Sunstones in Sagebrush

Mining the barren countryside of Oregon is an enlightening experience and it definitely is interesting to prospect. For miles in all directions, flats of sagebrush and sand with seemingly random loose gravel roads jetting out into the landscape. When driving along the back country, Pronghorn Antelope in the area may run beside or gallop ahead on the pathway. Veering off the gravel roads are long, rough dirt side roads winding through the sagebrush on the way to areas of interest. One of these off-shoots took us to the Oregon Sunstone mining area. To get there and back safely, 4WD and patience is recommended.

For a while we had the feeling as if we're the only ones out there, and then we reached a quarry area. Not far from the public mining area were private claims with conveyors, trenchers, and mobile homes parked on the lots. In the public area, a single pit outhouse, parking area, and a small shelter. During several hours mining here, only one other visitor showed up. They didn't stick around for too long and left shortly after letting their dogs out.

By early afternoon we we're getting better at finding Sunstones and located several shallow pockets with dense concentrations near Sagebrush roots. Areas other visitors dug may be visible by looking for deeper depressions in the sand. It's also wise to keep an eye while digging for any wildlife in the area, such as snakes and lizards, which was definitely on our minds throughout the day knowing any help for injury is miles away and over some rough terrain too.


Sunstones were found scattered all over the quarry in varying sizes and shapes. Mining here has a slightly different physical toll than other locations. A telescoping sifter, or Sand Dipper, is helpful to reduce back pain. There's a lot of bending over or squatting to sift through and pluck stones out of the sands. The experience was very exciting and once we started finding decent amounts it felt like we couldn't look anywhere without seeing a Sunstone resting in the sand. For that reason, we do want to visit the Oregon Sunstone quarry again, and we'll be much better prepared for the next trip after everything learned from this one.

Fossilized Plant Matter

Rock hounding along beaches and shorelines can be very relaxing when the weather is beautiful, especially in areas where the waves push new rocks to the beach in large concentrations. These piles of stones are a treasure trove of history and it's easy to spend hours on end sifting through for interesting specimens. This is exactly the case from a trip to Lake Michigan. We spent hours walking along the Eastern shoreline looking to find what the lake might have to offer, and we were not disappointed.

Two notable specimens found, pictured side by side on different angles, are filled with ancient plant matter in fossilized form of very porous material. The dark rocks have several white bands embedded throughout with distinct features and pits that resemble leaves compressed together or balls of leafy organic matter collected together before frozen in time. We found many rocks similar in shape, density, and plant matter concentration. It's likely to be a common fossil for this area.

The third specimen features a different type of plant with a more preserved structure when compared to the first two. For the number of rocks scanned during the trip, this fossil proved to be far less common and perhaps even a rare find; The only one from an eight hour exploration. Detail in the rock appears to be fossilized shells at first glance, yet the node spacing has us thinking it is more likely a plant fossil. The splitting between elongated sections is frequent and creates a definite fan shape.


Other unidentified details are present in this specimen, as evident on the backside, which could possibly be additional bits of plant matter. Part of the fun is finding fossils and the other part is sharing the finds with others. It's not always easy to identify a specimen, so it's helpful to get input from fellow rock hounds, plus sharing excitement seems to make it that much more exciting!

Montana Pseudomorphs

The first time finding these peculiar looking minerals is certainly one to remember. Smooth-faced sides, precisely fine edges, and distinct geometrical shapes of pseudomorphs may look like something cut by a machine or tool. Yet this is a natural process of mineral substitution which can retain the cubic crystalline formation of the replaced mineral. Truth is, we really didn't know pseudomorphs were at all natural, so we enlisted the help of local experts to learn more.

Four pseudomorph specimens pictured here were found in Montana while prospecting for gems. Each one looks like limonite from iron oxide pyrite mineral substitution and apparently a quite common type of pseudomorph to find. The smooth sides were distinctly visible in the surrounding material, and the difference in density made it fairly easy for extraction, which we preferred the experts to handle while learning techniques.

Discovering geometric pseudomorphs taught us more about the diversity of mineral formation, how unique rocks are created through substitution or casting, and how voids in material can provide a housing for minerals to form within a rock. The conditions for the process need to be just right, but the occurrence of those conditions is somewhat common in the mineral world. Finding pseudomorphs also reinforces the idea to always look closely to examine details; To stay patiently diligent and nature will surprise us.

Idaho Lava Rocks

Traveling to Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho is a genuinely beautiful experience on a nice sunny day. The unique, almost barren looking landscape of ancient lava flows resembles scorched Earth from distant vantage points. We stopped several times for photos along the way and managed to find two interesting specimens close to the side of the road a few miles from the park boundary.

Seeing lava fields here for the first time is definitely a bit surreal on multiple levels. Vast and concentrated fields of burnt rock surround roadways on the way to the park and in some places on both sides of the road. This makes the naming of the monument aptly appropriate as the escarpment looks like something straight from the moon or another world. Given the distance away at the time, we believe the rocks found are likely tephra material ejected from the Great Rift during the area's last known eruption phase.

