Saddle Mountain Washington

 After returning home from New Mexico, I figured I'd just take it easy for a while and recharge my batteries. But as luck would have it, I somehow ended up with a four day weekend off and nothing to do. My husband, a diehard camper had missed out on a planned trip earlier because of my unexpected trip down to New Mexico, so we planned a spur of the moment trip to Central Washington to search out nice rockhounding spots.

We decided to head to the Yakima River area because it was pretty cool in the Rosalyn area and Yakima sounded warmer. Unfortunately I didn't do my homework on the rockhounding areas and we almost ended up with nothing but a nice camping trip along the river (not so bad). 


We ended up setting up camp at the Bighorn Campground late Friday night. All the river spots were taken by all the rafters and fishermen, but we had a really nice spot anyway. I highly recommend this campground over the many other BLM sites we passed, because it had a lot more shade than the others further South.

Nice Shady Camping Spot at Bighorn Campground

The next morning, rather than tubing down the river (which did look like a lot of fun), we decided to go rock hunting. I had an old book which told about petrified wood along Umtanum Creek. It had little other information. It just said search the canyons and river beds to the south of Umtanum Creek Trail. So we headed down the river to the Umtanum bridge.

Yakima River Rafters - Looks Like Fun!

Umtanum Bridge

It was easy to find the suspension bridge. It's the only one across the river. As soon as we got to the other side, we ran into two out-of-breath hikers who told us to beware of the rattlesnake up the trail. Well, that did it for us. Even though we were both raised in New Mexico and never gave a thought to rattlesnakes, we suddenly became super aware of the possibility and did not have the courage to leave the stupid trail to look for petrified wood. We just couldn't do it! Meanwhile, Bandito decided that the upper 80's was too much for him and settled into the creek at the first spot we came to.

Bandito Laying in the Creek

We found a few chips of petrified wood laying under the railroad bridge at the beginning of the trail and near a washout area up the trail, but we were just too conscious of the snake danger to get off into the brush and look, so we just found a shady spot near the river and rested awhile and headed back.

View of the Yakima River Valley from the Umtanum Creek Trail

I have since done my homework and now know where to look, but that trip will have to wait for cooler weather when the snakes aren't around.

The next day, Sunday, we had two choices of places to hunt. I had read a bloggers report about petrified wood up the Old Durr Toll Road, and Saddle Mountain, which was about an hour away on the other side of the Columbia River. I did have specific directions to Saddle Mountain, but the Old Durr Road was closer, so we headed that direction first. Here is an interesting description of this historic road: BackroadsofNorthAmerica.com.


It was a cool day as we started our  drive down the road. There was a great view of rolling hills and farms along the way.

Farm House on Durr Road

Several miles down the road we were greeted with a huge sign with the notice that a Discover Pass was required. This notice should have been posted at the beginning of the road. We decided to just continue on.

Now You Tell Us a Discover Pass is Required?

The road was VERY rough and had spots where melon-sized rocks had been put down for traction. There were some spots with steep drop-offs and we had to cross Umtanum Creek without the benefit of a bridge. All in all, it was not too bad, and I wouldn't classify it as a 4-wheel drive only road. You do need a high clearance vehicle with really good tires though. After inching along for several miles, we finally came to a 3-way intersection and decided to stop. There was an old ranch gateway just sitting out in the middle of nowhere.

Gateway to Where?

After searching around the area, we only found a few small pieces of petrified wood. Later I would discover we were searching the wrong side of the hill. Just our luck! We decided to head back and get over to Saddle Mountain where I had good directions. It took us quite a while to get back down Durr Road and over the Columbia River, but we made it in a couple of hours.

Saddle Mountain is a well-known rock hounding area on BLM land outside of Mattawa. The petrified wood found in this area is what is known as "bog" wood. The theory is that there were piles of downed trees in a swampy area and a lava flow came along and buried it. Then over time, the minerals turned the trees into stone and then the lava started to erode and expose the wood. Whatever the theory, there is sure a lot of wood out there!

