Quick Eastern Washington Trip

Before leaving for New Mexico we got in a quick rockhounding trip to eastern Washington.  Despite the horrible heat wave here right now we still managed to find some great rocks.  

We drove State Route 410 over Chinook Pass and made a quick stop at what I think is called the Blue Bird Mine near Bear Gap.  I have been here many times, but for my compadre it was a new experience.  She is just not used to driving to the opening of a mine. 

Mouth of Blue Bird (maybe Belle) Mine

Nice Ore Specimen

Large Tailing Pile

We hung around the tailing pile and found a few nice ore specimens before we decided to move on to the Little Naches River.

When we got to the Little Naches River, the temps were getting pretty warm, so we pulled off and took a little hike back into the woods to view Horsetail Falls.  Boy was the water low!  It was pretty cool back near the falls though.

Horsetail Falls

We drove a little ways down along the Little Naches River and finally found a shady spot to search the river for agates and thunder eggs.  Someone else was there ahead of us adding rocks to their buckets.  We were worried they got all the good rocks, but I soon realized that they were picking up too many to have gotten any real good ones.  There just aren't that many there to be found and they probably didn't know what they were looking for.  

Nice and Shady Little Naches River

A Pleasant Surprise - Serpentinite or Jadeite! 

After scouring the river for good rocks, and having found only a few possibles, we decided to head back to the cooler side of the Cascades.  One of my best finds was a nice large serpentinite or jadeite! I keep finding these in just about every WA river.  Go figure.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out our beautiful mineral specimens on our Etsy shop!

Gold Sheen Mahogany Obsidian Slab

Agatized Petrified Wood Rough

Dying to get out Rockhounding Again!

I  have been cooped up in this house for weeks now, and I am ready to get going again!  I have several northwest places in mind, but lucky for me, soon we will be traveling back to our home state of New Mexico for a family reunion and hopefully some successful rockhounding!

I have only been out a couple of times recently, and one trip was to Greenwater where half the gates were still closed, and up to the Carbon River mining district down the road.  We did find a few OK rocks and one awesome rock!

Those of you who know rocks and the areas I am referring to will know where I got this rock.  It is amazing!  I hate to say it, but I have kept some of our best locations secret, well, for obvious reasons. Duh!

Tourmaline Crystals, Malachite, Azurite

Now the big question is; sell this stone as a specimen or keep it and pass it on to my family.  Huh!  Good question.  I will have to think about it.

I am in particular looking forward to my trip to get back to NM and collect some great petrified wood!  It is everywhere!  I remember a Girl Scout hike into the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, and when we stopped to eat lunch, I was sitting beneath a juniper and picked up a large chunk of what I thought was wood.  Lo and behold, it was petrified wood.  Who knew!  It may be at that point that a rockhound was born.  I still have many pieces that my Dad collected over his lifetime.  One of the things I did when we had to move my parents out of their home of 50 years, was scour the rocks in their yard.  My brother and sister thought I was crazy!

Anyway in NM we have one wonderful spot where petrified wood is everywhere and free to collect.  It comes in all shapes and sizes, some is agatized, some is crystal lined, some looks like plain sandstone.  It's amazing!

One of My Last Rockhounding Trips with my Parents

Seriously this wood is laying everywhere.  And some of it is large!

Petrified Tree Trunk

Pieces of Petrified Wood and a Cactus

Some people may wonder why I like New Mexico.  There is something really beautiful about the blue skies and being able to see forever.  I love the desert.  It is awesome.  I even love the cactus, particularly after a recent rain, when they bloom!  I don't particularly like the heat sometimes, but in the spring and fall, it is wonderful!  I also miss the feeling of history that surrounds you there.  Here in Washington it seems like everything melts back into the forest.

Old Adobe - Big Skies

Cactus After Rain in New Mexico

A Different Color

Did I forget to mention New Mexico has lots of rocks?  I must also mention the neat Pecos Diamonds we will be searching for!

Pecos Diamonds

Anyway, to make ends meet since I had to quit my job to help care for my parents, I have been selling some of my wonderful finds on Etsy.  You might want to check it out  And keep checking back.  I am going to have some great things coming back with me from NM.

Check out my minerals for sale on my Etsy shop, SouthPrairieHandmade!

Large Crystalized Petrified Wood Half Round

Winter Rockhounding in Oceanside Oregon

Sorry I have been a bit remiss in my postings. I have been busy with a wedding, creating brooch bouquets for another wedding and making collages. More to follow on these topics on another blog. Stay tuned.

It's getting to be that time of year again here in Washington, where I've got to find places to go rockhounding that won't be buried under snow. It's a hard job, but someone has to do it... so here goes.

A Foggy Evening in Oceanside

We go to Oregon. Yep, the Oregon coast to be exact. The winter is the best time to go agate hunting on the beautiful beaches of Oregon. We usually try to pick a weekend in January or February, when the storms and waves have a had a good chance to wash away the sand and expose the rocky layers beneath.

