Bear Lake

Marine invertebrates from two very different periods. Paris Canyon west of Paris is the type locality of the Early Triassic Paris biota, from the Lower Shale Member of the Thaynes Group, dated to roughly 250 million years ago. Minnetonka Cave near St. Charles is developed in Mississippian limestone containing fossil shells and corals.

It depends on the parcel. On Caribou-Targhee National Forest land, hobby collecting of reasonable amounts of common invertebrate fossils for personal use is generally allowed with hand tools. Vertebrate fossils are protected on federal land, private land requires permission, and the Paris biota exposures are an active research site best photographed rather than dug.

Because it documents a diverse, complex marine ecosystem roughly 250 million years ago, far sooner after the end-Permian mass extinction than recovery models had predicted. It was described in 2017 from Paris Canyon in Bear Lake County, and coeval beds have since been found in northeastern Nevada.

June through September. The Forest Service roads up Paris Canyon and St. Charles Canyon are snowbound into late spring and can be muddy or washed out during runoff. Check road status with the Caribou-Targhee National Forest Montpelier Ranger District at 208-847-0375 and expect no cell service in the canyons.

A developed limestone cave about 10 miles west of St. Charles in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, open for guided tours in summer. It is formed in Mississippian marine limestone, and the tour route passes fossil shells and corals in the walls. The cave stays cold year round, so bring a layer.

The largest extinction event in Earth's history, roughly 252 million years ago, which eliminated the great majority of marine species. The Paris biota from Bear Lake County matters because it documents a complex marine ecosystem rebuilding only a couple of million years later, far sooner than recovery models predicted.

The canyon runs west from the town of Paris on a Forest Service road into the Bear River Range, and it is accessible in summer. The fossil exposures are an active research subject, so photographing and documenting rather than excavating is the appropriate approach, and land status varies along the drainage.

An Early Triassic sequence of marine sedimentary rock across the western United States. Its Lower Shale Member in Paris Canyon yields the Paris biota, the exceptionally preserved fossil assemblage that made Bear Lake County scientifically significant when it was described in 2017.

Because suspended calcium carbonate particles in the water scatter light. The lake straddles the Idaho and Utah line and its distinctive colour has earned it the nickname the Caribbean of the Rockies. It is a separate phenomenon from the fossil geology in the ranges above it.

Common invertebrate fossils, generally yes, in reasonable amounts for personal noncommercial use with hand tools. Vertebrate fossils are protected on federal land and may not be collected without a permit. Scientifically significant localities can carry additional protection, which applies to the Paris biota exposures.

The view collectors express is that it is legally possible in some cases and ethically poor practice in most. The argument made is that stratigraphic context is what gives a specimen scientific value, and that casual excavation at a reference section destroys information that cannot be recreated. People recommend photographing, measuring and reporting unusual material to a university or state survey instead, and note that this is also how amateur collectors have made genuine contributions.

The combination people describe is Minnetonka Cave for accessible limestone geology with fossils visible in the walls, Bear Lake itself for the colour and the state park beaches, and the Bear River Range forest roads for high country driving and camping. Several note that the county works better as a two-day stop than as a quick detour, since the cave tour, the lake and the canyons do not compress well into an afternoon.