As soon as we reached the first area we found pieces of wood laying around everywhere. We immediately started following the pieces to some good sized dig holes. Michael, a firm believer in digging, started going at it. Me, I reconnoitered the area looking for the best spots to dig. I found so much without digging that I just kept collecting.

Can You See The Petrified Wood?

When we left, we felt bad about picking up the small pieces we first found because the wood was everywhere! at the second spot, we found a huge hole with trees visible embedded in the rock. I know Michael was thinking he was glad he hadn't had to dig that hole!

I Have to Dig That Deep?

The agatized wood inside the hole was beautiful. We chipped at it a while, but decided it was just damaging the whole log and there was plenty of large pieces laying around for our needs.

Agatized Logs at the Bottom of the Hole

All in all, our trip to Saddle Mountain made the day a huge success and we were really glad we headed out there. We'll definitely have to make another trip in the fall. I know that for sure after reading this trip report from the Kitsap Gem & Mineral Club. Meanwhile, we were completely happy with our finds for the day.

The Pile of Our Finds

Close-up View

A Southwest Rock Hunt Near Cuba New Mexico

OK, I know that New Mexico is not in the Northwest, but due to a harrowing last 5 weeks down in Albuquerque getting my parents moved to assisted living, I managed to get out and go rock hunting only one time. But boy, did we find an excellent spot! 


Seeing as how it was near 100º every day, we watched the weather reports for a predicted day of overcast and planned to head to a higher elevation. After perusing the information I had found on a previous trip, I decided that the Cuba area copper mines would be a good place to go. At 8000+ feet of elevation, I figured it was bound to be cooler. So on Sunday, July 24th, My extended Albuquerque family, my Alaska sister and my hubby headed out to see what we could find.

Terrain in the Cuba Area

We headed out of Albuquerque under bright sun but quickly ended up in overcast skies and rainy weather up in Cuba. It was wonderful. Temps were in the 70's. I felt like I was back in the Northwest. As we attempted to get to the rockhound spot I had decided on, we discovered that the road was closed due to extreme fire danger and the fires further on in the Los Alamos area. So, we turned around and I decided that we would head up every open dirt road heading North as we headed back toward Cuba. I knew there were lots of old mines in those hills and we had to get lucky sometime.

Looking For A Passable Road

We headed up several roads that seemed to dead end in people's yards, including  a road that was named Copper City Road, with collapsed buildings everywhere, but we finally  ended up at a makeshift log barricade pretty far up one dirt road. We could see what looked like mine tailings in the hillsides. We parked and decided to check things out. 

Checking out the Road

Right away my lucky sister found a large piece of agatized petrified wood in the road. So we decided to stay a while. Pretty soon a large white truck appeared and stopped to see what we were doing. It turned out they were the owners of the land and told us that they owned everything around and up the road, right to the entrance to the Nacimiento mine and that we were welcome to search to our heart's content. An old gentleman with the group proudly told us that the hills surrounding us were mined by the Conquistadores in the early 1600's (or rather mined by the Indians they enslaved). He also told us that the Smithsonian had on display a petrified log infused with copper that had come from this same land. Boy were we excited.

Hills Behind the Horse Are Old Diggings From the 1600's

We scoured the area and found azurite, malachite, pieces of copperized petrified wood, agatized petrified wood, thundereggs, rose quartz, citrine quartz and lots of very old glass. The area was amazing! All in all it turned out to be a wonderful day for everyone. And we all ended up with beautiful specimens to add to our collections.

A Few of My Finds

Suggested Reading:

The Ore Deposits of New Mexico (1910)
New Mexico mines and minerals: World's fair ed., 1904
New Mexico Mines and Minerals ...: Being an Epitome of the Early Mining History 
and Resources of New Mexican Mines, in the Various Districts, Down 
to the Present Time ...

Burma Road - Greenwater

Because today was the first nice day we've had when I was scheduled off, I decided to head up Burma Road on the Hancock Tree Farm land. I've had written directions to many collecting sites up there, but haven't been able to get to them because of the snow. I was hoping that I could get up a little higher today because of the recent warmer temps.


