Rockhounding in Lake County, Minnesota

Lake County

Beaver Bay sits on a stretch of North Shore where both Lake Superior agate and thomsonite wash into the beach gravel, a combination that has made it a long-standing favorite among Minnesota collectors. The surrounding basalt flows are part of the same billion-year-old rift volcanics that produced the state's agates and zeolites. Public shoreline access near the town lets collectors work the gravel after each storm.

Lake Superior Agate, Thomsonite

Lake County

The cobble beaches at Knife River are one of the North Shore's most reliable places to hunt Lake Superior agate, Minnesota's state gemstone, formed roughly a billion years ago in the gas vesicles of Keweenawan basalt along the Midcontinent Rift. Storms sort the shoreline gravel and expose fresh material, and both the lakeshore and the lower Knife River banks produce banded agate. The Knife River Marina beach offers rare, dedicated public parking and access directly on Lake Superior.

Lake Superior Agate

Lake County

Kelsey Beach, the public cobble beach at the Stewart River mouth a few miles north of Two Harbors, sits in the North Shore agate belt where wave-sorted gravel yields Lake Superior agate along with basalt and jasper from the billion-year-old rift lava flows. Like the rest of the shore, it produces best after storms wash fresh cobbles onto the beach. A small highway pull-off and short foot paths give straightforward public access away from the busier marquee stops.

Lake Superior Agate