2. Feldspar vs. Quartz: Whats the Difference? The ant hills are basically everywhere if you get out and walk around, and your biggest issue will most likely be needing 44 to get there, and especially across the creek to the north. The most commonly found gems and crystals in Wyoming are quartz and feldspar, but you can also find many others including garnet, tourmaline, and opal. TIP:Rockhounding is much easier when you use proper tools and equipment. NPS Public Domain Photo. Simple Explanation. Only very minor surface mining has been done here. If you want to find agates in Albany, they are usually found near Marshall, located in northwestern Albany. This area is very close to Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite. Luckily, Wyoming is a prime spot for hunting your own crystals and gemstones. Check out how valuable different types of opal can be in the article below:8 Factors Why Opal is Valuable (Prices for Different Types). If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below. In Wyoming, nearly all 18 million acres of public land are legal for gem enthusiasts to pursue their recreational activities. Cody 59ers Rock Club was established in 1959 to help promote and share knowledge surrounding rocks, minerals, gems, and fossils through field trips. GreenDay hikes; can be done as overnights. google_ad_format="120x240_as"; Wyoming happens to be among the best states in the entire country for rockhounding thanks to the sheer volume of prospective collecting sites and the impressive array of rocks and minerals to be found. google_ad_host="pub-6693688277674466"; This publication can be downloaded directly from the WSGS Tom, this is an AMAZING resource. Continue on the main path to Winton, Follow it. Most of the geodes in Wyoming tend to be lined with chalcedony, and more rarely with microcrystalline quartz. All 50 States Answered, contacting the assessor in whatever county youre inte, Gastroliths, Petrified dinosaur bones, Fossils, Gypsum, Dinosaur bones, Gastroliths, Fossils, Fossils, Ammonites, Dinosaur bones, Gastroliths, Agate, Chalcedony, Gold, Nephrite jade, Jade, Jasper, Muscovite, Quartz crystals, Agatized wood, Opalized wood, Tourmaline, Agate (banded, moss), Aventurine, Garnet, Sapphire, Agate (Sweetwater agate), Nephrite jade, Jade, Aquamarine, Beryl, Feldspar crystals, Muscovite, Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper, Jade, Nephrite jade, Quartz crystals, Silicified wood. To get started, you can check out my recommended gear page which contains my full reviews for every Geologists favorite rock hammer and the best hiking backpack Ive ever owned. Jade can be found in the Sweetwater River district southeast of the Wind River Mountains in Fremont County. Drive up the garbage road toward White Mountain and park near the area with the in-ground tank, then follow the trails west into the lower hills. The Medicine Bow Mountains contain slate, platinum-sperrylite, galena, beryl, and barite. Guide to Prospecting and Rock Hunting in Wyoming Pictures and notes on the fossils near Farson. Geologic mapping of the Phantom Lake quadrangle in Carbon County is available. Agate, calcite-aragonite, copper minerals, and uranium minerals are found in Park County, located in the northwestern part of Wyoming. However, there was some trouble with this in the recent past. The ants use them for construction material. Other sources include: North Carolina Rockhounding Location Guide & Map, Montana Rockhounding Location Guide & Map. 08-07-11 Elusive Wyoming fluorite specimens. In the table down below, you can see what other minerals can be found in Wyoming, and their exact locations. They are widespread and fairly easy to find if you have a general idea of where to look. Check out recommended tools for rockhounding here:Recommended tools and equipment for rockhounding, What Rocks Are Good For Tumbling? The gravels of streams and rivers like the Sweetwater and Wind Rivers are great places to search for rocks and minerals like quartz, agate, and petrified wood. A relatively large area between Labarge and Granger, Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Uinta Counties also contains chalcedony. You may want to look in the Kortes Dam area or the Sierra Madre Mountains for jades. South of Douglas in Converse County is where you will find jade as well. Ammonite-like fossils, kimberlite, etc. The specimens found here vary from blue, and light gray, to deep colors such as violet. Below is a list of rockhounding locations in wyoming with a description of the minerals found there and pictures. National forest and national grassland maps are also available from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) USGS Store, which offers secure, online ordering ($5 service charge applies), along with ordering by phone . Winton petrified wood near Rock Springs, WY: 5.) If you want to find geodes in Wyoming, you should look for places with many sedimentary rocks, such as in the beds of the conglomerate, which crop out throughout the state. Down below is where you will find out where to find gold, fossils, and petrified wood in Wyoming. