Utah, adventures in the desert

Our love of Utah began several years ago, but our rockhounding adventures there only began in 2023. Eric and I planned a trip to get trilobites originally, and we soon found out there were a lot more sites worth exploring, and so many things to see and do. By simply consulting the Gem Trails book for Utah, we were hooked. This post chronicles our first trip to Utah, though we have been back since and had just as much fun and more.

In the unassuming town of Delta, Utah, there stands the metaphorical doorway to a collection of sites that are well worth the time and efforts to get there. Using Delta as a jumping off point, there are quite a few treasures to be found. Just from the Pony Express area, yes that Pony Express, the historical trail that used a relay system and fast riders to communicate messages to gold prospectors in the west, you can find several worthwhile sites.

Our first trip involved the U-Dig Trilobites site of course, which was well worth the stop. The manager that day was a sweet man named, Brett, from Mississippi, with that drawl in his speech that makes you slow down for a moment and listen to what he has to say. He has a keen passion for trilobites, and loved to show visitors like us how to split the little ancient sea-bugs from the shale. We came away with a bucket-full-each of lovely and sizeable specimens.

Pictured above is the quarry wall. They allow you to work below it, not on it. Periodically, Brett comes along with an excavator and brings down fresh material to search through. Getting there earlier in the day pays off, as the temperatures can rise quickly, even in early to mid springtime. Occasionally, Brett will get out there with you and split a few rocks himself, just for fun and practice, educating visitors in his soft southern Mississippi drawl.

Our next stop was Topaz Mountain. It sounds exciting, and in many ways it was. To the right as you enter the basin at the mountain, there are claims. These are very expensive to dig. If you stay to the left and continue up to the parking areas close to the base of the hillside, there is a public dig area. Specimens can be found in the white-ish grey material that is sometimes very dense and tough. We used a lot of hammers to chip out the topaz, but after some persistence, we were successful. I don't know if the public side will continue to be productive, but you can always arrange to dig the claim side, just be prepared for hefty fees.

This is what the host rock looks like that you have to chip into in order to find tiny vugs that contain the topaz crystals. It's very hard work but if you are diligent, you may be rewarded.

The topaz is slightly pink and can fade in too much UV sunlight, so store your specimens in either protective containers, or out of direct sun.

Topaz Mountain had a plethora of lizards and birds and wildflowers when we visited, and we got just as much enjoyment out of watching them as we did chipping away at the rocks doing our slow work of extracting the topaz.

The next site we visited was Conger Mountain for crinoid stems. It's a beautiful and remote place, as are all these sites, so be sure to bring lots of water, a full size spare tire, a battery jumper, tire inflator, and any tools you might need. These areas are "no joke," as they say. Most of these sites are well over 30+ miles out on dirt roads either near, or off the Pony Express, in the back country outside of Delta. You need to be able to rescue yourself or others.

That said, I could not get over the beauty and solitude of Conger Mountain. There is not a lot there, follow the books that take you up to the spring. The wash they describe is off to the right side of the parking spot below the spring. While we were there, we did not see a single other vehicle or person. The peace was lovely. The birds sang. The walk up the wash is full of boulders, and you need to be physically fit, as you do for most of these digs, but it was well worth the trip. We got lucky and found a hole that someone else had started and soon found buried crinoid stems. It's possible to find the occasional clam fossil or crinoid stem washed onto the surface, but most likely you will have to dig to find much.

Despite this, we came away happy and with pockets full.

Pictured near the bottom center are the crinoid stems, still somewhat articulated in situ. We also found loose pieces of various sizes in the dirt a couple feet down.

Cleaned up, these stems look like the classic crinoid stems, dating somewhere around 65 million-ish years back. The geology of the area has been studied and the dates approximated. All in all, it was a beautiful dig with the occasional pronghorn buck sighting and lovely desert birds and flowers. I reveled in the peace of the location, and enjoyed the heat of the springtime weather in Utah.

Lastly, we went to Dugway to find geodes! What a fun place! If you travel all that way down to Delta, you surely can't miss Dugway. Despite years of being a destination for many rockhounds, this area still produces. My hope is that these sites will remain productive for years to come, but of course we must be responsible in our stewardship of our public lands.

Dugway is incredible, in that as soon as you arrive (this is another spot many miles out on the Pony Express), you are keenly aware that there is surface material everywhere. The beautiful grey blue agate pieces can be seen fractured everywhere. I enjoy some surface picking before I jump into a dig spot, or sometimes when I need to stretch my legs, I leave my gear in the hole and go for a little walk and fill my pockets with what I like to call my "pretties."

If you've never seen Dugway geodes, you are missing out. They are sparkly with druzy, and often have red undertones and several layers of blue and white agate. Even the matrix that surrounds the egg is striped and interesting. Geodes are formed in lava flows that contain solidified bubbles or pockets. Over time, these pockets become filled or lined with silicate rich material (agate) that layer up and sometimes grows crystals and make what we have dubbed geodes.

Above is our treasurer, who traveled with us on our second trip to Dugway in 2025. She is holding a nice broken geode with blue-grey druzy crystals inside. Once cleaned up, this will be a lovely display piece.

Dugway is well known, but I still believe it is worth checking out, and should produce geodes for a while. Let's be good rockhounds and remember the code of ethics, don't leave trash, be kind to others, and treat the environment like it's the place you live. You will also likely encounter a lot of wildlife at these dig sites, so enjoy, be kind and quiet, but have fun!

As mentioned, Utah is a fascinating place for many reasons, and I highly recommend consulting the Gem Trails books for your next adventures. As I have time, I will add our adventures to Utah from 2025. There are more sites to talk about and more digging to describe. Utah is well worth the drive, if even just for the scenery and parks, let alone the rock collecting opportunities!