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Fossil and meteorite hunting in California: where it's legal

Where can you find fossils in California? On BLM land in the Mojave Desert, where the Marble Mountains hold some of the oldest trilobites in the West and the BLM lets you collect them for free; at the Ernst Quarries near Bakersfield, a pay dig in the shark tooth beds of Sharktooth Hill; and with a club, because California's clubs know the legal spots. Meteorite hunters have the dry lakes of the Mojave: Harper, El Mirage and Lucerne. The catch is the law: in California almost all land owned by the state, counties and cities is closed to fossil collecting, so knowing who owns the ground matters more here than anywhere else.

Where you can dig and take it home

California has thousands of fossil localities and more than 260 registered meteorites, but nearly all the famous places are in parks, wilderness, military bases or on private land. These are the spots we've checked one by one against land and claim records, where you can legally collect and take home what you find: a free trilobite collecting area run by the BLM, a second BLM area with fossil limestone, four meteorite areas on the Mojave dry lakes, and dozens of clubs that run fossil field trips.

Bones and teeth (vertebrate fossils) are protected on federal land: there, leave them in place and report them. Elsewhere the rules depend on the landowner: each site page says what applies.

See them on the California map: 32 meteorite spots · 2 public collecting areas · 37 clubs

What people find in California

Fossils: Trilobites (1 spot), Brachiopods (1 spot), Girvanella algae nodules (1 spot), Epidote (1 spot), Garnet (1 spot), Hematite (1 spot), Magnetite (1 spot)

Meteorites: Stony meteorites (chondrites) (26 spots), Stony meteorites (6 spots)

Why hunt fossils and meteorites in California

Picture a cold, clear winter morning in the eastern Mojave. You park on a dirt road below the Marble Mountains, hike up to a band of greenish shale, sit down on the slope and start splitting thin plates of rock with a chisel. Twenty minutes later a small curved head stares back at you: a trilobite, an animal that lived in a shallow tropical sea more than 500 million years ago. You wrap it in paper, and it goes home with you, legally and for free.

That is what California still offers, if you know where to look. The state's rocks hold one of the richest fossil records in the country, from Cambrian trilobites in the desert to the Miocene shark teeth of Sharktooth Hill, and its dry lakes are among the most productive meteorite hunting grounds in North America. Fossil hunting is a perfect family outing: kids are usually the first to spot the fossils, and every find comes with a story millions of years long. It gets you out in the desert in the best season, when the rest of the country is freezing, and it's a reason to camp under some of the darkest skies in the state.

It's also a great way to meet people. California has dozens of gem and mineral clubs, and many of them run fossil trips, talks by paleontologists and family days. If you've ever wanted to learn the difference between a brachiopod and a clam, or how to tell a real meteorite from a piece of slag, a club meeting is the easiest place to start.

One rule comes before everything else: take only what you're allowed to take, leave the site as you found it, and pack out your trash. The places still open to hobby collectors stay open because people treat them well.

Where to start

Trilobites in the Marble Mountains

The Marble Mountains, a small range near the old Route 66 ghost town of Chambless, hold one of the classic Cambrian trilobite localities of the western United States. The fossils sit in a greenish to rusty shale called the Latham Shale, roughly 515 million years old, sandwiched between a hard quartzite below and a gray limestone above. The trilobites here belong to the olenellids, among the earliest trilobites known, and the shale also yields brachiopods, the trails of ancient worms and, in the limestone above, dark round nodules left by fossil algae.

The BLM manages the Marble Mountain Rock Collecting Area for exactly this: you may collect a reasonable amount of invertebrate fossils and rocks for personal use, free and without a permit, with hand tools only. Don't expect complete trilobites on your first visit. Most finds are single heads, because these early trilobites came apart easily when they died or molted, and a whole specimen is a lucky day. Collectors do best by splitting the shale layer by layer along its natural planes, or by going carefully through the loose pieces earlier visitors left behind.

A few miles away, the BLM's Chambless Rock Collecting Area is better known for epidote, hematite and garnet, but the BLM also points to a gray limestone ridge full of fossils in a canyon farther east. Both areas are now inside Mojave Trails National Monument, created in 2016, whose management plan is still being prepared. Collecting is allowed today, but rules can change: check with the BLM Needles Field Office before your trip, stay on BLM land (there are private parcels around the range) and keep out of the Trilobite Wilderness next door.

Shark teeth at Sharktooth Hill

Northeast of Bakersfield, in the dry foothills on the north side of the Kern River, lies one of the richest marine fossil beds of its age in the world. About 15 million years ago a shallow sea covered this part of California, and its floor collected the teeth and bones of sharks, rays, whales, seals and sea turtles by the million. The bone bed takes its name from Sharktooth Hill, which today is a National Natural Landmark on private grazing land: you may not go there.

You can dig in the same bone bed at the Ernst Quarries, next to the landmark. The Ernst family runs public dig days on their property: you check in early in the morning, drive out to the quarry with the group, get a short orientation and dig and screen the bone bed for the rest of the day. On private land shark teeth are yours to keep, apart from rare scientifically important finds such as articulated skeletons. Megalodon teeth do turn up, but most diggers go home with a bag of smaller shark teeth, and that's already a great day.

