ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Sept 3, 2021 6:31:30 GMT -5
My husband and I are going to be camping along the Oregon coast soon. I'm hoping to find some fossils and some interesting rocks. I'd love to find some colorful jaspers to tumble. Does anyone have a favorite location along the coast, or even just a little inland?
|
|
|
Post by amygdule on Sept 3, 2021 11:15:36 GMT -5
My husband and I are going to be camping along the Oregon coast soon. I'm hoping to find some fossils and some interesting rocks. I'd love to find some colorful jaspers to tumble. Does anyone have a favorite location along the coast, or even just a little inland? Where and when do you plan on going camping ? Generally the beaches are pretty sandy during the summer, but you can find patches of gravel if you do some exploring. The most productive hounding is in the Winter and Spring. In Lincoln County near Newport, there is a lot fossils, agates and jaspers. There is a campground at Beverly Beach north of Newport. There are tons of fossils on that stretch of beach heading south down to Newport. There is also hounding opportunities down on the Southern Coast around Bandon. I have never collected there before. Watch out for the Tides and ocean conditions. It can be treacherous and the water is cold. We usually lose a few beachcombers every year. I'll add more info later and answer any questions you have. Here's a public Facebook page to get you started with your research. www.facebook.com/groups/OregonBeachGravelBeds/Good luck and be careful.
|
|
quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,339
|
Post by quartz on Sept 3, 2021 23:19:06 GMT -5
Bullards Beach just North of Bandon Is a good place for pet. wood and jaspers. If you go there also go to the area East of the lighthouse, it's flat and open, rocks are scattered all around at low tide. The pet. wood there is Myrtle by the insistance of the locals, probably really a mixture of species. It's black and brown on the outside, none that I have cut has anything exciting internally, some will take a good polish, some won't. The campground at the park is very nice, and old town Bandon has lots to see also. Be wary of leaving vehicle unattended at waysides or otherwise empty parking lots along the beach, car prowlers are too common.
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Sept 4, 2021 11:15:31 GMT -5
Where and when do you plan on going camping ? Generally the beaches are pretty sandy during the summer, but you can find patches of gravel if you do some exploring. The most productive hounding is in the Winter and Spring. In Lincoln County near Newport, there is a lot fossils, agates and jaspers. There is a campground at Beverly Beach north of Newport. There are tons of fossils on that stretch of beach heading south down to Newport. There is also hounding opportunities down on the Southern Coast around Bandon. I have never collected there before. Watch out for the Tides and ocean conditions. It can be treacherous and the water is cold. We usually lose a few beachcombers every year. I'll add more info later and answer any questions you have. Here's a public Facebook page to get you started with your research. www.facebook.com/groups/OregonBeachGravelBeds/Good luck and be careful. Thanks so much for the Facebook page - that will be really useful! It's so much fun to see what other people have found. We are leaving on Thursday and going to be gone for 10 days. I had read that winter and spring were the best times for finding stuff, but I'm hoping I'll still find something. We don't really have an itinerary, we are avid photographers and are just going to see where our explorations take us. I know we want to spend some time in Tillamook area, Newport Area and Florence area. Hopefully we'll make it all the way down to Bandon. I think we can do it, especially if the hounding is good there. My husband is not a hounder - I'm the one that picks all kinds of stuff up - rocks, fossils, feathers, shells, glass - so, I'll have to allow for some time to do other things. Beverly Beach is a place that I have seen mentioned often, so I'll have to make that stop mandatory.
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Sept 4, 2021 11:18:15 GMT -5
Bullards Beach just North of Bandon Is a good place for pet. wood and jaspers. If you go there also go to the area East of the lighthouse, it's flat and open, rocks are scattered all around at low tide. The pet. wood there is Myrtle by the insistance of the locals, probably really a mixture of species. It's black and brown on the outside, none that I have cut has anything exciting internally, some will take a good polish, some won't. The campground at the park is very nice, and old town Bandon has lots to see also. Be wary of leaving vehicle unattended at waysides or otherwise empty parking lots along the beach, car prowlers are too common. Hey, thanks for all that good advice - I hadn't thought about car prowlers. I hadn't thought about pet wood either - I would love to find some! I'm not good at IDing it, but sounds like in that area it must have a particular look about it. I'll have to google for some pics so I will recognize it. Thank you!
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Sept 23, 2021 8:17:53 GMT -5
We are back from the Oregon coast, and we did sooo many different things. This was the most diverse vacation I've ever taken, and I loved it. But here is a short story of my rockhounding adventures - hopefully it gives you some useful info or gives you a laugh. I have received two out of four of the large flat rate shipping boxes I mailed home already, and I'll post photos when I get them all.
We traveled north to south, and so I was hunting at the northern beaches first. Some beaches had very little gravel showing, so I didn't find anything there. I did find a few agates at Short Beach, and I picked up a lot of colorful jasper there and at Otter's Crest Beach (at the Devil's Punchbowl). Most of the jasper was pitted and I'm guessing is pitted throughout; but I picked it up anyway because it was very pretty, and I didn't want to come home empty handed. Then we made our way down to Beverly Beach and Moolack Beach, where I found a lot of shell fossils. That was awesome and exhausting, especially since I insisted on carrying back a large rock that was a conglomeration of shells. (I wrapped that one in a towel and put it in my carry on bag for the trip back.) I then searched the area where Big Creek empties into the ocean, hoping to find a gravel bar. There wasn't a ton of gravel showing. I picked up a few interesting rocks there, but I was still looking for more "solid" rocks, without pits. Finally, the last couple days of our trip I hit Bullard Beach (which was AWESOME for jasper and quartz) and Bandon Beach (which was even better for jasper!) I wasn't expecting to find anything on Bandon Beach since it is such a popular public beach; but I got down there (down a huge flight of stairs to the beach) and there was allllll this gorgeous jasper! All these people were walking all over the beach, and no one was picking up these treasures. I couldn't believe it. I didn't have my bag with me, so I stuck rocks in my jacket pockets and in all four of my jeans pockets. When they were full, I started putting some in the hood of my jacket! That works great, but you've got to be careful when you lean over to pick up rocks! Then, I walked allllll the way up those stairs (20 pounds heavier) to our RV and emptied my pockets, got my bag, and went down to the beach again. The Bandon area rocks are the two boxes I haven't gotten yet.
