Last summer, we were wading the little stream that comes off the Great Craggies and ends up near Dillingham. Just south of Douglas Falls we stopped near a sheer cliff popular with rappellers. A short distance away was the stream area where we had been told we would find faint traces of gold. The rocks there were laden with small, red garnets and bits of sparkling mica.

Amazingly, almost all of our mountain streams have some gold, if only in miniscule amounts. The wary eye can discover not only gold, but rubies, emeralds, and many other fascinating minerals. More than 300 different minerals have been identified in North Carolina, including nearly 40 gem varieties.

A great way to get started as a “rockhound” is to join both the Southern Appalachian Mineral Society (SAMS), and the Colburn Museum of Earth Sciences. SAMS has meetings every month, free and open to the public, and also schedules frequent field trips to famous mineral collecting localities both locally and in the Southeast. The wonderful exhibits at the Colburn Museum offer a view of some of the most spectacular specimens found here, plus an overview of the state’s rich geologic history.

[The Appalachian Mountains are the oldest in the world — more than 500 million years. Over these millions of years, weathering by wind and water have eroded them down nearly 9,000 feet in elevation. This exposes the riches once buried far below the surface, which were formed eons ago by slow cooling and high pressurization of molten rock. Look down and you’ll see your path flecked with sparkling pieces of mica, first mined here by Native Americans more than 2,000 years ago.

Our most proficient rockhounds explore old mines where perhaps mica or other minerals were mined out years ago. These are good places to look for associated minerals such as garnet, sapphire, emeralds, rubies, or aquamarine. Keep in mind that the less travelled back roads are the most fun to explore. No collecting is permitted in Great Smoky Mountains National Park or the Blue Ridge Parkway, but you can collect in National Forests as long as the collecting is for noncommercial use.

It is not surprising that rockhounds from around the world travel here to see what they can find. Direct your view down to the ground—who knows what you’ll discover!

For Further Investigation:

The Southern Appalachian Mineral Society meets the first Monday of each month at the Murphy-Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Rd., Asheville, at 7 p.m. Visit main.nc.us/sams/