Big Bend region (West Texas)
Balmorhea blue agate (Stillwell, Woodward, Walker ranches — fee-dig only), Big Bend plume agates, opal, and red plume jasper. National park is off-limits.
Rockhounding in Texas
93 mapped spots across 50 counties. Texas rockhounding spans agate fields in the Big Bend region, petrified palm wood across the south and east, and limestone fossils across most of the state. Public-collecting opportunities are concentrated on TPWD lands and a network of fee-dig sites.
Texas rockhounding photos
Representative spot and material photos from locations in this state, shown where verified public image records are available.
Map showing 93 rockhounding spots in Texas
Top minerals found in Texas
Counts reflect how many spots in this list mention each mineral.
- Agate24
- Jasper19
- Petrified Wood15
- Chalcedony14
- Agatized Wood13
- Petrified Palm Wood7
- Quartz6
- Barite5
- Fossils4
- Chert3
- Galena3
- Moss Agate3
Notable areas: Balmorhea agate, Big Bend agate (outside the park), Texas petrified palm wood, and Cretaceous fossils are common targets.
Geology behind Texas rockhounding
Texas is over 95% private land, so access matters as much as geology. The Big Bend region exposes Cretaceous limestones and Tertiary volcanics, including sources for Balmorhea blue agate and Big Bend plume agate. The Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk produce ammonites and shark teeth. South and east Texas Pleistocene gravels yield petrified palm wood, the state stone.
Best regions to focus your search
Central Texas
Cretaceous fossils (ammonites, oysters, mosasaur fragments) in road cuts and creek beds. Ladonia Fossil Park (paleontology park) is open to the public.
South & East Texas
Texas petrified palm wood in Pleistocene gravels along the Brazos, Colorado, and Sabine rivers. Often on private ranchland — get permission.
Texas Gulf Coast
Shark teeth, agatized coral, petrified wood, and Pleistocene shells on public beaches like Galveston, North Padre, and Bolivar.
Best season
October through April for Big Bend. For Central Texas fossils, spring creek floods can refresh gravel bars. Gulf Coast beach hunting improves after fronts push shells and gravel onshore.
What to bring
West Texas: rattlesnake-aware boots, gallon-per-person water, sun shade. Fossil hunting: a small pick, brushes, and consolidant for fragile finds. Beach: a mesh bag and a stiff sifter.
Local collecting history
Texas petrified palm wood was designated the state stone in 1969. Big Bend agate hunting dates back to ranch lease arrangements set up in the 1950s — many of the same families (Woodward, Stillwell) still operate the fee digs today.
Rockhounding near major Texas 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 Houston
See all →6 closest spots to Houston, TX.
- E of New CaneyMontgomery County · Jasper, Petrified Palm Wood29 mi36 min drive
- Sam Houston National Forest (Double Lake)San Jacinto County · Petrified Palm Wood, Petrified Wood56 mi1 hr 10 min drive
- Gibbons creekGrimes County · Tektites71 mi1 hr 29 min drive
- N of Lake LivingstonTrinity County · Petrified Palm Wood78 mi1 hr 37 min drive
- Broad area around BediasGrimes County · Tektites, Black Diamond78 mi1 hr 38 min drive
- Nails Creek ParkLee County · Tektites87 mi1 hr 48 min drive
Rockhounding near San Antonio
See all →6 closest spots to San Antonio, TX.
- New BraunfelsComal County · Petrified Wood31 mi39 min drive
- Erdman FarmKarnes County · Petrified Palm Wood, Opalized Wood41 mi51 min drive
- Tessman FarmKarnes County · Agatized Palm Wood41 mi51 min drive
- Road cut on E side of US 87Gillespie County · Fossils56 mi1 hr 10 min drive
- Amethyst Hill on Althaus RanchBlanco County · Amethyst, Citrine61 mi1 hr 16 min drive
- Stream gravels around FredericksburgGillespie County · Almandine Garnet62 mi1 hr 18 min drive
Rockhounding near Dallas
See all →6 closest spots to Dallas, TX.
