u-dig fossils

It is impossible to find the quarry on the GPS by name so we actually used the coordinates given and we made it there. It is a long drive on gravel road and since our car is a rental car, we do not dare to drive fast. It is about 30mins drive on gravel road and 30mins drive on the freeway. Before we left Delta, there was thunderstorm alert in Utah and that includes Delta. We decide to go ahead to see if it is safe and it was a great sunny day. We paid for 2 hours of digging and we found really good specimens. Bring sun block and water, there is no shelter when you are digging.The guy at the quarry kept checking with us if we found anything, if not he will help us. Fortunately, we found a few good and big trilobites and we dug for 2.5hours. I guess the guy wasnt particular with slight over time. The guy at the shack even helped us to trim off the excess to help us lighten our luggage weight since we came all the way from Singapore. We had a great and enjoyable time. We left at around 1pm and it started to rain. We were really lucky to get out of the gravel road and onto the freeway before any flooding come. There was flash flood alert for the area.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. U-Dig fossils was open. When you called our office you were informed there had been an unusual amount of rain and that you might not be able to get to the quarry because of damaged roads etc. Our office knew I was at the quarry so obviously we were open. You were also informed that it would be a good idea to call me because they were uncertain of the conditions. I was unable to answer your voice mail or text because I did not have cell service until I left the quarry later that day. You were advised that you might not be able to contact me if i was already out of cell service. Rains like this only happen once every 5 years or so. The roads are well graveled and do not get muddy, however, the amount of rain we experienced caused streams that damaged the road. Unfortunately, we are unable to control the weather or foresee roads flooding. I would be happy to let you visit the U-Dig quarry free of charge for your inconvenience. The roads are now repaired and in great condition. Please contact me at the number our office provided you. Thank you! Also, contrary to what the misinformed store owner said, we are not closed this time of year and work very hard to make sure we post all closing dates on our website. Thank you.

It's a little out of the way, but worth the trip. They had hammers, buckets, and advice on where to go and what to do. Bring some glasses, safety or even sun glasses to protect against flying rock chips. Definitely bring water and sunscreen as well. We sort of felt like prisoners pounding on rocks for hours...hahaha. However, every time we found something cool, it made it all worth it. It's close enough to Salt Lake for a day trip, but we stayed the night in Delta and headed to the Great Basin National Park and made a weekend of it.

Thank you for your response!

This was the first year in 5 years I couldn't go to U-Dig due to an injury. It has always been a fun and rewarding experience and I have even taken my rock club from AZ there twice. I have never driven less than 11 hours to get there and it never seemed not worth the effort. I missed not going this year so much that I have ordered shale from the quarry to split at home. This is the perfect fossiling experience for kids of all ages and I've been lucky enough to have mad a good friend out of the operator, Bevan.John O

Thank you for visiting U-Dig Fossils and for your review!

Thank You for taking time to write a review about your experience at U-Dig Fossils.

Thanks for visiting U-dig Fossils and for taking time to submit a review. We hope to see you again.

Thanks for your review and suggestions.

It's 30ish miles from Delta on the highway and then another 20 out a gravel road (and when you get to the one or two points on the gravel road where the speed limit drops, slow down - no kidding.)Once there, you pay your money for a couple of hours, a half day, or full day. They provide hammers (we took gloves and goggles) and show you how to split the shale to look for trilobites. The trilobites are between 1/2 inch and 2 inches long and sometimes are found on a piece of rock and sometimes have come loose as "pop-outs" which may be found in the rubble. The kids really enjoyed finding those. We ended up with a few perfect 2 inch specimens and a couple of dozen small ones. The workers there were helpful with showing us how and where to look. They also did some cutting and cleaning for us (tip them for this) which really improved the look of the specimens.Take a hat and sunscreen and something to drink. Understand that you are in a rock pit and it takes a little work and the facilities are basic but clean (portajohn). But, the rock was fairly easy to split and we found things steadily. Obviously the more time you spend the more you will find but we got our money's worth in two hours.A great experience overall and would gladly repeat it.

Thanks for the Review!!!

My daughter Stephanie loves studying / researching prehistoric life and she wanted to study fossils. I looked up fossil digging in Utah because I watched a special about U-Dig Fossils on the Travel Channel "America's Best Places to Find Cash & Teasures" around a year ago. My daughter was very excited about digging fossils so we went to Utah for a few days.I wasn't sure what to expect however it became real interesting right off the bat. The family that works the site was very helpful and got us started on our adventure, very soon we were finding trilobite fossils. There was 4 kids digging close to us and they were just yelling none stop "I found another one, I found another one" which made everyone excited.My best find was a plate of around 10 whole trilobites on it, what a great piece my daughter and I literally pulled out of the ground ourselves. It was a great experience that we had, even more so working with the family who owns U-Dig Fossils "they made the experience even better, and were very helpful". When we got home my daughter called all her friends and told them about the experience and she even gave them some of the fossils since we had so many.This in my opinion is a must do experience, and a great adventure! Thanks

The U-Dig Fossils is really a long drive off the main road. If you have four-wheel drive you'll be better prepared than we were. We had a Ford Windstar minivan, and while the car handled the journey quite well, we were a bit jumbled by the time we reached the actual dig site. We went in fall of 2010, so it's been awhile, but I'd go back again.This is not some glossy tourist trap: it is a bona fide trilobite dig. That means a big hole in the ground, dirt and rocks everywhere, and a sanijohn for personal needs. Take plenty of water and something to eat, as well as sunblock, because there is no souvenir store on premises. We did a half-day dig, which meant four hours of sitting and breaking rocks apart. It was actually quite relaxing and we got some nice trilobite specimens to take home. Younger children may not have the patience for this kind of thing, but serious rockhounds will enjoy it.Trip Advisor won't let me choose a date earlier than April 2013 for this review, so please bear in mind my comments may be dated. As for wheelchair access and stairs? Um... NO! It's a hole in the ground, not a mall.

We did a two day dig at U-Dig in Millard county Utah. In two days we filled 8 5gallon buckets with trilobite containing shale. Bevan, Holly and Gene were all very helpful in showing us good areas to explore and also spending time with us in the quarry.We would HIGHLY recommend a visit if you are in Millard County or even make this a vacation destination. The quarry is located 28 miles down a gravel road but that was regarded and improved three years ago no problems getting to the quarry.

One of our highest priorities is to assist our customers so they are successful when they visit U-Dig quarry. The operator running the quarry is there to assist the customers. If a customer is not finding nice Trilobite specimens, I always hope they will ask the operator to come help them. Most of our customers do very well. Sorry your experience was not up to your expectations. .