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Pioneer Mountains, Beaverhead County
High in the Pioneer Mountains, at an elevation of seventy-six hundred feet, the Pioneer Batholith is exposed to the elements. This massive body of granite cooled slowly deep underground, allowing pockets of superheated, mineral-rich water to form vugs, or cavities. Inside these vugs, quartz crystals grew undisturbed. Today, at Crystal Park, the granite has weathered into a loose, gravelly soil.
Visitor Access
This is a public fee-dig site managed by the Forest Service, open from mid-June through mid-October depending on snow. For five dollars a day, anyone with a hand trowel and enough patience can dig into the dirt and pull out perfectly terminated quartz crystals. Most are clear or smoky quartz, but the prize is amethyst. Tunneling is strictly banned, and there is a five-day limit per person per season. It is one of the few places in the country where the public can pull amethyst directly from the earth.