The gate to the Tree Farm was open, so I headed on in and followed my written instructions and drove 7+ miles up the main road. There, I came to an intersection which was not marked. Well, it was, but the sign was laying on the ground. I decided to continue on the main road for a while, to see if I ran across another sign, but I didn't, so I turned around and headed back to the intersection. I stopped and noticed the sign on the ground, and sure enough, it was the road I was looking for. 


I drove the 1+ miles to an unmarked 3 road intersection and reread my directions. They told me that small thundereggs would be in a mudslide area on the left side of the road. I backtracked and noticed a muddy area along the road, where rocks were eroding out, so I found a place to pull off and got out to investigate. 

Mudslide Area on Raod 6110

Right away I started finding thundereggs, jasper, and seam agate. The thundereggs were fist sized which surprised me, since my directions said they would only be 3".  They were very pretty being red, black and brown with bright blue colored veins running through them. I discovered that the best specimens were located in a dark black area of the hill. While I searched the slide area, Bandito ran around, chasing birds and sniffing out interesting scents. 

Darker Areas in Side of Hill

Because the area was wet and had standing water nearby, I was eventually chased off by the many no-see-ums in the area. I ended up with about 10 lbs of nice looking agate.

A Few of the Larger Thundereggs

I decided to head on to the next site and try my luck. Unfortunately, my directions were not that clear. They told me to head .1 mile further down the road and turn left. There was no road going left .1 mile down the road. The only thing close was the unmarked 3 road intersection. I decided to head for the next site on my list.

I headed back to the previous intersection and was to drive 2+ miles further down the main road. It said to enjoy the view at the 2 mile mark which I did. But I couldn't make it any further because I ran into snow on the road. So I turned around and headed back down the thunderegg road.

The Viewpoint with Mt Rainier Behind the Clouds

Again at the 3 road intersection I drove straight for a while and it soon became obvious this wasn't a main road, because it got so bad. So, I turned around and went back to the intersection again. Coming from the opposite direction, I noticed that the road on my immediate left seemed to be a major road and was heading in the basic direction I knew the road should be heading. I also noticed that the other road to my immediate left was a dead end and that a car was parked down there. That was a good sign, because maybe they were rock hunting. I decided to head down the dead end road.

As I headed down the hill, I realized that the rocks on the road were very big, placed for logging trucks, and prayed I wouldn't hurt my car or tires. I was also slipping and bouncing around a lot. I put it in low gear and just kept going. A little ways down, I noticed either a landslide or an area of digging on the side of the road, but because there was no turn around, I kept going. Because the road unnerved me, I turned around as soon as I found a good spot and decided to head home. The climb back up the road went better than I expected and when I drew even with the landslide area, I stopped and got out to check it out. Boy am I glad I did! 

I hit the geode jackpot! Everywhere I looked there were crystals shining up at me with various colored agate linings. Someone had dug a deep hole, but it looked like the geodes were scattered everywhere in the rocks.

Geode Jackpot!

Once again, I noticed these crumbly shining black rocks everywhere and the geodes seemed to be eroding out of the dark areas. I picked up round nodules, large amethyst crystals and large greenish colored rocks that appeared to be full of crystal and agate. It was a rock hounds' paradise.

Agates and Geodes and Crystals Oh My!

I picked up about 10lbs of nice crystals and decided I had better head back down or someone might start worrying about me. I know that there will be plenty left at this spot, since it appears to be a new find due to the recent logging road cut. One of the best pieces I found was a large piece of amethyst crystals just laying near the road.

Amethyst Crystal Cluster 

I'm already counting the days until I can go back, start digging and find some large geodes! There are probably lots more down below!

Suggested Reading:

The Miner's Geology and Prospector's Guide: for Mining Students, Miners...

