fossil that was about 9 inches long and probably weighs 30 pounds. That would be a bear to get back on a plane.
Note, you cannot keep any “rare” specimens, but as best I could tell from the guys that worked there, they have found 2 in the last 16 years and they don’t actually check.
After checking out Fossil Safari, make sure you head over to Fossil Butte National Monument. It is a small museum, but they have terrific fossils that were found right around the area. They had some plates of fish catastrophes (lots of dead fish) that were amazing. They also had some fossil ferns that looked like art (note, we saw a similar size fern fossil in Park City and it was listed at $88,000). The rangers were incredibly friendly and engaging. It is definitely worth the extra fifteen minute drive.