- Sides of creekEllis County · Pyrite24 mi30 min drive
- General AreaEllis County · Fossilized Shark Teeth24 mi30 min drive
- S side of US 287Ellis County · Fossil Leaf Prints24 mi30 min drive
- Lyndon B. Johnson National Grassland (Black Creek Lake)Wise County · Fossilized Oysters, Agate64 mi1 hr 20 min drive
- General AreaWise County · Pyrite Cubes64 mi1 hr 20 min drive
- Ladonia Fossil ParkFannin County · Fossilized Shark Teeth, Ammonites68 mi1 hr 25 min drive
Neighboring states with rockhounding
Geology rarely respects state borders. These states share mapped rockhounding country with Texas — useful when Texas is the start, not the whole trip. Each card links to the closest county across the line.
Rockhounding by county in Texas
County pages are linked once we have at least 3 mapped spots for a focused guide with coordinates, mineral notes, and nearby spots.
- Brewster County9 spotsTop: Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper
- Hudspeth County6 spotsTop: Turquoise, Agate, Amethyst
- Presidio County6 spotsTop: Agate, Galena, Texas Bouquet Agate
- Llano County5 spotsTop: Blue Quartz, Quartz, Almandine Garnet
- Culberson County3 spotsTop: Barite, Limonite, Texas Bouquet Agate
- Ellis County3 spotsTop: Fossil Leaf Prints, Fossilized Shark Teeth, Pyrite
- Lampasas County3 spotsTop: Celestite, Fluorescent Calcite
- Mason County3 spotsTop: Amazonite, Blue Topaz, Clear Topaz
- Wise County3 spotsTop: Agate, Chert, Fossilized Oysters
- Burleson County2 spotsTop: Agatized Wood, Coral, Fossil Snails
- Houston County2 spotsTop: Agatized Wood, Jasper, Agate
- Bastrop County1 spotTop: Agate, Petrified Palm Wood, Petrified Wood
- Fannin County1 spotTop: Ammonites, Fossilized Oysters, Fossilized Shark Teeth
- McLennan County1 spotTop: Agate, Agatized Wood, Chert
- Palo Pinto County1 spotTop: Bivalves, Brachiopods, Bryozoans
- San Jacinto County1 spotTop: Agate, Carnelian, Jasper
Top picks in Texas
10 best spotsHand-picked standouts from the Texas list, chosen for unusual mineralogy, documented public access, or both. Each card links to coordinates, access notes, and what to look for.
Top pickColorado River at Smithville
PublicBastrop County
The Colorado River at Smithville is a navigable Texas river, so its bed is state-owned public land, and the City of Smithville maintains free river access at Vernon L. Richards Riverbend Park beneath the Highway 71 bridges. Bastrop County is classic petrified palm wood country, the Texas state stone, with petrified wood and agate occurring in the river gravels and the Catahoula Formation.
Petrified Palm Wood, Petrified Wood, Agate
Top pickLlanite Roadcut on Highway 16
PublicLlano County
The roadcut on Texas Highway 16 about nine miles north of Llano slices through the only known outcrop of llanite, a 1.1-billion-year-old rhyolite porphyry flecked with blue quartz crystals found essentially nowhere else on Earth. The blue color comes from microscopic ilmenite inclusions in the quartz, set in a matrix studded with reddish microcline feldspar. It is the single publicly reachable exposure of the rock.
Llanite, Blue Quartz
Top pickMineral Wells Fossil Park
PublicPalo Pinto County
Mineral Wells Fossil Park exposes Pennsylvanian marine shale roughly 300 million years old, where eroded slopes yield abundant crinoid stems, brachiopods, sea urchins, and bivalves. The City of Mineral Wells runs the site as a free public park, and visitors may keep what they find for personal use. It is one of the most accessible fossil-collecting sites in North Texas.
Crinoid Stems, Brachiopods, Echinoids, Bivalves
Top pickLadonia Fossil Park
PublicFannin County
The North Sulphur River channel at Ladonia cuts into Late Cretaceous marine beds that yield shark teeth, mosasaur teeth and bone, ammonites, and Exogyra oysters. The Upper Trinity Regional Water District operates the site as a free public fossil park, and what visitors find is theirs to keep. Mosasaur material is among the more common vertebrate finds.
Fossilized Shark Teeth, Ammonites, Mosasaur Teeth, Fossilized Oysters
Top pickWhiskey Bridge (Brazos River)
PublicBurleson County
Whiskey Bridge exposes the Stone City beds of the Eocene Crockett Formation, widely regarded as the most fossiliferous marine outcrop in Texas, with well over 200 identified species. Collectors routinely recover Eocene snails such as Turritella, clams, small corals, and tusk shells from the bluff below the State Highway 21 bridge. The Brazos River bed here is state-owned navigable land open to the public.
