Fossil Mountain
Public area set aside for recreational collecting
Native material: you search the natural ground on site.
One of the best known fossil sites in the American West. The slopes of Fossil Mountain, in the Confusion Range of Millard County, expose layers of ancient seabed from the Ordovician, roughly 485 to 458 million years old, crowded with brachiopods, trilobites, cephalopods, gastropods, sponges, graptolites and echinoderms. The BLM manages it as a site for visitors, with interpretive panels, and allows collecting reasonable amounts of common invertebrate fossils for personal use. The mountain lies inside the King Top Wilderness Study Area: surface collecting only, no digging, and no motorized or mechanical vehicles off the road. Free and open all year; spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons.
Make a weekend of it
40 fossil and meteorite spots on open public land with no claim on record, within 50 miles.
There are more on the map, some of them with a possible mining claim.
Clubs and places nearby
- U-Dig FossilsPay-to-dig · 35 mi
- A New Dig FossilsPay-to-dig · 35 mi
- Searle Canyon Red Beryl & Topaz MinePay-to-dig · 59 mi
- Maynard's Topaz & Red Beryl MinePay-to-dig · 66 mi
- Durangite & Cassiterite MinePay-to-dig · 68 mi
- Solar Wind Bixbyite & Pink Topaz MinePay-to-dig · 70 mi
Access
From Delta, drive southwest on US-6/50 about 51 miles to the road that runs south through Blind Valley, follow it about 12.5 miles, then take the spur to the right that ends in the wash on the north side of the mountain. High clearance or four-wheel drive recommended. No water, no toilets and little or no phone signal: services are in Delta. Dispersed camping is allowed in the area.
Technique
Walk the wash and the lower slopes and look for loose pieces of shale and limestone weathering out of the hillside: most fossils are lying on the surface. Pick up, don't dig. BLM limits: up to 25 pounds a day plus one piece, 250 pounds a year, personal use only, and never vertebrate fossils.