Fossil and meteorite hunting in Nevada

Fossil hunting in Nevada starts with trilobites: half-billion-year-old sea creatures you can split out of shale near Caliente, Pioche and even on the edge of Las Vegas. Near Reno, white lake beds hold leaves from a Miocene forest, and the dry lakes and desert flats have yielded dozens of registered meteorites. The famous ichthyosaurs, the Ice Age mammals of Tule Springs and the two celebrated Fossil Hills are look-only or private. Below you'll find where you can collect legally, the rules, and how to search.

Where you can dig and take it home

Nevada is full of fossils, but many of the famous localities sit in state parks, national monuments, protected areas or on private land. These are the places we've checked one by one where you can legally collect and keep what you find, and the meteorite strewn fields where open BLM land meets real, registered finds.

4 fossil spots on public land with no active mining claim.
170 meteorite spots on BLM land inside known meteorite areas, with no active mining claim.
42 meteorite spots on BLM land inside known meteorite areas, with a possible mining claim: check the claim and ask the holder before you dig.
1 public collecting area set aside by the land agency for visitors.
3 clubs that run fossil and meteorite trips, the easiest way into places you can't reach alone.

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 Nevada map: 4 fossil spots · 212 meteorite spots · 1 public collecting area · 3 clubs

What people find in Nevada

Fossils: Trilobites (4 spots), Trace fossils (1 spot), Leaf fossils (1 spot), Plant fossils (1 spot)

Meteorites: Stony meteorites (chondrites) (134 spots), Iron and stony meteorites (40 spots), Stony meteorites (38 spots)

Famous fossil spots in Nevada: look, but don't take

Nevada's state fossil is the ichthyosaur, a giant marine reptile of the Triassic seas. The best place to see it is Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, where bones lie exposed in a protected quarry. Like every Nevada state park, it is closed to collecting, and vertebrate fossils such as bones and teeth can never be collected on federal land either. For fossils you can keep from the same ancient seas, head to the trilobite sites below.

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument and Ice Age Fossils State Park, on the north edge of Las Vegas, protect mammoths, camels and other Ice Age animals. They are wonderful to visit, and closed to collecting. The closest place to Las Vegas where you can legally dig fossils is the Frenchman Mountain trilobite quarry, on the east side of town.

Fossil Canyon, above the Cowboy Trailhead in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, is a great place to see fossil corals, but collecting there is not allowed, and we leave conservation areas off our map.

Fossil Hill in the Humboldt Range is world famous: it is the type locality of the Fossil Hill Member, whose Middle Triassic ammonoids are among the most studied in the world, together with early marine reptiles. The hill sits in the old railroad checkerboard along the Humboldt River, where odd-numbered sections went to the railroad, and the type section lies in one of them. It is private land, so it is not on our map.

A second, older Fossil Hill sits in the Hot Springs Mountains east of Brady's Hot Springs: the Kawsoh Mountains of the old reports, where the paleontologist F. B. Meek described fossil snails in 1870 and where the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology later took families on a field trip. The approach road and much of the surrounding land are private or under mining claims, so we haven't mapped it.

The diatomite near Hazen, east of Fernley, is famous for perfectly preserved stickleback fish from a Miocene lake. The beds lie in a private, working diatomite mine: you need the owner's permission to visit, and it is not open to casual collecting.

Trilobites: Oak Springs, the Pioche Shale and Frenchman Mountain

Oak Springs Trilobite Site, about 12 miles west of Caliente on US-93, is a BLM site set up for visitors, with parking, a trail register, an interpretive sign and a picnic table. Six kinds of Cambrian trilobites occur in its tan shale. Whole bugs are rare; heads and pieces are the usual reward for an hour of patient splitting.

North of Caliente, the Chief Range exposes the Pioche Shale, famous among collectors for Early Cambrian olenellid trilobites such as Olenellus and Bristolia, sometimes preserved in golden-hued iron oxide. Paleontologists have worked these canyons for more than a century. We mark two documented localities on open BLM land, Ruin Wash and Antelope Canyon; both pins are approximate, taken from museum and published records, so explore the shale around them.

On the east edge of Las Vegas, an old quarry at the foot of Frenchman Mountain exposes green shale of the same age, full of trilobite fragments, mostly Olenellus. Complete trilobites are rare here too, but a good head shield is a fine find a short walk from Lake Mead Boulevard. Frenchman Mountain is also famous for the Great Unconformity, where Cambrian sandstone rests directly on rocks about 1.7 billion years old.

Leaf fossils at Mullen Pass

North of Reno and west of Pyramid Lake, white diatomite near Mullen Pass holds impressions of leaves about 15.6 million years old. The site was discovered in 1951; paleontologists later recorded more than 1,400 fossils of 41 kinds of plants, mostly alder, evergreen oak, birch and maple, from a forest that grew around a small, cool lake. The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology brings the public here on its Earth Science Week field trips, and its free road log gives every turn.

Meteorites: Nevada's strewn fields

Nevada's dry lakes and desert flats are classic meteorite country, and hunters with metal detectors have registered dozens of finds since the late 1990s. On our map you'll find seven areas where at least three officially registered meteorites were found close together: Tungsten Mountain in Churchill County, Bluewing near Lovelock, Roach Dry Lake between Jean and Primm, Stewart Valley west of Pahrump, Mandalay Spring and Jungo west of Winnemucca, and Majuba north of Lovelock.

Most finds are ordinary stony chondrites, many of them just a few grams. There are some special ones too: Bluewing has yielded a eucrite, a type of meteorite thought to come from the asteroid Vesta, Roach Dry Lake a rare enstatite chondrite, Tungsten Mountain a carbonaceous chondrite and Mandalay Spring an iron. The heaviest registered stone in these fields, from Bluewing, weighs about 7 kilograms.

