Dean & Aiden were heroes!…read more
This is the premiere fossil hunting company in the Green River area. Most of the other companies allow for daytime general splits for the masses that are already cut from the layers and are small ...and that is great if you have young kids or elderly adults who want to get a taste of fossil hunting without a lot of effort and cost, and don't mind finding average slit-in half fossils from the top layers of the Green River Formation to take home.
However, if you are looking to bring home museum-quality specimens on bigger stone plates (that may need some preparing to fully expose the fish), then look into taking an excursion with In Stone Fossils to dig the 18" layer. They offer high-end private tours with different packages to choose from (all the way up to included catered meals & arranging overnight hotel stays if desired).
We did a basic private nighttime tour (directed light is better to see the hidden relief of the fish outlines within the stone) that simply provided drinks and all the fossil hunting supplies. But this wasn't a bare-bones experience (pun intended)! Dean and Aiden took us out personally, let us start with normal splitting of the upper layer fossils (like the other two bigger fossil hunting companies do) to get used to the process. We watched a magical sunset as we worked smaller rocks and found some beautiful little fishes that didn't need any preparing. After dark, we moved down to the 18" layer and Dean had set up lighting and drinks for us...we spent hours (seemed like minutes it was so fun) splitting, uncovering, and lifting giant panels from the famous 18" layer to reveal dozens of huge fish... guided with the expert eye of Dean and Aiden. Sometimes, they were able to pick out treasures hidden below sediment that our untrained eyes might have missed, but the lights exposed raised reliefs in the stone to reveal backbones, fossilized poop, and even seed pods. They cut out and saved anything we wanted from tiny plants to huge fish. They brought saws onsite to help immediately cut down items as needed, but then further prepped some of our keepsakes the next morning for us to travel home with. I wanted a large, wall hanging plate for my home with fossils, and I know that if I had just gone with the average fossil Safari group in the area, I would have gone home disappointed because they don't let you dig directly from the 18" layer out of the ground where the real treasures and multiple groupings of fossils are.
In Stone Fossils offer higher-end experiences, with a higher-end result. They are more expensive than the cheap hourly day experience by the other local companies, but you truly get what you pay for here. This was a totally different experience.
If desired, In Fossil also has a full-service fossil prep department that will carefully excavate each and every museum specimen you find, can add a support backing, French cleat for hanging, etc....for an extra cost. I ending up taking home some fish from the upper layers that didn't need any cleaning (split in half and exposed much of the fish on both sides of the stone), some from the 18" layer that will require careful picking off of the substrate covering the fish (but will reveal the whole fish underneath in more detail) that I am going to try to do myself with personal tools at home, and left my most impressive finds with In Stone to have their professionals prep my fish out for display in the future. They can ship it to me when finished exposing the fossils (can take 6months to a year depending on how extensive and deep the fish are), but I hope to drive back to get them myself since I want to fossil hunt with them again! It was truly treasure hunting!
Dean and Aiden were fun, professional, passionate, experienced, knowledgeable and great teachers. We learned so much from them! This is a hands-on activity that requires a willingness to lift large heavy plates of stone, pound on stakes with hammers, split rocks, and get dusty and dirty... this isn't a cushy "I don't want to help or get dirty" type of experience. If you aren't willing to dig in and be physical, then don't waste your money... but if you want to hunt for real treasures with experienced guides and go home with thousands of dollars worth of museum-quality fossils... then I highly recommend In Stone Fossils. It's better than all the rest! Thanks for making my year!
