25 Most Recently Added Comments By rockhound person
"The Butte itself is supposed to be public land however when I was there last summer (2010) there was a locked gate across the only entrance and the area was fenced off. I did find some crystals loose in the gravel in the surrounding area and some in matrix too but most of them are really fractured.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Cinder Butte |
"This is a great area for finding garnets, some with stars in them. The area is well used and maintained with equipment available to use including a sluce for washing the gravel. Be sure and dress to get dirty (the clay there does not come out of clothes in the wash easily) and there is a 1/4 mile or so hike uphill to get to the digging area. It can get hot there so take plenty of water.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Emerald Creek Star Garnets |
"This is a fun place to take the kids as well as for big kids. They have everything you need to sift their buckets for sapphires, including a washing area for the gravel and screens. It's not cheap but you have better luck finding gemstones than if you just went out in the local stream and tried your luck.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Gem Mountain Sapphires |
"There are also garnets to be found along the road cuts from Ennis to Virginia City but beware of private land and fill in your holes if you dig. The garnets in these area are generally small, very fractured, and not facetable but there is always a chance at finding "the big one".
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Alder Gulch Gold and Garnets |
"Crystal Park is a great place to spend time digging in the dirt for those elusive quartz crystals. The normal finds are small clear quartz crystals. Take your equipment with you especially a shovel and screen since none is provided at the site. Also exact change is helpful since it is a self-pay site. Be prepared to walk up hill and dig to find the crystals. This area is well used and has been dug up a lot but there are still good crystals to be found. The area is in a beautiful mountain location with abundant flowers in late spring to summer. It is not accessible before late spring or sometimes early summer due to the altitude and possibility of snow cover.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Crystal Park |
"The areas for the agates are mostly on private land and rather hard to find. It might be better to buy Dryhead Agate rather than trespassing on private land.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Dryhead Agates |
"This area is rather picked over and when I was there in summer 2009 I only found one degraded calcite crystal. It might not be worth the trip especially for so little material.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Calcite Near Drummond |
"Burro Creek is a good area to collect Agate and Pastelite which are in abundance in different areas. One of the best is off of Burro Creek Crossing Road which is off hwy 93. One area is about 12 miles from hwy 93 on that road. It's all along the road and can be accessed with a high clearance two wheel drive vehicle. Not a bad road but there are some rough spots and it is a dirt/gravel road through a desert area. Be sure to bring water and sunscreen and watch out for critters including Burros (yes there are wild Burros in the area of Burro Creek) and cattle.
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Added on: Jan 12, 2012 (by rockhound person)
| About: LOCATION - Burro Creek |