Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park

State Historical Park And National Natural Landmark (University Of Nebraska State Museum With Nebraska Game And Parks) · Royal, Nebraska

Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, in the rolling farmland of north-east Nebraska near the tiny village of Royal, protects one of the most remarkable fossil sites in North America. About 12 million years ago a supervolcano in what is now south-western Idaho sent a thick cloud of ash across the continent. Here it settled into a waterhole where herds of animals came to drink. Over the following weeks rhinos, three-toed horses, camels, deer-like animals, birds and turtles died from breathing the ash, and their bodies were buried whole. Today visitors walk into the Hubbard Rhino Barn, a building over the dig itself, to see dozens of complete skeletons still lying where they fell, including barrel-bodied rhinos with calves beside their mothers. In summer paleontologists and students keep digging in front of visitors. The park is run by the University of Nebraska State Museum with Nebraska Game and Parks and is a National Natural Landmark. It is remote, reached partly on gravel, and open only in the warmer months, so check the season before making the long drive.

86930 517th Avenue, Royal, Nebraska, 68773, United States

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the park opens for the season in early or mid May and closes in early or mid October; from about Memorial Day to Labor Day it is open daily, roughly 9 am to 5 pm, with Sunday hours sometimes starting later, and in the shoulder weeks of spring and autumn hours are shorter and some days may be closed. It is closed entirely through winter. The traps that ruin a day are arriving out of season, arriving in the shoulder weeks on a closed day, arriving after the last admission, and leaving too late from a city hours away. Confirm current times before relying on them.

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