With its soaring mountains and stunning rock formations, Southern Colorado is the perfect playground for the dinosaur-obsessed, rock nerds and ancient history buffs. Check out these sites for a fun-filled day diving into Earth’s history.
Cave of the Winds
Manitou SpringsWalk through awe-inspiring cave formations and learn about cave geology at Cave of the Winds. Explore the caves with a family-friendly discovery tour, a spooky haunted lantern tour or, for the more adventurous, an in-depth tour to the undeveloped depths of the caverns.
Colorado National Monument
FruitaView billions of years of geological history from the air-conditioned comfort of your car with the national park’s famous Rim Rock Drive, which features stunning rock formations from the old Precambrian gneiss, schist and granites at the bottom of the canyons to the much younger sandstones and shales at the top of the road. Stop by the visitor center or download a geology tour pamphlet online to learn more about the rock layers on the drive.
Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center
Woodland ParkTake a step back in time with this fascinating museum and research center. Learn about the museum’s fossil skeletons or view a working fossil laboratory, where researchers are freeing recently discovered specimens from the rocks. Check out the center’s event calendar to find fun events for the whole family.
Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument
FlorissantBeneath a picturesque mountain valley lies one of the richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the world, giving visitors a glimpse into the unexpected environments and life that existed during the late Eocene Period. The national monument also boasts several petrified redwood tree stumps up to 14 feet wide, and the world’s only fossilized redwood trio.
Garden of the Gods
Colorado SpringsGarden of the Gods offers many educational opportunities for geological history enthusiasts. Stop by the Visitor Center to learn about the rock formations that made the city park famous, wonder at the mistaken identity of one of the rarest dinosaurs in the world found in the park and travel through the Geological Time Tunnel to see the ancient environments that created the many rock layers visible in the park. Dive into the park’s human and ancient history with trolley, Jeep, Segway or audio tours.
Paint Mines Interpretive Park
CalhanExplore this fantastical landscape featuring brightly colored rock formations. Oxidized iron compounds form brightly colored bands of clay that Indigenous people collected to make paint. Explore the park’s four miles of trails and view the spires and hoodoos formed by erosive forces that exposed layers of selenite clay and jasper.
Picket Wire Canyonlands
La JuntaExplore the largest known dinosaur track site in North America with the Withers Canyon Trail in the Comanche National Grasslands in Colorado’s southeastern corner. More than 1,900 prints dating back 150 million years extend across a quarter mile of bedrock along the banks of the Purgatoire River. Continue down the trail for scenic vistas of the historic Rourke Ranch and a glimpse into the lives of early Hispanic settlers with the Dolores Mission and Cemetery ruins. Not up for the hike? Take a driving tour with knowledgeable guides using your own four-wheel drive, high-clearance vehicle.