dankore
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks, Rock
Member since March 2006
Posts: 120
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Post by dankore on Mar 25, 2006 20:28:43 GMT -5
Hi Everyone,  I was wondering if anyone would like to share, or trade locations for collecting in Western Oregon? I can get Pet Wood, Jasper, and Agate, I also know of a few places in Eastern Oregon, to share. I am looking for places on the West side. Thanks,  DanKOre www.dbrockwerks.com |
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inflight22
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2006
Posts: 710
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Post by inflight22 on Mar 28, 2006 2:22:54 GMT -5
It might be helpful to look at the post in the Members' Photos section titled, "Beach Jasper Tumble." Rockhard has posted some photos of his Oregon beach finds.
jj
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dankore
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks, Rock
Member since March 2006
Posts: 120
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Post by dankore on Mar 29, 2006 10:36:24 GMT -5
Hi jj, Thanks for the lead on the beach agates. I will check the thread out. We are going to Glass Buttes soon (When the snow melts), we need another load of Obsidian. Getting down to the last ton...lol. Thanks again jj, Take Care, Dan www.dbrockwerks.com |
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dankore
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks, Rock
Member since March 2006
Posts: 120
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Post by dankore on Mar 29, 2006 10:52:57 GMT -5
 Hi Everyone, I thought I would show a picture of Glass Buttes. For those who have never been there, it is a mountain of Obsidian, I am not exagerating. You could fill cargo ships with the stuff. There are many types of Obsidian; Gold Sheen, Rainbow Silver Sheen, Mahogany, Pumpkin, Tiger skin, Fire, aurora, Midnight Lace, and about 20 more. It is a fun place, impossible to go home skunked.  That is ALL Obsidian, the chunks in the picture are baseball, to softball sized, but there is both bigger and smaller there. Hope you enjoyed, Take Care, Dan www.dbrockwerks.com
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JKowalski33
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 451
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Post by JKowalski33 on Mar 29, 2006 14:32:09 GMT -5
i have seen glass buttes on the map, and have always wanted to go there. so it is not illegal to just pick up and take the obsidian? By the way, I live in Oregon too, in Keizer.
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inflight22
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2006
Posts: 710
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Post by inflight22 on Mar 29, 2006 15:30:53 GMT -5
Where is Glass Buttes?
jj
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dankore
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks, Rock
Member since March 2006
Posts: 120
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Post by dankore on Mar 29, 2006 16:40:55 GMT -5
Hi Everyone, Glass Buttes is near the 1 horse Oregon town of Hampton, a bit west of Burns, a bit east of Bend. JKowalski33, Keizer, that's not too far, I am 30 mi NE of Eugene. The rule at Glass Buttes is; it is set aside as a rockhound collecting place by the BLM, there are a few claims in the area, but the Buttes must me about 20-30 sq miles of collecting area, the claims are tiny, and well marked. The limit on rock is 250 pounds per vehicle, or about 5, 5-gallon buckets full. I think you can buy commercial permits so you can take out more. Other than that, it is just a barren desert, with Obsidian laying all over, and a lot of pits dug from others. It has got to be about the funnest rouckhounding place in the world, no way to get skunked. The native americans started mining the obsidian 100's of years ago, and collectors have been there ever since, still a whole lot of obsidian there. A few groups have knapping pow wows there, that's were I learned to knap a few years back. I can't recommend it enough if you get the chance. Feel free to get a hold of me, and if you want you can stop by on your way there, and I can show you what to look for, it can be tricky, if trying for the rainbow. It is a blast! Thanks again everyone, TYS, Dan www.dbrockwerks.com |
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inflight22
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2006
Posts: 710
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Post by inflight22 on Mar 30, 2006 13:30:38 GMT -5
That place sounds awesome!
jj
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JKowalski33
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2004
Posts: 451
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Post by JKowalski33 on Mar 30, 2006 17:21:49 GMT -5
yeah, i would really like to plan a trip over there and hit up richardson's rock ranch along to way too. that would be fun...
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smadelinker
starting to shine!
