Fossil Butte National Monument, July 2022 Visitors to southwest Wyoming’s Fossil Butte National Monument, when they get out of their cars at the Visitor Center, are treated to a walk back in time: interpretive signs and markers along the deck and sidewalk point out different geological epochs and the creatures that inhabited the Earth at …
Fossil Hills Trail, Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, July 2022 Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in northwest Nebraska was established a mere quarter century ago—in June 1997—but its famed mammal fossils date to the early Paleocene Epoch, just after the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Dozens of fossil skeletons were discovered in …
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Circle Trail, Pipestone National Monument, July 2022 Pipestone National Monument in southwest Minnesota preserves the site of an active pipestone quarry used by the Sioux and other American Indian tribes to craft famed “peace pipes” popularized by groups in the northern plains of the United States. The Sioux Quartzite that predominates in the park dates …
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Quarry Exhibit Hall, Dinosaur National Monument, June 2022 Scenic hiking trails abound in the woefully underexplored canyons of Dinosaur National Monument, but it is the famed fossil quarry that gives this Utah/Colorado park its name. Here, in 1909, paleontologist Earl Douglass began what would become one of the most famous digs in the world, uncovering …
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Sibley Volcanic Loop, Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, March 2020 Despite being located on the Ring of Fire, it is easy to forget California’s volcanic past. Beginning roughly 8-10 million years ago, what are now the Berkeley Hills of the East Bay were the epicenter of a series of volcanic eruptions that flooded the area with …
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