Conata Basin
South Dakota
Find: Fairburn Agates, “bubblegum” agates, rose quartz, chalcedony, prairie agates
GPS: 43.71962, -102.18859
Nearest city: Rapid City, SD
Recommended Vehicle: Any
Season: Accessible year-round, Spring through Fall best for weather. Cold winters and hot summers.
Summary:
Fairburn Agates are a coveted treasure of rockhounding trips across the Southwest corner of South Dakota. Known by some simply for how hard they are to find, they also have unique sharp banding.
A good hunt for a Fairburn can lead you to some of the most beautiful and remote parts of the Great Plains.
This was a spot I chose to explore somewhat at random - Fairburn Agates are distributed irregularly across the Badlands region of South Dakota. This spot is in the small township of Conata, and it borders the National Park directly to the North. Do not collect in the National Park itself.
Instead, these GPS coordinates will take you to a gravel road that accesses the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.
Ultimately, I didn’t find any fairburns out here. That isn’t to say they can’t be found here, which is why this is listed as a location. You can visit many spots like this and it’s a fun way to explore the grasslands and try out your own spots.
Below are before/after photos of a few agate-like stones I found out there.
Video
Check out the video for a better look at what can be found when exploring this spot.
3 Helpful Tools
Water Bladder
The warmer months are arid and dry in South Dakota. A water bladder is a great luxury to hike with. I covered a lot of distance while I was here.
Geology Pick
A geology pick is useful for flipping over embedded stones and prying them out of the ground.
Spray Bottle
A spray bottle is useful for getting a better look at banding in the dry stones you’ll find.
The National Grasslands are a less-traveled, free way to explore the Badlands region than the National Park itself.
A small pick, spray bottle, and a backpack to walk around with are all you truly need.
This might've been petrified wood. It had a graining pattern to it. It can be found in the area.
This is what I believe is a referred to as 'bubble gum agate'.
With a little water.
I wasn't sure what this was so I brought it home to make a cut.
Here's the inside. My saw work still need improving.
These were all very hard rocks to cut. This one took almost 8 minutes.
There's some color and possibly crystalization in the middle of these.
What looked like a nodule of some sort.
Inside it looked almost like plume agate, which was unexpected. The saw blade was already needing to be replaced, and these used up the rest of the blade.
The West has an interesting amount of places with both cactus and snow.