Wind Spar Mine

This old feldspar mine located a few miles west of Wind Cave National Park is a good location to find a variety rocks including rose quartz, black tourmaline, and garnet.

When to visit: Spring, Fall, Winter (if dry), Summer (if cool)

What you can find: Rose quartz, black tourmaline, garnet

What to bring: Rock hammer, pick axe, chisels, bucket, backpack, water, snacks.

Where to stay: The town of Hot Springs is 20 minutes south and offers hotels and camping. Dispersed camping is allowed on forest service land.

Getting there: From Hot Springs, South Dakota drive north on US-385 approximately 15 miles. Right as the highway becomes a 2 lane passing zone you will see a turn off on a gravel road to the right. The road off the highway is a short (roughly 1/2 mile) distance to the mine, however the road is rough and high clearance 4WD vehicles are recommended to drive all the way in. Any vehicle can park off the highway and walk into the spot.

(Site A: 43°36’37.2″N 103°31’20.8″W)
(Site B: 43°36’38.4″N 103°31’22.5″W)
(Site C: 43°36’39.3″N 103°31’20.2″W)

Rockhounding

This was once a feldspar mine near Wind Cave National Park and has a nice variety of pegmatite minerals that are fairly easy to collect. Site A is the front side of the mines main tailings. This is a good section to find smaller pieces of rose quartz. Garnet and tourmaline have also been found here. Site B is a section with tailings that were much larger boulders. This is where some of the best large tourmaline specimens were found. Large rose quartz boulders can be found here as well. Site C is the main tailings pile to the back side of the mine. Rose Quartz, terminated black tourmaline crystals and the best garnets were all found in this section. For better results move the top layer of tailings in any of the areas with pick axe to uncover new material.