Florissant Fossil Beds

This week we decided to go on a mini family vacation down to southern Colorado! We had such a good time and it was the perfect little getaway for our family.

We had a beautiful drive down and our first stop was to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. This is east of Colorado Springs, in Florissant. We were able to spend a couple hours here before running back to the car while Ben and I got pelted with hail (more on that later!).

But first – Florissant Fossil Beds! Our first stop was to the Visitor Center where we watched a documentary and learned more about what this site is and why it is important and explored the different fossils and information inside. This site is one of the world’s richest fossil deposits! They have found over 50,000 specimens of insects and plants! They have found more butterfly fossils here then any other place in the world. But what makes this site really stand out to me are the giant fossilized redwood stumps. There was once a lake here and surrounding this lake were giant redwoods!

Harry D MacGinitie, a paleontologist said, “We get all tangled up with the present. The present is just a flick in time between the past and the future. Things keep going on and on. We are just in this particular little time interval, and it seems so important to us.”

I don’t know why but I’ve thought a lot about that quote this week. In a way it seems kind of depressing – almost like our lives are meaningless in the giant scope of the world’s history (and maybe that’s what he meant). But it is also thought provoking to think of ourselves as part of a bigger picture of things.

It was fun for Jacob, Sarah, and I to go back to things we had learned earlier this school year in our paleontology unit. And this would be a great field trip if you live in the Colorado area.

Anyway…back to the trip!

Then we headed outside the Visitor Center to catch our first glimpse of these giant Redwood stumps. Many of these stumps are being monitored so that they can better understand how to preserve them for the future.

We started with the Ponderosa Loop which was an easy, wheelchair friendly trail. It walked through the forest area and ended with a fossilized stump with a pine tree growing out of it! Nature is so amazing. Ben also made a friend with a chipmunk, whom he lovingly named “Squeak Squeakers McSqueakin”.

Next up was a picnic lunch. The weather at this point was looking a little dicey. But I really wanted to go out on the Petrified Forest Loop trail where you walk around the ancient lake and see many petrified redwood tree stumps, including the “Big Stump”. We were power walking the whole way (trying to avoid the weather), Lydia was not a fan at all, Ben was very concerned about the safety of Squeakers with the oncoming storm, and we ended with booms of thunder! BUT we saw Big Stump!

The final stop we wanted to make was to the Hornbek Homestead. I have grown to appreciate science but history will always have my heart. At this point, the weather was definitely not looking promising. I knew it was going to be a quick run out from the car – Ben came along as my adventure buddy. We walked over to the homestead from the parking area and I took some pictures of the signs so I could read them later.

This was an 1878 Colorado ranch of a pioneer woman named Adeline Hornbek, who lived here with her four children. She had been a widow twice, and decided to move out here to this valley and raise her children. With hard work, she did very well for herself and family and is so inspiring. I love imagining what life would have been like for her here.

But Ben and I couldn’t imagine for long because then it started hailing. We made a run for the car but ouch!

We made the rest of our drive down to Alamosa which was going to be our hub for the next couple days! Surprisingly many restaurants were closed on a Monday night, so we got some takeout and watched a movie in the hotel.