Owyhee & southeast high desert
Plume agate, Owyhee picture jasper, common opal, and thundereggs. Long approach drives on dirt roads — high-clearance recommended outside of dry weather.
Rockhounding in Oregon
72 mapped spots across 22 counties. Oregon has a lot of good rockhounding in a compact area: high desert, Owyhee country, Cascade foothills, and the coast. Common finds include thundereggs, agate, jasper, obsidian, opal, and petrified wood, with many public BLM areas open to recreational collecting.
Oregon rockhounding photos
Representative spot and material photos from locations in this state, shown where verified public image records are available.
Map showing 72 rockhounding spots in Oregon
Top minerals found in Oregon
Counts reflect how many spots in this list mention each mineral.
- Agate35
- Jasper34
- Chalcedony22
- Thundereggs12
- Petrified Wood11
- Geode7
- Bloodstone6
- Carnelian6
- Moonstone6
- Quartz4
- Chert3
- Gold3
Notable areas: Glass Buttes obsidian, Lake County thundereggs, Sweet Home petrified wood, and Owyhee jasper are common Oregon targets.
Geology behind Oregon rockhounding
Oregon's rockhounding comes from three main settings: the Cascade volcanic arc, the Basin and Range high desert in the southeast, and the Coast Range and Klamath terranes. The Owyhee Plateau has Miocene rhyolite flows, ash beds, and lake deposits that produce thundereggs, plume agate, picture jasper, and common opal. The Cascades add basalt, obsidian at places like Glass Buttes and Burns Junction, and zeolites. Central and eastern Oregon lake beds preserve petrified wood, including material near Sweet Home and the John Day basin.
Best regions to focus your search
Central Oregon (Glass Buttes, Prineville, Madras)
Obsidian in many color varieties at Glass Buttes, plus Priday Ranch and Richardson's thundereggs, jasper, and agate. Several established dig sites sit in this part of the state.
Cascade range
Zeolites, agate, jasper float in stream gravels, and quartz crystal pockets in volcanic flow rock. Heavily roaded by USFS, snowbound in winter.
Willamette Valley & Coast
Petrified wood near Sweet Home (Holley Blue agate area), beach agates and jasper from the Pacific coast beaches. Coast collecting is by hand only and tide-dependent.
Best season
May through October is the usual window for the high desert and Owyhee. Winter can mean snow and muddy clay roads. Coast agate hunting is strongest after winter storms, roughly November through March, when fresh gravel is exposed.
What to bring
Rock hammer and chisels, safety glasses, sturdy boots, gloves, sun protection, plenty of water, full-size spare tire and a jack rated for your vehicle, paper maps or offline maps, and a way to call out (cell coverage is spotty east of the Cascades). Long pants are worth it for sagebrush country.
Local collecting history
Oregon rockhounding grew out of early-20th-century claim work in Owyhee and Lake counties. The thunderegg became the state rock in 1965, tied to the agate-filled rhyolite nodules found around Priday Ranch and nearby ground.
Rockhounding near major Oregon cities
Day-trip range. Each section lists the closest mapped rockhounding spots within about 150 miles of the city — most are inside a 2 to 3 hour drive.
Rockhounding near Portland
See all →6 closest spots to Portland, OR.
- CamasClark County · Gold12 mi15 min drive
- Brush PrairieClark County · Gold16 mi20 min drive
- Columbia River shoreColumbia County · Thomsonite20 mi25 min drive
- WashougalClark County · Moss Agate, Amethyst21 mi26 min drive
- Clear CreekColumbia County · Plume Agate, Carnelian35 mi44 min drive
- KelsoCowlitz County · Agate39 mi49 min drive
Rockhounding near Bend
See all →6 closest spots to Bend, OR.
- Bear CreekCrook County · Moss Agate, Chalcedony28 mi35 min drive
- Shores of Ochoco ReservoirCrook County · Ochoco Jasper36 mi45 min drive
- Carey Agate BedsCrook County · Agate, Chalcedony45 mi56 min drive
- White Fir SpringCrook County · Thundereggs45 mi56 min drive
- Harvey CreekCrook County · Thundereggs45 mi56 min drive
- Sheep creekCrook County · Moss Agate45 mi57 min drive
Neighboring states with rockhounding
Geology rarely respects state borders. These states share mapped rockhounding country with Oregon — useful when Oregon is the start, not the whole trip. Each card links to the closest county across the line.
Rockhounding by county in Oregon
County pages are linked once we have at least 3 mapped spots for a focused guide with coordinates, mineral notes, and nearby spots.
- Crook County11 spotsTop: Thundereggs, Chalcedony, Agate
- Lake County7 spotsTop: Agate, Jasper, Chalcedony
- Curry County5 spotsTop: Agate, Jasper, Californite
- Douglas County5 spotsTop: Agate, Carnelian, Chalcedony
- Wasco County5 spotsTop: Jasper, Agate, Chalcedony
- Jefferson County4 spotsTop: Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper
- Baker County3 spotsTop: Agate, Agatized Wood, Chalcedony
- Jackson County3 spotsTop: Bloodstone, Agate Nodules, Carnelian
- Josephine County3 spotsTop: Agate, Gold, Arsenopyrite
- Lincoln County3 spotsTop: Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper
- Malheur County3 spotsTop: Agate, Chalcedony, Chert
- Morrow County2 spotsTop: Hyalite Opal, Nodules Filled With Opal
Top picks in Oregon
7 best spotsHand-picked standouts from the Oregon list, chosen for unusual mineralogy, documented public access, or both. Each card links to coordinates, access notes, and what to look for.
