Welcome to your online guide to Hansen Creek. I created this blog in hope that I can help fellow Rockhounds to better prepare before they head out on their hunt for Crystals. The Hansen Creek Crystal location is located just west of Snoqualimie Pass on Humpback Mountain. This is considered to be one of the best and only locations in Washington state to collect beautiful, water clear, fully terminated Quartz Crystals as well as Purple Amethyst.
Amethyst
Be on the lookout for some of the best Amethyst Scepter Crystals Washington State has to offer. Though the pretty purple can be a little harder to come by, many people come here for the Amethyst Crystals alone. The Amethyst at Hansen Creek tends to to be a very light purple color which can make it a little difficult to identify without cleaning them first. There has been times when I have come home with a bag of dirty Crystals only to find the Amethyst after cleaning them up a bit. It is for this reason that I suggest that you keep everything you find until you have properly cleaned and assessed each Crystal.
The recommended Tools
There are many different methods and tools that one can use to dig for Crystals. Some folks enjoy picking through the loose dirt with their hands and nothing else. You can find some nice over looked Crystals this way, but 9 times out of ten the loose dirt is someone else’s tailings pile. In my opinion one can recover many more Crystals and of better quality with the right tools.
The following is a list of items that I would recommend taking with you on your trip.
If you plan on heading to the upper part of Hansen Creek you might want to be sure to bring a Rock Hammer. This is not at all needed to find the Crystals in the dirt and on the surface. ONLY needed if your looking to break out fresh crystals out of the rock.
The first thing your going to need is a good shovel. I have seen people using full size shovels but in my experience you can’t beat a good sturdy Mini Shovel. You will understand when you get there and see how tight for space some of the holes are.
The next thing that you are going to need is a Classifier Screen. A Screen can make a world of a difference when it comes to looking for Crystals at Hansen Creek. The dirt up there can very easily disguise even the biggest of Crystals, screening out the dirt is more effecient and will allow you to recover nearly 100% of the Crystals you dig up.
Another recommended item one should definently consider taking with them is a good Head Lamp. This is a must for getting into those productive holes that you will find under tree stumps. Some of the holes go back 10 feet or more but even at the surface a good Head Lamp will make a world of difference.
Other things you might consider bringing would be Gloves, Knee Pads, a Hard Hat and of course plenty of Water, Snacks and Food.
Directions to the Rockhounding Area
To get to the Rockhounding area from Seattle, take I 90 East for about 50 minutes and take exit 47. Once you get off of I 90, take the first right followed by another right hand turn. From this point you are going to take the first left that presents itself. Follow the road a little ways until it curves sharply left. Shortly after the curve you will come to another curve which is the parking area and the beginning of the trail.
Hansen Creek Crystals Map
I would also recommend that you check out Gem Trails Of Washington. This is the new revised version and has much more info than the previously released version. This is one of the best resources out there regarding Gems and Minerals in the Northwest, so make sure you have your copy.
If you are interested in knowing about more cool locations to go rockhounding in Washington State, you might be interested in Walker Valley Geodes.
I also recommend that you check out our site on Damon Point Agates.
And if you haven’t already, you gotta check out our where to find Ellensburg Blue Agate page.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this website regarding Hansen Creek may have changed over time. It is crucial to conduct your own research and exercise caution to ensure that you are avoiding any potential mineral claims or private property while exploring the area.
Hansen Creek Quartz Crystals 
Is it still open?
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Hey Brit, name is Kelly! I’m looking for the spot now and also wondering if it’s too early? In a lil Toyota Corolla… did you make it there? Could a lil car do it? Are you still trying to go up?
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Hi all, is anybody planning to go there this weekend? I’d love to find the place and not get lost.
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While technically open, everything in the area (including restrooms) is closed. The park rangers are currently working on a contract to get everything up and running again. Expect the trails to be fully open again soon.
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Hey there everyone. New to this site. Trying to find a place to take my 10yo niece to go crystal digging. She’s very interested in geography and I want that to be something we can bond over together. Any advice I would happily take as we live in southwest Washington.
