Reviews of Devonian Fossil Gorge (Tourist Attraction)

M Perry

Was a neat place. You'll ha e to take your time to walk around and see most of the fossils. Not the most even ground so if you have accessibility concerns this might be difficult.

Sara Benton

If you get down and look close enough you can see a bunch of little fossils. Also has little pond to view tadpoles and frogs.

David Bernstein

There is a nice small exhibit explaining the geology and science of the area at the entrance to the gorge. In the gorge, small fossils can be seen all over the rocks. The walk is quite short, and only takes a couple of minutes to walk through without stopping. But one can spend longer looking at the fossils and experiencing the Iowa City area's prehistory!

Kelly Vandervort

Super neat and laid back place to explore. It was nice to hunt all over the gorge and not follow any pre-set path and it was a quick stop on our way to somewhere else and was totally worth the visit!

Rob

A great place to explore, especially with kids.

David Craft II

I love this place with a passion! It is stunningly beautiful. This is where I go to clear my head and connect with the earth I simply love it!

Pete Smillie

It's nature!!!

Shana Mills

Living history for you to explore.

Ayla Mamutoi

Nice place to hike around with the kids and have fun

Jessica Melkus

Beautiful and interesting spot to visit, especially for anyone from out of town.

Carrieaf

Super interesting. There are fossils to look at everywhere! Be sure to bring a magnifying lens and a picnic.

Cris Goode

Great Free Educational Opportunity

Michael Tan

Easily killed a few hours here fossil hunting and fishing. Our city kids quickly soaked in the outdoors. Don't expect dinosaur bones. Still so fascinating though.

Mike Bachler

Very neat place to visit would be back

Michael Brown

Really fun and educational place to visit. Great to see natural beauty from a disaster.

Matthew Klun

A beautiful family friendly area. The fossils were gorgeous and there was a lot of interesting fauna and geology to admire. Be wary of snakes, nothing venomous but we nearly stumbled on a water snake.

Andrew Dimmitt

Good fishing. Always biting here

Bob Snedden-Fitler

My wife and I got married on site #6. It was a small ceremony, but it will always hold a dear place in my heart. This place just feels good. The camp ground is fantastic and the gorge itself is beautiful. The grounds keepers do a damn good job.

Keith Shields

Interesting place!!

Richard Perrone

Very interesting. Many fossils to see beyond those pointed out in the brochure, even to the untrained eye.

Jennifer Gharamti

Great learning experience for the kids.

vb A

Educational and fun place to take family, really enjoyed it

kdogg6387

Nice place. Not enough explanation about markings. Plenty of fossils to see.

Mark Adkins

Interesting slice of prehistory. Not very wheelchair accessible but a pleasant place to explore.

Eileen Marini

Stepping back 375 million to easily view fossil em embedded in a dry river bed. Easy for young and older folks to access. Quite an enjoyable find while camping at Coralsville Lake State Rec Area

Jane Fuhrman

It was an interesting walk and a challenge to locate the items. The ability to call and listen to the recording about the fossils was very nice.

David Dzodzomenyo

If you do the guided tour you learn more about the rock and history. That said there aren't alot of actually big fossils to see. There are some coral fossils but outside of that not a bunch.

Luai Yagoub

Nice place to go out

Elizabeth Pierson

We didn't see many fossils. But it was still nice to walk around and take the kids for a little "hike" through the gorge

donna king

Love being one with nature in the really awesome place. Lots to see from animals to fossils.

Dennis Reynolds

Very interesting

Sandra Cuellar

Love going there so many great memories.

Therese Bisignano

So boring. Nothing to look at!

Zach Feig

Interesting stop on my road trip, but the fossils are quite small...

Brad Neilly

Great experience to easily get out of the house and explore nature.

Rylan Fernandes

The place is conceptually very neat - you get to see real fossils in the place they were found, in a section of town where a overflowing dam eroded many feet of road and topsoil. Unfortunately, the fossils are small and very similar looking. I think it's worth visiting once, if you happen to be driving by, but this is definitely not a tourist destination.

steve mayes

Very cool!

shawn knepp

Love this place. It's great with the kids. Evey time. Every year. We fish. We hike. We drive rc cars. We fossil hunt. Just a good time in a great environment that is clean.

