Where to Find Petrified Wood in Washington
Washington petrified wood is the state's official gem. Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park in Kittitas County preserves the type locality of a Miocene-age forest buried by Columbia River Basalt flows, with logs and stumps permineralized by silica and chalcedony. The park itself is closed to collecting, but the surrounding Saddle Mountain, Yakima Canyon, and Frenchman Hills areas (much of it BLM and DNR ground) yield collectable petrified wood. The colors run yellow, red, brown, and rare blue, and the wood often shows preserved cell structure under cut surfaces. Most pieces are float weathered out of basalt slope wash.
Spot list checked against source data on April 1, 2026.
Every petrified wood spot we track in Washington
Best spotPe EllLewis County, WashingtonPublic access · Agate, Carnelian, Chalcedony +3
Best spotColumbia RiverKittitas County, WashingtonPublic access · Opalized Wood, Petrified Wood
CentraliaLewis County, WashingtonPermission required · Agate, Carnelian, Chalcedony +3
DotyLewis County, WashingtonPermission required · Agate, Carnelian, Chalcedony +3
Lucas CreekLewis County, WashingtonPublic access · Agate, Carnelian, Chalcedony +3
Cairn Hope PeakYakima County, WashingtonPermission required · Petrified Wood, Opalized Wood
MabtonYakima County, WashingtonPublic access · Petrified Wood, Opalized Wood
McCoy Farm near AdnaLewis County, WashingtonPublic access · Carnelian, Petrified Wood
Petrified Forest State ParkKittitas County, WashingtonPublic access · Opalized Wood, Petrified Wood
Rattlesnake Mt.Benton County, WashingtonPublic access · Petrified Wood, Opalized Wood
Klickitat RiverKlickitat County, WashingtonPublic access · Petrified Wood
LyleKlickitat County, WashingtonPublic access · Petrified Wood
Standout petrified wood spots in Washington
Hand-picked from the full list above, with the reason each one earns a trip.
Columbia River
Kittitas County
The Saddle Mountains expose a petrified forest preserved between Wanapum Basalt flows roughly 14 to 15 million years old, and the area is one of the few places where collectors can legally gather Washington's state gem on public land.
Pe Ell
Lewis County
The Washington Geological Survey's gemstone report records that hundreds of pounds of agate have been taken between Adna and Pe Ell, in the heart of Lewis County's carnelian-agate country.
Best counties for petrified wood in Washington
Ranked by the number of mapped petrified wood spots. County links open the full rockhounding page for that county.
Before you go
Read the petrified wood identification guide so you know what a keeper looks like in the field: Petrified Wood in the encyclopedia.