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Check out how to cut and polish petrified wood in the article below:How To Cut & Polish Petrified Wood: Follow These 3 Steps. 1.) See my Wyoming Rockhounding Location Guide for more places to rockhound. We hope you enjoy your time on our site and come back often because were always adding new dig locations and crystal collecting updates. TIP: Geodes can form anywhere in the world, but they do not form at random. You can probably find it just about anywhere in the area, though I had good success looking along the eastern flank of Black Rock. Wyoming State Mineral & Gem Society Use caution, be respectful, and play by whatever the rules are now. Rock Hound Etiquette 7. To get you started on prospecting, the Wyoming State Geological Survey has prepared a Rockhounding is recognized as a legitimate recreational pursuit on nearly all of the 18 million acres of public land in Wyoming. Rockhounds can find opal within the deposits associated with the parks hot springs. //-->, Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites. Carbon County is the home to some excellent specimens, including: Suppose youre interested in finding nephrite-type jade specimens. Petrified wood occurs in the Specimen Ridge and Amethyst Mountain area of Yellowstone. If you want to find nephrite-type jades in Carbon County, which is the state mineral of Wyoming, you may want to look in the Kortes Dam area or the Sierra Madre Mountains. You can even find geodes in Wyoming. Natrona County is in central Wyoming. We are here for any questions or concerns that might arise about your adventures in mineral collecting. Modern Rockhounding and Prospecting Handbook $19.73 A must have for every serious rockhound! Wyoming is full of jades, mostly of the nephrite class, and the jadeite class, which sounds like something out of Star Wars. Another good place would be the 100 miles west of Casper County, discovered by a local rockhound. amzn_assoc_linkid = "aac5e87b1ca95eb9841c18e11fbbd48f"; Note: magnetite is also present. Blue forest petrified wood near Granger, WY: 11.) If you would like to read some of the source material for yourself I have listed them below. But sometimes you can mistake feldspar with quartz. RedLong-duration hikes, typically 5+days. Monthly educational meetings are held during the autumn and winter on the second Monday of every month. Geologic Map of Phantom Lake Quadrangle. Please take our survey about how you use and access the data we provide on our website. Rockhounds have several excellent locations to choose from in Wyoming. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases with no additional costs for you. You can find them in volcanic conglomerates in the Tertiary rocks of the southern part of the Absaroka Mountains of northwest Wyoming. Gator Girl Rocks provides useful information about Specimens may become depleted from other collectors, the location may have been built on or altered, locality information in literature may be inaccurate, and property ownership may have changed hands. google_ad_height=240; Here at Rockhounding Maps, we give you access and information to the best dig sites for crystals and minerals in Wyoming. Enter your email address to subscribe to this the content of this site, some of which, we hear, is worthwhile. This area was explored by a South African diamond company briefly but nothing came of it. I love finding agates because you never know what sort of beautiful patterns and colors they might contain. I'm transcribing these hikes in my own order, but if you'd like to see one moved to the top of the review list, just let me know. We have listed each type of crystal in separate sections since we know how much you love them. Here you can also find agatized and opalized wood, while agates are common a few miles west of Saratoga. lol Thanks again! This land is filled with hundreds of prospective rockhounding sites where you can find a nice variety of rocks and minerals including nephrite jade, azurite, quartz crystals, and unique varieties of agates. Sublette County, located in western Wyoming, is noted for jade findings. Rocks there have a different variety of lab than down below. Black Hills, South Dakota: 1. This