My Dad and I had signed up to go hunting down near St. George for some agate with a group of other fellow rock hounds. Unfortunately, when we got there early on Saturday morning, they had cancelled due to recent heavy rains. The areas they had planned on going were in nearby canyons and the chance of flooding or getting stuck was just too high to be worth it.

Since we didn’t want to drive all the way down there for nothing, we figured we’d hit up some of the safer areas in the reference books we had read or other areas we had heard about. The most productive area we visited ended up being just South of the small town of Summit (in between Cedar City and Parowan).

We drove up the road a little ways and, upon getting out of the car, I saw instantly that we were in the right place. Lots and lots of blues, reds, oranges, yellows, whites, and blacks. Such vibrant colors! I knew this area was famous for the sky blue agate many people use for making cabochons or other jewelry and so the hunt was on.

When you get to this area (which is being developed more and more for housing each year), it is tempting to look in the flat areas near the road and in the washes, but we actually had the most success trekking up into the steeper foothills to where the source was.

Walking along the road, I also found a small bullet that had already been fired. The side of it was all melted and scratched like it had grazed off of a tree or rock or something. The odds of finding something like that out in the wild just seem crazy.

It is always great to have a rock hounding buddy and I was fortunate that my dad was able to come along on this day. I think he is already addicted after just one trip ha ha ha! The general area around Cedar City, Parowan, and Brian Head ski resort is known for having a great variety of high quality agate and I am stoked to return to some of the other nearby areas.

Directions to Summit:

From the intersection of 800 North and I-15 in Orem, Utah

1. Drive South on I-15 for 201 miles until exit 71 for Summit, Utah

2. Upon exiting, turn left (East) toward the town

3. After going under the freeway, turn right on the first street you come to called Summer Tree Drive

4. Drive 1.85 miles until you hit a street that goes left (East) up into the mountains and turn there

5. After about .4 miles or so there is a fork in the road. You can hang a right and stop whenever/wherever you’d like. Look to the South all over these foothills

Although this wasn’t my first trip, it was the most recent, so we are starting off our journey here. My good friend Jared and I recently headed down near Green River, Utah to some sites along the San Rafael Swell.

We had heard you can find these geode filled mud balls anywhere from just North of Goblin Valley all the way up to I70 along the swell. And, of course, to pick up any petrified wood, agate, or anything else would just be an added bonus!

After walking around for quite some time, we had come up mostly empty handed. Some fossilized coral, a moqui ball, and an old rusty flask (but no drunken prospector!) was all we had to show for ourselves. Not to mention I had a total of three heart attacks–

1. Walked right up on huge snake just chilling in the sun (I couldn’t even begin to tell you what kind it was as I was a little preoccupied with not pooping in my pants).

2. Observed two spiders that had apparently either fought or mated to the death (their two giant black bodies were intertwined and long since expired).

3. Had a jack rabbit who waited until I was about two feet away before freaking out and jumping around making quite a show (I was already on edge with my knife at the ready waiting for another snake or the ghost of the prospector).

After driving along a few more miles, Jared (or Big J as we like to call him) about jumped out of the car before I had the chance to stop. He had seen a flash of red alongside the road and demanded we stop right then and there.

Much to our delight, we (And by we I mean Big J) found the cash crop. A scattered shale outcropping was intermingled with numerous pieces of jasper, agate, calcite, and celestite. Cuts and scattered pieces of geodes contained super brilliant colors. We filled up a few buckets and dug around for another hour or so in an attempt to gather some whole geodes to cut back at home. It was an agate-filled mudball geode wonderland!

For any interested, we jotted down the GPS coordinates for this particular site (don’t worry…although you could tell that others had been there before, we have only scratched the surface).

Here they are: 38°51.5′N and 110°25.6′W

Directions to Hatt Ranch, Greasewood Draw, and the Squeeze:

From the intersection of 800 North and I-15 in Orem, Utah

1. Drive South on I-15 for 13.5 miles to Spanish Fork exit 258. Stay left onto Highway 6

2. Drive Southeast on Highway 6 for 127 miles until you hit I-70

3. Go left (West) on I-70 for 8.3 miles to exit 149 and take a left on UT-24

4. Drive 3.8 miles to a turn off to the right toward Hatt’s ranch and take this road due West

5. Go straight West for another 4.1 miles to an intersection

6. Take a left at the intersection and drive for 600 feet to the destination

7. On this one I had to use Google Earth so I hope this is the correct outcropping. If not, feel free to explore around the area because you will find great stuff all around you

Thank you for visiting! There are two ways to view/navigate this site:

1. You can simply read this in blog format and follow my adventures on the home page section of the site here (while referencing the “locations” page to coordinate where each of these locations lie on the map),

or

2. You can use this as a general reference guide by clicking any of the additional pages listed at the top for further information (locations, minerals, photos, etc.).

Please let me know if you notice any errors or if I am totally off base with anything. I am a total noob when it comes to this hobby and I am always looking to learn more and more. Please enjoy and again thank you for visiting…