Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

A national monument in central Colorado protecting a dense late Eocene fossil site, including giant petrified redwood stumps and delicate insect fossils.

P.O. Box 185, Florissant, CO 80816 (mailing address) · Florissant, CO

About Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

This National Park Service monument sits in a grassy mountain valley in central Colorado. Its layers of shale and volcanic deposits hold a large collection of plant, insect, spider, fish, and vertebrate fossils from about 34 million years ago. Visitors can walk a self-guided trail past petrified redwood stumps, tour the Hornbek Homestead, and join ranger programs. The site's history includes early fossil collecting, a 1969 threat from housing development, and a conservation campaign that led to monument status. Paleontologists still research and stabilize the fossils here.

#fossils
#paleontology
#petrified wood
#national monument
#hiking

What's around here?

The closest stops to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

Museums
Pikes Peak Historical Society
Check prices
Nonprofit society running local history museums in the Florissant area of Teller County, Colorado.
2.2 mi awayMore like this
Sports & Outdoors
Mueller State Park
Under $25
A large Colorado state park at the foot of Pikes Peak, known for forests, meadows, rock formations, and wildlife.
6.1 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
Attractions
History Buff
Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad
Under $25
A family-run narrow gauge steam train ride from the 1894 depot in Cripple Creek past historic gold mining sites.
Transit: reachable by public transit
13 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions
Museums
Cripple Creek District Museum
Under $25
Local history museum in a former gold-mining town, with mining artifacts, photographs, minerals, and period buildings.
13 mi awayMore like this
Museums
History Buff
Dinosaur Resource Center
Under $25
Fossil museum with 40-plus mounted dinosaur and marine reptile skeletons plus a working fossil lab.
Transit: reachable by public transit
14 mi awayMore like this
Sports & Outdoors
Iconic
Pikes Peak - America's Mountain
Under $25
Drive, ride the cog railway, or hike to the 14,115-foot summit that inspired 'America the Beautiful.'
15 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors