Quartz Mountain Pass

Quartz Mountain Pass is the highest point on Oregon Highway 140 between Bly and Lakeview, in the Fremont-Winema National Forest of southeastern Oregon's high desert. The mountain, the pass, the adjoining valley, and a nearby creek are all named for a quartz ledge exposed on the ridge — real, USGS-and-Forest-Service-documented geography, not a guessed pin. This puts it squarely on U.S. Forest Service land in a district already known for rockhounding: the same Fremont-Winema forest hosts documented agate, jasper, and common-opal sites like Dry Creek, about 24 miles to the southwest. Specific productivity at Quartz Mountain Pass itself for agate, chalcedony, and jasper isn't independently confirmed in this research, but the land status and regional geology both check out.

Quartz Mountain Pass sits on Oregon Highway 140, about 13 miles east of Bly and roughly 30 minutes northwest of Lakeview, in Fremont-Winema National Forest, Lake County. The pass is well-marked — it's also home to the Quartz Mountain Sno-Park, a maintained Forest Service recreation site.

General inference for this Fremont-Winema high-desert terrain: surface/float collecting in volcanic uplands, working exposed ridges and drainages rather than digging into solid rock. Standard federal collecting limits apply on National Forest land (personal, non-commercial use).

Quartz Mountain Pass is U.S. Forest Service land within Fremont-Winema National Forest, which generally permits casual hand collecting of common rock and mineral specimens for personal use under standard national forest rules. Confirm current limits and any local closures with the Fremont-Winema National Forest office before visiting — high desert terrain in Lake County can also mean long stretches without services or cell coverage.