Our favorite spot is a little town called Oceanside. It's hidden on a dead end, right on the coast with a beautiful lighthouse on the bluff up above. The neat thing about Oceanside is that it has a hidden beach you can only reach through a tunnel under the mountain, or during a very low tide. We like Oceanside because it isn't as well known as Newport, It's closer than Newport and Tillamook is only a few miles away.

Tunnel Entrance on South side of Mountain Near Oceanside

We usually rent one of the many beautiful beach houses there in Oceanside and the rates are lower during the late winter. My kids love to rent a boat and go crabbing in nearby Netarts Bay. Then we all have crab for dinner.

The Hidden Beach Near Oceanside - The Tunnel Opening is in the Center of the Picture

We find plenty of agates too. All different colors, sizes and shapes. The trick is to go during a record low tide and follow the tide out. You can also find fossils and petrified wood there.

Tumbled Agates Found in Oceanside, Oregon

Here are some links to pictures of agates others have found here:

http://people.oregonstate.edu/~wilsolau/agates.html

http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2007/06/seeking_out_secret_beaches_at.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65325541@N00/4076124779

Also, keep your eyes peeled for this green rock. It tends to blend in with all the black rocks along the beach. I'm not sure what it is, but it seems to polish pretty well.

Unknown Green Rock

For  house rental information, I usually use VRBO. It's a great website to find exactly what you need, and renting a house means we don't have to spend money on restaurants.

Beautiful View from the Bedroom of one of the Homes we Rented in Oceanside

Oceanside, Oregon is a beautiful and fun rock hunting destination.

Oceanside Beach at Sunset

Salmon Creek Again

 Well, we enjoyed our last trip to Salmon Creek so much, that we just had to go back. We really want to find some of the bigger agates I keep seeing people find. Anyway, the day was gorgeous and we headed out again with a late start (as usual).

I decided we should check a different, less well known area of Salmon Creek, so we headed towards Merchant Road from highway 505. After we crossed the Salmon Creek bridge I noticed that the areas on the south side of the bridge had been clearcut very recently. We decided to stop and check it out, since so much ground was visible.

View Down Logging Road from Highway

We got out and headed down the road and right away discovered small chips of carnelian. I decided to check out all the tree stumps we passed, and sure enough I found this interesting little bit of river polished petrified wood.

Petrified Wood Hiding Near Tree Stumps

As we moved down the road towards the river, we started finding more and more pieces of carnelian in the road, where the rain had worn gullies in the road. I even found some really nice jasper.

View of Road Towards River and Highway

When we noticed how late it was getting, we decided to turn around and head back. Of course I had to check out one more spot where the loggers had made a clearing above the road. This was where I found my 10lb piece of petrified wood. I don't know how I knew to dig it up, but I'm glad I did. It almost looks like a big piece of a tree root. Wish I had a rock saw!

Who Knew This was Petrified Wood?

After heading back to the car, we decided to drive a ways down Merchant Road. Just around the corner was this neat old farmhouse and barn.

Old Farmhouse

Old Barn

All in all, we did pretty well for the day. We got home very late and tired, but the day and the outdoors were both wonderful.

Our Finds For the Day

Here's a closer view...

Close-up View

For further trip reports on this area, view the links below.

http://www.brianpen.com/Journal/Journal_2009February.asp

http://home.comcast.net/~wams1939/trips/Salmon_Creek.htm

http://mcrocks.com/ftr06/RichardPrice-February06.html

http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/?p=270

Greenwater Agates

OK, so I know I have been rather remiss in my postings. I have been out rockhunting, but just haven't had the time to post anything lately.

Back in July of 2012, my family all gathered here in Washington for a family reunion. What is a good reunion without a rockhunting trip. Since Greenwater is close by we took a couple trips up there to try our luck.

We headed up FS Rd 70 and decided to try a well known site with about a 1/2 mile walk to a BIG landslide. Most everyone advises to only go here after a good rain or early in the season, but we have always found lots of pretty stuff here and it didn't fail us this time.

The trip in was beautiful. It was a great day for getting out and enjoying the woods. My Dad had a great time, but boy did we wear him out.

Dad On The Trail

When we got to the rockslide, there was plenty to find and everyone found something. The landslide is full of agates, jasper and even wanna-be petrified wood, which Michael proudly brought home as his prize. It's partially rock, partially wood. Kind of neat.

Almost Petrified Wood

There is a giant agate there, waiting for someone with a miracle to take home.

Big Agate

Everyone was looking all over the area and finding lots of different stuff. Did anyone see this one?

Another Big Agate

Even the kids were looking and finding.

Lots of good rocks

We found lots of agate and jasper. Even some pretty green colored jasper.

Green Jasper

All in all, it was a great trip and as usual, we came home with more than we left with.

Our Agates and Jasper Finds

For other blog posts about this area, check out these links: 

http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/?p=354
http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Greenwater.pdf

Check out our rare purple/green Greenwater agate slab for sale at out Etsy Shop.

Rare Blue/Green/Purple Greenwater Jasper

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...