United States Wyoming KemmererFossil Butte National Monument

Fossil Butte National Monument

864 Chicken Creek Rd, Kemmerer, WY 83101

4.8(315)

Open 24 hours

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Phone

(307) 877-4455

Website

nps.gov

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Rasik Raj YadavRasik Raj Yadav

Fossil Butte National Monument is a United States National Monument managed by the National Park Service, located 15 miles (24 km) west of Kemmerer, Wyoming, United States. It centers on an assemblage of Eocene Epoch (56 to 34 million years ago) animal and plant fossils associated with Fossil Lake—the smallest lake of the three great lakes which were then present in what are now Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The other two lakes were Lake Gosiute and Lake Uinta. Fossil Butte National Monument was established as a national monument on October 23, 1972. Fossil Butte National Monument preserves the best paleontological record of Cenozoic aquatic communities in North America and possibly the world, within the 50-million-year-old Green River Formation — the ancient lake bed. Fossils preserved include fish, alligators, bats, turtles, dog-sized horses, insects, and many other species of plants and animals — suggest that the region was a low, subtropical, freshwater basin when the sediments accumulated, over about a 2 million-year period.

Hunter DeermanHunter Deerman

Got to Kemmerer several hours before my motel check-in so I decided to come check it out and hike one of the trails... Beautiful landscape and vast blue skies that makes you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. There's no entrance fee, and several moderately challenging trails to hike. I hiked the Chicken Creek Loop Trail with my two dogs and only saw one other person the entire trail. It's a pretty steep trail going up either way, but coming back down is a breeze. The top of the trail has an absolutely breathtakingly vast view West across rolling hills. I definitely urge anyone exploring here to bring lots of water. The visitors center is pretty neat. I didn't go inside because I had my dogs, but the deck surrounds over half of the center with really cool information about the history of the earth strategically placed along the rail forming a timeline. The views here are equally amazing.

Cynthia PCynthia P

One of the largest fossil deposits in the United States. You’ll see mainly fish and sea going creatures but others as well. There is actual work being done on collecting and preserving the fossils. Park Ranger Kyle did a great job on explaining the process. Intern Caroline works the dig on Friday and Saturdays and does a wonderful job of explaining what she was doing. The fossils on display are amazing and worth the trip. There is also a scenic drive you can take (no RVs). On Friday and Saturdays you can walk to the dig (less than a mile one way-not to difficult, bring bug spray). This was an unplanned stop for us and one we consider a must see.

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Reviews of Fossil Butte National Monument

4.8

(315)

1.0

18w

TL;DR: The Scenic Drive is NOT like every other park where it's a nice drive on a paved road. It's a dangerous road for anything less than a 4x4 with full preparation.

The Visitor center was awesome and the fossils were amazing. I would want to spend at least a day reading everything there. Had that been all we did I would rate it 5.0.

HOWEVER, we decided to take the "5.5 mi Scenic Drive" road and at the end of the drive you end up at a fork with NO indication of which way to go to get...

5.0

Fossil Butte is, as the name suggests, a fossil-oriented park. It is known for its plant and animal fossils from just after the dinosaurs died out, in the Palaeocene and Eocene epochs, especially its well-preserved and abudant fish.

One of the most eye-opening features of the park is its geological timescale. Starting about 2/3 of a mile from the visitor center on Chicken Creek Road, you start seeing signs about events that have occurred, starting with the formation of Earth 4.567...

5.0

Wife and I stumbled across this place kind of by accident, we were taking the long way back from Bear Lake to Evanston and decided to go through Kemmerer on the way back. There's only a single and somewhat small road sign warning you of this place's existence ( heading Eastbound anyways ) and I happened to see the road sign in time and we decided to take a diversion and check it out. As you approach the Visitor's Center a Geologic Timeline is placed on the side of the road leading to the...

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