Before you grab your rockpick and run out to these locations, note that this guide was published in 1966. Do your homework; make sure the site you want to visit it legally accessible and OK for rockhounding.

Buy more than one current rockhouding guide. Each lists some different locations. We'd recommend the newest "Rockhounding California" Falcon Guide and "Gem Trails of Southern California" from Gem Guides Book Co.

Some sites listed in this guide by Gary Gunther and his wife, Janice Bohrman, of the Tepee Rock Shop in Soledad Canyon — published in 1966, when it was considered Saugus — are still good (as of 2017). A couple of mainstays are Gem Hill at Rosamond (Map 13) and the (SCV) Sierra Pelona Rock Club's claim at North Edwards (Map 17: Boron travertine), where you are allowed to dig as long as you leave a note describing your haul.

Sometimes, even when rockhounding is allowed, roads and trails have changed since 1966. Such is the case at Randsburg, where the pink rhodonite beds were inaccessible as of about 2013 due to the BLM's arsenic reclamation activities. (Arsenic is used in gold mining.)

To use this 1966 guide, download the .pdf and print out the pages you want. Listed sites include:

Agoura Quarry

Camarillo Sagenite

Coquina at Pt. Mugu

Whalebone at Refugio Beach

Gaviota Beach

Jalama Beach Travertine

Shark Tooth Hill

Pacoima Canyon Pegmatite

Tick Canyon Howlite

Mint Canyon Actinolite

Acton Agates

Agate Valley

Rosamond - Gem Hill

Cinco - Feldspar Crystals

Last Chance Canyon

Randsburg Rhodonite

Boron Travertine

Castle Butte Petrified Palm

Victorville Black Jade

Lucerne Valley Bugeye Rhyolite