This Trail Is Perfect for Uncovering Fossils in Vermont

Standing on the shores of modern-day Lake Champlain, it can be hard to fathom that Vermont—and in fact, much of the East Coast, from Tennessee to Newfoundland—was home to a tropical sea. Within this sea formed one of the first reefs on the planet, today known as Chazy Fossil Reef, built by small branching organisms called bryozoans, as coral had not yet evolved at this point in Earth’s history.

It was so long ago that we might not know of this reef’s existence, nearly half a billion years later, if it weren’t for the limestone deposits and fossils that are concentrated around the lake. This concentration is due to the continental plate on which Lake Champlain sits now having been located at lower latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. 480 million years ago, sea levels were much higher than they are now, and the continental shelf was covered by a shallow arm of the Iapetus Ocean, which turned out to be an ideal womb for one of the planet’s very first reefs.

Present-day fossil enthusiasts and avid birders love to walk the Fisk Quarry Preserve Trail, located on Isle La Motte near the New York State border, and spy many body fossils and trace fossils from this Ordovician Period embedded within the rocks. I’ve seen stromatoporoids, brachiopods, corals, and crinoids on this trek that’s less than a half-mile out-and-back. It has an elevation gain of only six feet and takes most people less than 10 minutes to complete, so it’s perfect to explore with kids. The quarry is conserved by the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust and the Lake Champlain Land Trust, and they ask that you leave all the fossils you see where they are so that others may continue to enjoy these prehistoric treasures.

Since the whole area is a hotbed for Paleolithic discoveries, I like to take a drive for about two miles northeast to the Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve. The 85-acre preserve was purchased and saved from potential quarrying and development back in 2005 by the Lake Champlain Land Trust after a multi-year campaign in partnership with the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust.

The preserve is home to the White Trail Loop, which at a mile in length is a little more than twice as long as the Fisk Quarry Preserve Trail, and has an elevation gain of 29 feet, but is still mostly flat and therefore relatively easy for most hikers. Besides the types of fossils present at Fisk Quarry Preserve, I’ve also noticed evidence of gastropods and cephalopods. If you’re part of a school or other group of fossil enthusiasts, you can contact the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust directly by emailing [email protected] to set up a guided tour. Only .3 miles away lies the Isle of Motte Historical Society, with a three-building campus comprising a 1843 Stone Schoolhouse Museum, an early 1890s Duba Blacksmith Shop, and the Frances Ford Slab-lob cabin; along with the two fossil preserves, it all makes for a very informative afternoon.

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