Central Oregon Rockhounding Locations

Bear Creek 

What: Petrified Wood 

Agency: Bureau of Land Managaement 

Directions: From Prineville, proceed south on Highway 27 about 33 miles to Bear 
Creek road. This is beyond Roberts and Little Bear Creek roads. Turn left for 5 
1/2 miles. Turn off road to left just before fence. Go short distance through the 
gate and bear right or park your vehicle on the road 3/4 miles to the east and 
travel north along the west side of the fence. 
Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
CAUTION: Respect private lands in the vicinity. 


Eagle Rock 

What: Agate, dendrites, moss agate and sometimes angel wing. 
Agency: Bureau of Land Management 

Prineville to milepost 14, to monolith on right. Turn right at the second road. The 
distance to the site is short but sharply inclined and rough. 
Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels.
Directions: Take Highway 380 from Prineville
Note: Diggings are mostly at the base of the rim. Beautiful float found from 

mountain skirt at base of rim rock to the flat below. Hard digging. Mostly 

agate with rhyolite. 

CAUTION: There are private claims throughout this area, but open BLM lands 

surround these claims. 


Glass Butte 

What: Gold, silver and rainbow sheen Obsidian. 
Agency: Bureau of Land Management 

nd Burns, near milepost 77, turn south on Obsidian Road. About 2 miles brings 
you to an area with many diggings. Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
Note: Explore different areas for 
Directions: On US 20 between Bend 
adifferent varieties of obsidian (midnight lace, black, cinnamon, mahogany and

fire obsidian). 
CAUTION: Keep to roads; obsidian can cut tires. Respect private lands in the vicinity. 


Green Jasper Location 

What: Green Jasper 

Agency: Ochoco National Forest 

Directions: Follow US 26 past milepost 48 to Road 2630 (Pisgah Lookout road).
After 3/4 mile, merge onto Road 2210, turn right on Road 2210-300 for 2 miles,
then right to diggings at end of the road. 
Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
Note: Scarce, but beautiful. 


Maury Mountain 

What: Red, green and gold moss agate 

This agate is of the moss variety with some angel wing and plume found throughout.
The moss appears in gold, green, red and many combination shades. Sometimes
the dendritic moss formation develops into a beautiful white plume.
Agency: Ochoco National Forest 

Directions: Go east on Highway 380 Post/Paulina to milepost 33. Turn right 

across the bridge on Road 16 for about 5 miles, crossing the Ochoco National 
Forest boundary. Turn right on Road 1680 (Drake Butte road), travel about 2 
miles. Turn right on Road 1690 and follow to parking area. 
Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only.

Note: A little float. 



South Fork Area 

What: Limb Casts 

In the early days of the earth's origin, forests, and a large lake bed covered 
the area. Trees, complete with limbs and roots, were buried by massive 
mudflows. Through  time, the plant material decayed, leaving a perfect 
mold or cast. These voids filled with chalcedony quartz. In this material, 
appeared manganese and other impurities which produced some very 
beautiful dendrites and, in some cases, gave a pink color to the otherwise 
clear agate. These casts are located at an average depth of 18 inches. 
They are found in streams and on surfaces weathered by wind and rain.
Agency: Bureau of Land Management 
Directions: Two locations on South Fork Crooked River on BLM managed land. 

On the Camp Creek side of Highway 380 Post/Paulina to milepost 44, right on 

Camp Creek road for 9 miles. Left on road just past rock quarry. Go about 2 

miles. Take left fork and go through fence line. Follow about 2 miles and turn 

right at next fork. Go approximately 2 miles and turn left to diggings. On the 

Congleton Hollow side of Highway 380 to milepost 50, turn right just beyond

the river. Follow about 5 miles to diggings. 

Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
Note: Part of the South Fork area is a BLM wilderness study area. Contact BLM 

for a map. Vehicle use is restricted to the designated routes. No cross country 

motorized use. Some surface hunting. 


Vistaite Location 

What: Green and buckskin rhyolite 
Agency: Ochoco National Forest 

Directions: Go east on US 26 to milepost 34. Take right hand fork about 13 
miles past Ochoco Ranger Station. Take Road 22 and follow until you see 
"Walton Lake 2 Miles" sign. Turn left on Road 2210 for 100 feet, then right 
on Road 2210-050 for 1 mile. Float in black adobe. 
Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels
Note: Scarce but very beautiful. 


