Personal fossil-finding hunts in gorgeous southeast Minnesota
Personal fossil-finding hunts in gorgeous southeast Minnesota
Pick a package
Package A:
See the fossil zoo
Take a tour of my fossil zoo at Whispering Winds in Spring Valley, MN. See & touch the fossils I’ve found… and get a map for hunting them yourself!
(About 45 minutes)
Package B:
Find fossils yourself!
See the zoo and get a personally-guided hunt in a local site.
You’ll learn how to spot a fossil, and’ll come home with a fossil of your own — or your money back!
(About three hours)
Find a fossil yourself!
Ready to start?
1. Pick a package
See my fossil zoo, or find fossils yourself!
2. Pick a day
Choose a public event (2nd & 4th Saturdays) or a private event (at a time that works for you)
3. Simply show up
I’ll do the rest!
As featured on Minnesota Bound
(Just hit the “play” button, and skip to 14:15 for our segment!)
Who am I?
Bev “The Fossil Lady” Sandlin
I’m a mom, a grandma, and a former teacher, and I love connecting people to the fossils of southeast Minnesota.
I’ve been a life-long rock enthusiast, but I only fell in love with fossils after I had a stroke. Fossil hunting became my rehab — it got me active and outside, and learning new things (like Latin roots!).
I run Bluff Country Fossils out of my Whispering Winds — where I’m an Airbnb superhost! And I’ve been a Member of the Month on the Fossil Forum.
Start finding fossils
How can you save a creature…
…that’s 400 million years old?
Before humans and horses and dinosaurs, southeast Minnesota was a tropical ocean. What’s now our home was home to beautiful, bizarre sea creatures.
They’re still here
When they died, some fell into the sand & mud. Over millions of years, that muck was covered again and again by more muck… squeezing the bottom layers into rock. The creatures’ buried bodies are still here. That’s what a fossil is — parts of animals & plants turned to rock.
They’re at risk
And every year, the Minnesota snow & rain tears away a little more of the rock. This is good news, and bad news. The good news? There are new fossils to find every day! The bad news? They’re being destroyed by the weather!
You can help them
You can help save the memories of these creatures. We often say “fossil hunting”, but really, we’re saving fossils. Collecting fossils is an act of conservation… and you can be a part!
Save a 400-million-year-old animal
What are people saying?
My daughter loved this and I did too. Bev’s enthusiasm and patience (especially with neurodiverse kids) made this a delightful afternoon. We learned so much — I’m a teacher, and I can’t believe all this isn’t taught in schools! Better yet, we have a hobby we love doing together.
–Brandon H.
What’s beneath your feet right now?
Southeast Minnesota’s packed with fossils — relics from a lost world. (Take a look at these fossils all found within the city limits of Rochester!)
So where are they?
The fossils are in our cliffs, around our homes, right under our feet… but people walk past them every day. There’s a lost world that most people don’t see.
You can. I can show you how.
Can I actually find a fossil?
Absolutely. You can find things that no human has ever seen. There are new animals waiting to be discovered — and you can make a real discovery.
Learn to be an explorer
How can we connect to nature?
Most of the Midwest is flat… why isn’t southeast Minnesota?
Our local area is gorgeously hilly, cliffy, and cave-filled. Why? Because we’re in the Driftless Region — the part of North America that the glaciers missed.
So much beauty
The Driftless is home to animals & plants that are rare elsewhere. Our area is chockablock with natural beauty… and most of us are sick of staying inside, staring at screens!
Play with nature
Do you want to hike trails? Climb cliffs? Cross streams? Fossil-finding’s a game you can play with the environment. It’s a great way to connect to nature.