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Rockhound Times

​View collecting localities on the map, or scroll down to browse the guides by state and county. ​Please bear in mind that land ownership and other circumstances may have changed. If you encounter a site that is no longer accessible, please contact Rockhound Times so we may remove it from the list.
Likewise, if you should discover a site you feel should be featured on here, we would be delighted to hear about it. 


Arizona


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Joseph City, Arizona

Plentiful petrified wood can be found near Joseph City, Navajo County, AZ. Some is agatized and exhibits lovely colors, though the majority is a pale shade of tan.
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California


Humboldt county


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Scotia Bluffs Fossil Beds, rio dell

Abundant fossils in soft sandstone and mudstone. Hand-sized scallops and large clams are quite abundant. More rarely, echinoderms, crabs, and other sea life may be found.
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Moonstone beach, trinidad

Cliff face full of fossils -- delicate and easily broken, but a wide variety. Shells, sponges, crabs, sand dollars, and more.
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Agate Beach, patrick's point

Beach agates in various hues, including carnelian, and numerous jasper pebbles. Many of these are perfect for wire-wrapping and / or tumbling, and there's a considerable variation.
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Lake county


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Lake county 'diamonds', Lower lake

Lake County diamonds are small fragments of volcanic silica glass, which are prized for jewelry-making or simply as specimens.
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Bottle rock road obsidian

Obsidian chunks in all sizes, from tiny shards to boulders the size of a bathtub. Mostly black, though you may find some silver sheen obsidian or snowflake and mahogany.
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Redbud Trail Travertine

Travertine and druzy calcite crystals in a dry creekbed near Redbud Trailhead
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marin county


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agate beach, bolinas

Here you can find "oil agates" (agate with small black inclusions), pebbles of fossilized bone, and the odd petrified sea shell.
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mendocino county


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Eel river north of potter valley

Bright red and sometimes yellow jasper can be found in the riverbed, along with blue or green chert pieces. 
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 point arena pier

Fossil whale bone, small agate pebbles, and the potential for a shark's tooth or two. Also, merciless lunch-stealing seagulls. 
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salt creek, willits

Sizable boulders of lapidary-quality actinolite and jasper in a creek beside the road. Most of the jasper is yellow or red, and some is shot through with threads of agate.
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EEL RIVER at hearst

Large boulders of jasper can be found here, as well as colorful rhyolite, jade, and specimens of fluorescent calcite in shades of yellow, orange, and red.
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tomki creek near willits

This is a good spot to stop at while heading to the Salt Creek and Hearst sites. Right near the roadside, and offers chances for some nice actinolite and jasper.
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Laytonville quarry on hwy 101

The Laytonville Quarry is the type locality for three rare minerals, Deerite, Howieite, and Zussmanite. Also found: garnets, well-formed pyrite cubes, and interesting schists.
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Red mountain copper mines

This is an old copper mine with plentiful specimens of bright blue azurite and green malachite, as well as other copper minerals. Very colorful specimens!
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lake mendocino, ukiah

Bright and colorful jaspers along the lake shore, along with the rare chance of stumbling over some petrified wood.
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MONTEREY county 


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big sur coast 

The Big Sur coast is world famous for its rugged beauty and sweeping vistas, and for its beautiful green nephrite jade that washes up on the beaches.
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​san luis obispo county


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san simeon state beach

San Simeon State Beach offers prolific beach agate collecting, particularly in winter months. You'll sometimes find a specimen or two with sagenite inclusions, and some very nice jasper pieces as well.
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​santa barbara county


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jalama beach

Jalama Beach offers a number of different prizes, including travertine onyx, fossilized bones, very nice fish fossils, agates, and jasper.
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santa barbara beach fossils

The Santa Barbara coast offers prodigious quantities of fossil whale bone, along with other fossils, including petrified wood.
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sonoma county



oregon


coos county


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Bandon fossil myrtle wood

Black ocean-worn chunks of fossil myrtle wood wash up on all the beaches around Bandon, Oregon.
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texas


​bosque county

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Meridian city limits

This site offers heart urchin fossils, various gastropods, and a decent quantity of fossilized coral.
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County Road 3110

A roadside quarry with an abundance of heart urchins, as well as the usual gastropods and such common to the Comanche Peak formation.
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Rudist reef with calcite crystals

A fossil rudist reef with specimens infilled with very attractive clear calcite crystals.
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Cooke County


​coryell county

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farm rd 107 near mound

Fossil ammonites, as well as fairly large gastropods, and a scattering of heart urchins.
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Evant Roadcuts

​A pair of large roadcuts just east of Evant offer well-preserved urchins, large clams, pyrite cubes replaced by limonite, and some orange travertine.
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Fannin County

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North Sulphur River

Mososaur teeth & bones, shark teeth, belemnites, mammoth and mastodon fragments, and more.
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Jacks County

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Lost Creek Dam Spillway

Nautiloids, ammonites, gastropods, crinoid parts, horn and fan corals, brachiopods & other bivalves
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Llano County

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Llano County Llanite

Llanite is an attractive rhylite with gemmy blue euhedral quartz crystals included in it.
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mclennan county

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Lake Waco Shale Pit

Small ammonites -- homomorph and heteromorph both -- as well as shark teeth, turitella, sea urchins, and more.
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Mills County

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FM 1047

Spiny urchins, heart urchins, and ammonite fragments
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Parker County

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Weatherford Fossils

Ammonites and urchins in a roadcut north of Weatherford.
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