Glass Butte Rockhounding Trip

We had to make a quick driving trip to New Mexico and back and decided to make a really quick stop in Central Oregon to pick up some obsidian and hopefully some agate.  Well, we got the obsidian, but not much of the agate.  

Our first stop was Graveyard Point on the Idaho/Oregon border looking for the fabled plume agate.  We drove out on the very bad dirt road a ways and pulled over and decided to walk the road.  Wouldn't you know it, we ran into a really bad thunderstorm and had to run back to the car before we got much collecting done.  We had lightning cracking over our heads, and as soon as we got into the car, the radio was broadcasting an emergency alert for a severe thunderstorm.  Oh well, that spot gets added to the bucket list.  We only found a few bits of agate and haven't even looked at them yet.

Graveyard Point Thunderstorm

Our next stop the following day was Glass Butte in Oregon.  We had our sights set on some rainbow and flame obsidian.  We didn't find much of the rainbow obsidian (as far as we know - we haven't cut any yet), but we did hit the mother lode on the flame obsidian.

Rainbow Obsidian Pits

Our first stop, the rainbow collecting pits looked pretty picked over.  We knew there were other rainbow spots, but we decided to head over to the area where flame obsidian is supposed to be.  I had the spot marked in the Garmin, after using an older WSMC (Washington State Mineral Council) map of the area and Google Earth to pinpoint the different collecting areas.  The Garmin tried to take us up the steep side of a hill, so we knew the spot was on top of the hill.  After locating a road that wandered that direction and seeing a big mud pit in the road, we decided to park and walk up the hill using the road.

A stone cairn near where we parked

We knew we must be close when we spotted a neat stone cairn below the hill near our parking spot, the only shade tree around.

View to the east from the top of the hill

We walked up the road and then headed cross country using the Garmin to guide us.  We came out on another road and there just happened to be a large chunk of flame obsidian shining at us next to the road.  We knew we were close.

Flame Obsidian Collecting Pit

Still using the Garmin directions, we walked to the side of the hill and there were the pits.  There were large chunks of various colored obsidian laying everywhere.  There was flame, and mahogany and even several pieces of the pumpkin agate laying around.  And what a view!  Boy, was it work carrying many large chunks of obsidian back to the car!

Boy are we a long way from the car!

Before we left, we decided to check out one more spot that was labeled opalite mine.  Not sure what we were looking for here, we just picked up some interesting gray, white, and pink banded specimens.

Large Opalite Collecting Pit

We headed out from here and made a lunch stop at Hampton Butte, where we found nothing much but a bunch of dig holes.  I had actually been out here a few years before with a large group and those people would just start digging holes anywhere.  We didn't understand it.  We asked an older gentleman about it and he explained that just digging was useless.  What you need to do here is use a metal probe and stick it into the ground until you hear a distinctive "tink" sound, then start digging.  That made more sense to us.  This time we did prospect a nearby area some with a probe and found a few nice indications of a good spot to check out on our next trip.

Hampton Butte Dig Holes Everywhere!

Hopefully we will get back to the area soon to continue our hunt!  Happy Rock hunting!

Since you are here, check out our stone creations and minerals at our Etsy shop at SouthPrairieHandmade

Gorgeous Black Brown Moss Agate Pendant