Check the address before you go, because this park has moved. Upper Trinity Regional Water District has completed a new, permanent Ladonia Fossil Park at 2242 FM 904, where the road crosses the North Sulphur River, and the old arrangement is finished. The move was forced by construction, and the replacement is a real upgrade: an all-weather parking area, a covered pavilion with picnic tables, and a paved path down to the river with benches along the way.
Two rules matter. Access to the public is not allowed upstream of the park, toward the Leon Hurse Dam and the mitigation area. And motorized vehicles are prohibited anywhere except inside the parking area. The automatic gates may close after dark, though if you find yourself behind them you can pull forward and the sensor will let you out.
The new site sits just downstream of the Leon Hurse Dam, close to where Baker Creek joins the North Sulphur River, and that geography is the reason it will keep producing. The Baker Creek watershed covers about 22 square miles, and both Baker and McClure Creeks will go on flowing naturally into the river, cutting new material out of the banks. In heavy rain, more water comes over the dam spillway. Every wet season effectively resupplies the park.
What comes out is marine, and it can be substantial. Cheryl McClure, who helps run the park's Facebook page, described finding a mosasaur tooth simply lying in the water where she happened to look down. That is the character of the place: the river does the excavation and you do the noticing.
Upper Trinity plans to add informational signs to the kiosk near the entrance. Until those are up, go in knowing the boundary, because the closed ground upstream is closed for construction reasons rather than as a formality.
Ammonites, shark teeth, mosasaur · Late Cretaceous, ~80 mya
Open to the public for collecting, and what you find is yours to keep. Check the posted rules before you start: they can change with the season and the landowner.
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
