Oregon rockhounding?

[janliness]

Yes, John Bailey is a very good cutter, and I've done a couple of his designs as well.

And concerning shows like Gem Hunters and Prospectors (whom I have a friend in) just remember: It's made for television and if it were easy, everyone would be doing it! I've spent some time at other's claims, and you simply can't believe how much work it is: try spending 3 hours at 13,500ft on Mt Antero's South knob, 30 mph wind, thunderstorms, losing color-vision from the snow white granite and bright sun (with sunglasses you'll never see the pale blue aquamarine crystals!) and lack of oxygen. That's just being there, now you get to move rock. I thought it was a fun adventure, after the fact, but the claim owner was up the mountain an hour before me and came down an hour after sunset. Those prospectors are tough! Now I prefer that they bring the crystals back down to me

later,
jan

[rob_gendreau]

A bit off the topic, but sorta related: since you folks obviously know what you're doing, how does one get into the rockhound thing? It (finally) occurred to me after touring mining areas and the desert for years that perhaps I ought to be paying more attention to the rocks beneath my feet, for all kinds of reasons. I'd picked up some quartz, opal, garnets, petrified wood and the like over the years. But I'd like to learn more.

What really got me going, though, was visiting a beach (Agate) at Patrick's Point last week at a minus tide. There were bunches of folks with what looked like walking sticks poking around, so I befriended a few and found they were collecting agates, jasper, petrified wood, etc. The beach there has a large variety of stuff, and it's quite well polished. Even without going through a tumbler they had some impressive looking baubles. They got me interested in finding more (and figuring out what to do with the haul I got following them around).

Rob

[BroncoHauler]

Rob,

My family, that being my parents and my brothers, started rockhounding when we moved to Arizona, and shortly afterwards bought a '72 Chevy Blazer. We had no idea what we were doing, and stumbled through what to do and where to go. After a while we ended up with a nice rock saw and a slab polisher. For all the exploring we did though, we never really did collect much of anything.

Now that my son and I are starting to explore gems, minerals and fossils, I can already see the best path is to join with like-minded individuals and gain their knowledge and expertise. Easier said than done, and we still haven't done it, but I do see a lot of value in getting together with the local gem and mineral club. We have gone to the local gem and mineral shows however, and that's a GREAT place to start, especially with kids. The local clubs go out of their way with local kids trying to get them interested in the hobby (I'd have to guess the average age is 55+) and they sell their 'excess' at very reasonable prices.


Herb

[janliness]

Yes, find your local rock and mineral club and join. Mine here in Colorado Springs has subgroups for fossils, crystals, lapidary, photography, etc. which is where you really get hands on. Plus, they go on field trips, often to places that may be closed off (active quarries, member's mining claims,...) And 55+ yr olds certainly have a lot of experience, know-how, places to go, and tricks up their sleeves!

later,
jan

[BroncoHauler]

Just got back late this afternoon from our trip.

Some decent obsidian (and no bloody cuts on my hands from the obsidian!), and met an old rockhound who gave my son a nice piece of polished flame obsidian. BUT, what the hell? Mid-Summer, and on the last morning at Glass Butte, we had rain showers and snow flurries. We're not talking about coastal Oregon, we're talking about eastern Oregon high desert.

As for sunstones, we had a great time. A good sized amount of small pieces just walking around the camp at the mine, and then we paid for two days of where they would bring over a front-loader full bucket of screened rocks and soil, which we would then sift through and wash down to look for sunstones. As soon as we completed one load, they would bring another. $300 for two days of this, though with just myself and my 8 year old son, we only managed to get through two loads.

We filled up two empty Gatorade bottles full of sunstones, including a few really nice ones (at least to my untrained eyes). A number have color, just a few have hints of rare green, a number have some really nice flashes of copper (schiller), and one that my son found just as we were wrapping up was super nice. Tons of dark red color, along with some schiller. An amateur gem cutter and jewelry maker who was there looking for sunstones for himself, lusted after the gem, weighed it at 39 carats (uncut), and estimated its retail value at $600. He went on and on about making sure it gets cut properly at certain angles. I know he really wanted to be the one who cuts it.

I'll try to take some decent pictures, but from what I've seen, sunstone is hard to capture accurately in photos even if you know what you are doing.


Herb

[John and Dana]

BroncoHauler,

We did a little exploring around Glass Buttes a couple of years ago and there were chunks of obsidian just lying right beside the road. I assume if you know what you are looking for there is a lot more to find. When we were there there was no one else around other than the guys building the cell tower on the top of the butte. The view from the top is really amazing. There is a network of old roads around the area and lots of places to boondock.

Cheers,
John

[BroncoHauler]

Here's the bulk of our haul, minus the 'special' ones


The lighter colored special ones


Mid-color special ones


Dark colored special ones. Unfortunately, most of these appear to have quite a bit of internal fracturing.


The really special ones, at least in my eyes


Close up of one of the really special ones, with lots of copper flash


Close up of one of the really special ones, with a nice dark red center. Very small though.


Close up of one of the really special ones, with a fair amount of green. Difficult to show in a picture.


Close up of two of the really special ones, both with nice copper flash.


Close up the 39ct 'monster' that my son found at the end of our hard labor. Bigger in person that the pic seems to show.



Herb

[janliness]

And this is the one closest to the quarter, two pics up, after I got done with it!

later,
jan

[daveb]

Wow, what is something like that worth?

[BroncoHauler]

When Jan sent me some pics last night, I could barely comprehend the transformation.

What a great skill to have.


Herb