Whistler Springs 

What: Agate 

Agency: Ochoco National Forest 

Directions: Go east on US 26 to milepost 49. Turn left of Road 27 for about 6 
miles. There are some narrow, winding sections, which can be marginal in 
wet weather. Turn left on Road 2700-050, Whistler Springs Campground. 
For a gentler, longer route, from US 26, turn left on Road 27 for 0.8 miles, 
right on Road 2730 for 11.2 miles, left on Road 2730-200 for 5 miles to 
Road 27. Cross the road to Whistler Springs Campground. 
Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
CAUTION: Mill Creek Wilderness bounds the southern end of the agate area.  
Watch for the Mill Creek Wilderness boundary signs. 


White Fir Springs 

What: Jasper Thunderegg 

The eggs are of agatized jasper composition with rhyolite matrix, in many color 
combinations: browns, tans, yellows, reds and mauves. Many unusual shades 
and patterns are formed in each thunderegg. The size may be only one inch 
in diameter up to several feet, depending upon the depths at which eggs are 
found.
Agency: Ochoco National Forest 
Directions: Follow US 26 east to milepost 41. Turn left on Road 3350 for 5 1/2 

miles, then right on Road 3350-010. 

Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
Note: Jasper filled thundereggs found in a wide area on the mountainside. 


White Rock Springs 

What: Jasper Thundereggs 

The eggs are of agatized jasper composition with rhyolite matrix, in many color 
combinations: browns, tans, yellows, reds and mauves. Many unusual shades 
and patterns are formed in each thunderegg. The size may be only one inch in 
diameter up to several feet, depending upon the depths at which eggs are found.
 Agency: Ochoco National Forest 
Directions: Follow US 26 to milepost 41. Turn left on Road 3350, then right on 

Road 3350-300, about 7 miles total. 

Tools: Rock hammers, picks and shovels only. 
Note: Materials is hard to find, but very beautiful. Carnelian cores have been 

found in the area. 

CAUTION: Watch for the Mill Creek Wilderness boundary signs.

NFMS Rockhound Rendezvous 2011 - Hampton Butte, OR

Well, it was a unique experience for me to attend the NFMS rockhound rendezvous last weekend over the Memorial Day holiday. Being new to this rockhound club group thing was both interesting, fun and educational. The only other thing I can say is that the weather was absolutely horrible.

We arrived at the group camping site on Camp Creek Rd. around 7:00pm on Thursday. As we were attempting to set up our tent, the rains started and we rushed to get it up. As soon as we had it up, the wind started in and I had to literally use all my weight to keep it standing while we secured it with extra heavy duty rope and stakes. This was to be an early indication of the entire weekend. That night it was so cold we pulled out all the extra blankets and coats and whatever else we could find to keep warm.

NFMS Camp Site - Central OR

I had signed up for the Hampton Butte field trip for Friday and as it turned out that was a good plan because no other field trips made it there afterward due to the foot of snow that fell down there Saturday morning. The entire area had become a wind-whipped frozen tundra overnight.

When we arrived at the Hampton Butte collecting site everyone went in various directions to seek out the beautiful petrified wood of this area. We weren't sure what to do, so we just searched around for chips laying on the ground and whatever else we could find. We stopped by one man who had dug a hole about 3 feet deep and asked if he had found anything. He said, no, but he was told that the good stuff was about two feet down. We decided that we weren't just going to start digging without any other information and continued scouring the area. We did find some beautiful pieces.

Hampton Butte Collecting Area

After eating lunch we headed back to the parking area and ran across an old-timer digging patiently in the many mounds scattered around and he was extremely helpful in showing us how to determine where to dig and how to determine the size of what you are digging for with the use of a probe (unfortunately we had left ours at home). One woman had dug up a reddish colored petrified log across the road. It was really nice. We decided to call it quits and head to Prineville for something to probe with and come back later. Of course the weather made it impossible to come back. We didn't know that then.

