Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in the remote Shoshone Mountains of Nye County, Nevada combines two entirely different historical eras in a single remarkable location. At one extreme of geological time, the park protects the largest concentration of Shonisaurus popularis ichthyosaur fossils in the world — marine reptiles that lived approximately 225 million years ago when the terrain of central Nevada lay beneath a shallow tropical sea. The fossils were first discovered in the 1920s and major excavations in the 1950s and 1960s revealed 37 complete ichthyosaur specimens in a single bedding plane, an accumulation that paleontologists have interpreted as evidence of mass stranding or a predator trap. The fossil shelter, a large enclosed structure built over the excavation site, protects the fossils in situ and allows visitors to see the partially excavated bones of animals reaching up to 50 feet in length exactly as they were found in the sediment. On the entirely different end of the historical spectrum, the ghost town of Berlin lies a short walk from the fossil shelter — a silver mining settlement that flourished in the late 1890s and early 1900s and was abandoned around 1909 when ore quality declined and the silver market fell. Berlin's original mine buildings, mill structure, engine house, and residential structures survive in an unusual state of preservation, their wooden frames standing against the Nevada sky in conditions that earned this site the designation of a 'stabilized ruin' rather than the typical ghost town remnant. Ranger-guided tours of the fossil shelter typically run on Friday through Monday when the park is staffed; self-guided exploration of the Berlin ghost town is available whenever the park is open. The park is accessed via unpaved gravel roads from US-95 near Gabbs.