Each volcanic rock specimen is very porous, with one rock a little more dense than the other. The first example is very light pumice material and seems to resemble perforated wood grain upon close inspection. Char marks are visible on all sides and holding the volcanic rock is like holding a significant part of local history.

The second lava rock specimen is more dense than the first with much smaller pockets and features a well defined soot coating around the edges. It is a fraction of the size of the first though still with its own unique character. Comparing these two rocks tells two very different, yet similar, stories about how they were formed over 2000 years ago.

It's easily understood how common lava rocks in nature really are by the frequency of volcanic eruptions around the world over time and large amounts of ejecta spraying across the countryside during violent eruptions. There is another, more modern clue, which is the use of readily available lava rock for decorative landscaping purposes. The same stones endured a volcanic crucible, formed by fire, and cast into the air by one of nature's most powerful forces.

Nevada Petrified Wood

During a long, hot day mining for opals in the Nevada mountains, we managed to find two very nice specimens of petrified wood in a large pile of tailings. After a good four hours or so digging through  multiple feet of overburden in the opal wall, we took a break to sift through tailings while having a bite to eat. To our surprise, there were many interesting rocks we wanted to add to our collection, but it was the petrified wood which really put the age of the site into perspective.

Finding gemstones is exhilarating, no doubt, and finding ancient wood gives an entirely different type of feeling. Holding a gemstone dug from the Earth feels like discovering a fraction of timeless crystalline beauty. Holding a piece of petrified wood however, feels as though you're actually touching an ancient piece of  vegetation that once lived and breathed on the Earth's surface, a very different kind of beauty.  

The first specimen is a decent size, measures half a foot long, and contains a chalky white ash similar bands found around or near opal deposits in the wall. Although this specimen is old, petrified, and looks quite stable, it is actually very fragile to handle. Fragments of the wood broke off even when carefully transported. There's a possibility the ash deposit runs well into the wood, creating an unstable void, but we have refrained from prying the piece apart for a better view so far.


The, much smaller, second specimen possibly was petrified for a longer period of time. This one feels more like holding a stone than a piece of very old wood when compared to the first. Each end is smoothed-off and encrusted. A small dotted void runs nearly the entire width and resembles a series of cavities where tiny opals may have once been embedded.

On the opposite side of the second petrified wood specimen is a larger void with a little thicker crust covering the end. Both sides have darkened areas that look distinctly like char marks. This is exciting to us, not only holding part of a tree from a long time ago, but also one subjected to fire before becoming preserved in sandstone and clay.




The day's finds also included several small opals in early stage development though nothing for cutting or noteworthiness; Most were about an inch long by a quarter inch in diameter with fractures. Despite that, we still learned about the formation of opals and how to delicately follow white bands to deposits. Locating those bands certainly is a patient process even when vertical layers of sandstone are quickly and easily removed.

Iowa Keokuk Geodes

Digging on the countryside in Iowa for eight hours yielded nearly three pails of geodes ranging from tiny golf ball to baseball sized rocks pulled from damp shale layers. It didn't take too long to get through overburden and into pockets of preserved geodes like the calcite example shown here. Patience definitely came in handy while digging as we were told to watch carefully for fossil specimens rarely found between the layers. This trip didn't uncover any of those sought after plant and coral fossils, but we did manage to find many beautiful geodes embedded in the hillside.

Most of the geodes revealed sparkling white or clear calcite crystals when split apart with a hammer pick. A handful of specimens featured yellow, brown, and orange coloring in the calcite which certainly grabbed our attention. Two of the geodes contained rather dark brown dolomite crystalline structures mixed with calcite. Overall, many of the rocks were pretty easy to open along cracks and fault lines though a few did require the help of a short 10 pound sledge and rock chisel.

Helpful tools for excavating geode clusters from the shale include a small rock pick axe, entrenching shovel, rock chisel, pry bar, small sledge, buckets and one container with water on standby. A soil pipe cutter may prove helpful for opening the stubborn ones. Since digging to the geodes is not a physically intensive process, and with the precision required for removing layers without destroying a potential fossil specimen, smaller tools and patience worked best for us. The water container on standby is to keep any fossil finds moist as they're found to later control the drying process. Exposing the fossil to dry are for too long right away causes it to crumble apart.

The experience is very much worth time and effort involved in locating geode sites then spending a day digging. Seeing first hand how these beautiful crystalline rocks are formed in the natural environment is quite interesting as well, considering many of the clusters show geodes in various stages of formation from a small nickle-sized ball to much larger, much like a bunch of grapes if the grapes varied in size. The prospect of finding rare fossils along with the geodes was certainly intriguing, but the thrill for us was every time a cluster of geodes were found buried in the layers of shale.