The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping, which is noted for the abundant and a exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that have been found in the mudstones and shales.

Using argon radiometric dating shows the formation to be from the Eocene Epoch which is about 34 million years old and has been interpreted as a lake environment. The fossils have been preserved because of the interaction of the volcanic ash from the nearby Thirtynine Mile volcanic field with diatoms in the lake, causing a diatom bloom. As the diatoms fell to the bottom of the lake, any plants or animals that had recently died were preserved by the diatom falls.

Fine layers of clays and muds interspersed with layers of ash form paper shales holding beautifully-preserved fossils.

The Florissant Fossil Beds is a US National Monument which has been established to preserve and study the geology and history of the area.

The Florissant Fossil Bed National Monument was established in 1969 after a long legal battle between the federal government and the local land owners. Today, the park receives over 60,000 visitors each year, and is the site of ongoing paleontological investigations. The formation itself was renamed the Florissant Formation in 2001 to conform with the requirements of the North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature.

Florissant fossil beds are located near Florissant in Teller County, Colorado. This location is in the eastern foot hills of Front range in the Colorado Rocky Mountains very close to the Great Plains.

There is evidence to suggest occupation by the indigenous people of both the Wayfarer Period (before 1000 BCE) who hunted and gathered here, as well as the Woodland Period (from 1000 BCE through 1000 CE) who inhabited the lands around the Florissant valley.

Humans began on this scene early after the First Migration occurred, which is attested by many of the oral traditions of those tribes who are historically associated with this area. Too, the ancestors of today′s tribes had developed deep connections to the land both culturally and traditionally, until they were forcibly removed from the area in the late 1800s.

There are nineteen sovereign indigenous nations who have been traditionally associated with this area, which include the land of the Florrissant valley to be within their historic range:

Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Navajo Nation, Assiniboine & Sioux Tribe, Kiowa, Comanche, Northern Cheyenne, Ohkay Owingeh, Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Cochiti, Pueblo of Sand Ildefonso, Pueblo of Santa Clara, Pueblo of Taos, White Mesa Ute, Zuni Tribe, Arapaho of the Wind River Reservation, Ute Tribe Uintah and Ouray Reservations.

Now this is so much better, I had to cover up all night long and when I got up, I felt a little bit of a shiver. Crossing the high point in the pass means that I am now on the Atlantic side of the divide, a place that I have not been for months. However, this crossing will find me remaining on the Atlantic side of the divide for quite a while now, possibly as late as February 2014.

I drive down off of the summit and to my first park for the day, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Previously, I had not wanted to go to another bone pit but I had heard two of the park rangers at Colorado National Monument talking about Florissant and what they were saying made me decide to stop here.

I walk over the a kiosk that is near to several fossilized stumps and upon reading the information on the display, I say, What? Wait one minute! What is this information kiosk talking about?

Well, the information kiosk tell park visitors that this area of large fossilized tree stumps used to belong to an immense forest of massive redwood trees, Sequoia sempervirens, yes, these stumps are of the same species as the coastal redwood trees in California and southern Oregon.

Methinks, wait just one minute, the redwood trees, according to what I learned when I visited the Redwood National Park in California, can not exist in a mid continental area but require the moisture laden climate and weather of a coastal ecosystem.

I turned from the infomation kiosk, walked back along the pathway to the visitors center, then up to the ranger information desk and asked the ranger: How can the fossilized stumps outside in the back be redwood trees when I learned at the Redwood National Park that all redwood tree, (Sequoia sempervirens) must be within twenty five miles of a coast and receive moisture laden breezes in order to survive? The ranger answered and said, Yes, you learned correctly at the Redwood National Park.

The ranger then went on to explain that some about 35 million years ago, North America had a somewhat different appearance. In fact, he said, During the Eocene Epoch, North America had a vast inland sea which covered the entire areas now known as the Great Plains and the Coastal Plains Regions.

Thinking about the meaning of what he had just said, I then reply, Then that seashore came right up to the foothills of the Front Range and where these stumps are now, would have been within twenty-five miles of that coastline. His reply was, Exactly!.