Hog Mountain: Arsenic & Arsenopyrite Rockhounding in Tallapoosa County, Alabama

Plan your visit

Permission required before collecting

County

Tallapoosa County

State

Alabama

Coordinates

33.07594, -85.84974

Coordinates are approximate. Confirm the exact ground in the RockHoundR app, where land overlays show which agency manages the area.

Land & collecting status

Permission required before collecting

Requires landowner or agency permission before any collecting. Do not enter without explicit authorization.

Access note: Hog Mountain was Alabama's largest lode gold producer and the ground is private and partly reclaimed, so collecting on the old workings requires the current landowner's permission. Trespass is a misdemeanor under Alabama Code, so secure access first. Placer gold can also be panned from nearby gold-belt creeks where public road right-of-ways or permission allow, using hand tools only.

Public-land rules vary by agency, season, and field office. The RockHoundR app pulls live BLM, USFS, NPS, and tribal overlays so you can see exactly which agency manages the ground at this spot.

Best time to visit Hog Mountain

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Conditions here are workable year-round, with typical highs from 55°F in winter to 90°F in summer.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, ALEXANDER CITY station (12 mi away), adjusted for elevation.

Geology at Hog Mountain

This spot sits on Bluff Springs Granite, mapped as tonalite, quartz monzonite, and trondhjemite that formed roughly 390 to 330 million years ago. Gold in granitic terrain like this is typically tied to quartz veins along contacts and shear zones, with placer color in the streams that drain them.

Mapped unit

Bluff Springs Granite

Age

390–330 Ma (Middle Devonian to Mississippian)

Rock types

tonalite, quartz monzonite, and trondhjemite

Elevation

1,070 ft

Geologic mapping via Macrostrat and the underlying state geological survey maps (CC BY 4.0). Bedrock at the surface can vary within a mapped unit.

Sources & verification

Spot details combine the public RockHoundR location dataset, normalized mineral labels, agency land-status checks in the app, and community submissions. Coordinates are approximate until verified in the field.

• Geological Survey of Alabama
• National Forests in Alabama
• Alabama State Parks rules
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules