Coweeman River
Washington
Find: Carnelian agate, petrified wood, white chalcedony
GPS: 46.17156, -122.73212
Nearest city: Portland, OR
Recommended Vehicle: Any
Summary:
The Coweeman River is a challenge to access the water, as much of the surrounding land is private. The GPS marker takes you to a park with water access but there’s multiple access points along the road if you keep an eye out.
A kayak may prove to be handy in the Coweeman river, depending on the water levels. There seem to be quite a few large gravel bars that could be accessed if the water were deep enough. I had my best luck searching gravel bars in slightly faster moving parts of the water, where muck and algae had a harder time accumulating.
I visited in 2022 but I would love to return with a proper set of waders to explore deeper portions of the river.
Video Guide
Check out the video for a better look at what can be found when exploring this spot.
This was the first video I made - Hopefully I’ve gotten a little better with time!
If I could only bring 3 tools…
Chest Waders
Chest waders (as opposed to hip waders) would be really handy for exploring the deeper portions of the river around here.
Agate Scoop
An agate scoop is helpful for both keeping dry and picking up rocks faster. You don’t need a fancy one. Mine is a golf club welded to a kitchen scoop.
Classifier
A classifier is helpful if you’re a fan of sifting through smaller stones. One with a larger, 1-inch mesh would be what I’d pick.