Once upon a time, there were lots of rhinos and little horses, and all sorts of other critters roaming around northern Nebraska. At the same time, there was a volcano in Idaho. Then that volcano erupted and sent a cloud of ash that fell and killed all the animals in northern Nebraska. A number of animals were all at what was apparently a watering hole when they died. Fast forward to the last century, and someone stumbled across a fossil sticking out the side of a hill. He investigated a little further and found a whole mess of fossils, and the rest (or the past) is history.
Map of the ash deposition
How much does it cost?You’ll need a Nebraska State Park Entry Permit for your vehicle plus an additional $7 per person (ages 3+). It’s a bit pricey at first glance. The facility is not large, but there really is a lot to see once you get to the rhino barn where the big show is.
What amenities are available?There are restrooms adjacent to the parking lot and picnic tables next to the visitors’ center. There’s a short hiking trail on site, but the path down to the main building is paved and should be handicap accessible, although it is a somewhat long path. We didn’t encounter any stairs, but there aren’t any elevators available, either.
When should I go?The park is open from May 2-October 8 this year, which doesn’t leave much time to get there after reading this post! I recommend checking back on their website to see about next year’s availability. There were several other families there, but this place is out in the middle of nowhere and shouldn’t be busy no matter when you visit.
What can I do?So, what’s so interesting about a few old bones? Good question! I thought Ashfall was particularly interesting because it’s an active dig site. I hadn’t heard of any other location where you can actually watch them excavate, and the researcher we talked to confirmed as much. He was only aware of a handful of other active excavations in this country. I thought the information we read said the excavation started in the 1970s or 80s, and this guy estimated another 15-20 years inside this one building!
Trenches along the path to the barn
What’s this building I keep referring to? That’s another great question! The initial research team determined that the bulk of the fossils were concentrated in a very small area (the watering hole), and they decided to build a structure over it. You can see trenches in the images above and below this paragraph that show where the original researchers dug to try to find out how big the fossil bed was. The plan is to leave all the fossils as they lie, so the building keeps the weather out. I like the idea of keeping them in place instead of bringing them all into museums. It appears to me that they’ve only uncovered about 1/2-2/3 of the enclosed area. It’s going to be neat to see what else they find! There’s some hope of finding new types of animals that they’ve found evidence suggesting might be buried there. All this in Nebraska. Who knew!
Trenches used to estimate the area of the site
Finished digs in the foreground with work in progress in the background
The visitors’ center was very informative and has a few skeletons on display. There were a few souvenirs for sale as well. Another nearby building has a few fossilized wood pieces on display next to a small play area for kids to dig up some model fossils. Our little girl loved the hands-on part!
Rhino skull
Mammoth tooth (not from this site)
Not sure if this fossil was from Ashfall
The researcher we talked to was very informative and excited to talk about his work. I highly recommend asking questions about the site, work, history, or whatever you want to know more about. He even brought over a sample of the ash for us to feel. I was surprised at how fine a powder it was. You have to talk to these folks!
Oh, and it’s a passport stop if you are doing the Nebraska tourism passport program with us!
Anything else?Unfortunately, Nebraska’s attractions are separated by quite some distance. We continued up to the Niobrara State Park (where you can use the permit you just bought for your car!) to check out possible campsites for next summer. It was only about a 30 minute drive, but what we found was a huge park with numerous hiking trails, tent and RV camping, cabins, day-use areas, equestrian activities, and even a swimming pool. The RV sites are listed as 30/50 amp with water. A dump station is nearby.
I think we’re going to be heading back up to that area next summer to spend another day or two!
…And then we came home to this:
Aww man!
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