USA Rockhounding is a map and field guide for people who collect rocks, minerals, fossils and gold in the United States, and for metal detectorists. It brings together public records about where materials occur with the rules that decide whether you can collect there, so you can plan a trip that is both productive and legal.
Why this site exists
Most rockhounding information online is scattered across old forum threads, out-of-date books and lists of places with no word on who owns the land today. Collectors drive hours to a site that closed years ago, or that sits on a mining claim, or inside a park where collecting is not allowed. We started USA Rockhounding to fix that: one map that shows what is known about a place and what the current rules are, with a source for each.
What you will find here
- An interactive map covering all 50 states, built from more than 600,000 source records and a hand-curated core of public collecting areas, fee-dig mines, beaches, rivers and fossil sites.
- State guides for every state, describing what each state is known for and where to start.
- Mineral pages such as agate, geodes, gold and shark teeth, showing where each is found.
- Metal detecting guides with the rules for parks, beaches and public land in each state.
- Gear guides for field tools, rock tumblers, lapidary equipment and UV lights.
- Maps for other countries, including Canada, Australia and Europe.
How we work
Every place on the map carries a status that tells you what the evidence supports today: Ready, Ready with conditions, Research, or Protected. A place only becomes Ready when we have found a current source, usually the land manager or the operator, that supports the activity shown. Each record keeps the date it was last checked. You can read the full process on our methodology page and see what each status means on how map statuses work.
We do not accept payment to change a status. Some pages contain affiliate links to gear; these are explained in our affiliate disclosure and never affect what the map says about a place.
Help us keep it accurate
Rules change, roads wash out, fee sites open and close. If you have visited a place and found something different from what we show, please report a change. Visitors who send photos and field notes are credited on the page. Clubs, museums and land agencies are welcome to get in touch about listings and corrections. See our corrections policy for how we handle reports.
Contact
Use the contact page for questions, corrections, new sites and partnership enquiries.