Ashfall Fossil Beds
N 42° 25.308 W 098° 09.380
14T E 569407 N 4696954
Ashfall Fossil Beds, north of Royal, NE, has complete skeletons of barrel-bodied rhinos, three-toed horses, llama-like camels, and sabre-toothed deer, all entombed by a Pompeii-line event 12 million years ago.
Waymark Code: WMPKR
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2006
Views: 160
Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park is both an important fossil site and an area of natural prairie beauty. Ashfall is situated on 360 acres of rugged rangeland in the scenic Verdigre Creek Valley.
Located 7 miles north of US Hwy 20 between Royal and Orchard in northern Antelope County, NE, the park offers a fascinating and educational experience for the entire family - a chance to step back in time andsee what Nebraska wildlife was like long before modern man ventured onto the Great Plains.
Ashfall is open in May before Memorial Day wekend, Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, it is open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. After Labor Day to the second weekend in October, Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 - 4 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students. A Nebraska Parks entry permit is required. Tele: (402) 893-2000.
Your first stop should be the
Visitor Center to see the interpretive displays and the working fossil preparation laboratory. Your are invited to ask the paleontologist about their work. Educational programs are presented on a regular basis.
From the
Visitor Center, it is but a short stroll to the
Rhino Barn (handicap accessible), where the fossils remain where they died, and where new discoveries continue to be unearthed.
If a time machine were to transport you back 12 million years, you would find a Nebraska covered with sub-tropical grasses and patches of jungle. The Area was inhabited by a rich variety of life reminiscent of modern
East African savana.
The photo on the right shows the Verdigre Overlook Interpretive Trail and in the foreground, an Interpretive Rock Display.