Member since October 2005
Posts: 47
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Post by smadelinker on Apr 1, 2006 16:00:31 GMT -5
Dan, thanks for the fabulous tip on Glass Buttes, I've been to Lake Paulina but of course you can't pick up anything there. My grandfather used to rock tumble and he always went to Cannon Beach in W. Oregon. My great-aunt says they had good luck there but I'm having trouble finding it on my Rand-McNally map (looks like google for me!) so it must be a small town. They lived in Bend and Redmond all their lives. I'm looking for places near there to take my 5 year old son when I drive up there this summer because I can't take a detour out to the coast (we're driving up from LA). Also, as a child we spent a few weeks at Neskowin and my grandfather took us to a nearby beach but I think it was named something obvious like "Agate Beach" so that's probably no help to you at all :-) Hey, where is Richardson's Rock Ranch?  smadelinker |
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dankore
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks, Rock
Member since March 2006
Posts: 120
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Post by dankore on Apr 1, 2006 19:23:38 GMT -5
Hi smadelinker, If you are going to Bend/Redmond area, you will be pretty close to alot of areas. It depends what you want to get. Here are a few possibilities, but by no means all of them. We can narrow some down for you if you want. The first place I would go would be Richardson's Rock Ranch. They are probably the largest rockshop in Oregon, they have Piles, and Piles of rough. ;D They are more famous for the Thunder Eggs, you can buy them already mined, or go mine them yourself,(easy to do with a rock hammer). You pay by the pound when you leave, you can also mine jasper, (that's harder mining) or Opal Eggs, (4WD strongly recommended). They are near the town of Madras, not too far from Bend. (hour or so). If you wanted to go a bit further, near the town of Prinville, you will be in the heart of Agate, Pet Wood, Thunder Eggs, and Moss Agate. Glass Butte, is about 1 hour 45 minutes from Bend, more or Less ;D. A lot of times, you can just walk the desert and creek beds and find some good rocks, it is hit and miss though. If you are pressed for time, go to Richardson's ranch richardsonrockranch.com/You will be about 1 and a half to two hours from us if in Bend. if you head this way, feel free to stop by. If I can help you more to narrow spots down, please let me know. TTYS Dan www.dbrockwerks.com
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smadelinker
starting to shine!
Member since October 2005
Posts: 47
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Post by smadelinker on Apr 1, 2006 23:00:40 GMT -5
My dad grew up in Prinville, I guess he's been holding out on me! Actually, he confessed he never paid attention to his dad's rock collecting habits so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Thanks for the help, I will definitely have to choose which trips to make to collect material--my grandpa used mostly agate, so Prinville looks very attractive right now.
smadelinker
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Post by kellynewtothisgame on Apr 2, 2006 21:44:52 GMT -5
Hi...I've been watching the site for a couple of weeks, and learning lots, but I just had to register to respond to this thread. Some friends of mine who have a house near Seal Rock, Oregon (just south of Newport) took my husband and I to a great place for agates, jasper and fossils yesterday. It's not a marked place, but just NORTH of Seal Rock, on Hwy. 101, look for a street sign on the EAST side of the highway, called Curtis (I can't remember if it's a street, or avenue, or what. On the WEST side of Curtis is a small parking lot. Park, grab yr gear, and GO! I guess a lot of the locals know about this place, and it's not always rockhunt-worthy, but when it is...WOW! There are agates the size of a baby's fist (I didn't find any myself, but my friends did), and I found enough jasper to keep me tumbling & wrapping for months.
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rockhard
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
Posts: 227
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Post by rockhard on Apr 3, 2006 1:25:51 GMT -5
Dan, I just went to another place over by Tillamook, collecting shiny Augite crystals. I doubt they would tumble without shattering, but they were fun to collect and the drive is beautiful. You just go up on a slide of loose stuff, and you're literally standing on a pile of millions of crystals in loose crumbly clay like stuff. The loose ones are in better shape than any I tried to pry out of the more solid matrix, so working at it s counterproductive. Why add to erosion anyway, right? The only challenge was finding larger unbroken crystals. I didn't find any over about 5/8", but then I just got there an hour before sunset and only had to spend a little time picking them up to get a pocketful. I'll go back with a screen sometime to get more. You can get directions online by googling "cedar butte" and "augite" together. If you decide to go and don't know the area pm me to get more specifics. All the roads look the same and there aren't any road name signs.