region is full of mica minerals, phonolite, pumice, and Wyomingite in the Leucite Hills area. google_ad_type="text_image"; For additional reading, Id highly recommend these books you can find on Amazon: Please remember that rock collecting locations are constantly changing. You can find many types of feldspar minerals in Goshen County, including mica minerals, and in the Muskrat Canyon area of the county, you can find the marble. Find out how these beautiful minerals are formed and more in this article:What Is Agate And How Do Agates Form? In the Absaroka Mountains, you may discover opal, galena, or molybdenite. Use caution. Sign in to your account on ArcGIS Online. If youre planning on heading to the field, make sure you have all the gear youll need! Library for the books I use when I go out rock hunting. Obsidian is abundant in the park, with the most famous location to find these beauties being the Obsidian Cliff. ArcGIS login. Copyright 2022 Rockhound Resource | Birch on Trellis Framework by Mediavine, Greybull, area washes and draws btwn Big Horn River and Mountains, Lovell, E to Big Horn Mountains in draws and washes, Fremont County, all regional washes and draws. google_ad_host="pub-6693688277674466"; Check back often as I add new places. Welcome to Wyoming Rockhounding Adventures, 2010 Rockhounding and mineral collecting reports, 03-27-10 Wyoming rock hounding agate and jasper, 04-23-10 Schrckingerite or schroeckingerite found at lost creek, 05-22-10 Riverton rockhound club field trip, 05-30-10 Orthoclase the other white crystal, 09-04-10 Wiggins fork moss agate petrified wood, 10-09-10 Malachite and azurite in the rain copper mountain part 3, 10-23-10 Azurite and malachite copper mountain pt4, 2011 Rockhounding and mineral collecting reports, 04-10-11 Schrckingerite or schroeckingerite found at lost creek part2. Various outcrops along the road contain specimens. This new version of the guide arranges the sites into counties and regions, with a different chapter for each county. The Triceratops was designated as the official state dinosaur of Wyoming in 1994, while the Knightia Fish gained the status of state fossil in 1987. google_color_url="FFFFFF"; Rockhounding in Wyoming is a great way to discover the states diverse geology and fossilized wildlife. Keep me signed in. Pictures and notes on the fossils near Farson. "Rockhounding Rules on BLM Public Lands" and Check out my article about how to identify a geode. I would probably start by contacting the assessor in whatever county youre interested in and getting whatever contact information you can for the landowner. here. I find the watermelon stone about halfway up the canyon. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "rockhoundreso-20"; Here are 10 of the best rockhounding sites for rocks and minerals in Montana: Crystal Park - Amethyst, Quartz crystals Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine - Sapphire Jefferson River - Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper American Bar - Sapphire, Garnet, Kyanite Yellowstone River, Custer County - Moss Agate Pryor Mountains - Agate, Geodes, Fossils Agates, copper minerals, uranium minerals, and calcite-aragonite can be found throughout Park County in northwestern Wyoming. Jade can be found in the Sweetwater River district southeast of the Wind River Mountains in Fremont County. The Sublette County Rock Hounds Club is relatively new to the scene of formal rockhound organizations. Anyway, follow that Jeep trail down toward the bottom, where it first starts getting pretty flat, and youll find a ton of fossils. Concretion and geodes are common in many of the sedimentary rocks in the state, but a good way of finding geodes in Wyoming is to search for the conglomerate in limestone or sandstone. Find out where to find minerals in Wyoming down below. BTW: Do you want to know more about rock and mineral identification? Ammonite-like fossils, kimberlite, etc. You can find agate, allanite, lithium minerals, magnetite, manganese minerals, uranium minerals, and bentonite. During my brief exploration, I didnt have time to find the gems, but did get diverted by the thousands of exposed fossils. I hope this will make it a bit easier to find information on my Wyoming rockhounding pages. It looks as though theres something interesting around every bend within every county. In Wyoming, you can find sedimentary rocks such as bentonite, chert, coal, concretion-geode, conglomerate, gypsum, limestone-dolomite, oil shale, shale, taconite, or trona, among many others. google_color_text="FFFFFF"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B01IEX2TEO,B0002YWWVE,B08N41884X,B00A4H4ZQ4"; Black Rock itself