Valentine: Agatized Wood & Opalized Wood Rockhounding in Cherry County, Nebraska

Plan your visit

Permission required before collecting

County

Cherry County

State

Nebraska

Nearest road

N-12

Coordinates

42.89717, -100.49053

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: Hunt gravel and public land, not private ranch pasture. Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest allows the same USFS casual surface collecting (personal use, up to 25 lb/day, no digging or fossils). Nebraska's interior rivers are legally non-navigable, so the streambed belongs to the adjacent landowner: collect only at public bridge crossings, public accesses, or with landowner permission, and stay off posted land.

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 Valentine

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Best months: March to November. Typical highs run 90°F in midsummer and 36°F in midwinter, with winter lows near 14°F.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, VALENTINE #1 station (3 mi away), adjusted for elevation.

Geology at Valentine

This spot sits on White River Group, mapped as clay that formed roughly 34 to 23 million years ago. Petrified wood typically travels as tough float, and worked gravels like these are exactly where weathered pieces tend to collect.

Mapped unit

White River Group

Age

34–23 Ma (Early Oligocene to Late Oligocene)

Rock types

clay

Elevation

2,410 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.

• Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands
• Conservation and Survey Division, University of Nebraska
• Nebraska Game and Parks rules
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules