Chambless Rock Collecting Area

BLM rock collecting area on the southern edge of the Trilobite Wilderness, in the Mojave along historic Route 66. Green epidote turns up in the washes, often with blades of shiny hematite; hematite and magnetite sit in reddish-brown iron deposits near old shafts; the side canyons hold tiny dark red to brown garnets, and an old quarry gives chunks of limestone and marble. The area lies inside Mojave Trails National Monument: the BLM still lists it as a rock collecting area, but the monument's management plan is being written and could change the rules, so check with the Needles Field Office before you go. The BLM also notes a gray limestone ridge full of fossils in a canyon farther east: only invertebrate fossils may be collected.