Thats one of the reasons why you can quite a lot of fake ones for sale. This club hosts multiple outings every month during the summer. Phosphate rock is also located here. Fossils in the escarpment. google_ad_client="pub-2930148589555936"; I am uploading a couple of pictures that my friend Henri took of me hunting it with his kids. There is plenty of BLM and National Forest land to collect on in Wyoming which is, in general, open for public use. So pack up your stuff, since once you read this, you might want to move to Wyoming and start rockhounding! However, it is legal to hound the areas surrounding this famous park. google_color_bg="1B1B1B"; Go north on 191, take a right on the dirt road (GPS should lead you there), continue on dirt road until you see a sign that is marked for Winton and Superior. Cody 59ers Rock Club was established in 1959 to help promote and share knowledge surrounding rocks, minerals, gems, and fossils through field trips. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. You can buy ithere(Amazon link). Only very minor surface mining has been done here. This site is devoted to sharing my love of rocks with you. (Said Kimm-ur.). The counties are alphabetized, and within each county the locations are . Pegmatite and sedimentary rocks such as bentonite are also found in Johnson County. This is where you will find what is legal or not in Wyoming, in regards to rockhounding, where you are allowed to rockhound, what, and how much. google_ad_client="pub-2930148589555936"; Becoming a member of one or more clubs or societies comes with a wealth of benefits. Rockhounding in eastern Wyoming offers a lot of opportunities to find a wide variety of rocks and minerals. Follow the road a short distance until it splits; stop at the fork and walk up the washed-out left road for a few hundred feet. Albany County is home to some of the best rockhounding locations in Wyoming because there are various rock and mineral specimens, including: Sand Creek and the Red Buttes areas in Albany County are full of sedimentary rocks. Follow the four-wheeler track down the mountain and into the badlands below. The best place to rockhound in Wyoming is Fremont County where you can find nephrite jade and Turritella agates in relative abundance. "Rockhounding Rules on BLM Public Lands" and Obsidian isnt listed here since we know how much rockhounds love this igneous rock, so let us talk about obsidian separately. google_color_link="000000"; Feldspar vs. Quartz: Whats the Difference? Wyoming is also noted for its abundance of discovered meteorites. Since rockhounds are highly prize geodes, we have made a special section on where to find these sedimentary rocks in Wyoming. Ammonite-like fossils, kimberlite, etc. The Rocky Mountain area, the Encampment district in Carbon County, Hartville district, Platte County, the Copper Mountain district, Precambrian pegmatites in Fremont and Natrona Counties, the Black Mountain, and the Copper Mountain, The Eocene Wind River formation of the Gas Hills area, Fremont and Natrona Counties, the Shirley Basin area of Carbon County, the Fall River, and Lakota sandstones in the Black Hills area of Crook County, The Casper Mountain, Natrona County, Haystack Range, Goshen County, Laramie Range, Albany, and Laramie Counties, In Albany, Fremont, Johnson, Natrona, Washakie, and Weston Counties, north of Sundance in the Warren Peaks area of Crook County, In the Laramie Range, Albany and Platte Counties, the southern part of the Medicine Bow Range, Albany and Carbon Counties, the Copper Mountain area, The western half of the Bighorn Basin, of Bighorn, Hot Springs, Park, and Washakie Counties, the area between Labarge and Granger, Lincoln, Sweetwater, and Uinta Counties. Rock Hound Etiquette 7. Simple Explanation. Ill be adding to this in the coming years. My best to you and your family. You never know what type of crystals or patterns youre going to find inside and it makes them incredibly exciting. YellowOvernight hikes, typically 2 nights. I am modifying this post to include a GPS map which shows how I drove, as well as the two main places I walked which had good anthills. hobby, or education. Rockhound Trip report spring 2008. We also hope to find Jade on same trip. Its water has provided food and habitat for humans and wildlife . ), let me know. google_ad_format="120x240_as"; Gold can also be found in Park County, specifically the Wood River and Sunlight Basin areas. The True Worth of Agates. i am wondering if we can even make it to the top. We are using my Subaru forester. In Sweetwater County, west of Wamsutter along the old road to Baggs, the Green River Basin is plentiful in agates. You may want to look in the Kortes Dam area or the Sierra Madre Mountains for jades. google_ad_host="pub-6693688277674466"; Natrona County is located in central Wyoming, and it is another excellent county when it comes to rocks or minerals. . Im doing a fossil camping trip near the buttes to a quarry where you can pay to dig for fish fossils. You can probably find it just about anywhere in the area, though I had good success looking along the eastern flank of Black Rock. Many other varieties of agates, jasper, petrified and opalized wood are also very commonly found in gravels and washes all over the state. This will be our first time rock hounding Wyoming. 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. Quartz crystals are typically found everywhere north of Saratoga along Highway 130 to Walcott Junction. , 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". Calcite for making lamps and also nice bots in roadside cut near Lander. The ants use them for construction material. I hope my articles will be useful to you. 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. The best place to start is in Yellowstone National Park. HowtoFindRocks.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Check out my article about how to identify a geode. 44 is recommended for this ingress, but if you access it from the table to the east, 44 is required. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. In the table down below, you can see what other minerals can be found in Wyoming, and their exact locations. Follow the dirt roads toward and past the water tower on the ridge. Belemnites and other fossils near Bridger, MT: Winton petrified wood near Rock Springs, WY: Sharktooth Ridge teeth and trace fossils near Rawlins, WY: Interesting sedimentary features near Adobe Town, WY: Fossil Mountain & Darby Wind Cave near Jackson, WY: Red Gulch Dino Track Site near Shell, WY: Devils Kitchen walk-in access near Red Gulch, Wyoming: Moonshine Arch near Vernal, UT along with a dinosaur track site at Red Fleet: Blue forest petrified wood near Granger, WY: Fish fossils and some shark teeth near Farson, WY: Agatized fossil shells near Rock Springs, WY: Calcite for making lamps and also nice bots in roadside cut near Lander. Wyoming is perhaps most well known for its world-class National Parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton. My kid loved exploring it with me. 