Agate by Seal Rock? Wow, I've never found anything there, my timing must have been bad. I don't think I've been on that particular beach though. But, last week I found some amazing gravel beds exposed at Lincoln City, where I had never found an agate or jasper my whole life before!
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inflight22
has rocks in the head
Member since January 2006
Posts: 710
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Post by inflight22 on Apr 4, 2006 14:31:57 GMT -5
smadelinker,
Cannon Beach is about 7 miles south of Seaside, and north of Manzanita.
jj
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dankore
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks, Rock
Member since March 2006
Posts: 120
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Post by dankore on Apr 5, 2006 9:58:41 GMT -5
Hi Kelly, Thank you for the leads. I will PM you if I head that way, sounds like fun. Rockhard thanks for the Augite lead, I have never collected those. Could you post a picture of them? I know there is a lot on the coast yet to be discovered, plus the ocean changes the landscape every year. Fun place to collect. Thanks again, TTYS, Dan www.dbrockwerks.com |
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smadelinker
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Post by smadelinker on Apr 14, 2006 0:09:49 GMT -5
Now I am definitely planning a trip to Oregon this summer... maybe taking a van too ;-)
smadelinker
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rockhard
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
Posts: 227
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Post by rockhard on May 11, 2006 1:38:54 GMT -5
More beaches- Kellynewtothisgame posted above about Seal Rock, OR; she was right. I went there for my last stop today, and got lots of great tumbling agate and jaspers in various colors (mostly red, some other colors and mixed colors). Only a few are large enough to take the workforce saw to, but I bet if I were here in Winter when the gravels are more exposed, I'd find a lot more bigger stuff. A local showed me a huge (by beach standards) smoky agate she just found recently. I found a couple baby fists- but that one was as big as MY fist! The best things here were the multicolored brecciated agates and multicolored swirled jaspers, already roughly shaped for tumbling.
I was also further South yesterday, and there was a lot of mixed jasper, quartzite, and random other things in the mouth of the Rogue River (gravel bar under the highway bridge), and on the nearby beaches around Gold Beach. I only found one agate I think. The Battle Rock beach at Port Orford also had lots of jaspers, but only a few little agates. Fine with me, since all the agates look pretty much the same when polished, to me. I found a beautiful larger piece of bright red, patterned jasper just the right size to make into lots of small slabs on the worforce there... if I ever have the heart to cut into it.
South of Humbug near Port Orford, there is a State Park that isn't shown on the map I have with me, and the "state park" signs don't have a name on them there (kinda weird). You park at the top of a hill, and walk down a gravel road nearly destroyed by erosion and landslides, to the beach rocks. The beach to the Left (South) is where I found a lot of stuff that's a pretty light, mint green, and much of it seemed hard, a little translucent, and polishable. I'll have to test it out to know for sure, but the fractures looked like jasper or other chalcedony type stuff. There was also a lot of it that was duller, more opaque, and probably wouldn't polish. I got some to test that too.
At one point I thought I had found a head-size boulder of nice red jasper too, but I couldn't pull it out of the sand. After digging the sand away by hand a little, I realized it was much bigger than I thought. Finally I found the bottom edge, and still couldn't pull it up, no matter how hard I tried. It wasn't the bottom edge. It was just the undercut where it was still joined to the bedrock! Oh well, I found enough smaller pieces that I didn't need to be a pig. Besides, hauling that thing up that hill would have broken my back.
BTW I wasn't collecting in the State Park itself, that wouldn't be proper (or legal). You can easily walk far enough down the beach to be sure you're well past the signs on the highway, though there aren't any signs on the beach saying where the line is. The further South I went there the better the rocks were anyway.
The beach to the Right (North) there is also long enough to get out of the park, I'm pretty sure. I didn't have time to go that direction before it got dark.
The caves and sea-carved tunnels in the big rocks there are fun to watch too.
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rockhard
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since March 2006
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Post by rockhard on May 11, 2006 1:39:50 GMT -5
I keep forgetting to clean the Augite and get pictures- I will someday, I promise.
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Steve
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2005
Posts: 506
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Post by Steve on May 12, 2006 18:04:04 GMT -5
I'm not sure, but I think I've dug at that same hunk of red jasper at least twice. The first time was about 4 years ago and again last Spring. It is such a vivid red that I first suspected that someone had painted it.
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Hi Everyone,