Liam Carhoff

Lots of sea creatures in these rocks, limestonian.

Corey Stackhouse

Nice view but there should be some sort of mapping to the fossils besides a pamphlet or website to check out

Matt Uhlman

Echoing the sentiments of some fellow Fossil lovers - this place is legit! On a nice day, there are few better things than getting outside and wandering around, while playing explorer. Everything is accomplished whilst visiting the Fossil Gorge! The place is basically a large ancient river with a limestone base that we're now able to explore and play paleontologist! There are a number of larger fossils that are marked with large numbers. The water is delightfully murky and covered in slime, making for some good searching for frogs and what not. Do be careful however, as the area around is incredibly slippery and we witnessed at least one kiddo fall it. Not life-threatening....just gross! Plenty of parking, a couple drinking fountains (KEY ON THE WAY OUT FOR THIRSTY LITTLE DUDES!) and some lovely signage explaining the area, along with a lovely water feature. A great spot to go explore and get your learn on for a bit.

Brady W

Pretty

Derek Irwin

If you are a rock hound this is a must see stop! Quick access to the gorge and well labeled fossils help make the experience enjoyable, easy, and free!

Margo Glass

Educational, self guided tour for both adults and children. Wear supportive footwear because of rocky terrain.

Landon Thomsen

It’s amazing

Tate H

A must see for any rock hound.

Maranda Zilk

It is alright. Not exactly what was expected but a fun place for younger kids.

Denise Allen

We love to come out here and enjoy nature.

Paul Whalen

Excellent place to see fossils and go on a nice walk.

Nikki Eckman

Nice and close to Iowa City, the kids always have a blast looking at fossils and whatever wildlife is around. Sometimes they bring nets and buckets to collect critters, though we always turn them lose before leaving

Harley Mumby

If you interested in the history of ancient life and landmarks, this is definitely a place to go.

Jess Thompson

Very nice place to find fossils of sponge, coral, and shells. It is relatively peaceful and they distribute maps with the most interesting fossils marked. However, the area of exposed rock is relatively small, it took me about 15-20 minutes to see all of the marked fossils.

Carlye Hileman

Beautiful . We usually visit a few times every year. A nice place to let the kids explore and learn about fossils.

Ivana Moroz

Nice stop along the road. Free exhibit. Let your inner kid out by going on a scavenger hunt for fossils.

Jacob Henry

Fun

Mike Warden

Amazing numbers of different fossils there. Be sure to take a bunch of pictures. With the rainstorms we've been getting,could possibly be another '93 and take more layers off.

Louis Bain II

This place is the coolest. There were bald eagles flying everywhere while we were there. Also going down and walking on the bedrock and seeing all of the fossils was cool. The self guided tour was cool as well. It was awesome to see it all and the trouble gone through to preserve the area.

william it was easyon

Great place with a great story. Perfect way to get the kids out and exploring the outdoors

Doug Craigmile

Fun and interesting place to visit.

Alesha Hansen

This was a cool place to visit. It gave interesting facts such as this: Iowa was once covered in ocean water much like the Caribbean. Once you are walking on the fossilized ground you gain a great appreciation of the power of Mother Nature and what she is capable of.

Hellie Larue

Cool place to visit with the kids

Robert Craig

Hidden treasures in a great park, good parking and information

Kenley Pickering

Took our son and daughter here and it was a good learning experience for us all.

Ashley Mueller

Beautiful and unique spot. Yes, you can see fossils (of Devonian plants and small invertebrates, not actual ‘dinosaurs’). Nice pamphlets with history. However, this would be at most a 1hr. experience. It would be nice to eat lunch here or go fishing as well.

Kristina Elkins

Great place to check out if youre in town. Literally fossils everywhere!! Plus a great view of the water

Nomaders Dad

Enjoyed going to the gorge in finding different fossils they were birds and frogs fish lots of fun.

Rin Abbott

It's beautiful, the connection to nature that you feel is exquisite and on a historical note, its unforgettable m!

Kirk Dammann

fun for any kids interested in fossils or just climbing on rocks (WHAT KIDS ARENT)

Patty Johnson

Really interesting geology of the area. Lots of fossils embedded in rocks. Look but don't take.

