Zabriskie Station – March 2026
Zabriskie Station is a locality near Death Valley National Park that is said to have precious opal. It is listed in rockhounding books and a popular spot for club outings.
There is definitely precious opal here but it is very, very tiny. Most opal we found was plain, white common opal. We only found one small piece of precious opal. We didn’t stay too long because of the unseasonable warm temperatures and lack of shade.
There are probably nicer ways to spend one’s time in this area unless a small specimen of precious opal is highly desired. If you’re visiting Death Valley during the winter and want to do some rockhounding this could be a good place to go, otherwise there is plenty to see and do in the region.
We dug near 35.88638, -116.26032. The opal containing nodules are found in the hard rock layer up on the hillsides, but some could be found through surface collecting as well.
We visited during the March 2026 “superbloom” and the ground was covered in yellow and purple flowers as well as caterpillars climbing up the short flower stalks. This stop was worth it just to see the colorful flowers.
See https://www.pasadenalapidarysociety.org/files/Tecopa_Field_Trip_2016.pdf and https://mineralsocal.org/fieldtrip-information-reports/tecopa-opal-beds-and-emigrant-pass-trilobites-sat-sun-oct-29-30-2022/ for more information on this site.
