Some of our favorite Field Trip Locations
Crater Rock Museum 💎
Crater Rock Museum 💎
Crater Rock Museum 💎
Located in Central Point, our rockhounds love its diverse and world-class collections of rocks, minerals, gems, meteorites, petrified woods, fossils, lapidary art, archaeological/cultural artifacts, and more.
Hampton Buttes ✨
Crater Rock Museum 💎
Crater Rock Museum 💎
Located in Central Oregon, our rockhounds love to go digging for green jasper replacement petrified wood.
Hemlock Lake ✨
Crater Rock Museum 💎
Hemlock Lake ✨
Located in Douglas County, our rockhounds love to go digging for carnelian, jasper, and quartz crystals.
McDermitt ✨
Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim 💚
Hemlock Lake ✨
Located in Malheur County, our rockhounds love to go digging for many different types of petrified wood, and jaspers.
Rock Creek ✨
Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim 💚
Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim 💚
Located in Douglas County, our rockhounds love to go digging for carnelian, jasper, quartz crystals, thunder-eggs and zeolites.
Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim 💚
Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim 💚
Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim 💚
Located in the mountains of Douglas County, near the town of Azalea, our rockhounds have helped to work the Starveout Creek Gold Mining Claim.
Sunstone Mines ✨💚
Located in Lake County, near Plush, our rockhounds love to go digging for sunstones (feldspar crystals). Looking for the ones with the red schiller, which are highly sought after. Sunstones are the Oregon State Gem. There is a free public sunstone collection area offered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), there are also several privately owned mining claims that charge a fee for collecting.
Thunder Mountain ✨
Located in Douglas County, our rockhounds love to go digging for carnelian, jasper, quartz crystals, and petrified wood.
Zinc Creek✨
Zinc Creek✨
Located in Douglas County, rockhounds go digging for carnelian, jasper, jasp-agate, and quartz crystals.
Tips for a Better Rockhounding Experience
Tips for a Better Rockhounding Experience
The following information is based on the list from the website www.rocks4u.com . This information was compiled by their fellow rockhounding colleagues, customers, and friends. These tips are not listed in any particular order and certainly is not complete. Add your own as necessary.
1. ROCK HAMMER AND SHEATH – No, a nail hammer is not good enough. Geologist or Rockhounding rock hammers are made of a solid piece of steel. The head is not likely to be broken off. Not only are they safer, but they will last you years of rockhounding. That is, they will last you for you if you carry them in a sheath and by doing so, you won’t set them down and lose them. Tip: painting them construction orange helps to locate a misplaced tool.
2. SPARE TIRE AND TOOLS TO CHANGE A FLAT – Rocks wreak havoc on soft rubber tires. You don’t want to be out in a remote area miles from help with a flat tire, a spare tire, and no lug wrench.
3. GAS – Make sure you have enough to get you there and back.
4. WATER – There (probably) won’t be potable, drinkable, water where you are going. Take plenty.
5. TOILET PAPER – More uses than you think – the standard “paperwork” use, and protection for specimens to wrap them in. Make sure you take enough for both.
6. GARBAGE BAGS – Multi-purpose. The obvious choice for this item is hauling your trash out. They also make great wrap for specimens, use when sitting on wet ground, and as an emergency poncho.
7. HAND LENS OR LOUPE – For those of you not familiar with this item, it’s a small, high quality magnifier that you can wear around your neck. You will want to look at all the crystals and petrified wood you find, and won’t be able to see them closely without this.
8. IDENTIFICATION GUIDE – There are many guides to rock identification. Check the Museum Gift Shop for one to suit your needs.
9. MAPS AND GUIDE BOOKS – Not only will you want to know how to get where you are going, you will want to know how to get home again. There are currently several guide books on the states in which you will be looking. Beware, all books have their fair share of wrong directions.
10. A CELL PHONE BATTERY BACK-UP – While you may not be able to get data reception where you go, if there’s an emergency, you might be able to make a call. You won’t though, if your cell phone battery is dead. Make sure you have a good back-up and it’s charged. Taking photos with your phone also eats up battery life. You can take lots if your battery back-up is ready to recharge your device.
11. NOTEBOOK AND PENCIL – Your specimens are much more valuable if you know where they came from. And you may want to go back and get more from a specific location. If you do not keep track of this information, you won’t have any way to do that. Write down the location on a tag, and draw a picture of the area, creating your own map. NOTE: A GPS device can be expensive, but is a highly effective tool for the rockhounder.
12. FIRST AID KIT – The reason for this one is obvious. A fellow rockhound once said “Rockhounding is like hockey, it’s fun until you see blood.” Let’s hope this isn’t the case, but there’s often scrapes, cuts, bug bites, etc. Be prepared.
13. CHISELS AND HAND-SLEDGE (DRILL HAMMER) – In addition to your rock hammer, you’ll want other tools. Chisels help remove rock or crystals with a little more precision. A 3-4 pound hand-sledge is best for working with chisels.
14. SAFETY GOGGLES – Eye protection is a serious concern when you are breaking rock. If you want to enjoy your specimens after you collect them, wear goggles or safety glasses during your dig.
15. GARDEN TROWEL – This is a useful tool for small digging.
16. ROUND POINT SHOVEL AND HOE – These tools are very handy when digging is required, especially at geode beds.
17. SPECIMEN AND COLLECTING CONTAINERS – There are quite a few kinds out there – cardboard boxes, milk crates, wooden crates, 5-gallon buckets, canvas sacks, egg cartons, Tupperware containers, cookie tins, old film containers, etc.
18. A BUDDY – It is not recommended to go rockhounding alone. Use the buddy system.
19. HAT AND SUNSCREEN – Sunburn is no fun. A hat allows you to see better, AND keeps the sun off your face and neck.
20. CAMPING GEAR – When rockhounding, nine times out of ten you will not be near any facilities. Go prepared with some basic camping supplies.
21. FOOD, SNACKS, AND MEDICATION – Besides your meals, take along plenty of snacks. It’s better to have too much than not enough. Never leave for a collecting trip without any medication you may need.
22. PATIENCE, COMMON SENSE, AND COURTESY – The most successful rockhounds are those that patiently keep looking until they find something really great. Always use common sense when in the field. Never trespass. Respect others and their property.
23. OFF ROADING - Vehicles must have either a gallon of water or a fully charged and operational 2½-pound fire extinguisher and shovel (except when traveling on state highways or county roads).