How we built the areas: we took the meteorites officially registered with the Meteoritical Society (through NASA's public list, which runs to about 2013), grouped finds that lie within 8 km of each other, drew a 2 km circle around each one, and kept only the open BLM land inside, on a 1 km grid. Wilderness, conservation areas and private land are cut out. Red diamonds sit on a registered mining claim. These are areas where meteorites have been found, not places where they are guaranteed.

The rules: what you can keep

On BLM land you can collect common invertebrate fossils such as trilobites, shells and plant fossils, in reasonable amounts, for personal use, with hand tools and without a permit. You can't sell or trade them. Vertebrate fossils, meaning bones, teeth and tracks, may be collected only by researchers with a BLM permit.

Petrified wood on BLM land: up to 25 pounds plus one piece per person per day, and no more than 250 pounds a year, for personal use only.

Meteorites on BLM land: surface collecting only, metal detectors allowed, no motorized or mechanical tools, up to 10 pounds per person per year, personal use only, no selling or trading. A meteorite found on private land belongs to the landowner.

No collecting in Nevada state parks, national parks, national monuments, national conservation areas, wilderness areas, on tribal land or on military land. Many fossil beds also lie under mining claims or on private sections of the railroad checkerboard: on our map, blue spots and green stripes mean open public land with no active claim on record.

How to search

Trilobites: bring a rock hammer, a couple of flat chisels, safety glasses and gloves. Split the shale along its layers and look at both faces; heads, tails and pieces are common, complete specimens are rare. Wrap finds in newspaper so the thin shale doesn't break on the drive home.

Leaf fossils: split the diatomite gently and tilt each surface toward low sunlight. The impressions are faint, white on white, and the rock is soft, so pack your best pieces carefully.

Meteorites: walk slowly in a grid with a metal detector, or scan bare ground by eye for dark, heavy stones with a thin crust. Carry a strong magnet: most meteorites stick to it. Record the exact GPS point of every find: a new meteorite can be classified and registered with the Meteoritical Society, which is how these fields got on the map in the first place.

Staying safe

Most of these sites are remote and reached on dirt roads. Carry plenty of water, a spare tire and a paper map, tell someone where you're going, and skip the low desert in the summer heat. Wet dry lakes become impassable mud.

Many recorded sites are near old mines. Shafts, tunnels and bad air can kill: never go inside.

Nevada fossil and meteorite curiosities

Nevada celebrates Paleontological Awareness Month every April, and Ice Age Fossils State Park hosts a Nevada Fossil Day with local organizations each spring.

Reno Gem and Mineral Society members hunt fossils in the hills near Luning, south-east of Walker Lake, the same Triassic rocks that hold Nevada's ichthyosaurs; in 2026 a paleontologist joined them to check a find.

The Mullen Pass leaves tell of a very different Nevada: the trees there grew where the yearly rainfall was about 35 inches, roughly five times what Reno gets today.

Easy places to start in Nevada

Oak Springs is a free BLM trilobite site set up for visitors: no fee and no permit.

Oak Springs Trilobite Site · Public area · Caliente · Season: Year-round; spring and fall are the most comfortable.

Join a fossil club in Nevada

These clubs run field trips and talks that include fossils and, in Reno, meteorites. All three met in 2026 and welcome visitors.

Great Basin Gem & Mineral Club · Club field trips · Carson City
Reno Gem and Mineral Society · Club field trips · Sparks
Southern Nevada Gem & Mineral Society · Club field trips · Las Vegas

Questions we often get

Is fossil collecting legal in Nevada?

Yes, on most BLM land you can collect common invertebrate and plant fossils, such as trilobites, shells and leaves, in reasonable amounts for personal use, without a permit. You can't sell them, and you can't collect in state parks, national parks, national monuments, conservation areas, wilderness, or on private, tribal or military land.

Where can I find trilobites in Nevada?

The easiest place is the Oak Springs Trilobite Site, a free BLM site about 12 miles west of Caliente on US-93. Other open spots in the Pioche Shale are north of Caliente, and the closest to Las Vegas is the old trilobite quarry at the foot of Frenchman Mountain.

Can I collect petrified wood in Nevada?

On BLM land, yes: up to 25 pounds plus one piece per person per day, and no more than 250 pounds a year, for personal use only. It may not be sold or traded.

Can I collect fossils at Berlin-Ichthyosaur or Tule Springs?

No. Berlin-Ichthyosaur and Ice Age Fossils are state parks and Tule Springs Fossil Beds is a national monument: all are closed to collecting. Vertebrate fossils like bones and teeth can't be collected on any federal land without a research permit.

Can I keep a meteorite I find in Nevada?

On BLM land, yes: surface finds with hand tools or a metal detector, up to 10 pounds per person per year, for personal use only, with no selling or trading. On private land a meteorite belongs to the landowner.

Where can I hunt for meteorites in Nevada?

Our map shows seven areas with several registered finds on open BLM land: Tungsten Mountain, Bluewing, Roach Dry Lake, Stewart Valley, Mandalay Spring, Majuba and Jungo. Finds are possible but never guaranteed.

Can I visit Fossil Hill?

Both Fossil Hills, the famous ammonoid locality in the Humboldt Range and the snail hill in the Hot Springs Mountains, sit in the railroad checkerboard on private land or under mining claims, so they aren't on our map. For legal fossil hunting, try Oak Springs, the Pioche Shale sites or Mullen Pass.

What if I find a bone or a tooth?

Leave it where it is, take photos and a GPS point, and report it to the BLM or to the land manager. Vertebrate fossils on public land belong to the public and are protected.