Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park

A small remote park, 58 miles from Hawthorne.

Berlin-Ichthyosaur was first established in 1957 to protect and display North America's most abundant concentration and largest known Ichthyosaur fossils, combining its preservation of the turn-of-the-century mining camp of Berlin.

This small park uniquely combines both features within 1,540 acres at a relatively high elevation ranging from 6,840 to a high point of 7,880 feet at the base of the Shoshone Range. The area sparked immediate interest with the discovery of the fossilized remains of ancient Ichthyosaurs in 1928 by Dr. Siemon Muller. Further excavations continued through the 1960s with a total of about 40 ichthyosaurs discovered in various locations throughout the park. Of all the ichthyosaurs discovered worldwide, the ones here, dubbed Shonisaurus popularis after the Shoshone mountain range where they were found, are the largest-known specimens in the world. Most of these remains exceed fifty feet in length! In combination with the preserved town of Berlin and its Diana Mine, Berlin-Ichthyosaur offers camping, hiking trails, and a ranger tour of the fossil house where visitors are shown the actual fossilized remains and a view of the actual excavation conditions encountered in modern paleontology.

How To Get Here
Accessible from the paved Gabbs Valley Highway (SR 361) along unpaved County Road 21, 4 miles south of the town of Ione. A small entrance fee applies.