The Ernst Quarries is not on our map, because they don't publish a public meeting point: you get the directions when you book. Check their website for the dig calendar, bring all your food and water, and plan around the heat: the San Joaquin Valley is brutally hot in summer.

Meteorite hunting on the Mojave dry lakes

California's dry lakes are some of the best places in North America to find meteorites. On a flat, pale lake bed a dark stone stands out, and researchers who studied Lucerne Dry Lake found that the wind slowly lowers the surface and brings small meteorites back to light. Many different meteorites have been registered on these lakes since the 1960s, most of them small ordinary chondrites weighing a few grams to a few hundred grams.

We've marked the open BLM land inside the four meteorite areas where finds are registered and collecting is allowed: Harper Dry Lake northwest of Barstow, El Mirage Dry Lake west of Adelanto, Lucerne Valley north of the San Bernardino Mountains, and one spot on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park near the Pinto Mountains, where three different meteorites have been found, including a 17.9 kg stone in 1954. Each diamond on the map is a piece of open land inside an area where meteorites have been found: it is not a place where you'll certainly find one.

El Mirage Dry Lake is inside the BLM's El Mirage OHV Recreation Area: every vehicle entering needs a BLM pass, sold at the fee machines on site, the lakebed closes when it's wet, and on weekends it's busy with off-road vehicles and land sailers. At Pinto Mountains almost all the land around the marker is national park and wilderness, where collecting is forbidden: check exactly where you are before you pick anything up.

On BLM land the rules for meteorites are simple: surface collecting only, metal detectors are fine, no motorized or mechanical tools, up to 10 pounds per person per year, personal use only, no selling or trading. Record the exact GPS point of anything you find: a new meteorite can be classified and registered with the Meteoritical Society, and the name of the place goes into the scientific record.

The famous meteorite lakes you can't hunt

If you read about California meteorites you'll keep seeing the same names, and most of them are closed. Coyote Dry Lake, northeast of Barstow, is the richest of all, with dozens of registered finds, but the whole area lies inside the Superior-Cronese Area of Critical Environmental Concern, set aside for the desert tortoise, so we don't map it. Superior Valley lies on Fort Irwin and in protected areas, Cuddeback Dry Lake is next to a military range and two protected areas, Rosamond Dry Lake and Rogers Dry Lake (the old Muroc) are on Edwards Air Force Base, Stewart Valley is wilderness, and the Cargo Muchacho Mountains finds are inside the Picacho protected area.

Military land is closed to the public, full stop. In the other areas, collecting isn't necessarily illegal, but we put on the map only the land where we are sure it's allowed. If you want to know more about a specific lake, ask the local BLM office before you go.

The rules: who owns the ground decides everything

California has a rule that surprises visitors from other western states. Under section 5097.5 of the Public Resources Code, removing any paleontological feature from land owned or controlled by the state, a county, a city or any other public district is a misdemeanor, unless the agency in charge gives express permission. That covers state parks and beaches, county and regional parks, state school lands and the roadcuts along state highways and county roads. The famous fossil roadcuts you read about in old guidebooks are, in practice, off-limits.

On federal land the rules are friendlier. On BLM land anyone may collect a reasonable amount of common invertebrate fossils, such as shells and trilobites, plant fossils such as leaves, and petrified wood, without a permit and for personal use only. National forests allow casual collecting of common invertebrate and plant fossils too. Fossil bones, teeth and tracks of vertebrates, shark teeth included, may not be collected on any public land without a research permit: leave them in place, take a photo, record the location and tell the land manager. Wilderness areas, national parks, national monuments managed by the Park Service and military land are closed to collecting.

On private land, everything belongs to the owner: you need permission first, and that's where you can legally keep vertebrate fossils such as shark teeth, as at the Ernst Quarries. Selling fossils or meteorites collected on public land is never allowed.

Easy places to start in California

California has only a handful of places where the land manager says plainly that you can collect fossils. Both are BLM rock collecting areas in the eastern Mojave, free and without a permit: the Marble Mountain area for Cambrian trilobites, and Chambless, which the BLM also lists for its fossil limestone. Both are inside Mojave Trails National Monument, so check the current rules with the BLM before you go.

Join a fossil club in California

In California more than anywhere else, a club is the smartest way to start. Collecting rules change from one parcel to the next, and the clubs below have shown an interest in fossils: some hold paleontology talks, others run field trips where fossils can be collected legally. The Southern California Paleontological Society is devoted to fossils alone. Visitors are welcome at most meetings: get in touch through their website or Facebook page.

Famous fossil places: look, but don't take

Why clubs matter so much in California

Because the legal picture changes from one parcel to the next, California's clubs are the best guides you'll find. Their field trip leaders know which side of a fence is BLM land, which quarry owner welcomes groups, and which spots closed last year. Some clubs hold talks by paleontologists, others run trips to fossil sites or have fossil specimens in their club collections and shows.

