Hi! I'm new to the site. I will be visiting Colorado towards the end of next week. I wouldlove to collect some rocks/crystal/fossils while I'm there. I am finding trouble locating places that aren't covered in snow! I'm going to be in the Denver area to start but willing to travel. Does anyone have any ideas of where to collect? Is there any pay to collect sites? Thanks in advance for your help. I'm not having any luck.

Hi Rockin and welcome to the CP forums. I moved your topic to the outings and adventure section of the forums here.
The southern part of Colorado has a lot less snow right now and has some great things to find. Just make sure you do the proper research before heading out into the field to dig.
Stay safe out there and we would love to hear how your searching went.

Denise

Thanks Denise! I was thinking around Grand Junction? I honestly don't have a clue. Any direction would be greatly appreciated. I'm from East Tennessee but traveling to Colorado for a meeting and staying over the weekend.

well in GJ you can collect as many minerals as you can carry (5gal bucket full) but your not allowed to collect VERTEBRATE fossiles W/O a permit.

Hi. Thanks! No not really looking for Vertebrate fossils. Just something I can find that we don't have in East TN.

I can offer suggestions if you'd like to poke around for some flora fossils, specifically leaf/twig clusters and fragments... occasionally a full leaf or other surprise if you're good at extraction. Problem is, these locales are pretty well snowy/frozen but on a warm day there are some exposed layers. Elevations are between 8K-9K and chock full of wandering Moose for some side fun/viewing adventure. It would be an easier search for sure when spring actually sets in though, we've truly had an epic winter and it's snowing hard again today.

I wish metro had the epic snow you had buddy! I don't think our snowpack is all that great. No camping again this year

Awesome!!! Flora Fossils would be GREAT! And the wildlife would be a plus as well! I'll give it a try. What area?! Thanks for getting back to me. About the only fossils I have found in East TN are crinoids for some reason. I live at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains.

Hi Rockin, welcome to our neck of the woods! Here's a few places to see and find cool stuff near Colorado Springs - it's in the other direction from Denver, but since warmer weather is coming, thought I'd post this for everyone's perusal -

1) Gold Camp Road: exit I-25 west on Cimmeron/Hwy-24, go a mile or so, then turn left (south) on S 26th Street, which turns into Bear Creek Rd, which turns into High Drive - a very interesting little dirt road (one-lane in places!) which has GREAT scenery and is lots of fun to drive. You'll pass the closed Captain Jack parking lot on the right... keep driving. In a couple miles you'll get to a large, flat parking lot at the intersection of High Drive and Gold Camp Rd, before Helen Hunt Falls. You can park there and walk along the closed portion of Gold Camp Rd. This used to be the Short Line railroad thoroughfare in the Cripple Creek gold rush days, but a tunnel partially collapsed in 1988 and was never repaired. It's an easy, beautiful walk and I've found smokey quartz crystals and amazonites in the gravel slides right along the road! If you keep walking, you'll reach the closed-off tunnel #3, but there's a well-maintained trail that branches off to the left and over it, and drops you down to North Cheyenne Creek (just a couple feet wide, you can easily jump it or use the stepping stones). The trail will take you back to Gold Camp Rd and you can continue walking and rock hounding along the road and hillside for miles.

2) Another place where I've found cool fossils, including a few shark teeth, shells, and shell imprints, is just outside Red Rocks Canyon Open Space, which is in itself a gorgeous place to walk. Instead of turning left on S 26th Street, go a short ways further and turn left on 31st St. There's a parking lot on the right and a wall of fossil-bearing shale. NOTE: You may want to check and see whether it's still permissible to collect here. I found mine several years ago prior to the opening of the park. The maps indicate that the park boundary bumps up against 31 Street, so I'm not sure what the policy is. If you want a beautiful walk through the park, drive past 31st Street and take the next left into the Red Rocks parking lot. By the way, I've attached an interesting paper on the fossils around Red Rocks Open Space which was posted online by UCCS.

3) As others have mentioned, there's still snow at the higher elevations, but there is a private quarry next to the Florissant Fossil Beds, located about an hour up Hwy 24, where you can purchase pieces of rich fossil-bearing shale. It's probably too cold to sit at the picnic tables and slice the pieces open with razors, like you can in the summer, but they have a small shop where you can purchase fossils and bags containing chunks of shale to take with you. Even in the winter, the Fossil Beds and museum - with 10-foot diameter fossilized redwood tree trunks - is really something to see. ALSO, at the intersection of Hwy 24 and Teller Cty 1, where you turn left to the fossil beds, is the free Florissant museum, which contains one of the biggest double-termination smokey quartz crystals found ever in North America. No kidding, this thing is around 3 feet long! It was found just north of Florissant, near Crystal Peak, which you see mentioned frequently on this site.

4) Not really a good place for fossils or gemstones (there's not much to be found), but do check out Garden of the Gods. A lot of my out-of-town visitors come with the idea that it's just a little city park, and they are astounded at how big it really is. Personal recommendation: pay the $1.50 at the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center to watch the 15-min multimedia presentation "How Did Those Red Rocks Get There?" It is well worth the quick overview of the geology of the Pikes Peak region. (Hint: don't bother eating at the visitor center - instead, head to the Garden of the Gods Trading Post on the south end of the park. The Balanced Rock Cafe is the best-kept secret in town. Be sure to check out the Native American arts in the back room, too!)

...and I could go on and on and on! If anyone here would like more recommendations, shoot me an email!

I should have been a travel agent instead of an aerospace engineer....

Many thanks! I'm now very excited! You made my day, and possibly my trip! I'll let you know how it goes and post some pics :)

Thanks RhodoRose!!! You rock!

Awww, thanks!

Hey, here's a question for everyone: Last summer I was taking an early morning walk around Florissant Fossil Beds, when I came upon this Big Puddy Tat! The markings say "bobcat" - but do bobcats normally get this big? Beautiful animal, I watched it hunt for gophers for nearly half an hour before it wandered off. Money really cannot buy the best things in life...

Big ol bobcat! Lynx have up to one inch black tufts off the ears and larger paws. see link below.

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/bobcat-vs-lynx.htm

Damn big bobcat! Very cool! And yes - obviously - they get that big. I have seen some huge mounts, and some really big ones in zoos. We have them here, but I have not seen one - yet. Neighbor down the road has had them kill his cats, and up the road, one killed one of his Aussies. Supposedly, they can reach 60lbs! More reasonably, 30 to 40lbs. Now those are some big kitties!