Updated July 2026
17 mapped spots across 11 counties. Louisiana produces a wide range of rockhounding-grade material: see the full list of spots, minerals, and access notes below.
The best rockhounding in Louisiana is at Ouachita River in Ouachita Parish (agate, petrified wood), Pollock in Grant Parish (agate, petrified wood), and Rapides Parish in Grant Parish (silicified palm wood). In total, 17 mapped collecting spots across 11 counties produce agate, petrified wood, and carnelian, each listed below with coordinates and land access notes.
Representative spot and material photos from locations in this state, shown where verified public image records are available.
Map showing 17 rockhounding spots in Louisiana
Counts reflect how many spots in this list mention each mineral.
Day-trip range. Each section lists the closest mapped rockhounding spots within about 150 miles of the city — most are inside a 2 to 3 hour drive.
6 closest spots to New Orleans, LA.
6 closest spots to Baton Rouge, LA.
6 closest spots to Shreveport, LA.
Geology rarely respects state borders. These states share mapped rockhounding country with Louisiana — useful when Louisiana is the start, not the whole trip. Each card links to the closest county across the line.
County pages are linked once we have at least 3 mapped spots for a focused guide with coordinates, mineral notes, and nearby spots.
Hand-picked standouts from the Louisiana list, chosen for unusual mineralogy, documented public access, or both. Each card links to coordinates, access notes, and what to look for.
Top pickOuachita Parish
The Ouachita River carries agate, petrified wood, and opalized wood south out of the Arkansas uplands, dropping them on gravel bars around Monroe in north Louisiana.
Agate, Petrified Wood, Opalized Wood
Top pickGrant Parish
The gravel-capped Kisatchie Hills around Pollock shed agate, jasper, and petrified wood, including palmwood, into the road cuts and creek bottoms of the Catahoula Ranger District.
Agate, Petrified Wood
Top pickGrant Parish
This is the heart of Louisiana's petrified palmwood country, the silicified state fossil that weathers out of the Oligocene Catahoula Formation across Rapides and Grant parishes.
Silicified Palm Wood
Top pickVernon Parish
Vernon Parish is one of the four parishes, with Rapides, Grant, and Natchitoches, that produce Louisiana's petrified palmwood, and its Catahoula gravels are a reliable source of the spotted, rod-structured fossil wood.
Silicified Palm Wood
Top pickTangipahoa Parish
The Tangipahoa River near Amite City draws agate, carnelian, and jasper from the same Citronelle gravel belt that feeds the Amite, and its LA 16 crossing is a long-known access point for collectors.
Agate
Top pickEast Baton Rouge Parish
The Amite River near Baton Rouge is Louisiana's most productive agate locality, its gravel bars carrying banded agate, carnelian, jasper, and even the rare local opal.
Agate
Top pickEast Feliciana Parish
The Feliciana parishes sit on some of Louisiana's best exposures of the gravel-rich Citronelle Formation, the source rock for the state's agate and carnelian.
Agate
Top pickSabine Parish
Toledo Bend, straddling the Sabine River on the Texas line, is the single best-known name for petrified palmwood, a stone shared as the Louisiana state fossil and the Texas state stone.
Petrified Palm Wood
Top pickVernon Parish
The Leesville area is the classic source of so-called Louisiana opal, wood that has been replaced by common opal rather than agate, giving a waxy translucent stone unusual for the state.
Louisiana Opal
Top pickSt. Tammany Parish
The Pearl River system on Louisiana's eastern edge reworks Citronelle gravels into agate, carnelian, and petrified wood, giving the southeastern Florida Parishes their own collecting water.
Agate
Sorted by county. Tap coordinates to open in Google Maps, or open RockHoundR for the full map view with land overlays and weather.
Open the RockHoundR app to see Louisiana on a real map with public land overlays, weather, geology, and your saved finds.