On our fossil map you'll find every club where we found a sign of interest in fossils, plus the Southern California Paleontological Society, founded in 1960 and devoted entirely to fossils, which holds monthly lectures and field trips for its members. Pick the closest one and go to a meeting: most clubs welcome visitors, and a yearly membership is usually cheap.

Staying safe in the desert

Go between October and April: summer heat in the Mojave and the San Joaquin Valley is dangerous, and many dirt roads are a long way from help. Carry far more water than you think you need, tell someone where you're going, and don't count on phone signal.

Wear safety glasses when you split rock, gloves when you dig, and sturdy boots. Desert dust can carry Valley Fever, a fungal infection found in the soils of the Mojave and the San Joaquin Valley: avoid working in clouds of dust on windy days. Watch for rattlesnakes from spring to fall, keep away from old mine shafts, and never enter a military area, whatever your map app says.

The Old Woman and other California meteorite stories

In late 1975 two prospectors came across a huge iron mass in the southwestern Old Woman Mountains, in the Mojave. It weighed 6,070 pounds, making it the largest meteorite ever found in California and the second largest in the United States. Getting it off the mountain took the help of the Marines, and a dispute followed over who owned it, since it lay on public land. It went to the Smithsonian for study, and in 1980 most of it came back to the desert: today you can see the Old Woman meteorite at the BLM's Desert Discovery Center in Barstow, right on the way to the dry lakes.

California has had witnessed falls too. In 2012 a carbonaceous meteorite fell in the Gold Country around Sutter's Mill, the same place where the 1848 gold discovery started the Gold Rush, and in 2015 a stone fell near Creston in San Luis Obispo County. These falls mostly landed on private land, where the meteorite belongs to the landowner, but they show that new meteorites keep arriving: the desert lakes simply keep them visible for thousands of years.

A short history of Sharktooth Hill

The shark teeth of the Kern River hills have been known since the 1850s, and scientists from the California Academy of Sciences were mapping the geology of Sharktooth Hill by 1930. Through the twentieth century the bone bed supplied museums around the world with fossil whales, seals, sea lions, turtles and sharks. Bob Ernst, a local fossil hunter, spent decades excavating there, and his family has been running public digs on their land since 2008, keeping alive one of the few places in California where anyone can legally dig a 15-million-year-old shark tooth out of the ground.

Questions we often get

Is it legal to collect fossils in California?

On BLM land and in the national forests, yes: you may collect a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant fossils for your own collection, without a permit. On land owned by the state, counties and cities, including state parks, beaches and highway roadcuts, removing fossils is illegal under Public Resources Code section 5097.5 unless the agency gives permission. National parks, wilderness and military land are closed, and vertebrate fossils may not be collected on any public land.

Where can I find trilobites in California?

The easiest legal place is the Marble Mountain Rock Collecting Area near Chambless in San Bernardino County, a BLM site where you may collect invertebrate fossils for free with hand tools. Most finds are single trilobite heads about 515 million years old. The area is inside Mojave Trails National Monument: check the current rules with the BLM Needles Field Office before you go.

Can I keep shark teeth from Sharktooth Hill?

Only if you dig on private land with the owner's permission. Sharktooth Hill itself is a National Natural Landmark on private land and is closed to visitors. At the Ernst Quarries next door you can book a pay dig in the same bone bed and keep what you find, apart from rare scientifically important specimens. On BLM land and in national forests shark teeth count as vertebrate fossils and may not be collected.

Can I collect fossils on California beaches?

Generally no. State beaches, county parks and city land are covered by Public Resources Code section 5097.5, which makes removing paleontological material a misdemeanor without the agency's permission, and many coastal bluffs are private. Enjoy the fossils in place, take photos, and collect legally on BLM land inland.

Where can I hunt for meteorites in California?

On open BLM land, especially around the Mojave dry lakes where many meteorites have been registered: Harper Dry Lake, El Mirage Dry Lake and Lucerne Valley are on our map. Many famous lakes, such as Coyote Dry Lake, Superior Valley, Cuddeback and Rogers Dry Lake, are on military bases or in protected areas. El Mirage requires a BLM vehicle pass.

Can I keep a meteorite I find in California?

On BLM land you may keep meteorites you find on the surface, up to 10 pounds per person per year, for personal use only: no selling or trading, and no motorized or mechanical tools. On private land the meteorite belongs to the landowner. In national parks, wilderness and military areas collecting is not allowed. Record the GPS point: a new find can be registered with the Meteoritical Society.

Can I collect fossils in Anza-Borrego or Red Rock Canyon?

No. Both are state parks, where collecting fossils, rocks or anything else is not allowed. Their visitor centers are well worth a stop, and legal collecting is possible on BLM land elsewhere in the desert, such as the Marble Mountain trilobite area.

Do I need a permit to collect fossils in a California national forest?

Not for casual collecting of common invertebrate and plant fossils in reasonable amounts for personal use. Vertebrate fossils require a research permit, and wilderness areas inside the national forests are closed to collecting. Check with the local ranger district for any closures.

More treasure hunting in California

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