thespleen
off to a rocking start
Member since February 2006
Posts: 14
|
Post by thespleen on Dec 6, 2007 17:49:21 GMT -5
I live in San Diego. One of my friends lives in a pretty rural part of San Diego county, sort of dessert/chaparral type area. I'd like to do some hiking and rockhounding; any suggestions regarding how to look, or what areas are good.
As in, do you just walk along looking at the ground? Dig into the ground every so often? Look for eroded areas with visible rocks, etc...
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jared
|
|
AgateHeaven
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since September 2007
Posts: 197
|
Post by AgateHeaven on Dec 7, 2007 0:06:11 GMT -5
First off Welcome, I think all your ideas are good there...Road cut outs, stream beds and washes are all good places to start. Petrified wood is easy to spot in most cases. Jaspers and Quartz are common most everywhere. When I first started rockhounding I picked up what I thought was pretty or interesting. Now I'm still identifying them. I have boxes that I mark with the location where I found something ( makes it easier to identify). Im still arguing with neighbor ...over my chrysacola rock..i found in my yard...in west texas. I know it doesnt occur here..but never the less I found it in my pasture (used to be farm land). Best of luck with the hunt...hope ya find some real gems! Agate heaven
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,496
Member is Online
|
Post by Sabre52 on Dec 7, 2007 0:16:37 GMT -5
Howdy Jared, Much of the mountainous area east of San Diego, up towards Julian. Pala etc and over the hill toward Anza Borrego is granite country but good granite country, the kind with lots of gem deposits, especially tourmaline, garnet etc. When you're out hiking you need to watch for areas where the granite crystalization is very coarse as in graphic granite. Then you look for vugs or pockets or contact zones where the granite cooled more slowly and allowed crystals to grow. Mine dumps are good to check out if you can get access. Also, the Colorado Desert over towards Arizona to the east of you is full of great agate deposits. Just check one of the gem trails books for all kinds of locations. I know lots of your area is like ours here in Ventura County and is sandstone country. Not much there except fossils and the occasional jasper or quartzite cobble left as old beach deposits. Best idea is join a local gem club for accessing more sites and good advice and good company. Also read the Yahoo groups-LA rocks site posts. They do lots of hunting in the hills east of San Diego....Mel
|
|
