So what do Smoky Quartz Crystals Look Like?

Idaho has an abundance of family outdoor activities that will cost you very little money. Idaho has 12 million acres of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land that visitors and Idaho residents can recreate on.  This offers a huge diversity of opportunities for you and your family to get outdoors and have fun. Our family has taken advantage of many of these opportunities including hunting, fishing, fly fishing, four wheeling, camping, gold prospecting, and rock hounding. Most of our outings are on BLM and Idaho National Forest land.  The ability to visit so many different places is part of what makes Idaho so great.


Want to start rockhounding? Buy a Book that highlights rockhounding in Idaho. The most popular books are separated by counties. sites with GPS coordinates, and the minerals that can be found there. We started with places near us that we wanted to explore and planned a few short outings.  As we visited more and more of the places in the book, we kept returning to the Dismal Swamp Entry and finally planned a camping trip that allowed us to visit this location.

Digging Smoky Quartz Crystals in Dismal Swamp Idaho

In Dismal Swamp, you can dig smoky quartz crystals and even more.  The equipment you need is a few buckets, a shovel, a rock pick, a few screens and maybe a sledgehammer.  When you get there you can dig almost anywhere to find smoky quartz crystals.  Most are really small but there are the occasions that you may find larger ones. There are hundreds of holes that people have already dug in which you can keep digging and still find more crystals.

When we visited Dismal Swamp we started by digging small amounts of soil and putting it on our screens then rinsing all the soil from the rocks. Next, we sift through the remaining rocks to find the quartz and the smoky quartz crystals. Keep repeating the process until you find crystals.  You must be patient as it will take a while to find the smoky quartz crystals.   You can also find crystals on the surface of the soil.  It will take a trained eye to find them so be careful when you are walking around. When we visited at Dismal Swamp my Father found a smoky quartz crystal embedded in the road.  He was pretty excited that the crystals were that prevalent.

Out Croppings

You can find smoky quartz crystals in rock outcroppings.  You can also find crystals embedded in the clay layers between the fractured pieces of rock.  The largest smoky quartz crystal that I have ever found came from a crack in a large rock that had several layers of the rock chipped away. Once we were to the clay layer that was between the cracks, that is where we found a smoky quartz crystal shaped like a prism. Carefully sift through the clay between rocks. Crystals will be surrounded by clay that appears to be a big ball of dirt.  Screens can be really helpful in sifting through the clay.

If you plan on making a weekend trip to Dismal Swamp there are a few campsites where you can make camp.  If you just plan on going for the day make sure to take plenty of water and snacks because it can get very hot there.  Good luck and happy digging!