Creeks near Kalama
Washington
Find: Carnelian agates, chalcedony
GPS: 46.00388, -122.84618
Nearest city: Portland, OR
Summary:
The creeks and hillsides near Kalama, WA are rich with carnelian agates. Wet weather and extremely dense brush will challenge you if you plan on rockhounding in the forest here.
Much of the land in this region is private, so finding a spot can be very difficult. I would begin your search along the Kalama River and surrounding creeks that branch from it. Look for orange and red translucent stones in the gravely riverbanks.
I chose not to disclose the spot I visited in my video, as I worry that funneling traffic to an individual creek could be damaging, as the spots are quite small.
I guarantee there’s some huge carnelians out here that are far larger than what I found, though!
Video Guide
Check out the video for a better look at what can be found when exploring this spot.
Here's the brush that's in the Kalama/Longview area.
I'd recommend long pants or reinforced material that won't be easily caught on thorns. They're nasty in here.
Prepare for wet environments. Waders underneath an outer shell layer would probably be the way to go if I could re-do this adventure.
The creek I ventured into was about a mile long. After about 1/4 mile of a hike in, I began finding chalcedony.
Most of it didn't have very vibrant color.
But every now and then, a red stone would jump from the gravels and catch your eye.
Some of them had fantastic opaque yellow banding interlaced with the carnelian orange.
Most were about the size of a golf ball, or a little smaller.
Here's two small, full nodules
This was my largest and highest quality find of the day.