Geology Rocks!

In the mountains outside of Colorado Springs, CO, is the small town of Florissant, home of Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. This park protects one of the most highly concentrated and well preserved fossil beds in the country. It is filled with plant and animal fossils from the Eocene period. The park is also well known for its petrified Redwood tree stumps. These are especially interesting because Redwood trees are definitely no longer found in Colorado.

My visit started off at the visitors center where I looked through the museum and was mesmerized by the park movie. There were many fossils on display in the museum and the park movie described how they all got there. What I learned: only 34 million years ago, the area of Florrisant was highly volcanic. Ash, water, and snow were mixed together during eruptions and the huge mudflows covered the ground. Time passed and forests grew and streams flowed. When the mammals and birds that lived in the forest died, they became the first fossils in Florissant; found in the lower mudstone layer. Then a massive lahar (mudflow from a volcano) filled with rocks and boulders sweeps through, leaving 15 feet of mud. This mud begins the petrification process of the tree stumps found today. The lahar also creates the now extinct Lake Florrisant where fish, leaf, and insect fossils could form. The fossils formed on the bottom of the lake are know found in the upper shale layer. The delicate shale was created by layering of clay and volcanic ash. Because the layers are so fine, the fossils are very detailed, comparable to professional drawings. The rich geologic history of Florissant makes it a remarkably interesting place that tells its own story with intricately detailed illustrations in stone. From the park brochure: "Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument has yielded over 50,000 museum specimens from fossils of over 1,700 species - 1,500 insects, 150 plants, and one of the world's only known fossil records of the tsetse fly, now found only in equatorial Africa." I couldn't wait to explore the land.

My trip back in time started on a ranger guided hike. He took us around the Petrified Forest Loop Trail. On the hike, he stopped to point out many different things around us. One of the fascinating observations the ranger shared was that an aspen tree grove could be considered the largest living thing on Earth. Aspen trees have interconnection root system below ground that continually sprout new trunks. He also stopped to show us a dead ponderosa pine tree. The tree had lost all of its bark so we could see a twist in the trunk and branches, like a barber pole. He told us the twisting of itself helped to bring water up through the tree; something you don't normally get to see. We wandered up the trail and saw a small hill where we could see some geologic layers very clearly, which was awesome, like looking back in time.

Then, we made it to the petrified stumps. The big petrified tree stumps around the park are from redwood trees. So, millions of years ago when these trees were alive and growing, Colorado had a similar climate to that of northern California/ southern coastal Oregon, where redwoods are found now. The biggest stump in the park, named Big Stump, is 38 feet around. It has two saw blades stuck into the side of it. These are from when the park land was a private tourist attraction. Each stump was owned by a different person that each wanted their stump to stand out and attract the most visitors. The owner of Big Stump tried to saw a chunk out, most likely to sell as a souvenir, but Big Stump one that fight. I saw many other tree stumps on the tour, including one that had very visible tree rings. After the guided hike, I explored some other trails on my own and really enjoyed the landscape of the area. I saw colorful and diverse wildflowers in the valley and had always spectacular views of the mountains as I walked the forest sniffing the pine and fir trees.

This park was another unknown national monument that I had no idea what to expect, but had an incredible time anyway. I got a very detailed Colorado geology lesson in a picturesque landscape on a beautiful sunny day. I left the park much smarter and much happier.

See pictures from this park and the nearby Colorado Springs park, Garden of the Gods, in the Gallery.

Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument is a great example of National Parks in unexpected places. There 417 National Park sites around the country! They are all "special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage." Visit nps.gov to find a park near you.