What's your favorite rock?

I am looking, I'm looking. I will get it posted soon!!

Guys, I edited this thread to change it into just a fun posting instead of a 'contest'. There wasn't a huge amount of interest in it as a contest, and I realized that maybe it made people feel pressured about their entries, and in the end, it was just fun to see people's favorite rocks:).

If this offends anyone, let me know. I hope everyone keeps posting their favorites, its still something we can all learn from and enjoy!

Yup, me too Mike.

Well, I will put forth a serious reply. I do not own any of these, but they are representative of the the golden fleece I seek when hunting the rivers.
Montanas



and botryoidal chalcedony

Moss agate from near Brenda, AZ.

Haha, Helen, I told you you won't guess, and I was right. Not that I don't like the giant rocks you mention, but I leave them for you, girls as a favorite statute. ;D

My favorite rock, despite the many beautiful slabs, cabs and specimens I have, will remain a very small fossil snail. The story behind it makes it my absolute favorite.

I was rockhounding with my daughter Ioana, some seven years ago. We were searching for fossil snails in a spot where they were neither very abundant, nor very big. After a few minutes of searching without any success, I asked Ioana if she found something. She told me "only a small snail" and showed it to me.





That is my favorite rock. Of course I have rocks more colourful and more spectacular, but this one showed me that Ioana has the eye for rocks and the joy for looking after them. To me, this was above the beauty of the rocks.
Besides, this tiny snail has, despite its scale, fantastic details which also makes it interesting as a specimen.

Adrian

Not the most beautiful or colorful of specimens, but I guess you could say the one I'm most proud of is what is known as a Sand Spike. These are a naturally occurring concretion which have only been found in one place in the entire world. South of Mt. Signal, Imperial Co., California.

I was honored by knowing one of the very few people who knew the location. Back in the early 50's, when I was in my early teens I was taken to the site to dig for these unusual concretions. I managed to find 2 of them. One of which promptly crumbled in my young, excited hands. It was then that I learned that they had to be carefully removed from the sand, and allowed to dry in the hot sun for several hours.



It should be noted that this collecting site has been completely worked out, and is now privately owned and closed to all collecting activity

There were a total of probably 10,000 of these found. Most are now in museum collections. But occasionally a few show up for sale on the internet.

It should also be mentioned that when freshly dug, about 98% of them were found with the spike end facing west. Modern science has been unable to explain how these were formed, or why the majority were facing west.

That's very cool, Don! I had never heard of them, so I Googled it to learn more. Here's a site with some good info:

www.spiritrockshop.com/Sand_Spikes.html

As the crow flies, Mount Signal is about 70 miles east of us. I've seen it numerous times, when heading east along I-8. It's less than ten miles south of the interstate. Never realized that it is, for the most part, just south of the US border. Jean

I just reread "thespiritrockshop" article, looks like they were found in "a series of low, sandy hillocks and banks near the Mexican-American border close to Mt. Signal, Imperial County, California." So not actually on Mt. Signal itself. I can see the are in question on Acme Mapper. Back in the day, people used to do some off-roading there. Jean