wyoming rockhounding locations google maps

TIP: A great deal of petrified wood is not suitable for rock tumbling or lapidary work because it has too many faults and fractures. 5 Crucial Signs. That is partly because of about 50 percent of the state's public land. If youre looking for gemstones and crystals, Wyoming is home to quite a few that will make good additions to your collection. She said she was looking for Sand People.. Cancel. Tom, this is an AMAZING resource. I love finding agates because you never know what sort of beautiful patterns and colors they might contain. I f you are a rockhound and don't live in Wyoming, you may want to move here! 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. TIP:Agates are one of the most popular minerals among rockhounds in the United States. Some areas appear to have kimberlite, though we havent used a diamond detector yet. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Despite the otherwise impressive rockhounding in Wyoming, geodes are a fairly rare occurrence in the state. In the charred areas with coal youll find petrified wood. google_color_border="1B1B1B"; google_ad_format="120x240_as"; Stream gravels, washes, and draws all over this region will have the potential to contain nephrite jade as well as agates and petrified wood. google_ad_host="pub-6693688277674466"; The pyroxene group of minerals is confined to Precambrian rocks and the Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Absaroka Mountains and Yellowstone National Park. The majority of national parks located in the U.S. prohibit gem hunting/rockhounding. If you sign up for GaiaGPS (free, takes about 2 clicks, and Ive never gotten mail from them, as its a husband+wife team that runs it), you can download the GPS data in the map to use on your phone or to import to Google Earth; just get the KML file. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. These are mostly comprised of old mining prospects, washes, streams, and historically known rock and mineral collecting sites. However, anywhere in the area around Black Rock should be good, and maybe to the west, too, which I havent checked yet. Peridot in ant hills and arroyos near Black Rock Butte. TIP:Rockhounding is much easier when you use proper tools and equipment. I'm starting with the most popular and working my way to the more obscure. Rainbow agates have been found along the Wind River near Riverton. Obsidian isnt listed here since we know how much rockhounds love this igneous rock, so let us talk about obsidian separately. Another good place would be the 100 miles west of Casper County, discovered by a local rockhound. amzn_assoc_title = "Here is some of my favorite rockhounding gear from Amazon"; Enter your email address to subscribe to this the content of this site, some of which, we hear, is worthwhile. Gemstones are some of the most enjoyable specimens that rockhounds can find, but its not always easy to know where to look. types. 2. ArcGIS login. The specimens found here vary from blue, and light gray, to deep colors such as violet. 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. If you want to find sapphires, you may go to the Palmer Canyon in Albany. 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. Now that you know where to find agates in Wyoming, lets see where you can find the official state gemstone of Wyoming, the famous nephrite variant of jade. at Cedar Mountain. Youll see a lot of shining material along the tops of the exposure, but unless you really want some trona, you can ignore it. My neighbor and i hopefully will be heading out to Wyoming if our health is good, sometime this summer. Guide to Prospecting and Rock Hunting in Wyoming As you The clamber down through the woods and thicket is well worth the spectacular site of the mountainous, artesian well. These include allanite, beryl, calcite-aragonite, columbite-tantalite, cordierite, feldspar minerals such as orthoclase, plagioclase, galena, graphite, kyanite, magnetite, manganese minerals, mica minerals, uranium minerals, and varieties of quartz. The most commonly found and collected rocks and minerals in Wyoming are: If youve already found a rock and youre not sure what it is, I would highly recommend checking out my Practical Rock Identification System. circumstances since the article was originally published in 1989, it remains a valuable guide for anyone seeking additional resources in the pursuit of their interests, 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. "Rockhounding Rules on BLM Public Lands" and Use caution. State-By-State Rockhounding Location Guides & Maps No matter where you live in the U.S., there are likely many exciting rockhounding sites nearby. They are most commonly found in gravels and the clays lining nearby streams. If you want to hunt for Jade in Wyoming, you can start from the northern part of the Granite Mountains, or to the south of Crooks Countys Gap-Green Mountain. Still, if you know where to look you may be able to find one for your collection. NPS Public Domain Photo. Wyoming is home to a large array of rocks and minerals that will be of interest to the collector, some of which are fairly unique to the area. Triceratops fossils are mostly found in the Hell Creek Formation in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, eastern Wyoming. That said, lab is pretty much a plagioclase feldspar. Posted on Published: September 29, 2020- Last updated: July 26, 2022. Welcome to the Wyoming State Geological Survey Interpreting the past, providing for the future Take our Survey for a Chance to Win a Map! I mention all this as it helps explain how to find the peridot. Wyoming isnt just rich in rocks and minerals; it also has gold, fossils, and petrified wood. HOME Here you can find minerals, rocks, and varieties of quartz such as allanite, beryl, calcite-aragonite, columbite-tantalite, copper minerals, euxenite, galena, hematite, jade, mica minerals, monazite, opal, pyrite, agates, uranium minerals, vermiculite, gabbro, pegmatite, sedimentary rocks, taconite, and slate, among other things. Is the watermelon rock you mentioned in article of the tourmaline family? While there may have been changes in hours of public viewing, business location and/or other google_color_border="1B1B1B"; You can probably find it just about anywhere in the area, though I had good success looking along the eastern flank of Black Rock. The Medicine Bow Mountains contain slate, platinum-sperrylite, galena, beryl, and barite. Afton Canyon is one of only three places where the Mojave River flows above ground year-round in the Mojave Desert. google_ad_width=120; Here at Rockhounding Maps, we give you access and information to the best dig sites for crystals and minerals in Wyoming. During my brief exploration, I didnt have time to find the gems, but did get diverted by the thousands of exposed fossils. If youre into gemstones like amethyst, I suggest checking out Amethyst Mountain; it got its name for a reason. Quartz crystals can also be found northeast of Buffalo and in Box Elder Canyon. Geology of WyomingCompile digital bedrock and surficial geologic maps at 1:100,000 scale for the state in order to revise the 1:500,000 scale geologic map of Wyoming and surficial geologic map of Wyoming. Pictures and notes on the fossils near Farson. . 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. It looks as though theres something interesting around every bend within every county. If you want to find agates in Albany, they are usually found near Marshall, located in northwestern Albany. Wyoming rockhounding map on Google maps click link below. //-->, , Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites. Wyoming is home to some incredible jade specimens, mainly of the classes nephrite and jadeite. As you 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 types. The ownership and status of land can and does change frequently, making it impossible to document accurate information for every location on this page. Hello and thank you for posting this information. You can follow the formations exposure along a great length of the escarpment. You can find pegmatites in the Haystack Range of Goshen County. The state of Wyoming is noted for its copper minerals, lithium minerals, uranium minerals, feldspar minerals, manganese minerals, mica minerals, and quartz minerals. The sapphire specimens found in the Canyon vary from blue and light grey to deeper colors, including violet. Quartz crystals are abundant in the feldspar pits south of Laramie. If youre looking to start collecting rocks in Wyoming, agates are a great place to start. 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. 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. The Lost Creek areas of this county contain many uranium minerals, while petrified wood is found northeast of Eden. Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution. The Absaroka Mountains are an excellent place to explore. google_color_url="FFFFFF"; I hope my articles will be useful to you. 130 to Walcott Junction. Rockhounding Site And Information Near Me (Clickable Map) - Rock Seeker Rockhounding Site And Information Near Me (Clickable Map) Must Have! Quartz crystals are relatively abundant in the feldspar pits just south of Laramie. The Wyoming State Mineral and Gem Society is an umbrella organization. Agates also happen to be some of the most commonly collected rocks in the United States, including Wyoming.