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Falls of the Ohio State Park
One of the largest naturally exposed fossil beds in the world opened about 10 years ago at Indiana's Falls of the Ohio State Park along the Ohio River in Clarksville (about 100 miles southwest of Cincinnati, just across the river north of Louisville, Kentucky).
The 200-acre fossil beds extend up the river's rocky banks before giving way to forested floodplain. Naturalists lead hikers across the beds from June through October, when the river is low and you can see the imprints of creatures from more than 380 million years ago. Visitors can examine up close the outcroppings and colonies of coral and sponges. Fossils range from the size of a toddler's tiny thumbprint to big enough for an adult to stretch out in full length.
The park's "falls" today actually are a one-mile stretch of white water. In late summer, when the water level drops, visitors can hike to more fossils on Goose Island in the river. You can't reach these outer beds at any other time. The park also hosts an annual Falls Fossil Festival (September 21 and 22 this year) at which paleontologists and amateur fossil hunters present programs, lead hikes and display fossils.
A bluff-top Interpretive Center shows a movie that recounts the area's history. The complex also includes a museum, learning center, exhibit gallery and aquariums. As a bonus now through Labor Day, the center displays the largest privately owned collection of dinosaur skeletons and eggs in the U.S.
Open daily dawn to dusk (Interpretive Center open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays). No park fee, but admission charged to the Interpretive Center. For more details, contact the park (812/280-9970).