Road to Hampton Butte Saturday Morning

That evening I signed us up for the Congleton Hollow (Paulina) area collecting trip. This was a good move because on Saturday morning we woke up to snow showers and bad roads. Hampton Butte was not reachable. Our trip to the Congleton area brought us up dry roads and supplied us with many nice little pieces of pale green limb casts and agates. We did not dig as we should have. Our trip leader found two large limbs of beautiful agatized wood after spotting what looked like a small buried piece of wood. We did not see any exposed wood to dig for. Maybe we should have dug anywhere. Others in the group that stopped down by the creek bed found quite a few nice pieces after digging in the sides of the creek.

After lunch we headed down from the top of the hill to the creek bed and there we found lots of river polished agates that everyone else passed up to dig for the "big stuff." We were happy. I  even found an eight inch chunk of petrified wood sticking out of the creek bed where someone else had dug. Most of the day was beautiful and sunny with occasional clouds moving through, but around 4:00pm it clouded up and started hailing. We headed back to camp and warmed up our homemade chile for the potluck. It was raining so hard and the wind blowing that we ate some of the chile because we didn't know if the potluck would happen. It finally did take place during a brief clearing of the weather. Lots of food, many beautiful finds. One couple found two complete large agatized tree trunks that looked like the Arizona Petrified Forest wood up Camp Creek. Several others had found beautiful petrified limbs at Congleton.

Saturday Sunset - Camp Site Area

Saturday evening was so cold and windy that we decided to head for bed early and pray for better weather. We went to bed around 8:00pm just to get warm.

Sunday morning dawned cold, cold, cold and windy, windy, windy. We decided at that point that we'd had "enough fun" and packed up our camp. A field trip for the group to Glass Butte wasn't planned until Monday, so we decided to stop by there on our way home to check it out since I had a map to the area that I had obtained from my rockhound club (Puyallup Valley Gem and Mineral Club).

Glass Butte, OR

Glass Butte was beautiful! We were worried we wouldn't make it up the really muddy road to the main site, but our Escape slogged through fine. The road was very muddy and rough. I had a hand drawn map of the area and the different types of obsidian to be found there but we just pulled off the road and started hunting. It was laying everywhere! My husband decided to start digging and he dug up many large boulders. He didn't want to crack them because they shattered so easily (no duh!) so we just piled them all in bags and carried them home. Most of what we got was the banded and mahogany, but one piece I picked up shone gold in the brief 10 seconds the sun came out on our way home. Who knows what all we got. All in all I would highly recommend visiting this spot just for the fact of the abundance of this neat stone.

Some of our Obsidian finds

Despite leaving two days early and braving the freezing tundra of Central Oregon, we still had a wonderful time and plan to revisit this area in the near future, hopefully during better weather conditions. For more information on this wonderful area, visit the USFS website.

Map: Glass Butte Obsidian Locations

Rockhounding in the beginning

I didn't set out to be an avid rockhounder. It started when I was young with my father taking us out on camping and day trips to find rocks and unusual places. I had completely forgotten my experiences until later in life and I found myself trying to entertain three growing sons when my husband was working out of town with very little money for entertainment.

They enjoyed getting out into the forests, climbing rocks, finding crystals and jasper and just being boys. At least one of them still likes to get out and find beautiful minerals. It's almost like treasure hunting, but usually you do end up with something to show for your efforts.

Now that they are all grown and I have more free time (and need the exercise) I have discovered that a day of rockhounding can carry me through an entire week of work and also give me something to look forward to. Not to mention the beautiful views and scenery of the Northwest.

Cherry Creek Falls - WA

I have discovered that in my search for elusive crystals, agates, geodes and thundereggs, I have accumulated a lot of information that I would like to share. Particularly in regard to research. I have discovered unknown mines, geology reports, maps and area history that brings the Northwest to life. I plan to share these discoveries on this blog.