U-Dig Fossils Visitor Experiences at U-DIG Fossils Return to Home

July 2001 by Jim Bell http://home.earthlink.net/~jbellsc/

In preparation for our vacation out west we did a little research on the internet to find other points of interest we may want to add to our agenda, and came across the http://www.threedee.com/u-dig/ web page (via a link from utah.com). Dinosaur National Monument was one of our main destinations, and adding a side trip to dig some of our very own trilobite fossils sounded great.

On July 23, 2001 we went to the U-DIG Fossils quarry west of Delta, Utah. As the information we got from the web page said, it is about 32 miles west of Delta, Utah on Highway 6/50, then 20 miles or so down a gravel road to reach the quarry. Any type of vehicle can travel the gravel road, but the hill down into the quarry is a steep one and less "aggressive" drivers would best stop at the top and make the short walk down to the stand in the quarry where you pay your fee or simply buy trilobite fossils.

We donned our safety glasses and began breaking pieces of shale almost immediately upon our arrival, and within about five minutes I found a very good specimen... a two inch "Asaphiscus Wheeleri" judging from the image examples provided at the quarry. As it turned out this was the largest we would find in our four hours there, beginners luck I suppose.

All together we found around forty pieces with one or more trilobites in each, most of them one half inch or less. It was great fun, and there will always be special memories associated with these little "bug" fossils now scattered around our house. This is an excursion I would highly recommend to anyone interested in fossil hunting. Yes, the quarry is in the middle of nowhere. Even to say it is "near Delta, Utah" is a bit of a stretch, but that is part of the beauty of the place. It is way off the beaten path, so to speak, but your success in finding trilobite fossils is virtually a sure thing. Remember to bring your safety glasses, a hat and put on your sun screen.

Thanks go to John Foust <jfoust@threedee.com> for putting up the U-DIG FOSSILS web page. I have added a link to the U-DIG FOSSILS web page to my home page, and put a scan there of the best of our finds.

September 2001 by Stefan Brückel

Thank you very much for this informative site. I took my family, including two boys age 6 and 8, to Southern Utah last week and included a trip to the U-Dig Fossils place. Our experience is similar to that shared by others who have commented on your site. We were there for about 3 hours and found about 10 trilobites each. At the end of the week long excursion, which included Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, the North Rim etc., the kids said the U-DIG fossil adventure, in spite of the long drive to get there and back, was the highlight of their trip. We would highly recommend it to others with kids that age. I doubt they will ever forget, and of course the have a bucket of "evidence" to treasure (they proudly show all of their friends). The only thing I would add as commentary would be to encourage visitors to bring binoculars to see any wild life they come across while traveling on the gravel road. We saw various animals, including lots of antelope, but the binoculars definitely brought them a little closer. Thanks for the wonderful site with all of the information without which the highlight of the trip for our kids would not have been possible.