Stand above the most extensive Folsom site ever excavated
12,000 years, and nothing to see
A National Historic Landmark within Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, interpreted from an overlook rather than entered.
Why it's unique
The Lindenmeier Site is the most extensive Folsom culture site ever excavated, yielding bone needles, beads and stone tools rather than the isolated projectile points that most Folsom finds amount to. It was made a National Historic Landmark in 1961.
What makes it worth the drive is also what makes it difficult: the site is protected and there is nothing above ground. You are standing above a camp used around twelve thousand years ago, on prairie that looks like the rest of the prairie, which is a particular kind of experience and not a ruin.
Before you go
Go for the interpretation or do not go. There are no visible excavations, no structures and no artefacts on site, and arriving expecting archaeology is the standard mistake. The city runs guided programmes out here and they are the difference between a field and a place.
Same seasonal closure as the rest of Soapstone Prairie, December through February, and the same hour's drive with the last stretch on gravel. Combine it with the bison overlook, which is in the same natural area, rather than making a separate trip.