Moat Mountain Smoky Quartz

Yes for digging, and it is free. A mineral collecting permit is self-issued at the Moat Mountain Mineral Site trailhead and covers one day at one collecting site. Picking up loose specimens without disturbing the surface does not require a permit under the White Mountain National Forest plan, but any digging does.

Smoky quartz and amazonite, a green variety of microcline feldspar, are the signature finds, with beryl, topaz and amethyst also occurring. They come from miarolitic cavities in granites of the Jurassic White Mountain Magma Series, and weathering releases crystals into loose grus that can be screened.

Up to 50 pounds or one 5-gallon bucket per permit. Allowed tools are a rock hammer, chisels, safety glasses, a sifting screen and a hand trowel. Power tools, mechanized equipment, explosives, sluice boxes, rocker boxes and dredges are prohibited throughout the White Mountain National Forest.

Moat Mountain Mineral Site, Deer Hill Mineral Collecting Area in Stow, Maine, and Lord Hill. Free permits are available at each trailhead, and each permit is valid for one day at one site. Together they make a practical circuit over a long weekend based out of the Mount Washington Valley.

Roughly late May through October. The ground is frozen or snow-covered outside that window. Black flies and mosquitoes are severe from late May into July, so repellent and head cover matter, and White Mountain weather can turn quickly even in midsummer.

Yes. New Hampshire adopted smoky quartz as its state gem, and the White Mountain granites are why. The alkaline plutons of the White Mountain Magma Series are full of miarolitic cavities where smoky quartz grew, and Moat Mountain is one of the places the public can legally dig it.

A green to blue-green variety of microcline feldspar, coloured by trace lead. It occurs in granite pegmatites and is most famously associated with Colorado, but New Hampshire's White Mountain granites produce it too, alongside smoky quartz. The green-and-smoky combination in one specimen is what collectors here are hoping for.

Not for digging. Surface collecting without disturbing the ground is generally allowed under the forest plan, but any surface-disturbing collecting is confined to the three designated mineral collecting areas under a free permit. Alpine zones, experimental forests, the Appalachian Trail corridor and research natural areas are closed to collecting entirely.

Minutes by road. The mineral site trailhead sits on the west side of the Saco valley off West Side Road and the forest roads toward the Moat Range, which makes North Conway an unusually convenient base for a collecting trip, with fuel, food, lodging and outdoor shops all close by.

Yes. The collecting ground is reached on foot from the trailhead on a marked route, with no vehicle access to the digging area. That matters for planning, because a full bucket of granite grus and specimens is heavy and has to come back out the same way it went in.

Screening, according to most of the advice shared by collectors who work these sites. The granite has weathered enough that crystals sit loose in coarse grus, so a shovel and a sifting screen recover material that breaking solid rock would never reach. People who arrive with only a sledge and chisels tend to report frustration. The permitted tool list, which includes a sifting screen and a hand trowel, reflects the same reality.

Preferences split by what collectors are after rather than by any ranking of quality. Moat Mountain comes up most for smoky quartz and amazonite, and for its convenience to North Conway. Deer Hill in Stow, Maine, is the one people name for amethyst. Lord Hill gets mentioned for its pegmatite mineral variety. Since each permit covers one day at one site, most trip plans discussed involve picking a site per day rather than trying to combine them.