Here is what you CAN do with mapping software
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2026 7:00 pm
Grab a cup of your favorite liquid and have a seat. this is a long read. Please have both of the attachments open while you read through.
So, I use OnX. I pay for it and have added the map for Wyoming. There is an elite version which adds more camping places and 4 wheel drive trails which can get you even deeper into the wilderness but its a little more than I want to pay.
What I do is scan around and find interesting spots. Then, I click a specific location and it brings up a window which tells me all the basic information including the GPS coordinates. So the image "Find a location" shows an area around Drake, Colorado. You can see highway 34, and a parking symbol. That is a parking point generally used by fishermen and is a public use area.
So, your right at the base of Palisade Mountain. You ever climbed it? neither have I. remember, were in search mode.
Anyway, if you click on any point it will bring up a window (get GPS coordinates) and if you scroll through, it shows you WHO owns the land, how to contact the owners, then GPS coordinates that you can copy to the clip board.
Controversy- I know a lot of people are against AI, but I use it as a reference tool which makes my life so much easier.. so, I don't want to hear the negative comments.
I ask AI about that location.
I'll say something along the lines of I want to rockhound at these coordinates. Please tell me a bit about the geology here, what cool specimens I might find.
Here is what AI told me:
" That point is in the foothills west of Loveland, near the Larimer County/Berthoud–Loveland mountain-front area, where the bedrock is mainly Precambrian crystalline rock and associated pegmatite. The most realistic finds are:
Quartz—usually milky, smoky, or fractured rather than gem quality
Feldspar, including pink microcline
Biotite and muscovite mica
Garnet in metamorphic rock
Pegmatite fragments and coarse-grained granite
Iron-stained quartz, hematite, and occasional epidote or amphibole
Possibly small beryl or aquamarine-related material in regional pegmatites, but that would be an unusual find, not an expectation
The Larimer County pegmatites are known for beryl and related minerals, and Colorado’s Front Range commonly produces quartz, feldspar, mica, garnet, and other pegmatite minerals. However, the famous Colorado “good stuff”—large amazonite, smoky quartz, topaz, or aquamarine crystals—is generally associated with more specific localities and is unlikely to turn up casually at that coordinate.
The biggest issue is land status. That coordinate may be on private property, a county open-space parcel, or another restricted area;(Its not. Its on Roosevelt National Forest land) a GPS point alone doesn’t establish collecting permission. If it is county open space, assume collecting is prohibited unless the posted regulations specifically allow it. On private land, get the owner’s permission. Avoid old mine openings and dumps unless access and collecting are explicitly authorized.
For the best odds, look for loose float below natural pegmatite or granite exposures, especially pieces with:
Large interlocking crystals of quartz and feldspar
Black or silvery mica books
Red-brown garnet grains
Vugs or cavities lined with quartz
Unusually blue-green feldspar—worth investigating, though blue-green color alone doesn’t prove amazonite
Use a hand lens, safety glasses, gloves, and a small rock hammer. Don’t hammer exposed bedrock, roadside cuts, or protected formations without permission, and don’t enter
You can add to that by including things like searching the BLM's MRLS data base for known mining claims, Isolate specific things like permission information (we know we can collect in national forests and most BLM land) or refine the search to only look at specific rocks and fossils.
Then, If like what I see, Ill mark a waypoint on the map and go check it out. When you create the way point, you can give it a specific Icon, color, and add notes to it.
I do this for camping spots, fishing spots and rockhounding spots.
This is a really good way of not wasting a trip to go somewhere that wont really have the geology your after.
And AI is only as good about giving information as you are when you ask. it doesn't have the ability to say "Yes, there are 3 vugs containing 6 smokey quarts and two diamonds". but it can give you what I just showed you so that YOU can decide if you want to go there or not.
I have also found potential sites to file mining claims on. Again, AI cant be perfect. It can only find things that are digitally published. so if a claim was made just yesterday then it probably wouldn't show up.
Here is one of my search querries that I have developed:
I will provide a GPS location. please give me a brief geology and rockhounding assessment for each GPS coordinate I provide.
For each location:
1. Identify the general geographic and geologic setting.
2. Briefly describe the basic local geology, including likely bedrock, sedimentary deposits, volcanic rocks, glacial deposits, faults, or mineralized zones.
3. List the rocks and minerals that a rockhound might reasonably look for.
4. Search the BLM Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS) for mining claims, mineral cases, plans of operation, or other indications of mining activity dating from the past 20 years.
5. Check The Diggings and My Land Matters for supporting information about historical or current mining claims and mineral activity.
6. Clearly distinguish among:
- Current or apparently active operations
- Historical or abandoned claims
- Records with uncertain status
- No confirmed mining activity found
7. Identify relevant land-access or collecting restrictions, including national parks, wilderness areas, private land, mineral withdrawals, active claims, seasonal closures, and land-manager rules.
8. Treat the absence of an online record as inconclusive rather than proof that no claim or restriction exists.
9. Give a concise conclusion about the location’s rockhounding potential and whether recent mining activity was confirmed.
I will provide the coordinates in decimal-degree format, one location at a time, for example:
Hope this helps. Another thing about OnX waypoints is the ability to share them with people- I think you have to do it as an entire layer, but the waypoints can all be divided into there own folders. So like I have a folder just for camping, another for fishing, and one for rockhounding.
So, I use OnX. I pay for it and have added the map for Wyoming. There is an elite version which adds more camping places and 4 wheel drive trails which can get you even deeper into the wilderness but its a little more than I want to pay.
What I do is scan around and find interesting spots. Then, I click a specific location and it brings up a window which tells me all the basic information including the GPS coordinates. So the image "Find a location" shows an area around Drake, Colorado. You can see highway 34, and a parking symbol. That is a parking point generally used by fishermen and is a public use area.
So, your right at the base of Palisade Mountain. You ever climbed it? neither have I. remember, were in search mode.
Anyway, if you click on any point it will bring up a window (get GPS coordinates) and if you scroll through, it shows you WHO owns the land, how to contact the owners, then GPS coordinates that you can copy to the clip board.
Controversy- I know a lot of people are against AI, but I use it as a reference tool which makes my life so much easier.. so, I don't want to hear the negative comments.
I ask AI about that location.
I'll say something along the lines of I want to rockhound at these coordinates. Please tell me a bit about the geology here, what cool specimens I might find.
Here is what AI told me:
" That point is in the foothills west of Loveland, near the Larimer County/Berthoud–Loveland mountain-front area, where the bedrock is mainly Precambrian crystalline rock and associated pegmatite. The most realistic finds are:
Quartz—usually milky, smoky, or fractured rather than gem quality
Feldspar, including pink microcline
Biotite and muscovite mica
Garnet in metamorphic rock
Pegmatite fragments and coarse-grained granite
Iron-stained quartz, hematite, and occasional epidote or amphibole
Possibly small beryl or aquamarine-related material in regional pegmatites, but that would be an unusual find, not an expectation
The Larimer County pegmatites are known for beryl and related minerals, and Colorado’s Front Range commonly produces quartz, feldspar, mica, garnet, and other pegmatite minerals. However, the famous Colorado “good stuff”—large amazonite, smoky quartz, topaz, or aquamarine crystals—is generally associated with more specific localities and is unlikely to turn up casually at that coordinate.
The biggest issue is land status. That coordinate may be on private property, a county open-space parcel, or another restricted area;(Its not. Its on Roosevelt National Forest land) a GPS point alone doesn’t establish collecting permission. If it is county open space, assume collecting is prohibited unless the posted regulations specifically allow it. On private land, get the owner’s permission. Avoid old mine openings and dumps unless access and collecting are explicitly authorized.
For the best odds, look for loose float below natural pegmatite or granite exposures, especially pieces with:
Large interlocking crystals of quartz and feldspar
Black or silvery mica books
Red-brown garnet grains
Vugs or cavities lined with quartz
Unusually blue-green feldspar—worth investigating, though blue-green color alone doesn’t prove amazonite
Use a hand lens, safety glasses, gloves, and a small rock hammer. Don’t hammer exposed bedrock, roadside cuts, or protected formations without permission, and don’t enter
You can add to that by including things like searching the BLM's MRLS data base for known mining claims, Isolate specific things like permission information (we know we can collect in national forests and most BLM land) or refine the search to only look at specific rocks and fossils.
Then, If like what I see, Ill mark a waypoint on the map and go check it out. When you create the way point, you can give it a specific Icon, color, and add notes to it.
I do this for camping spots, fishing spots and rockhounding spots.
This is a really good way of not wasting a trip to go somewhere that wont really have the geology your after.
And AI is only as good about giving information as you are when you ask. it doesn't have the ability to say "Yes, there are 3 vugs containing 6 smokey quarts and two diamonds". but it can give you what I just showed you so that YOU can decide if you want to go there or not.
I have also found potential sites to file mining claims on. Again, AI cant be perfect. It can only find things that are digitally published. so if a claim was made just yesterday then it probably wouldn't show up.
Here is one of my search querries that I have developed:
I will provide a GPS location. please give me a brief geology and rockhounding assessment for each GPS coordinate I provide.
For each location:
1. Identify the general geographic and geologic setting.
2. Briefly describe the basic local geology, including likely bedrock, sedimentary deposits, volcanic rocks, glacial deposits, faults, or mineralized zones.
3. List the rocks and minerals that a rockhound might reasonably look for.
4. Search the BLM Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS) for mining claims, mineral cases, plans of operation, or other indications of mining activity dating from the past 20 years.
5. Check The Diggings and My Land Matters for supporting information about historical or current mining claims and mineral activity.
6. Clearly distinguish among:
- Current or apparently active operations
- Historical or abandoned claims
- Records with uncertain status
- No confirmed mining activity found
7. Identify relevant land-access or collecting restrictions, including national parks, wilderness areas, private land, mineral withdrawals, active claims, seasonal closures, and land-manager rules.
8. Treat the absence of an online record as inconclusive rather than proof that no claim or restriction exists.
9. Give a concise conclusion about the location’s rockhounding potential and whether recent mining activity was confirmed.
I will provide the coordinates in decimal-degree format, one location at a time, for example:
Hope this helps. Another thing about OnX waypoints is the ability to share them with people- I think you have to do it as an entire layer, but the waypoints can all be divided into there own folders. So like I have a folder just for camping, another for fishing, and one for rockhounding.