Trail Ruins

The Trail Ruins is a buried archaeological site you excavate with a brush rather than loot from chests. It generates in the Overworld, across 6 biome types - Taiga, Snowy Taiga, Old Growth Birch Forest, Old Growth Pine Taiga, Old Growth Spruce Taiga, and Jungle - which makes the Trail Ruins moderately uncommon to come across as you explore.

Expect to find the Trail Ruins between about Y -15 and Y 2, so set your search to that elevation. Trail ruins generate underground in cold and forested biomes - taiga variants, old-growth forests, and jungle - and are almost entirely buried, so you usually find them by digging into their terracotta brickwork. They were added with the archaeology system and have no hostile garrison.

It was introduced in Minecraft 1.20, and the detail that defines it at a glance is simple: buried archaeological structure.

On Java Edition the quickest method is the command /locate structure minecraft:trail_ruins, which prints the coordinates of the nearest Trail Ruins and the distance to it.

Without commands, head for one of the Trail Ruins's biomes (Taiga, Snowy Taiga, Old Growth Birch Forest, Old Growth Pine Taiga, Old Growth Spruce Taiga, and Jungle) and search the Y -15 to 2 band. Because it is moderately uncommon, you will usually pass a few biomes before a Trail Ruins appears.

Use /locate structure minecraft:trail_ruins. Found buried underground in forested biomes. Look for exposed terracotta or glazed terracotta blocks while mining. Use a brush on suspicious gravel to extract items.

Once inside, there are no chests at all. Rewards come from suspicious gravel blocks: brush each one to extract a single item. Trail ruins are the only source of four armour-trim templates (Wayfinder, Raiser, Shaper, Host) and the 'Relic' music disc.

Among the Trail Ruins's randomised drops, the most common pulls are Dye (various colors) at about 30%, Pottery Shard (various) at about 20%, Candle (various colors) at about 12%, and Stained Glass Pane at about 12%. At the other end of the odds sit the jackpot items: Diamond at roughly 4% and Music Disc (Relic) at roughly 4%, so opening multiple Trail Ruins chests pays off over time.

What makes the Trail Ruins genuinely worth the trip is a set of exclusive rewards you cannot get reliably anywhere else - Wayfinder Armor Trim, Raiser Armor Trim, Shaper Armor Trim, Host Armor Trim, Music Disc (Relic), and Pottery Sherds (various) - so this is the place to come for them.

The Trail Ruins has no mobs that spawn as part of the structure itself, so the danger is environmental rather than a garrison to fight.

The specific hazards to plan around: no hostile mobs, but structure is underground and easy to accidentally destroy suspicious blocks while mining.

The ruin is a grid of partly collapsed buildings, roads, and a tower made of terracotta, glazed terracotta, mud bricks, and similar blocks. Embedded among them are clusters of suspicious gravel - the only blocks worth your attention, since everything of value is brushed out of them.

Other things you will notice as you explore: suspicious gravel blocks with loot, terracotta and glazed terracotta construction, and tower and road structures.

Trail ruins are the primary source for archaeology items. Use a brush (crafted with feather, copper ingot, and stick) on suspicious gravel blocks to extract items. Be careful not to break suspicious blocks with regular tools as the loot will be lost.