Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
National Monument · Hagerman, Idaho
Four and a half thousand acres of Snake River bluff holding the richest known deposit of late Pliocene fossils in North America - about three to four million years old, and at least two hundred species. It is best known for the Hagerman horse, Equus simplicidens, the oldest known member of the genus that produced every modern horse and zebra, and more than two hundred individuals came out of a single quarry here during Smithsonian expeditions in the 1930s. ⚠ It is not a place where you look at fossils in the ground: the beds are closed to protect them, and the visit is a visitor centre, two overlooks and a stretch of Oregon Trail wagon ruts.
17970 Highway 30, Hagerman, Idaho, 83332, United States
⚠ THE VISITOR CENTRE MOVED IN APRIL 2022. It is now inside the joint National Park Service and Idaho State Parks THOUSAND SPRINGS VISITOR CENTER at 17970 Highway 30, about a mile north of downtown Hagerman. THE OLD VISITOR CENTRE AT 221 NORTH STATE STREET IS CLOSED and older listings, including this row before it was corrected, still send people there. The centre keeps limited days and is closed on federal holidays; the monument grounds, the overlooks and the Oregon Trail ruts are open year round in daylight. THERE IS NO FEE TO ENTER THE VISITOR CENTRE OR THE MONUMENT. Access roads on the monument are unpaved and are closed or impassable when wet.
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