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Post by Jugglerguy on May 15, 2012 12:47:35 GMT -5
My daughter got into geocaching a little over a year ago, so we bought her a GPS for Christmas and have been finding a lot of local geocaches. When my son got me interested in rocks, I asked her if there was a way to search the geocache website for geocaches related to rocks. I was imagining caches that were in good rock collecting areas or possibly geocaches where you took a rock and left a rock for someone else. She told me that it wasn't possible to search for geocaches in that way.
Do any of you know of a similar list of GPS coordinates for good rock hounding sites? In my area, there are a lot of fossils, and I've been slowly figuring out where they are. There are some lists of fossil locations, but they are old and have descriptions like you'd find in a plat book or a surveyor would use. When I go to a new location, it's even harder to discover good areas.
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Post by chad on May 15, 2012 16:11:25 GMT -5
Earthcaches frequently feature geological interests. That's the first thing that comes to mind. Funny thing, I ran into my first lapidary shop while geocaching. Guess the interest stuck
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Post by gingerkid on May 24, 2012 14:31:42 GMT -5
Have a friend that she and her husband enjoyed geocaching, but sounds like you might have an excellent idea of starting a new hobby of geocaching for rocks by leaving a rock for someone to find, jugglerguy!
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Post by chad on May 24, 2012 14:36:03 GMT -5
One thing you can do is use tumbled stones as swag. We left tumbled stones in caches for a long time
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Post by NatureNut on May 24, 2012 14:39:22 GMT -5
I've seen alot of people geocaching all over the country. I would be willing to hide them on my travels and leave clues on here. Jo
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unclem
starting to spend too much on rocks
Me
Member since August 2012
Posts: 119
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Post by unclem on Aug 11, 2012 12:41:09 GMT -5
I found a Book at local rock shoppe the other day Called "The GPS Guide to Western gem Trails" I have tried a few of these in Wyoming and the values they give are appox. But it does get you into the general area. I can scan a page or 2 and let you look at them if you would like. This book covers the western states, every thing west of and including~ new mex, colo, wyo, montana. Author is David A. Kelty
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Post by paulshiroma on Aug 11, 2012 15:00:46 GMT -5
Genius that I am, it never occurred to me to leave some tumbled stones for others in the caches. We've been leaving batteries, small toys, and such. DUH! We'll have to start doing that on our next trip out.
Geocaching.com does include geological sites but not exactly rockhounding locations.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 11, 2012 18:55:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the offer and the information unclem. I live in Michigan, and don't plan to go that far west in the foreseeable future, so no need to scan anything for me. It's nice to know that resources like that exist though. We recently went to the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan and looked in some copper mine dump piles. I did find a blog with someone's trip reports and he had some GPS coordinates posted too. My daughter looked for geocaches in the area while my son and I looked for rocks.
My daughter also found a geocache near AuTrain Michigan that had only polished rocks inside. We took a couple and exchanged them for rocks in the cache.
Rob
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unclem
starting to spend too much on rocks
Me
Member since August 2012
Posts: 119
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Post by unclem on Aug 11, 2012 23:47:26 GMT -5
yep that a bit to far east. I did a quick search for this author and found nothing for the eastern states. It may be that the further you go east the less public ground there is. Even out here in Wyo there are sites that require fees to go in and dig. I have done some geocaching. I had around 9 ~ 50 cal ammo cans out. and then they seem to become a target for ammo can collectors and started turning up missing. So I pulled them and need to find find something cheap and durable that is not so theft worthy. cache in rocks out. Good luck Monte Re read you post, If the description was in the form of surveyor notes I might be able to help with that> Or find some one who can. If it is a matter of section township and range ? that is easy to figure. If it is old surveyor notes describing geography it gets tougher. but if you have a starting point. the rest is the adventure.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 12, 2012 7:05:28 GMT -5
I was just trying to find an easy way to combine geocaching with rock collecting. That way my son and daughter could both be happy at the same time.
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garock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,168
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Post by garock on Aug 13, 2012 12:51:58 GMT -5
I reckon, being a Wyoming born raised Southerner, I have not figured out how to use my gps for locating geochaches. I have tried once but with no luck. I have went back to the instructions and "ciphered" some more. I "think" I may have figured it out but have not tested it yet. I think it will be fun !! I plan on leaving polished rocks and minerals and maybe fossils that are found in Georgia. Wish me luck !!!!
Still Digging in the DRY Georgia Dirt, Frankie
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 21, 2012 8:36:46 GMT -5
Good luck, GArock! My daughter enjoys geocaching, but we've found that they're not super accurate, especially under trees. I like the walk to the area, but I don't like the searching around to find the actual cache.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 21, 2012 10:55:50 GMT -5
It's amazing how fast geocaching has caught on - at least it has out here in SoCal. We first started geocaching out at the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area about three years ago. The park puts on an annual "Roughneck Rendezvous" geocaching event. Of course, there are numerous geocaches in the park for you to find yearlong as well.
After reading this thread, I went on to geocaching.com, then to a map of my neighborhood. I was astounded to see how many 'caches there are, located with walking distance! Don't have to drive out to the desert to go searching anymore. It is a lot of fun, and I'll have to be sure to take some shiny rocks with me. Jean
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Aug 22, 2012 12:10:52 GMT -5
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