15807 Teller County Road #1, PO Box 185, Florissant, CO 80816
Phone: 719-748-3253
Fax: 719-748-3164
Open All Year
Overview. Today, Florissant, named for the myriad wildflowers that blanket its hills each summer, is a land of placid beauty. Roll back time about 34 million years, though, to when a 12-mile-long lake dominated the landscape, and the scene would be very different. The repeated eruptions of nearby volcanoes covered the vast forest with ash, killing plants and insects that eventually found their way to the lake bottom, there to be almost perfectly preserved. The ash covered and killed large redwoods, as well, and their petrified stumps add impact to the fossil finds at Florissant. What to see and do. Take a Walk Through Time, a half-mile-long loop trail that passes by fossil-bearing shale beds and petrified redwood stumps. Or follow the one-mile Petrified Forest Loop and marvel at the Big Stump, the 39-inch-circumference remnant of a giant sequoia. Enjoy the blooming meadows and the wildlife that abounds in the park today along more than fifteen miles of additional trails. The Hornbek Homestead, which includes the original 1878 cabin of Adeline Hornbek and her family, provides visitors with a glimpse at 19th-century farm life in the high country. The park is a haven for picnickers, and many visitors cross-country ski or snowshoe on the park's trails in winter. Florissant is a photographer's paradise year-round. There is a museum at the visitor center where fossils from the shale beds are on display, and various interpretive programs and ranger-led activities are available. The Rocky Mountain Nature Association maintains a bookstore at the visitor center, which is open daily, from 8 AM to 7 PM in summer, and to 4:30 PM in winter. It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
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