Alva: Banded Agate & Moss Agate Rockhounding in Woods County, Oklahoma

Plan your visit

Permission required before collecting

County

Woods County

State

Oklahoma

Nearest road

N2445 Road

Postcode

73717

Coordinates

36.78419, -98.65512

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: Most collecting around Alva is on private ranch and farm land, so get the owner's permission first. Public gravel bars along streams can be reached from road crossings, but stay below the ordinary high-water mark and off posted banks. Alabaster Caverns State Park nearby is protected and closed to 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 Alva

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Best months: September to June. Typical highs run 95°F in midsummer and 47°F in midwinter, with winter lows near 23°F. Summer heat here is intense, so carry more water than you think you need and work the early morning.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, ALVA 1W station (2 mi away).

Geology at Alva

This spot sits on Terrace Deposits, mapped as coarse alluvium and fine alluvium that formed within roughly the last 3 million years. Gravels like these concentrate whatever survives the river: agate, jasper, and other tough silica typically show up as rounded, waxy stones.

Mapped unit

Terrace Deposits

Age

3 Ma to present (Pleistocene)

Rock types

coarse alluvium and fine alluvium

Elevation

1,430 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.

• Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, selenite digging
• Oklahoma Geological Survey
• Ouachita National Forest
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules