DesertUSA’s Rockhound Guide

DesertUSA’s Rockhounding Guide

Text by Jay Sharp

Can I Collect Rocks Legally on Public Lands?

Typically, you may be allowed to take “reasonable” amounts of rocks, minerals, invertebrate fossils, and petrified wood in non-restricted areas without using power equipment for your collection. Still, because regulations vary with the location and the administrative state or federal agency, you should check with the proper local officials before you begin collecting. 

Help Kids Discover Rocks and Learn about Geology

Families often discover that scouring the countryside for rocks can be as fun as panning streams for gold. It often yields more immediate rewards. Moreover, kids may find that a stone can have a purpose almost as exciting and satisfying as serving as a missile for smashing a window or smacking a cousin’s head. Youngsters may come back from a trip telling stories about the stories that rocks tell. 

Rock, Gem, & Mineral Shows in Quartzsite, AZ and Tucson, AZ

Hundreds of thousands of snowbirding and RVing rock hounds pilgrimage to Arizona, primarily to Quartzite and Tucson, to renew old friendships, gossip, compare notes, tell yarns, swap rocks and minerals, and buy and sell specimens. In Quartzsite, in western Arizona, they shop at eight significant shows, where 2000 vendors sell rocks, minerals, gems, fossils, and handcrafts in one of the world’s largest outdoor flea markets. In Tucson, at the annual gem and jewelry show – the largest in the world – they can visit nearly 40 venues during late January and early February. They can, as the Whirled Planet Internet site says, “find everything from fossils and mineral specimens to beads to high-end diamond jewelry. If it’s made from stone, chances are [they] can find it in Tucson.”

Rockhounding Destinations

Rocks, Minerals & Geology Index
Collectible Rocks and Minerals
Hunting for Meteorites
Fossil Hunting in the Yuha Desert
Clapp Spring Tube Agate – Palo Verde Mountains, CA
N. Black Hill Geode Beds – Imperial County, CA
Black Agate Thunderegg Mine – California’s “Colorado Desert”
Black Agate Hills – California’s Colorado Desert
Cinnamon Geode Beds – California’s Colorado Desert
Hauser Geode Beds – Wiley Well District near Blythe, CA
Potato Patch Thundereggs & Geodes – Wiley’s Well Rockhound District CA
Thundereggs at Rainey’s Well – California’s Colorado Desert
Thundereggs at the Straw Beds – Wiley’s Well Rockhound District, CA
Collecting Kyanite – California’s Colorado Desert
Limonite Cubes – McCoy Mountains Near Blythe, CA
Rockhounding in the Southern Palen Mountains
Rockhounding and Treasure Hunting at Granite Gap, NM
Rockhound State Park, near Deming, NM (Opal, Jasper, Geodes and more)

Rockhound Books:  The Gem Trails Guides (AZ, CA NV, UT, NM, CO, OR, TX, WA)

Lost Gold Mines & Treasure Stories

Lost Dutchman Mine – Superstition Mountains, AZ
How We found the Peralta Treasures:The Lost Dutchman 
The Search For The Real Facts About The Lost Dutchman
The Peralta Stone Maps: Lost Dutchman Mine
Peralta Stones Are Fakes
Pegleg’s Lost Gold Mine – Near Borrego Springs, CA & Ocotillo, CA
Pegleg’s Gold Found?  
Lost Dutchman Mine Found?
New Evidence About the Lost Dutchman Mine
The Lost Gold of the Tumacacori – Tuscon, AZ
Gold Fever
The Lost Horse Gold Mine – Joshua Tree National Park

New book on the Lost Dutchman Mine

Related Stories About Gold Prospecting:

Gold: A Precious Metal
Gold in the Desert: Gold Overview
Where to Find Gold
Where You Can Prospect for Gold and Other Rocks & Minerals Legally
Gold in Ocotillo Wells, CA
Tumco/Hedges/Ogilby: California Gold Mines & Historical Towns
Looking for Gold in Arizona’s washes
Crystalline Gold: Finding The Mother Lode
How to Search For & Find Lost Gold

Learn How to Pan for Gold

One of the easiest ways to begin working with crystals is to place some around your home or office. Gemstones have more than one symbolic meaning, and more than one use.

Crystal Healing: What is it? Does it work?

Learn more about amethyst, how it is used in jewelry making, home decor, alternative medicine, Feng Shui and Reiki.
Read more about Amethyst. 

More about healing with crystals:

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