Rockhounding in Kittitas County, Washington

Kittitas County

Red Top Mountain sits on the Eocene Teanaway Basalt, the rock unit Washington geologists identify as the source of the area's chalcedony, agate, and quartz-lined geodes. The collecting beds along the ridge yield blue and clear chalcedony nodules, thunder eggs, and crystal-lined geodes including amethyst. The site lies on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and has drawn hobby collectors for generations.

Blue Agate Geode

Kittitas County

The Liberty and Swauk district produced some of the finest crystalline and wire gold specimens in the United States, formed in epithermal quartz veins above town and recovered as coarse nuggets in Swauk and Williams creeks. Hard-rock mines in the hills yield the crystallized gold, while placer ground in the valley has produced sizable nuggets. The district has been prospected continuously since the 1873 Swauk Creek gold rush.

Gold

Kittitas County

The Saddle Mountains expose a petrified forest preserved between Wanapum Basalt flows roughly 14 to 15 million years old, and the area is one of the few places where collectors can legally gather Washington's state gem on public land. On BLM-managed ground near Beverly, surface collection of petrified and opalized wood is allowed under federal personal-use rules of 25 pounds plus one piece per day. Agate, jasper, and chalcedony turn up alongside the wood.

Opalized Wood, Petrified Wood