Photo by Marcus Lange:
Dinosaur fossils have long captured the imaginations of both children and adults. From visiting Colorado Springs’ Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center to tracking footprints near Tuba City, dinosaur remains can be found throughout many states.
Michigan may not be known for fossils, but the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan does offer dinosaur statues and digs during summer weather. Louisiana offers trilobites and other marine fossils along its coastal cities like Natchitoches to discover. If you cannot visit these places, you can always opt for dinosaur fossil replicas.
Texas
Dinosaur fossils can be found throughout Texas due to its abundance of shale, sandstone and limestone rocks. North Texas offers excellent opportunities to observe dinosaur fossils; particularly along creeks that run near cliffs where erosion preserved fossils that had previously been dislodged from rocks.
Glen Rose, 60 miles southwest of Fort Worth, contains some of the world’s best-preserved dinosaur tracks. Five track sites at Dinosaur Valley State Park contain footprints from both theropods and sauropods while other sites preserve footprints from Permian period dinosaurs.
New York
The American Museum of Natural History in NYC offers an ideal destination for dino lovers. Visitors to this museum will get to witness a full-size Barosaurus loom over spectators at its main entrance as well as nearly complete mastodon skeleton and numerous fossil halls.
The fourth floor is dinosaur heaven with halls dedicated to ornithischian dinosaurs (such as Stegosaurus and Triceratops), as well as saurischian ones like Apatosaurus. Of course, Tyrannosaurus Rex reigns supreme with an exhibit that mesmerized museum-goers when it first opened back in 1912. A must see for any dinosaur fan!
Illinois
The Burpee Museum boasts an excellent collection of fossils and two dinosaurs; however, larger and more impressive dinosaurs would certainly enhance their showcase. Still, they do an exceptional job with these two stars of the show!
Kansas was covered by shallow seas during the Permian and Cretaceous periods, giving rise to many invertebrate fossils; its official dinosaur is Tylosaurus, an enormous marine reptile.
North Dakota offers visitors an exciting opportunity to explore real dinosaur bones with paleontologists. The North Dakota Geological Survey offers digs at Bismarck, Dickinson and Medora.
Mississippi
A park worker in Georgia discovered a 67 million-year-old horned dinosaur tooth fossil, the first ever found east of Mississippi.
Mississippi was submerged under an arm of the Gulf of Mexico that extended up to southern Illinois during the Cretaceous period, so marine fossils are common here.
Fossil hunters can search for marine fossils at Westmoreland State Park near Richmond or York River State Park in Williamsburg. Note that some dig sites require permits and/or admission fees before proceeding with your search.
Alabama
Alabama visitors can witness Basilosaurus cetoides fossil remains, the state fossil since 1984. Museum displays include an egg from this Cretaceous sea reptile as well as its full body skeleton.
McWane Science Center of Birmingham showcases a fossilized dinosaur footprint from Eotrochodonorientalis at their museum and offer fossil excavation services at their fossil lab for a fee. North Alabama offers plenty of sites where trace fossils, which don’t show what an animal looked like but provide information about size and behavior, can be found.
Alaska
Fossils found at this National Park allow scientists to construct an accurate picture of how the area appeared millennia ago. Tracks suggest both plant-eating dinosaurs and carnivorous ones left their mark – including Gorgosaurus, an apex predator believed to have measured some 30 feet long!
Fossil collectors need a permit in New Mexico in order to dig for fossils. However, Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument provides visitors with an excellent view of Ice Age mammoths while also offering interactive dig activities.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island may not immediately come to mind as an ideal location for fossil hunting, but the Ocean State provides plenty of opportunities for marine specimens. Visit Calvert Cliffs State Park’s cliffs for signs of ferns and jellyfish; while Mazonia-Braidwood allows visitors to search BLM land for fossils.
Oregon’s Ashfall Fossil Beds National Monument, about two hours’ drive northeast of Portland, offers mammal fossils for free digging. Other Oregon sites allow digging with permits; Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Malta and Carter County Museum in Ekalaka also permit this practice.
Missouri
Missouri is home to numerous dinosaur fossils, such as those belonging to Parrosaurusmissouriensis – an herbivorous dinosaur found when a geologist searching for clay deposits in Bollinger County 80 years ago discovered its remains.
The Natural State offers marine fossils such as brachipods and trilobites in Fisk Quarry Preserve on Isle La Motte, but please keep in mind that certain locations require permits or prohibit collecting of these specimens altogether.