Orella: Fairburn Agate & Jasper Rockhounding in Dawes County, Nebraska

Plan your visit

Generally open to casual rockhounding

County

Dawes County

State

Nebraska

Nearest road

Sugar Loaf Road

Coordinates

42.91786, -103.47246

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

Land & collecting status

Generally open to casual rockhounding

Most public-tagged spots sit on BLM, U.S. Forest Service, or other federal land where reasonable hand collecting of common rocks and minerals is allowed. Confirm posted rules and active mining claims before you dig.

Access note: Oglala National Grassland is USFS land (Nebraska National Forests & Grasslands). Casual surface collecting of rock, agate, and petrified wood for personal, noncommercial use is allowed without a permit, up to 25 lb per day and 250 lb per year. No digging, no selling, and no collecting vertebrate fossils, artifacts, or meteorites (those are federally protected). Grassland is checkerboarded with private ranch tracts, so confirm you are on the federal parcel before collecting.

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 Orella

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Best months: March to November. Typical highs run 90°F in midsummer and 38°F in midwinter, with winter lows near 8°F.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, ARDMORE 1 NW station (12 mi away), adjusted for elevation.

Geology at Orella

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

3,840 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