A guide to rockhounding, crystal collecting in West Virginia

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Looking for a new way to explore the outdoors in West Virginia and even take a piece of it home? Rockhounding could become your newest hobby.

The term “rockhounding” refers to searching for and collecting rocks, fossils or minerals, generally in an amateur capacity.

There are some places in West Virginia where you can pay for gemstone mining activities, like at Seneca Caverns and Smoke Hole Caverns , but for more nature-centered activity, some public lands allow rock collecting for free without a permit.

Where to look

The Monongahela National Forest and the Cheat and Monongahela river valleys are considered some of the best places for finding minerals and crystals in West Virginia. The areas around Seneca and Smoke Hole Caverns are some of the best places for more showy crystals like geodes.

Rockhounding is legal without a permit in the majority of the Monongahela National Forest as long as you follow U.S. Forest Service guidelines . No permit is needed as long as:

• You collect in small, limited amounts (less than 10 pounds)
• It is for non-commercial use
• Samples are only collected from the surface without digging tools of any kind
• You do not take any vertebrate fossils or shark teeth
• You do not take artifacts of human life, including pottery or arrowheads

However, even within the Mon Forest, there are places where rockhounding is off-limits. Areas with wilderness designations, of which there are seven in the Mon Forest , have additional protections that make rock collecting illegal.

It is also illegal to remove rocks from West Virginia Wildlife Management Areas , of which there are 95 maintained by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources .

Generally, national parks like the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve do not allow rockhounding either .

If you’re not sure if an area of public land is open to collecting without a permit, it’s best to contact management for the area, whether that’s the state, Forest Service or National Parks Service.

The nearby George Washington National Forest allows for rockhounding but a permit that costs $25 is required.

Keep in mind that collecting on any private land is not allowed without permission. For more information about general rockhounding etiquette, click here .

What to look for

Quartz is probably the most common and easy to find crystal in West Virginia. Quartz can be found in multiple areas in the state in a range of different colors. Depending on where you are looking, you may also find celestite, calcite or dolomite crystals or iron minerals like pyrite—commonly known as fools gold—and siderite.

In some areas of Southern West Virginia along the Greenbrier and Kanawha river valleys, fossils like petrified wood and coral have been found. Photos of standout fossils that have been found in West Virginia can be viewed on the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) website .

Precious gems are not typically found in West Virginia, although there have been some outlying instances. In fact, one of the largest diamonds in America at more than 34 karats was found in West Virginia in 1928 . However, no other diamonds have been found in the Mountain State.

Opals have also been found on the underside of sandstone overhands and cliffs near Coopers Rock State Forest in Monongalia County, according to the USGS . Semiprecious Carnelian has also been found in parts of Summers County.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.