If you can find an access point along the Big Wood River, you can hunt the gravel bars for jasper, chalcedony, agate, opal, petrified wood, etc right in the gravel. If the private land has you stymied, try getting into the river channel at a bridge. Once you're in the channel, as long as you're below the high-water mark, you're legal. Or, you can head downstream a ways to find where the river runs through BLM land, then you're good to go. Sometimes, with the low sun facing you, you will see the sunlight shining through the big pieces of quartz and chalcedony.
Jim