Rock Collecting, Gold Prospecting and
Fossil Hunting
Things To Do In The Desert
By L. Bremner of Desert Road Trippin’
One of my oldest desert memories is of my dad taking our family rock hounding. We would hunt for geodes, fossils, agate, rose quartz crystal, tourmaline, fire opal, jade and of course gold.  In the early years we would go to the Kern River with a dredge and look for gold while we camped along the rivers edge. The Hauser Geode Beds were very memorable because we looked for two days to find the location of the geodes and when we discovered them we pulled out a bucket full. It is so nice to be rewarded when you search so long for something!
We’ve been to many places over the years, but there are a few that really stand out in my memory. I’ll share those locations with you and link to a few others that authors have written about on DesertUSA.com. Some locations are easy to find and others, like the Hauser Geode Beds, much more difficult.
If you go rockhounding, you should pick up some books in DesertUSA’s online store. We have an excellent selection of guide books, rock and mineral books and maps. The Gem Trail Series is one of the best sets we’ve used. You can buy the set which includes books for multiple states or you can buy just the state where want to rockhound.
Arizona Locations
California Locations
Potato Patch Thunder Eggs – Geodes & Nodules
Oyster Shell Fossils – Yuha Basin
McCoy Mountains Limonite Cubes
Southern Palen Mountains – Quartz crystals
New Mexico Locations
For more information about rockhounding, rock collection sites and gold prospecting visit DesertUSA.com’s Rockhounding pages.
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If I find a native American Arrowhead along the Nevada highway..in the desert, can I keep ?
Chuck do you go out past Desert Center to the prison Head South past the prison and there’s tons of rock great Rock hunting there you can actually Camp there and everything
Really cool site, I’ve really enjoyed reading this post. If you ever get out to Washington state you should check out Hansen creek. There’s a really good site at Hansen Creek Crystals. One of the best places I’ve been to lately.
If you go to DesertUSA’s page on rockhounding here you’ll find lots of locations that permit collecting:
https://www.desertusa.com/thingstodo/du_ttd_treasure.html
Here’s a few you might check out:
Black Agate Thunderegg Mine
Clapp Spring Tube Agate
Black Agate Hills
Cinnamon Geode Beds
Hauser Geode Beds – BLM
Opal Hill Mine – Fee
Thanks for your comment, and wishing you good collecting!
Hi, I love hiking in the desert around Palm Springs and I am always looking for areas where one might look for gems, precious minerals and geological wonders like thunder eggs.
I haven’t been aware of any trails or sites that allow the general public to look for and collect the above items and I don’t want to overstep my rights in such a beautiful desert area.
Can you advise on where one might explore for such treasures? thanks, Chuck