Creston
South Dakota
Find: Fairburn Agates, “bubblegum” agates, rose quartz, chalcedony, prairie agates
GPS: 43.88065, -102.70135
Nearest city: Rapid City, SD
Recommended Vehicle: Any
Season: Accessible year round, Winter is very cold here. Spring through Fall is likely best.
Summary:
Fairburn Agates are a coveted treasure of rockhounding trips across the Southwest corner of South Dakota. Known for their intricate bands and elusiveness to find, 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 esstentially at random. Fairburn Agates are distributed irregularly across the Badlands region of South Dakota and even down into the Oglala Grasslands of Nebraska. This spot is on the way to a well-known spot called Indian Creek just to the South. I decided to stop and explore while I was already driving out to Montana for a vacation with friends.
It was about 8 degrees when I explored out here. Still, about 50% of the ground was uncovered by snow. I came across some rose quartz chunks as well as a very nice prairie agate I’ll show below.
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. They don’t work great in Winter as the cold can freeze and crack the hose, though.
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 and color in the dry stones you’ll find.
The landscape was essentially the fringes of the Badlands region.
Snow coverage limited what I was able to see.
It just meant you had to hike farther to find more rocks.
The rolling hills as the Badlands begin.
The nice red prairie agate I found out here.
The underside has some nice banding to it. Locals mention that prairie agates can come in a wide variety of colors, with black and white being most common.
Not a place you want to hike too far from the truck in Winter.