Top pickOpal Butte
PermissionMorrow County
Opal Butte is noted for hyalite and several gem opal varieties, including rainbow, contra luz, hydrophane, crystal, fire, and blue opal. That range, documented in gemological literature and Mindat locality records, makes the permission-required Morrow County site one of Oregon's more distinctive opal occurrences.
Hyalite Opal
Top pickSuccor Creek General Area
PublicMalheur County
Succor Creek is a remote canyon locality where Oregon State Parks identifies a haven for rock hounds and DOGAMI lists agate, jasper, and related chalcedony-family material from the area. Its standout quality is the combination of high-desert volcanic scenery and collectible silica materials, including jasper, chalcedony, chert, and opalized wood.
Agate, Chalcedony, Chert, Jasper
Top pickWhite Fir Spring
PublicCrook County
White Fir Spring is a public Ochoco National Forest thunderegg locality, with DOGAMI and Mindat records tying the site to agate- and jasper-filled nodules. It stands out because the Crook County material is strongly associated with jasper cores, a useful contrast to Oregon thunderegg beds dominated by clearer chalcedony.
Thundereggs
- No photoTop pick
Whistler Spring
PublicCrook County
Whistler Spring is one of central Oregon's classic free National Forest thunderegg sites, listed by DOGAMI alongside White Fir in the Madras-Prineville rockhounding belt. The site is notable for accessible rhyolite-hosted nodules in Crook County's Ochoco country, a compact example of the geology behind Oregon's state rock.
Thundereggs
Top pickGlass Butte Recreational Rockhound Area
PublicLake County
Glass Buttes is a rhyolite and obsidian complex with an unusually broad suite of gem-quality obsidian, including mahogany, rainbow, gold sheen, silver sheen, midnight lace, and other varieties documented by Oregon State University. The BLM-managed setting makes it one of Oregon's strongest public-land examples of volcanic glass collecting, with ordinary rockhounding rules still requiring attention to claims and local restrictions.
Obsidian
Top pickAgate Beach
PublicLincoln County
Agate Beach is named for the agates found along the Newport and Yaquina Head shoreline, and Oregon Sea Grant notes that winter storms expose the gravel beds that supply beach agates. The site stands out because Oregon ocean-shore rules allow small noncommercial collection of agates and other nonliving natural products, making the access as important as the material.
Agate, Moonstone, Jasper, Chalcedony
Top pickBeach Area Yachats
PublicLincoln County
The Yachats beach area sits on Oregon's central coast, where storm-reworked gravel can expose agate, chalcedony, jasper, and related beach material. Its strength is broad legal ocean-shore access for small noncommercial collecting, paired with a shoreline that is repeatedly refreshed by Pacific winter wave action.
Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper, Moonstone
Every rockhounding spot in Oregon
Sorted by county. Tap coordinates to open in Google Maps, or open RockHoundR for the full map view with land overlays and weather.
Oregon rockhounding FAQ
Is rockhounding legal in Oregon?+
Yes. Casual hand collecting is allowed on most BLM and U.S. Forest Service land in Oregon under the BLM recreational mineral collecting policy. National parks (Crater Lake, John Day Fossil Beds), Oregon State Parks, and tribal land are closed to collecting. Always check the local BLM district office before a trip.
What's the daily and annual rockhounding limit on BLM land in Oregon?+
On BLM land in Oregon you may collect up to 25 pounds of rock, mineral specimens, semiprecious gemstones, or invertebrate fossils per day, plus one piece, with an annual cap of 250 pounds per person. Petrified wood is treated separately under the same 25 lb/day, 250 lb/year cap and may not be pooled with other rock weight.
Can I collect agate from the Oregon coast?+
Yes — Oregon's public ocean beaches are open to small-scale, hand collecting of beach agates, jasper, and fossils on the wet sand and gravel bars under OPRD rules. State park uplands above the wet sand are closed. Mechanical digging and removal of intact petrified-wood logs are not allowed.
What rocks and minerals can you find in Oregon?+
Oregon spots in this list commonly produce thundereggs, agate, jasper, obsidian, petrified wood, and common opal. Regional names to know include Owyhee picture jasper, Holley Blue agate, Plush sunstone, and Sweet Home petrified wood.
Where can I dig sunstone in Oregon?+
The Plush sunstone area in Lake County has the Sunstone Public Collection Area managed by BLM Lakeview — a free, open dig site for hand collecting. Surrounding ground includes private fee-dig mines (Dust Devil, Spectrum) with deeper material. Bring a screen and water.
How many rockhounding sites are in Oregon?+
RockHoundR currently lists Oregon rockhounding spots across many counties — a mix of well-known public dig sites and lesser-known locations. The app keeps your private finds saved alongside the public ones.
Map every Oregon spot in the app
Open the RockHoundR app to see Oregon on a real map with public land overlays, weather, geology, and your saved finds.
