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Field CollectingRoad Trip

3rd Feb 2017 00:54 UTCAntonio Nazario

In the summer my family and I are to go on a road from Laramie, Wyoming to South Dakota and may include Colorado. Any places of interest to visit or go collecting?

3rd Feb 2017 08:46 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

Go to the museum in Denver!

3rd Feb 2017 08:50 UTCAlfredo Petrov Manager

Golden, Colorado: School of Mines museum! One of the top-10 mineral collections in North America. And a short walk away is Table Mountain, with lots of zeolites.

3rd Feb 2017 11:51 UTCSusan Robinson

The Black Hills of South Dakota are beautiful. Don't miss visiting the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research and their museum in the old movie theater in Hill City, SD. The area around Keystone has a lot of mineral shops as well as some places to go to collect. Jewel cave, just south of the Black Hills, has an underground tour of a large cave that has calcite crystals lining its walls.

Custer State Park is a very large area, with spectacular views and mountains and is worth the drive to visit it. many Hollywood westerns were made in that area, since the scenery is so beautiful.

Rapid City has the SD School of Mines, with a nice mineral collection on view.

Devil's Tower, the volcanic neck that consists of columnar basalt is not that far a drive over into Wyoming. Of course, you can also visit Mt. Rushmore, which is a nice half-day visit and drive.

Enjoy your trip!

3rd Feb 2017 16:02 UTCMatt Neuzil Expert

There are a couple caves. I cant remember if i saw crystal cave, wind cave or what the name was. It was pretty cool. There are some roadcuts where garnets and staurolites can be found as well. Just make sure you arent in national forest or such designated spots where removal of rock is prohibited.

I noted little agates in a part of the badlands along with a worn cluster of barite blades.

3rd Feb 2017 16:09 UTCEd Clopton 🌟 Expert

The Black Hills are my favorite place to be. I second Susan's recommendation of Jewel Cave National Monument west of Custer and the School of Mines museum in Rapid City. I led cave tours at Jewel Cave (and collected at pegmatite mines all around the Custer area) for nine summers during and after college, the most enjoyable job I've ever had. Wind Cave National Park is also very worthwhile. The Scenic Tour at Jewel Cave and the Candlelight Tour at Wind Cave make a great combination with zero duplication of what you see & do. Both are world-class cave tours. The Badlands east of the Black Hills is also an interesting geological area, especially (but not only) if you are into paleontology.

The Gold Museum in Lead (pronounced "leed") is worth a visit, too; Lead was the site of the Homestake mine, for a long time the most productive gold mine in the U.S., something you usually wouldn't associate with South Dakota!

In Colorado, the Denver Museum of Natural History is a must-see. If you get to the Colorado Springs area, check out the Western Museum of Mining and Industry south of town near the Air Force Academy. It is a first-rate museum of western mining history and technology with lots of operating equipment, a working stamp mill, classes on panning and assaying, etc. It's the only museum whose membership organization I have ever joined--I was that impressed by my first visit some 30 years ago--and I've been a member ever since, even though I've only been able to visit in person once more since joining.

Travel safely and have a good trip!

5th Feb 2017 18:01 UTCJoel Herr

I echo the comments about the Black Hills being a wonderful location to visit and collect. If you are coming up from Laramie, you could enter the area directly from the South or from the West on highway 16 out of Newcastle. If you come in from the West you will pass Tepee Canyon dig sites that still have some agates if you are willing to work at it some. If your vehicle has some clearance you should be able to traverse the FS roads to get somewhat close. Continuing east you will come to Jewel Cave National Park – I envy the opportunity that Mr. Clopton had working in the area and leading cave tours. Further east, you come to North Pole Rd heading north. As you travel north you will see schist formations on the hills to the east in about ½ a mile – with embedded garnets. Most are pretty small but if you are patient, you can find some nice formed ones. This site is right out of the Midwest Gem, Fossil and Mineral Trails, Prairie States book by Zeitner. Continuing east, as you approach Pleasant Valley Rd (maybe a half mile or so yet to the West), there is a FS road leading off to the right. The Rainbow mine is just a couple hundred yards up off to the left with some collectable dump material.

In terms of collecting regulations, “the collecting of small rocks or mineral specimens from the surface, for personal use – on the Black Hills National Forest does not require a permit.” That comes right off the Forest Service website for the Black Hills locations. However, collecting on National PARK grounds, and State park grounds is prohibited. So no picking up rocks if you go to Jewel Cave, or Custer State Park, or the Badlands National Park among other locations; know where you be at all time…

If you venture past the Black Hills to the Badlands, and take highway 44 out of Rapid City, you will go through thousands of acres of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Again, rock collecting is allowed on the grasslands (but not the Badlands). You can even download a map of collecting sites right off the forest service website. You may not find a Fairburn Agate readily in these identified locations, but they are still weathering out so you might be fortunate. I would stay away from fossil collecting though – highly regulated so unless you know exactly what you have found, I would leave it be. Railroad Buttes and an agate area just west of Interior are a couple of my favorite places to collect in the Grasslands.

Forest Service road maps for the Black Hills and the Grasslands are available if you do a little research on line and contact the forest service offices.

I hope this helps some.

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