Oak Springs Trilobite Site near Caliente Nevada

Oak Springs Trilobite Site – near Caliente Nevada

The Trek Details

The Trek in a snapshot

Location

About 13 miles west of Caliente, Nevada

Managing Agency

BLM

Pets

Allowed

Fees

None

Restrooms

None

Camping

Not allowed

Trail Condition

Trail is in good condition. You are free to walk off trail if you wish

Sights

Small trilobite fossils

Water Info

Bring a bottle of water if needed

Best Season

All

Distance

We explored about 1/4 mile

Time Required

As long as you like

Parking Elevation

5780 ft

Summit Elevation

Varies

Elevation Difference

Varies

Trek Planner Maps

Trail Map

GPS Coordinates

Oak Springs Trilobite Site: 37.613985°, -114.711731°

Experience. Discover. Explore.

The Trail

Follow along on our adventure then go out on your own!

Be a responsible explorer
Oak Springs Trilobite Site
The parking lot area complete with a few picnic tables

We had the chance to visit this trilobite site on our way home from a camping trip in the nearby area.  We were somewhat confident that we could find a fossil or two as we spent about 45 minutes combing for trilobite.

The Oak Springs Trilobite Site is located on land owned by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management).

Oak Springs Trilobite Site
Information sign about the area

After reading over the information sign we learned that the fossils are mostly located in the shale rock.  And luckily for us, my friend had brought his rock pick so we could really dig in and hopefully discover some cool stuff!

Oak Springs Trilobite Site
Shale piles were everywhere

The BLM created a narrow dirt path called the Silver State Trail that you can follow around the area.  But you are encouraged to go off the trail and see what you can find.  This trail seemed to go for miles and we didn’t have enough time to go on all of it because we found tons of shale in the immediate area close by the parking lot to keep us busy.

We noticed that many of the shale piles were already ransacked by people and we quickly realized that we would probably not find much of anything unless we had hours to spend (which we unfortunately did not).

Oak Springs Trilobite Site
The Oak Springs Trilobite Site area

I personally found this area to be really neat!  I enjoy the desert and wish we had time to explore around the mountains and see what else was here but our time was limited and we needed to head back home to Utah.

Oak Springs Trilobite Site
Lots of interesting rocks around

Although we were not successful in finding any fossils we did find plenty of neat rocks to check out.

Personal Thoughts

Personal Thoughts

This would be a great area to stop for a break while travelling on the highway. This would also be a nice area for children to explore and be creative.

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