By Dave Webb
July 4, 2019

The Ophir area, and nearby Mercur, have long been favorite rock hounding spots. There are many old mines, with tailing piles, and it is often productive to dig there for pyrite, sphalerite, galena, epidote and other minerals.

Recently, some of the old mines are re-opening and that is restricting access. We visited over the holiday weekend and had great fun, and found interesting rocks, but we were disappointed the large tailings pile just as you come into town is now posted with no trespassing signs. We did not go into Mercur but have heard that area is now mostly posted and unavailable.

Ophir is a surprisingly quaint town with a few residents and a general store selling ice cream bars. It is worth a stop. Directly across from the store is a park/education center exhibiting relics from early mining activities.

The area is located off Hwy 73 between Fairfield and Stockton, over the mountains west of the Wasatch Front. It is relatively close and worth an afternoon trip.

As you turn off Hwy 73 onto the Ophir Canyon Road, you can clearly see a mine and large tailings pile to the Northwest. A dirt road runs up to the area. We started there and found a lot of quarts in thin veins in interesting rocks. We also found some incredible fossils.

From there we worked other tailings piles as we made our way up the canyon. Kids with us had a great time.