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I’ve only been there once, but I had a blast. Prepare to spend all day. Bring food and plenty of water to drink and for other things…there is no other water source and there are no bathrooms, so plan for that also. The most helpful items I took were a classifier (sifter) to push dirt through and see the crystals, a shovel for digging and heaping the dirt to sort, towels (or other padding) to sit on because the red dirt really gets into your clothes, and a head lamp to better shine light on my work. Even in broad daylight the headlamp was a huge help in eyeing the crystals covered in red dirt. The walk in and out is easy (just over 1.5 miles each way) if there are no mobility issues but the actual hillside you’ll be digging in is STEEP. I highly recommend good hiking boots just for the ankle support. A walking stick or poles are also helpful in navigating the hillside. As far as finding the crystals goes, once you’re there and have found a spot to dig, it will become pretty self evident if when you spot them. As many have said, the farther up the hill you climb, the better quality and number of crystals you are likely to find, but you don’t have to go up hardly at all if you are just out for a fun treasure hunt. The shards are everywhere. Go with expectations of finding some fun crystal shards, nothing museum quality, and you and your kid will have fun.
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Get some geography at Hansen Creek. Near Snoqualmie Pass. Off I -90 Take Tinkham. that’s the 5500 forest service road to the 5510. Tinkham goes up. In just one point five mile a nice campsite and place for a dip in the Hansen Creek. Continue on up through Hanses “S” Turn and if not forty five cars or thirty maybe park and go up.
If thirty cars go on up to the Butterfly and get some rocks , scepters, Phantoms, Twins, Doubles, Pyrite and maybe even some chlorite and autinite inclusions.
Auta get going some geology on Humpback Mountain. Geography of Hansen Creek a Crystalized Geology shores not no more steep hillsides.
Amen. Get Raght with the Hansen Crystals. Om.
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My family ventured out for our first time…Wow! Such beautiful bright red soil filled with tiny points. Dig just a little and fund clusters and cloisters and points Oh my!!
Easy to get lost under a stump!!
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Family is interested in checking this out, any specifics pass needed?
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I want to go up in the next few days. if anyone is heading out, I’d prefer not to be alone and/or get lost.
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Hi, I will be going up there in.the morning. Saturday, weather is supposed to be nice. This will be my 4th visit. Might go to the upper site “the butterfly”.
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I fawned around 100 crystals
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does one need some sort of pass or can i just head up there and so my digging?
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I think you typically do not need a pass. I went garnet hounding in Idaho once and they did rope off the area of digging to mitigate un-necessary damage to the land. Possibly it’s mostly common sense, courtesy and respect for the land.
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We have a friend who wants to explore Hansen, but he can’t get off work before 5p…is it possible to do a quick hike/explore starting around 6p (last week of July, so we have light until 8:30 or so) or is that just pointless? He flies out Friday so weekend isn’t an option. Thanks for any advice, this website is awesome!
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People say that some of the best times to go are at night, when you can see the shimmer of quartz from your headlamp. You should have enough time, however be mindful of where you are on the hillside when coming back if it’s going to be dark. When I go, my boyfriend and I are there for usually around 2 hours unless I found a good spot. Just enough time to find some goodies to take home.
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Hi everyone, found me some crystals, in the process of polishing them up! Is it safe to put in a rock tumbler?
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I wouldn’t put them into a rock tumbler… a lot of people soak them in Iron Out to clean them. Here’s a link… https://amzn.to/3acovDV
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Why is there so much Krystals n cool rocks.. whats the history on this place to make all that
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Well, that goes back to millions of years ago. The area between the South and North forks of the Snoqualmie River are comprised mainly of a granodiorite body called the Snoqualmie Batholith. Most deposits of crystals in the Batholith (Hansen included) are breccia pipes. Breccia pipes, simply put, are places where volatile gases inside the earth escaped violently, cracking the rock, causing them to shift. Later, superheated silica-rich solutions shot through the rock and filled the gaps between the rocks with crystals. Hansen is an ancient landslide derived from such a breccia body. Thus the crystals may be found strewn throughout the soil.
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We are headed up tomorrow. Do we need any sort of park pass? Also does anyone have any more description on how to get to butterfly?
Thanks,
Just a mom trying to get her kids to get out of the house!
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Bring a helmet, the slopes are steep and and lots of loose dirt. People throw debris downslope without any care for who is below! Terrible rockhounding etiquette. This place has many dangers. Beware.
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Can someone tell me how to get to the Butterfly site?
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Sounds like you just keep climbing based on someone referring to it as ‘upper site’. I can’t wait to check this out! Any more advice or insights from fellow rock hounders?
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Nope. Butterfly is (arguably) a completely separate breccia body. It’s a couple miles south on a roadcut on an abandoned logging road.
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What are the roads like? Could a small kia or a large passenger van navigate there?
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How rare is it to find black tourmaline stone on Hansen Creek? Last summer I found a tiny chunk and a fairly big chunk. I’ve been trying to research what all is possible to find on the mountain and I’m just seeing quartz & amethyst. Is there a chance that I found a stone that’s rare to find here?
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No. Tourmaline (schorl) does not occur in the Hansen Creek breccias. You probably found some heavily striated pieces of limonite after pyrite.
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Going this weekend! We’ve been before a few years ago… If y’all remind me I can post some updates. Wish us luck!
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This is your reminder? How did it go?!
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Wow! This is so informative!! Thank you so much for taking the time out to create this blog so others can have success in rock hounding! We are a rock kind a family, literally, every corner, and every space is a rock in our home, and pockets!
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I’m dying to go look for crystals now. Anyone go recently?
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I know where the parking lot is for butterfly but can’t find the actual place. Anyone got coordinates?
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If I remember correctly, there has been a gate put up right at the old shooting range (what I expect you refer to as the parking lot.) Continuing up that gated road, you will hike for some distance. First rounding a long horseshoe bend to the left then just before coming to a sharp right turn heading steeply uphill, look to your left and you will see a side road with whoop-e-doops. (if it’s not too grown over.) This will lead you to the Butterfly.
It turns into a trail about a mile or so long, then you will know when you get there- many holes in the hard rock upslope on the right and even some good holes downslope on the left. Dig about halfway up, in the middle.
Need to break hard rock so you will need hand held sledge with chisels and a good sized pry bar.
Long handled tweezers are also a great tool for the more intricate work, cleaning out those vugs of Japan Law Twins.
Woo Hoo! Good luck.
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Udo! Haven’t heard from you in a while! How are you doing?
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Well, still alive, Eric. Happy to see you are doing so good. Nobody found my beauty clusters wrapped in newspaper out there yet, eh? Still waiting.
I’m not very mobile at this point. Pretty much just stay in the house, spend my time writing on Quora. [you outta check it out- ‘Quora, Udo Andre]
Yeah, can only walk about 20-30 feet then have to stop to catch my breath. Still keeping tabs on you guys. Hey, you ever make it to Rockhound Gulch? Like I said before, I’m living vicariously through you.
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Where do you actually dig though? Ive walked the entire trail loop about 3 times and have tried finding dig spots off trail but never found anything. I’ve seen a lot of pictures and videos of people digging in the woods there but I have yet to find any pre established digs off the trail in the woods. What am I doing wrong? Should I just disregard the trail all together and just look around wherever I can?
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When you park at the boulders, walk in the road about 1 mile. When it turns into a trail go about 100 yards, then go up hill. There are many dig sights. If you can go up hill about 200 yards the digging is better.
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The trail is not a loop. Are you sure you are beginning at the right spot? About 1/4 mile or so after going under the trestle there will be a road branching off to the left, just before a sharp right going up the hill. The road is blocked by boulders. That’s where you park and begin your hike for about a mile or so. You will pass a quarry, round a corner to the right where you can spot I-90 down below.
Continue walking until you reach an open area and the road turns into a trail. Just a little ways down that trail you will begin to see holes, upslope to your right. Go up as far as you want, following the trails/taling piles, pick any hole to start digging.
I’ve found good stuff 20 feet up from the trail, depends on the hole. That lower section, though, is not the mineral zone. It is a slump zone where the quartz has traveled under ground. The real mineral zone is high above. Long, grueling hike up steep slope to the purple pit and through the woods,100 yds to the right, the Garden Slug claim.
Or you could just take the upper road which leads straight to the mine. Going past the road with the boulders, around the sharp bend to the right, uphill a little ways, there’s a pull over area at a road with an old iron gate blocking it. That takes you to the mine (where you won’t find much, but crossing over the mine into the woods is best mineral zone where you can break into vugs.
Hope that helps
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I’m trying to determine how long the walk on the trail is once you park. And how steep it is. Anyone able to help?
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It is completely legal to be digging at Hansen? I’ve been trying to find info on this. Because I don’t know if the area is protected by some laws. Even if there are no laws preventing it, I also want to make sure that digging here isn’t going to cause any negitive effects on the area. Since I read someone saying that it’s a huge issue with people digging large amounts of earth and destroying large parts of the forest floor.
I also want to be able to go to my parents and be able to tell them for certain that it’s legal for us to go and do some digging. Since they’re interested, but worried that it might be illegal.
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It’s completely legal to dig on any unclaimed ground (3150′ elevation or lower on Humpback Mountain). A lot of people’s concerns are not necessarily about the law.
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The hike is about 20-30 minutes or so. First part steady incline but not at all steep. Halfway through it levels out for the rest of the way. The end of that ‘road’ is an open area where we used to park, then the real trail begins, through the woods. Right away you see holes and taling piles. Most uphill. The higher you go, generally, the better the crystals. but it steep and in some places, real steep.
But you have trees surrounding you, so it’s not scary, just a hard climb. Follow any tape markers or taling piles going up, they all pretty much meet at the purple pit.The purple pit is a bit of a more open area (there are no more holes above it) But the best digging is in the heavier woodsy area to the right. (looking up)
If you work your way through that woodsy section, travelling level, 100 yards or so, you will break into the open. A huge open area like nowhere else on the mountain. This is the Garden Slug claim. It’s been pretty much dug out, don’t bother. Just turn back around and find a good hole and break some hard rock and uncover a vug.
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We drove up there today in our little truck and the road was so bad, lots of huge holes and sharp rocks, we turned around after we made the left turn. This is not an easy drive. I am disappointed that we didn’t make it to the dig sites but I did not want my husbands truck pop a tire or something. Also, there seemed to be a rave or something going on at the lower part of the road with lots of music and people walking in the middle of the road.
Does anyone have a suggestion for an easier to get to site?
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Hey Eric, I’m new here, went to butterfly yesterday, some people there said that they had a claim for mineral rights there, is that true or were they just chasing us off?
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Butterfly is, and always will be, open to digging. It’s owned by the railroad or City of Seattle (not sure) so no claims can be staked.
However, it is true that the two existing claims (Garden Slug and Banana Slug) are under new ownership and a third claim was staked. Basically avoid the upper road. If you can read a PLSS map, just make sure to stay in Section 15. That is pretty much the only public parcel remaining. In the coming weeks we will have clear signs and boundaries set up.
Look at the bottom of this map. The red numbers and boxes are sections. We have claims in sections 22, 23, and 14. https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/rastergateway/data3/47121/fstopo/Bandera_472212130_FSTopo.pdf
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I want to go rock hunting does anyone want to team up and go together?
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The road is really bad but I was able to make it up slowly in a very low all wheel drive sports car. This road is worse than I was comfortable going on though.
I am worried about where folks are digging. I see a lot of digging happening at the start of the trailing and it appears it might make some of the trees unstable. I am not an expert but I do wish folks would take a little more caution to protect the space for others in the future.
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What is all this about the road being so bad? Are people driving up the access road that (at least last year) was blocked by big boulders? Have they been moved, or what? Otherwise I don’t understand how one could think the road is so bad. The access road- now that’s bad!
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The access roads (Tinkham, and 5510) have deteriorated a LOT over the past few years. Lots of DEEP potholes, especially under the railroad trestle.
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I went up to the second pit yesterday with my family and this young guy told me that I was on his claim after everything I’ve read online there is no open claims up there it’s free to the public or am I wrong
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Heading up there now. I’ll update when I get back.
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I was up at the top of the dug out hill but took the other walking path that takes you to the top instead of the bottom. I saw some signage about active claims. when I got to the diggings just past the open rock face crumbling out in an opening, some guy said he and another guy have mineral rights and would prefer people call first. He said next year they are turning it into a fee site. They said they’re not gonna chase me off and go ahead and keep on going with my collecting. Any idea if this is legit, or someone just throwing up signs? I’m assuming that is just the upper most portion just before the giant steel cable above the diggings. Is this legit?
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Ryan Able i would love to know as well me and a friend went to the upper seen all the signs and left does anyone have correct info and did you get a phone number to call ahead ?
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I have an older car. Driving up the hills in Seattle is scary to me and I’m going to have my daughter with me. Is the road really difficult to drive up? Little 2002 Ford Focus? If so is it a long walk up? I would be driving 2 hours, I am prepared for a hike if that means I can get some pretty crystals!
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HI Baylie,
I have only been there once but as I recall the road in is fully paved and easy. Once you reach the parking area you will have an approximate 1 1/2 mile easy hike in with a gentle slope. The real hiking comes in when you have to hike up the steep incline to find the place you want to start digging but you don’t have to go all that far up. Just prepare to get muddy/dirty as you will be sitting on red dirt/mud and it will get everywhere. Also make sure to check that it won’t be frozen or covered in snow when you get there. I also highly recommend bringing a head lamp because the tree canopy/cover makes it dim enough that it can be hard to see the quartz points in the dirt without a light to flash on them. I had a ton of fun and can’t wait to go back!
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I have been wanting to go at some point too and have not been, so a diggin buddy would be very nice!! I’m up north in Skagit county.
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So whats the weather status at Hanson right now November 2021 ?
Snow? Ice????? Doable for digging?
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Anyone been up this year
I’m thinking of making my first trip next week
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Hi everyone, I need some help. I am trying to connect with my 16 year old daughter and she is really into crystals and what not. I think this could be a good day trip for us. I have no idea what to do, where to look, where to dig or anything!! Any help or suggestions would be amazing. Thanks in advance for your ideas.
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sure wish someone would let everyone know what’s going on up there this yr for the upper site
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Hello – has anyone been here recently?
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We went today for the first time. The road had a lot of potholes and we had to take it slow in our 2WD minivan. The trail was in great condition, not nearly as muddy as I expected with all the rain we’ve been having! Fun for our three boys to climb around on the hill, dig, and search for treasures!
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It is your responsibility to not trespass on another claim. Much of this area is already owned. Shame on the author for not spelling this out. I believe the lower portion is owned as is the butterfly area by a logging company. The Hanson mine is owned by a privet party. Do you’re due diligence and research.
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Your page is exactly what I needed!
Thank you for your time doing this. Seriously.
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Is the Hansen Creek crystal trail open right now April 2023?
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Hello everyone!
So idea is finally to do some digging on the 20th. this month.
Is this still feasable this time of the year or should one be better waiting for April to come?
Anyone interested to join me? I‘ll hit the road from Seattle downtown or Sea-Tac Airport on a rental very early morning.
Cheers
Stephan
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There’s no snow yet and there probably won’t be any for another few weeks. However it will be pretty cold and rainy.
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Anybody heading to Hansen on 20th from Seattle?!
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Hi ! Curious if you made it up there and if so, what you saw! Hopefully you see this and reply back🙂
Thanks , anne
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STEPHANRITTER06BC13C454 did you end up going on the 20th? If so, what did you learn? Thanks in advance for giving us the current low down?
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I have a lot of crystals I find them I have over 1000
😛
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Your point?
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