Jillian Searles

Kids love to go and see what they can find. Lots of places to walk and just getting out into nature is great.

Mmes Nora Genetti

We loved spending time with the kids here. The boys loved finding fossils and exploring the area. Camp close to this fossil bed for easy discovery!

Michael

Tons of tiny little fossils if you look close enough. There are also little ponds/puddles with tad poles, frogs, fish and a bunch of different types of bugs. Our littles loved it

m m

Very nice place for fishing, picnic and outdoor sports. But fossils are not the things you wanna go there for it, it could be better I think. They are on the ground with really weak signs, without information.

Kayla Mahan

Beautiful place to camp and be in nature.

Sarah Furnish

Omg kids had so much fun. Very beautiful!

Puppymon Power

This is such a unique spot and I feel so lucky to live so close. They have added a mobile phone tour that you can take. Which is fabulous. Such a great, educational opportunity. My daughter loves to catch tadpoles she finds hereand raise them to frogs and release them. I took my niece and nephew when they visited and my snake obsessed nephew found molted snake skin. In addition to the fossil record, the natural space offers so much more.

Dave Bowmaster

The area of fossils is fairly small, but there are lots of them. It is a very short walk from the parking area. Not much else there.

Ethan Valentine

Very fun place to explore for fossils and wildlife.

Kat Davis

Come prepared for slick spots for on the ground. And wear the clothes you won't cry over when they get "mudded". But this place is amazing....

Omar Ahmad

Interesting place to take family and visitors!

James Surratt

This gorge was created by the Great Floods of 1993 when excessive water came over tge spillway of the Coralville Dam for the first time washing away the topsoil and vegetation revealing the bedrock underneath. Although fossils dating to the Devonian Period were found, interest was high among the tourists and university geologists as the movie Jurassic Park was showing in theaters at the time.

Sean Steele

Love this place. Weather changes it a little bit every year. Love going to see what's new.

Chance Oliver

Very educational and informative just a lot of fun.

Patrick Boberg

An absolute treasure. All children should come here to learn about the scale of history, geology, and just an awesome place to run around

Mike Oliveri

A cool place to take the kids to walk around and explore.

Collin Marshall

Cool rock formations and fossils to see embedded in the rocks. Spend some time to explore and look closely at the rocks, or you'll miss the fossils.

Cathryn Bearov

Fascinating place for rock hounds or anyone interested in fossils. Easy to walk around on the rocks, but it is not very wheelchair accessible. Definitely a good idea to watch the video about the site at the visitors' center. Free admission. Beautiful scenery all around the area. Totally worth the trip!

apollo2999

An interesting side stop for anyone on a road trip or visiting the lake. Fun for all ages!

Andrew French

Interesting

Emily Peterson

Awesome place to take a little trip with the family. I highly recommend bringing along magnifying glasses to get a better look at all the fossils.

Michael Barron

Created by the power of water after a flood.Most fossils are in situ, but you have to look carefully to see them. Most are small invertibrites. At the dam's office is a small museum. Explanations at the site are limited. The ground is uneven. People who have difficulties walking or seeing might want to avoid. With kids you can make a game of how many different life forms can be identified. You might also be able to make rubbing with paper and crayon/pencil.

john green

Great place developed by the corps. Go to the visitors station first!

Lisa Ward

Wasn't as awesome as I had hoped. But it was neat.

Dawn G

Great place to take fossil hunters!

Mary Kolar

Beautiful and educational. Wonderful to see children looking for and identifying fossils.

Mercedes Hackett

Such an awesome area to visit with the kids. They were so interested in the history that came along with hunting for fossils. Make sure to visit the visitors center for more details and extra learning for kids and adults.

Kacy loves U

Took out the swings in the park frogs are not spawning in the fossil gorge cuz of high activity in the area and lots of garbage and disrespect of nature... Was a beautiful place when I was a kid.

Bethany Schillinger

The gorge has gotten a bit worn down over the years and has a lot of weeds growing across it now, but it's still a fun place to walk through and check out some small fossils on the rocks

Frank Weir

Lots of fun...great for little ones...

