Cloquet: Lake Superior Agate & Garnet Rockhounding in Carlton County, Minnesota

Plan your visit

Permission required before collecting

County

Carlton County

State

Minnesota

Nearest road

Reservation Road

Postcode

55720

Coordinates

46.75025, -92.49349

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: Carlton County and the Moose Lake Area Chamber of Commerce run an agate-picking permit program that opens designated county gravel pits (for example the Soo Line Pit) to collectors for a small per-person fee; keep the permit visible on the dashboard and stay clear of pits in active operation. Private pits and land require the owner's permission. Moose Lake State Park is display-only (its Agate and Geological Interpretive Center), and rock collecting inside the park is prohibited.

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 Cloquet

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Best months: April to October. Typical highs run 79°F in midsummer and 18°F in midwinter, with winter lows near 2°F.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, CLOQUET station (3 mi away).

Geology at Cloquet

This spot sits on Slate and graywacke, mapped as slate and graywacke that formed roughly 2050 to 1600 million years ago. Metamorphic rock like this weathers into resistant float, and minerals that survive transport typically concentrate in nearby drainages.

Mapped unit

Slate and graywacke

Age

2050–1600 Ma (Paleoproterozoic)

Rock types

slate and graywacke

Elevation

1,210 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.

• Minnesota Geological Survey
• Minnesota DNR state land rules
• Superior National Forest
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules