# Florissant Fossil Quarry: legal collecting field guide

Canonical page: https://lithomap.app/resources/field-trips/florissant-fossil-quarry-colorado
Last access and rule review: September 18, 2026
Page purpose: Original LithoMap trip-planning reference for an explicitly authorized rock, mineral, or non-dinosaur fossil collecting destination.

## Direct answer

A private pay-to-collect quarry where staff provide tools and instruction for splitting fragile Eocene shale outside the national monument.

## Location and material

- State: Colorado
- Area: Florissant, Colorado
- Category: Fossil collecting
- Collection status: Collecting allowed
- Expected material: Fossil leaves, Fossil insects, Other Eocene lake fossils

## Authorization

The private quarry expressly permits paid visitors to keep finds. Collecting is prohibited in neighboring Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, which is a separate protected federal area.

## Access

The high-elevation quarry is weather-dependent. The operator publishes seasonal hours and recommends confirming conditions when rain is forecast.

## Tools, limits, and season

- Tools: Tools and instruction are provided for the timed session. Use only the supplied method and avoid crushing thin shale.
- Limits: Keep privileges apply only to the private quarry session. No collecting of any natural object is allowed inside the national monument.
- Season and current status: Seasonal with weather-dependent hours. Check the operator’s current schedule, arrival cutoff, closures, and payment requirements.

## Conditions

- Verify that you are at the private quarry—not the national monument.
- Pay before collecting.
- Use the supplied tools and instruction.
- Show a rare or scientifically important specimen to staff.

## Geology

Fine lake sediment and volcanic ash preserved delicate late Eocene leaves, insects, and other organisms roughly 34 million years ago.

A faint stain or fracture is not necessarily a fossil; matching part and counterpart can strengthen an interpretation.

## Field plan

1. Confirm the quarry is open.
2. Bring protective clothing and flat packing material.
3. Receive splitting instruction.
4. Inspect both halves in indirect light.
5. Wrap fragile pieces without applying field coatings.

## Safety

- The quarry is about 8,500 feet above sea level.
- Weather can change quickly and shale edges are sharp.
- Do not cross into protected monument land to collect.

## Official sources

- Private quarry schedule and collection policy — Florissant Fossil Quarry: https://www.florissantfossilquarry.com/
- No collecting inside the national monument — National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/flfo/learn/nature/fossils-and-faqs.htm

This guide is not a permit, reservation, boundary survey, legal opinion, guarantee of access, or promise of a find. Open every official source again before travel. Current signs, closures, permits, claim boundaries, and staff instructions control.