Fossil Butte National Monument
National Monument · Kemmerer, Wyoming
A high-desert butte west of Kemmerer made of the sediments of Fossil Lake, a subtropical lake about 52 million years old that preserved fish, stingrays, bats, birds, crocodilians, insects and palms in extraordinary detail. It is one of the richest fossil localities in the world, and the visitor centre displays the finest specimens. Trails lead up to an old commercial quarry, and rangers run fossil programmes in summer. Collecting inside the monument is illegal; private quarries near Kemmerer let visitors dig for a fee. In summer, visitors can watch paleontologists at work in a research quarry on Fridays and Saturdays.
864 Chicken Creek Road, Kemmerer, Wyoming, 83101, United States
Monument grounds open year-round. Visitor centre open daily in summer with longer hours and reduced hours in winter; closed on some federal holidays in winter. Summer ranger programmes run roughly June to September. Check nps.gov/fobu for current hours.
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