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Looking for a family-friendly rock/fossil digging spot within about 2–2.5 hours of Portland.

I know White Fir Springs is the classic answer for thundereggs, but it's a little farther than we're hoping for as a day trip.

What I'm really looking for is the experience rather than a specific rock. I have a 7-year-old who would be thrilled to spend a couple of hours digging with a shovel and feeling like he's hunting for treasure. It doesn't have to be thundereggs—it could be fossils, crystals, geodes, interesting rocks, or anything else that's legal to collect.

I'm not looking for places where you mostly walk around picking rocks out of a gravel bar (although I know those are great too). I'm specifically hoping to find somewhere where kids can actually dig.

Requirements:

  • Within about 2–2.5 hours of Portland (closer is even better).
  • Legal public collecting, or a fee-dig site.
  • Family-friendly and reasonably accessible.

Does anything like this exist in western Oregon or southwest Washington? Even if it's a lesser-known spot or run by a rock club, I'd love to hear about it.

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  • $\begingroup$ I reccomend the book, roadside geology of Oregon. has a lot of this information in one place along with a lot more. $\endgroup$ Commented 15 hours ago

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A good place to start is right along the coast. A lot of marine Miocene sediments are exposed along the coast, and with a geologists rock hammer one can collect very many fossil marine clams. An excellent place would be Beverly Beach and vicinity. Also, at sunset on Beverly Beach, one can find variously colored agates that are the silicified interior of the fossilized clam, where the outer shell has been worn away and only the interior is left. These can be seen to glow in the sand at sunset, making them an easy find. They are various colors, but mostly orange, yellow, or green, occasionally red. Not bad camping, either. Good luck hunting. Hope you have fun!

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