is ultrapotassic and in the past (and even still now), shed peridot. Use this resource as a guide to get you started. Now that weve talked about the best places for rockhounding in the state of Wyoming let us take a look at where you might find individual specimens, such as gemstones, minerals, and rocks. Follow posted signage and always get permission from the landowner to collect. They are some of the most popular rocks to tumble, and its easy to see why with their intricate banding and unique designs. Obsidian Cliff is located in the northwest region of Yellowstone. The best rockhounding locations in the United States include the Oregon Beaches, Lake Superior, Crater of Diamonds State Park, Emerald Hollow Mine, Jade Cove Trail, Gold Prospecting Adventure, Fossil Butte National Monument, Rainbow Ridge Opal Mine, Spectrum Sunstone Mine, or Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine. Pegmatite and sedimentary rocks such as bentonite are also found in Johnson County. In general, the best places to find agates in Wyoming are in gravels and washes, particularly in Sweetwater County, Fremont County, and along the Sweetwater and Wind Rivers. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; However, there are no charges for attending club-led outings, and you dont have to be a resident of Wyoming to join. Let me know if this is useful or if I can improve it in any way! If you have a public-lands GPS map, you can proceed up the Plumbago Canyon road to the top, where people dont go, and find some nice specimens lying on the roadside. In order to really find the good stuff in the main area, go on sunny day with a spray bottle, a rock hammer, chisel, and a 4-lb/10-lb sledge hammer. Thank you for your reply! google_color_bg="1B1B1B"; Fossil Mountain & Darby Wind Cave near Jackson, WY: 8.) , Places to See Geologic Displays in Wyoming, Guide to Prospecting and Rock Hunting in Wyoming, "Rockhounding, Prospecting, and Fossil Hunting on the Shoshone National Forest". Find out the differences between these two minerals in the article below:Feldspar vs. Quartz: Whats the Difference? 19. Petrified wood is also found in the Early Basic Breccia of Eocene age, in the Specimen Ridge and the Amethyst Mountains area of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. 130 to Walcott Junction. These rockhounding sights of Wyoming are mostly on public land but a good. google_color_border="1B1B1B"; (I do not live in the US right now.). Triceratops fossils are mostly found in the Hell Creek Formation in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, eastern Wyoming. 05-01-11 Water line and fortification agate and calcite geodes and selenite phew!! The majority of these locations are my interpretation of Robert Bestes A Location Guide for Rock Hounds in the United States. If you want to find sapphires, you may go to the Palmer Canyon in Albany. These public lands administered by the BLM are open to everyone to take limited amounts of rock material for noncommercial purposes without charge. Joining up with a local rockhounding club for a group trip can often get you access to otherwise off-limits locations like privately owned mines and quarries. google_ad_type="text_image"; You are sure welcome. Check out the table down below to see where these specimens of sedimentary rocks are found in Wyoming. google_color_link="000000"; google_color_border="1B1B1B"; The Lost Creek areas of this county contain many uranium minerals, while petrified wood is found northeast of Eden. at Cedar Mountain. The books listed below are the best ones you can find on the internet (Amazon links): How can we talk about rockhounding in Wyoming and not mention the famous Yellowstone National Park? The many mountain ranges and associated volcanic activity throughout the state have created a perfect geologic environment for the creation of many interesting gemstones that you can now find in countless locations across the region. Some of the most prominent metamorphic rocks in Wyoming are gneiss, marble, quartzite, schist, and slate, among many others. was featured in the November 2012 issue of Jade State News. The True Worth of Agates. If youre looking for individual hiking tracks (rather than single-point GPS data), please see my GaiaGPS page, which is hosted off-site, and is free. Here are 10 of the best rockhounding sites for rocks and minerals in Wyoming: Fremont County - Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper, Jade Split Rock - Ruby, 'Sweetwater' Agate Sweetwater County - Agate, Quartz crystals, Chert Rock Springs - Silicified wood, Agate, Jasper Box Elder Canyon - Geodes, quartz crystals Wamsutter Agate Beds - Turritella agates