Rockhounding
28 locations. View on the interactive map
Nevada (21)
- Agate Point — Humboldt County, NV
Appropriately named hill known for producing semiprecious agate, chalcedony, chert, flint, jasper, and other quartz-family minerals. Listed in rockhoundresou…
- Battle Mountain — Turquoise & Azurite — Lander County, NV
World-class porphyry copper system with oxidized zones producing turquoise, malachite, azurite, and chrysocolla on surrounding BLM land. One of Nevada's most…
- Black Rock Desert — Fire Opal & Agate — Humboldt County, NV
Nearly the entire Black Rock Desert area has potential for fire opal and opalized wood, alongside agate and jasper. Listed as top 3 in Nevada by rockhoundres…
- Coaldale Junction — Obsidian — Esmeralda County, NV
Extensive obsidian flows near Coaldale on Highway 95. High-quality black volcanic glass used by Great Basin peoples for thousands of years. BLM collecting wi…
- Crystal Peak Mine — Quartz & Citrine — Washoe County, NV
Popular fee-dig site in Dog Valley outside Verdi. Volcanic rhyolite produces quartz crystals, citrine, and reportedly amethyst. A favorite for Reno-area rock…
- Fish Lake Valley — Agate & Opal — Esmeralda County, NV
Remote collector-favorite area between Nevada and California. Known for opalite specimens, chalcedony roses, common opal, and moss agate. Listed top 10 by ro…
- Garnet Hill Recreation Area — White Pine County, NV
Free public recreation area near Ely offering everyone the chance to search for high-quality deep red garnets in exposed rhyolite at no cost. Listed as one o…
- Goldfield Gem Field — Agate — Esmeralda County, NV
Honor-system agate collecting site a couple miles south of Goldfield on the Hwy 95 corridor. Various colors of agate and silica minerals — leave a donation i…
- Lahontan Reservoir Shoreline — Lyon County, NV
Ancient Lake Lahontan shoreline sediments exposed around the reservoir contain agate, petrified wood, and occasional invertebrate fossils. Easy state park ac…
- Las Vegas Wash — Amethyst — Clark County, NV
A quick drive from Las Vegas where the volcanic wash produces amethyst crystals in rhyolite host rock. One of the most accessible collecting spots in souther…
- McDermitt — Cinnabar & Mercury — Humboldt County, NV
Near the Oregon border, a major historic mercury mining district where brilliant red cinnabar crystals occur in volcanic caldera rock. Old mine dumps on BLM …
- Nightingale Range — Garnets — Pershing County, NV
East flanks of the Nightingale Mountains yield almandine garnet crystals eroding from metamorphic host rock. BLM land with free collecting. One of the better…
- Pilot Mountains — Copper Minerals — Mineral County, NV
Copper-bearing geology in the Pilot Mountains produces turquoise, malachite, and azurite. Old mine dumps yield copper mineral float for patient collectors on…
- Royston Turquoise District — Nye County, NV
One of a select few mines in the US open to the public for turquoise collecting. The Royston mine produces distinctive brown spiderweb-matrix turquoise prize…
- Rye Patch Reservoir — Garnets & Fossils — Pershing County, NV
Public land and shoreline around Rye Patch Reservoir on the I-80 corridor expose mixed desert rock, jasper, and occasional fossil-bearing beds near Triassic …
- Searchlight Area — Gold & Copper — Clark County, NV
Hills around Searchlight have a long history of gold-copper mining. Old mine dumps on BLM land yield gold-bearing quartz, malachite, and chrysocolla from sev…
- Tonopah Area — Agate & Petrified Wood — Nye County, NV
BLM land around Tonopah produces agate, jasper, and petrified wood. The Tonopah Historic Mining Park lets you explore actual 1900 underground silver mine wor…
- Tuscarora Area — Citrine & Rose Quartz — Elko County, NV
Gravels and talus around Tuscarora ghost town produce citrine, rose quartz crystals, and wonderstone. Listed top 10 by rockhoundresource.com. Combine with th…
- Valley of Fire — Wonderstone & Chalcedony — Clark County, NV
The state park has several locations where rockhounds can find wonderstone and chalcedony. Listed top 10 by rockhoundresource.com. Combine with petroglyphs a…
- Virgin Valley Opal Fields — Humboldt County, NV
World-class fire opal where silica-rich groundwater replaced buried logs creating gem-quality material. Rainbow Ridge and Royal Peacock mines are fee-dig ope…
- Walker Lake Shoreline — Mineral County, NV
Walking the Walker Lake shores and surrounding volcanic hills turns up agate, chalcedony, petrified wood, and occasional turquoise. Easy access from Hwy 95. …
Arizona (3)
- Arizona Onyx Quarry — Mohave County, AZ
Banded calcite marketed as ‘onyx marble’ has been quarried at several Arizona sites for carving and tile. This atlas pin is labeled Mohave County but sits fa…
- Burro Creek Agate Beds — Mohave County, AZ
Burro Creek’s canyons and flats in Mohave County, Arizona, are a classic desert agate and jasper hunt. Colorful chalcedony weathers from volcanic host rock a…
- Wickenburg Opal Area — Maricopa County, AZ
Common opal and chalcedony turn up in volcanic and alluvial ground in the hills around Wickenburg, Maricopa County. Sites are scattered, often claim-checked,…
Utah (4)
- House Range Fossil Site — Millard County, UT
Cambrian trilobite beds in Utah's House Range, including commercial digs such as U-Dig near Antelope Springs and nearby BLM exposures of the Wheeler Formatio…
- Sunstone Knoll — Millard County, UT
Sunstone Knoll is a low volcanic rise in Millard County’s Black Rock Desert country where labradorite sunstone weathers from basalt and scoria. Collectors wa…
- Topaz Mountain — Juab County, UT
Topaz Mountain in Juab County’s Thomas Range is Utah’s classic free-collecting topaz ground. Wind and weather free sherry-to-clear topaz crystals from rhyoli…
- Virgin River Agate Area — Washington County, UT
Washes near the lower Virgin River corridor in southwest Utah yield agate, jasper, and bits of petrified wood after storms rework gravel bars. The ‘area’ is …