Fossil Snails, Fossilized Shells, Coral, Scaphopods
Top pickBrazos River at Brazos Park East
PublicMcLennan County
The Brazos is a navigable Texas river, so its bed is state-owned and open to public use where reached from a public access point. Brazos Park East in Waco provides a free city boat ramp onto that bed, where exposed gravel bars carry petrified wood, agatized wood, agate, and chert washed down from upstream formations. Low water exposes the best gravel.
Petrified Wood, Agatized Wood, Agate, Jasper
Top pickLlano River at Grenwelge Park
PublicLlano County
The Llano River cuts through the Precambrian Llano Uplift, so its gravels carry granite, gneiss, schist, garnet, and quartz, including the blue quartz that defines local llanite. Grenwelge Park gives free public access to the south bank of this navigable river in the town of Llano. Several other free city parks nearby also reach the river.
Blue Quartz, Quartz, Almandine Garnet, Granite
Top pickDavy Crockett National Forest (Ratcliff Lake)
PublicHouston County
The Davy Crockett National Forest sits in the petrified-wood belt of East Texas, where silicified and agatized wood weathers out of Catahoula and Manning Formation gravels alongside jasper and agate. The US Forest Service issues free use permits for personal collection of petrified wood and common lapidary minerals on the forest. Vertebrate fossils and artifacts remain off limits.
Petrified Wood, Agatized Wood, Jasper, Agate
Top pickSam Houston National Forest (Double Lake)
PublicSan Jacinto County
Sam Houston National Forest carries petrified palm wood, the official Texas state stone since 1969, along with agate, jasper, and chalcedony weathered from young Gulf Coastal Plain gravels. The US Forest Service permits personal collection of common lapidary minerals and petrified wood here under a free use permit. Vertebrate fossils and artifacts are excluded.
Petrified Palm Wood, Petrified Wood, Agate, Jasper
Top pickLyndon B. Johnson National Grassland (Black Creek Lake)
PublicWise County
The Lyndon B. Johnson National Grassland exposes Cretaceous limestone full of fossil oysters along its ridges, plus agate, chert, and petrified wood in its sandy soils. The US Forest Service allows personal collection of common minerals, petrified wood, and invertebrate fossils here under a free use permit. Vertebrate fossils and artifacts are prohibited.
Fossilized Oysters, Agate, Petrified Wood, Chert
Every rockhounding spot in Texas
Sorted by county. Tap coordinates to open in Google Maps, or open RockHoundR for the full map view with land overlays and weather.
Texas rockhounding FAQ
Is rockhounding legal in Texas?+
Mostly only on fee-dig ranches, designated public sites (Ladonia Fossil Park, public Gulf beaches), and a small number of TPWD wildlife management areas with site-specific rules. Texas is 95%+ private land — you cannot legally collect off the highway shoulder or on private ranchland without explicit permission.
Can I collect agate in Big Bend National Park?+
No. Big Bend National Park does not allow collecting rocks, minerals, plants, or fossils. Big Bend agate is collected on surrounding private ranches, including Woodward Ranch, Stillwell, and Walker, that operate as fee-dig sites.
Where can I find Texas petrified palm wood?+
In Pleistocene gravels along the Brazos, Colorado, and Sabine rivers, plus exposures across south and east Texas. Most known sites are on private land — get permission. Some river gravel bars on TPWD wildlife management areas are open under WMA-specific rules.
Are shark teeth legal to collect on Texas beaches?+
Yes. Hand collection of common shark teeth, fossil shells, and beach gravel is allowed on Texas public beaches (Galveston, Mustang Island, North Padre, Bolivar) for personal use. Don't dig dunes or remove live shells.
What rocks and minerals can you find in Texas?+
Common targets include Balmorhea blue agate, Big Bend plume agates, Texas petrified palm wood (the state stone), Cretaceous ammonites and shark teeth, agatized coral, and Llano uplift granite minerals (smoky quartz, feldspar).
Map every Texas spot in the app
Open the RockHoundR app to see Texas on a real map with public land overlays, weather, geology, and your saved finds.
