Great Falls Adventure | Rock Hounding
A Rock Hound is an amateur rock, mineral, and petrified wood collector; this hobby has been around for over 100 years and in that time, has grown to include hobbyists young and old. As Montana’s basecamp for Art & Adventure, Great Falls offers many ways to immerse yourself in rock hounding.
For anyone interested in looking at river rocks, finding gems like Agates and Sapphires, or delighting in pretty stones, Great Falls is for you! Whether you like rocks small enough to fit in your pocket, or delight in pointing out 20 pound wonders in your garden with stories of where and how you acquired the stone, you can enjoy the adventure of rock hounding, and there are many places throughout Great Falls where you can immerse in this hobby. Wherever you go, you will not be disappointed. Tempskaya (agatized fossil wood) can be found on the west side of the Missouri River south of Great Falls across the river from Cascade. East of Great Falls is Winnet where a few rock hounds have found fossilized shark teeth. East and north of Great Falls has amazing potential for a one-of-a-kind find, since most of the exposures along the backroads hasn’t been explored much.
Around Great Falls, you can search for fossils while rock hounding along the Montana Dinosaur Trail. At Two Medicine in Bynum, you can join a dig in progress and at the Old Trail Museum in Choteau, you can marvel at the exquisite fossils and rocks that have been unearthed. During your adventures, keep an open eye around drainage basins at the Missouri, Sun, Teton and Marias Rivers. You might find a beautiful rock, a dinosaur fossil, or even a piece of petrified wood.
Like all hobbies, there are rules: 1) ensure rock hounding is allowed; in Montana, you might be on someone’s land, so look into and follow the rules! 2) Treat the land as your own and leave it as you would like to find it.
The Treasure State is home to many gems you might find on your next Rock Hounding adventure in the Electric City. Agates are one of Montana’s two state gemstones. Montana Agates are usually translucent with moss patterns. Sapphires are the other Montana gemstone, and are said to be on the English Crown. Other gems that can be found while rock hounding are Amethysts, Chromite, Garnets, Jasper, Quartz, Quartz Diamonds, and Rubies.
Happy Hounding!