We made it down to the redwood forest in Northern CA. We had a brief stop at Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City. It was getting dark and very cold and windy; but we wanted to take photos of it from the beach there. Lo and behold, I started finding jasper there, too! By that time, I had become more selective in what jasper I picked up, particularly the dark dark red jasper, which I don't particularly like unless it has another color in it. There was sooo much red jasper with thin white lines at that beach I picked up as much as I could before it got dark, which wasn't very long. But it was another score! The last day we drove inland and fast tracked back to Portland. Ironically, I discovered that it is the BEST time of year to rockhound the rivers in that area; but my legs were still screaming at me from the loads of rocks I carried up all those stairs at Bandon Beach and we had to make it back to Portland that night, so I sadly had to pass those opportunities by. Our flight back was delayed 3.5 hours, but we each got $100 voucher for a future flight. I told my husband "I don't know about you, but I'm going back to Oregon!" I'll definitely post some photos. Thanks for reading my silly story. You all are the only people I know that would be interested and understand my excitement at finding beautiful rocks. I have been anxiously tracking those two last boxes (the best jaspers are in those); and I think I'll get at least one today!
|
|
stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
|
Post by stonemon on Sept 23, 2021 9:59:40 GMT -5
Great report ericabelle! You now know why Oregon is such a great place to live. We are having our challenges with the fires and political nonsense but the land and sea are a constant source of joy for those of us who live here.
|
|
|
Post by hummingbirdstones on Sept 23, 2021 10:34:26 GMT -5
Great report! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your treasures and your trip!
|
|
|
Post by amygdule on Sept 23, 2021 12:51:57 GMT -5
ericabelleIt sounds like you had a good time I'm glad you made it home safely. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.
|
|
quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,339
|
Post by quartz on Sept 23, 2021 22:29:33 GMT -5
Me too, always like fun stories and seeing the haul. Glad you had a good trip.
|
|
quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,212
|
Post by quartzilla on Sept 24, 2021 8:10:01 GMT -5
Looking forwards to your pics!
|
|
victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,975
|
Post by victor1941 on Sept 24, 2021 10:10:55 GMT -5
That sounds like a great vacation that we all need to take. I look forward to seeing your photos and know your husband also enjoyed the trip since you were successful in acquiring material.
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Sept 24, 2021 12:32:58 GMT -5
Great report ericabelle ! You now know why Oregon is such a great place to live. We are having our challenges with the fires and political nonsense but the land and sea are a constant source of joy for those of us who live here. Yes, it is a great place - we had previously only vacationed in the Hood River area and in Portland. Everyone is so nice everywhere. So many people seem to enjoy nature and art and everyone has a dog! These are my people!
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Oct 7, 2021 15:58:40 GMT -5
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Oct 7, 2021 16:34:03 GMT -5
Here are some of the fossils from Moolack Beach and Beverly Beach - I have some weird looking fossils from these two beaches I'll probably post in the fossil forum to see if anyone knows what they are. And one odd one from Big Creek Here are some (maybe) pet woods from Bullard Beach And here are a few pet woods from Bandon Beach
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Oct 7, 2021 16:53:21 GMT -5
And last but not least, here are the few agates and agate pieces I found at Short Beach! The top two white agates have a lot of basalt (?) on one side. The bottom yellow agate is interesting - here it is lit up It kind of has a heart shape in it. It does have one or two small bubbles in it, but I can't tell if they are air or water filled.
|
|
stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
|
Post by stonemon on Oct 7, 2021 17:47:57 GMT -5
45 years ago as a teen growing up in western Oregon, one of my favorite places to camp was at Big Creek. We would drive over from the south Willamette valley and pitch our tents above the high tide line. Lots of deer, rocks and an occasional piece of killer sagenite agate... So long ago...
|
|
ericabelle
spending too much on rocks
Instagram acct: @erica_shoots_everything
Member since April 2021
Posts: 482
|
Post by ericabelle on Oct 7, 2021 18:55:46 GMT -5
45 years ago as a teen growing up in western Oregon, one of my favorite places to camp was at Big Creek. We would drive over from the south Willamette valley and pitch our tents above the high tide line. Lots of deer, rocks and an occasional piece of killer sagenite agate... So long ago... That would be so fun to camp there! There wasn't much gravel when I was there, but I found that one fossil and a few other rocks. The rocks I found there were different than the rocks I found on the beaches. They were made up of more than one material, evenly dispersed. I expected them to be too soft for the tumbler, but they passed the scratch test. I'm looking forward to tumbling those! Edited to say - I just learned from another member that type of rock is called Porphyry
|
|
|
Post by amygdule on Oct 7, 2021 19:27:28 GMT -5
Nice rocks that you found Which Big Creek are you talking about ? Beachside or Ponsler State Park
|
|
stonemon
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2017
Posts: 1,024
|
Post by stonemon on Oct 7, 2021 19:42:26 GMT -5
The big creek I camped at was between Heceta Head and Cape Perpetua...
|
|