Neva Nobles-Alder

Found a Blanchard's Cricket Frog! This place is really cool, can't wait to come back and do some shooting

Jordan Spooner

Great place to see fossils! Nice camping and trail too

David Ingham

Really cool. The guide info was quite limited, but it's March in Iowa, so I'm not complaining

DJ Gregory

Neat and clean, a lot of fossils to discover. Also has marked areas that show each of the most common fossils to be seen in the gorge.

Katherine Engel

Lots of neat fossils to see with signs so you know what you are looking at. Well worth wearing your hiking shoes we found a lot of fun things off the main path.

Jenni Pidgeon

Love coming here, so peaceful

Mathias Miles

Fun with the family

Chris Richardson

Nice area to go geo caching for children

Virginia Lynde

Kids loved it. Spent all day.

Peter Chanthanakone

Nice little trail. Fossils infused in the giant rocks

Roxanne Cross

So cool. Can't wait to go again!

Melissa Mincey

Love walking around here every year!

Darius Ballard

Kinda cool to be able to go see actual fossils for free. The fossils aren't big and impressive, that's it's knock. If you are in to geology, this is a good use of your time.

Myles Bradley

Came here to see the gorge and go for a walk. Had a great time. Hope to visit again when it's warmer

Cassandra NightThunder

Amazing place to check out. Real close to a swimming beach and the dam. Perfect place to take kids to show them how to find their own fossils. Nice river walk path to walk down too.

DeShauna Jones

Free fun!

Bill Lindsey

It is misleading to provide "open" hours on Saturday since the visitor center is open Monday through Friday. Still a cool area!

kevin graff

We saw quite a few fossils, some were really interesting. The trail around was easy to follow.

Mike Jesse

Stunning natural fossil gorge, formed by the floodwaters in 1993, and further eroded down by the 2008 flood. Ancient fossil bed laid bare by recent nature overcoming manmade structures.

Rachel Sinn

Real cool check out

Christopher HarrKuhn

A great getaway for the whole family and educational to boot! Exposed by the floods of '93, the Devonian fossil gorge is a state treasure. It almost feels like you're stepping back in time! Make sure to wear shoes that are comfortable and have grip. Also be prepared for them to possibly get we if you're feeling adventurous and want to explore the gorge (I highly recommend it)!

SuperTornadoGun

Was awesome until someone stole the best fossils specimens .

Christopher White

A fun and interesting place to spend a couple of hours!

peter rice

I got diarrhea from the drinking water, but the view was amazing.

nathan diss

Nice place to bring the kids. Lots to see for junior archeologist

John Johnson

Many fossils, Iowa River, fishing, good for family visit or just wandering around by your self or with a friend.

Larry Hook

Fun for about 10 min. Not many fossils

Karie Schatz

Fun to explore. The Visitors' Center has some great fossils on display.

Brad Beggs

Fossils are everywhere but are very small; it's not like you're going to find a dinosaur bone. Nice area just to take a hike.

Lauren Arvanitis

Fascinating area. Plenty of visible fossils, and you can just walk through and step over them. Plus there is information giving details about the time period and the fossils.

Phyllis Green

I loved the guided tour by phone!

K B

It's a nice place to go for a long walk and explore.

Peg Gilchrist

The visitors center was great, the couple handling the center we're very helpful and friendly. The gorge was ok, the kids enjoyed looking for fossils.

Heather White

It was amazing. Great time for the family.

Chelle L

Awesome place to see some amazing things! The ground is covered in fossils for a truly neat historical phenomenon. You can't take them but the experience is priceless!

Stephen Su

Cool fossils including a paper map and numbered in spots for you to find them. The visitors center for the dam and lake has a nice ten minute video for the kids who really interested in the dam and how it works along with the flood overflow waters that caused the gorge and fossil find. The kids get a nice visitor pack with a bunch of paper book activities, water safety, birdwatching guide, freebie, etc Note: As a wildlife bonus we saw a beaver, toads, and tadpoles along with a deer standing in the road so be careful driving. There are tons of harmless red spider mites all over the rocky areas when we went to use DEET if that bothers you or check your shoes etc before you get in the car. I didn't see any ticks thank goodness.

Darren Z

Totally cool

Andrew

Didn't see any fossils

Maureen P

Great place to take the family! I was just there in a grade school field trip and the students had a blast.