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. Black jade can be found in Fremont County as well. Im here to serve you! Belemnites and other fossils near Bridger, MT: 3.) travel through Wyoming's basins and across its mountain ranges, you can pass over all of the geologic eras of time which produced a variety of rocks, minerals, and fossil Tom, this is an AMAZING resource. Through quite a bit of research and cross-referencing of available literature, I have compiled this list of some prospective locations in Wyoming which I would recommend to people looking to do some rockhounding. When you look for it, it often just looks like ugly, whiteish or greyish rocks. Tip: Check out my Complete Rock Tumbling Guide to make your rocks and gemstones really shine! While Yellowstone makes the list for being one of the top rockhounding locations in Wyoming, unfortunately, rockhounding is not permitted there. 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. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Most of the gold produced in Wyoming comes from the Atlantic City-South Pass-Sweetwater district. You can also find other types of agates like moss agate and Sweetwater agate, another variety that is unique to the state of Wyoming. Rockhounding is recognized as a legitimate recreational pursuit on nearly all of the 18 million acres of public land in Wyoming. Here you can also find agatized and opalized wood, while agates are common a few miles west of Saratoga. Wyoming is among the best rockhounding places in the U.S., and this is partly because around 50% of its lands are public! While you cant collect rocks within those parks, the fantastically complicated and gorgeous geology found within their borders is a testament to the complex geological history of the area. Some of the most prominent metamorphic rocks in Wyoming are gneiss, marble, quartzite, schist, and slate, among many others. Fremont County, washes and draws in extreme SE corner, Wind River and tributaries, in gravels near Riverton, Warm Springs, area draws and hills over a large area, Rattlesnake Mountain, area N of Shoshone River, Sweetwater County, all area outcrops of Green River formation, Rock Springs, washes and draws over large area to E, Blacks Fork Creek, NE corner of Uinta County. amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; The relatively recent volcanic and metamorphic activity in Wyoming has given rise to many desirable and sought-after rocks and minerals, but it helps to have an idea of where to look and what to search for. Late Tertiary welded tuffs are known to crop out in Yellowstone, while volcanic breccia is typical here. lol Thanks again! Everyone enjoys the prospect of finding their very own geodes out in the wild, and its easy to see why. NPS Public Domain Photo. google_color_url="FFFFFF"; BTW: Do you want to know more about rock and mineral identification? These rockhounding sights ofWyoming are mostly on public land but a good blm ownership map isrecommended allowing you to stay off private land. This interest of mine has lasted until today, so I decided to create this website. First of all, check the Tertiary igneous rocks in the Wood River and Sunlight Basin areas of Park County and the Black Hills area of northeastern Wyoming. Veins of banded agate and drusy quartz occur in Mississippian limestone beds a few miles northwest of Guernsey, Platte County. Obsidian is abundant in the park, with the most famous location to find these beauties being the Obsidian Cliff. But where else can rockhounds explore, and what can they find? From beginners to advanced collectors, everyone will find something in Wyoming! RedLong-duration hikes, typically 5+days. Buy on Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Fish fossils and some shark teeth near Farson, WY: 13.) Tip: Not sure if the rock youve found is a geode? HOME In Wyoming, there is a wide variety of gemstones like jade, the states official gemstone, diamonds, sapphire, ruby, opal, peridot, iolite, agate, petrified wood, and quartz crystals. Rockhounding in Wyoming never seems to let down rockhounds. You can also find agates a few miles west of Saratoga, Carbon County. Kemmerer, all washes and draws over a large area, Owl Creek, in placers SE of Washakie Needles, Lander, area surface over a very large region, Laramie Mountains, draws and washes of eastern slopes, Seminoe Reservoir, all area draws and washes, Saratoga, area draws and washes N to Walcott, Poison Spider Creek, area washes and draws, Check out my article about how to identify a geode, Rockhounding on Public Land: Laws and Regulations, Can You Collect Rocks in State Parks? ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Theyre excellent for novices and experts alike, not to mention the members can likely share some of the lesser-known locations. you can access Utah rockhounding locations https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=17-pa3pYy0AqN0D2Zh4cXklR9A7g&ll=39.483150381536596%2C-111.60763899999999&z=8. Rockhounding Wyoming by Kenneth Graham. google_color_border="1B1B1B"; However, there was some trouble with this in the recent past. Rockhounding Wyoming: A Guide to the State's Best Rockhounding Sites $24.95 This title will be released on July 1, 2023. Petrified wood can be found in the Amethyst Mountains area of Yellowstone as well. Johnson County is located in north-central Wyoming. google_ad_type="text_image"; what are the host rocks associated with watermelon rock and the labradorite? Wyoming Rockhound Locations Wyoming is among the top rockhounding locations in the United States. Members have access to the Jade State Newsletter, containing news and updates on subjects concerning geology and mineralogy. Use caution. The GPS coordinate I put up is right by a place called Black Rock, which is an ultrapotassic, lamproite volcaniclastic exposure. To gain permits for rockhounding in Wyoming, please check the BLM website here. In the Casper Mountains, you can find chromite, feldspar minerals, or beryl. google_color_text="FFFFFF"; Also explore the WSMGS Topic Library for articles such as google_color_url="FFFFFF"; Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.