Where to Find Beryl in Colorado
Colorado has 6 mapped collecting spots that report beryl, spread across 4 counties. 5 of the spots are on land mapped as publicly accessible.
Every beryl spot we track in Colorado
Best spotCrystal MountainLarimer County, ColoradoPublic access · Beryl, Aquamarine, Fluorapatite +2
Best spotMount AnteroChaffee County, ColoradoPublic access · Aquamarine, Beryl, Phenakite +2
Best spotQuartz Creek (Brown Derby)Gunnison County, ColoradoPermission required · Beryl, Tourmaline, Lepidolite +2
Sedalia Copper MineChaffee County, ColoradoPublic access · Actinolite, Almandine, Azurite +2
Centennial ConeJefferson County, ColoradoPublic access · Aquamarine, Bertrandite, Beryl +1
Wisdom RanchLarimer County, ColoradoPublic access · Beryl, Chrysoberyl, Garnet +1
Standout beryl spots in Colorado
Hand-picked from the full list above, with the reason each one earns a trip.
Mount Antero
Chaffee County
Mount Antero is the highest gem locality in the United States, with aquamarine and beryl occurring in granite cavities above timberline near its 14,269-foot summit.
Quartz Creek (Brown Derby)
Gunnison County
The Quartz Creek, or Brown Derby, district is Colorado's most fractionated lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatite field, mapped by the USGS as more than 1,800 pegmatite bodies.
Crystal Mountain
Larimer County
The Crystal Mountain pegmatite district, mapped in USGS Bulletin 1011, contains beryl in roughly a quarter of its pegmatites, including aquamarine, alongside muscovite, fluorapatite, and bismutite.
Best counties for beryl in Colorado
Ranked by the number of mapped beryl spots. County links open the full rockhounding page for that county.
Before you go
Read the beryl identification guide so you know what a keeper looks like in the field: Beryl in the encyclopedia.
