Topaz, Utah's state gem, is a semi-precious gemstone that occurs as very hard,
transparent crystals in a variety of colors. The topaz crystals at Topaz
Mountain are naturally amber colored but become colorless after extensive
exposure to sunlight. The crystals formed within cavities of the Topaz
Mountain rhyolite, a volcanic rock which erupted approximately six to seven
million years ago from volcanic vents along faults in the area. Topaz Mountain
is one of the world's great places to find topaz. If you search the washes and
slopes on the south side of the mountain you will find small topaz crystals
glimmering in the sunlight. If you search seams in the rhyolite, you may find
gem-quality crystals. Topaz Mountain is located in a remote area where there
is no water and no services are provided. You should always carry food, plenty
of water, tools and emergency equipment. To dig the topaz, helpful tools
include a rock hammer or regular hammer, screw driver, bags for your gems,
hiking boots, hat, sun screen, bug repellant and once again don t forget the
water! Jeans are a wise choice since while you are digging you are often on
your knees on the rough and jagged rocks.

Topaz, Utah's state gem, is a semi-precious gemstone that occurs as very hard, transparent crystals in a variety of colors. The topaz crystals at Topaz Mountain are naturally amber colored but become colorless after extensive exposure to sunlight. The crystals formed within cavities of the Topaz Mountain rhyolite, a volcanic rock which erupted approximately six to seven million years ago from volcanic vents along faults in the area. Topaz Mountain is one of the world's great places to find topaz. If you search the washes and slopes on the south side of the mountain you will find small topaz crystals glimmering in the sunlight. If you search seams in the rhyolite, you may find gem-quality crystals. Topaz Mountain is located in a remote area where there is no water and no services are provided. You should always carry food, plenty of water, tools and emergency equipment. To dig the topaz, helpful tools include a rock hammer or regular hammer, screw driver, bags for your gems, hiking boots, hat, sun screen, bug repellant and once again don t forget the water! Jeans are a wise choice since while you are digging you are often on your knees on the rough and jagged rocks.

Bird's eye view of the park

Topaz Mountain

These sere hills contain some of the most productive and diverse rockhound
areas in the west. Visitors to Topaz mountain can collect a variety of topaz
and crystals, while nearby are trilobite beds (at Antelope Springs), and geode
beds near Dugway. There are no facilities in any of these areas, but dispersed
camping is permitted throughout.

These sere hills contain some of the most productive and diverse rockhound areas in the west. Visitors to Topaz mountain can collect a variety of topaz and crystals, while nearby are trilobite beds (at Antelope Springs), and geode beds near Dugway. There are no facilities in any of these areas, but dispersed camping is permitted throughout.

Topaz Mountain Rockhound Recreation Area

Joy was a mining town that was founded in the 1870s.Significant gold, silver,
and copper were extracted from the area. Today, Joy is a ghost town that
contains remnants of building foundations and mining equipment

Joy was a mining town that was founded in the 1870s.Significant gold, silver, and copper were extracted from the area. Today, Joy is a ghost town that contains remnants of building foundations and mining equipment

Joy Townsite

The WSA is bounded by improved and unimproved roads and the Fish Springs
National Wildlife Refuge to the northeast. The WSA includes most of the Fish
Springs Range, a northsouth trending ridge that rises abruptly from
approximately 5,000 feet at the base to 8,500 feet at the crest. The range is
at the southern margin of the Great Salt Lake Desert.Vegetation in this WSA is
predominantly shrubs and grasses at lower elevations and scattered pinyon pine
and juniper at higher elevations. Some white fir grow in isolated, higher
locations. Special Features: The Fish Creek Range is a tilted fault block of
sedimentary rocks, and includes bedding plane faults visible in over 28,000
acres in the central part of the WSA. Bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and
golden eagles are raptor species which inhabit the WSA. Sensitive species that
may occur in the WSA include the ferruginous hawk, long-billed curlew, and kit
fox.

The WSA is bounded by improved and unimproved roads and the Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge to the northeast. The WSA includes most of the Fish Springs Range, a northsouth trending ridge that rises abruptly from approximately 5,000 feet at the base to 8,500 feet at the crest. The range is at the southern margin of the Great Salt Lake Desert.Vegetation in this WSA is predominantly shrubs and grasses at lower elevations and scattered pinyon pine and juniper at higher elevations. Some white fir grow in isolated, higher locations. Special Features: The Fish Creek Range is a tilted fault block of sedimentary rocks, and includes bedding plane faults visible in over 28,000 acres in the central part of the WSA. Bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and golden eagles are raptor species which inhabit the WSA. Sensitive species that may occur in the WSA include the ferruginous hawk, long-billed curlew, and kit fox.

Fish Springs

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), located on the southern end of
the Great Salt Lake Desert, was established March 10, 1959 by the land
purchase of 2,160 acres using proceeds from Federal Duck Stamp sales, thus
ensuring habitat for migrating and wintering birds within the Pacific Flyway.
Fish Springs NWR became one of the over 560 Refuge's in the National Wildlife
Refuge System - a network of lands set aside and managed by the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service specifically for wildlife. The Refuge is named for the native
Utah chub that is found throughout the Refuge springs and impoundments. Fish
Springs has been a place of essential importance in meeting human and wildlife
needs over the past 11,000 years and supplied necessary water and food to the
once nomadic Goshute (Gosiuta) tribe as they traveled their ancestral
homelands.

Totaling 17,922 acres, the Refuge supports 10,000 acres of lush, spring-fed
wetlands, a critical habitat in the arid Great Basin. These life-sustaining
waters that make Fish Springs a true oasis in the desert are created by
artesian pressure and hydrothermal convection along fracture zones in the
Great Basin Carbonate Rock and Alluvial Aquifer. The water from the springs is
brackish and warm. The springs discharge approximately 22,000 – 27,000 acre-
feet of water per year, most of which is recharged from areas outside the Fish
Springs Flat.

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), located on the southern end of the Great Salt Lake Desert, was established March 10, 1959 by the land purchase of 2,160 acres using proceeds from Federal Duck Stamp sales, thus ensuring habitat for migrating and wintering birds within the Pacific Flyway. Fish Springs NWR became one of the over 560 Refuge's in the National Wildlife Refuge System - a network of lands set aside and managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service specifically for wildlife. The Refuge is named for the native Utah chub that is found throughout the Refuge springs and impoundments. Fish Springs has been a place of essential importance in meeting human and wildlife needs over the past 11,000 years and supplied necessary water and food to the once nomadic Goshute (Gosiuta) tribe as they traveled their ancestral homelands. Totaling 17,922 acres, the Refuge supports 10,000 acres of lush, spring-fed wetlands, a critical habitat in the arid Great Basin. These life-sustaining waters that make Fish Springs a true oasis in the desert are created by artesian pressure and hydrothermal convection along fracture zones in the Great Basin Carbonate Rock and Alluvial Aquifer. The water from the springs is brackish and warm. The springs discharge approximately 22,000 – 27,000 acre-feet of water per year, most of which is recharged from areas outside the Fish Springs Flat.

Topaz Mountain

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Topaz Mountain Rockhound Recreation Area

Joy Townsite

Fish Springs

Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge