Rockhounding Areas Options

[Grizzly]

Greetings all!

New to the site as I discovered it while doing some research into potential rock hounding areas.

I'm going to be in the Alamosa area for a couple days next week and wondered if anyone had some advice as to where there might be some decent to good places to search. I won't be able to do any digging as I'll probably only have a small rock hammer with me. So I'm pretty well going to be looking for stuff on the surface.

I've already found lots of good info here, hope to get some more!

Thanks everyone!

Mike

[Denise]

Hi Mike and welcome to the CP forums! The San Luis Valley has some great prospecting possibilities with fantastic scenery. There can be some cool stuff found like Jasper, Thundereggs, Chalcedony, Calcite, Agate, Rose Quartz, etc. Depending on where you wanted to prospect (even surface), you will need to go to the proper office for that county to verify that there are no claims or private land there. Weather has been great here lately! Temps will reach the 80's during the day then dip down to the 40's at night. Has been helping keep the rattle snakes down a bit but they are still awake so be careful when you're out there. There are some great topics around the forums about finds and locations, proper research and how to avoid claim jumping so make yourself at home. We have a great group here that is always willing to help, so post up any questions you may have.

Have a great time when you're here in Colorado Grizzly and stay safe out there!


~Denise

[Grizzly]

Thanks Denise! I appreciate the advice, especially about the snakes!

[Denise]

You're very welcome Mike! I hope your trip is going well. Seems the cold evening temps have the rattlers on the move. Have seen two since talking to you last. They tend to stick on the rocks early in the mornings to warm up, so be careful around the cliffs and out cropping's.

[Grizzly]

Trip was great! Not much luck finding anything, but the hiking was fantastic!

I did find what might be a couple of geodes, a quartz crystal, and a couple of other rocks that I just thought looked interesting. May try and polish them and see what happens.

Luckily I didn't see any snakes, although I did hear one start rattling. Decided a quick U-turn was the best bet at that point!

Thanks again for the advice!

[Denise]

I'm really glad you had a good time Mike! If you take some pictures and post them up here, we might be able to help you identify them. Usually when a snake start to rattle like that, it means it thinks you are already too close so you lucked out. We had one in the yard yesterday and my son heard it rattling fromin the house. Raced outside just when the dog was about to check it out. He grabbed her up and brought her inside so we could remove it from the yard. Was about 4 years old and really pissed.

BTW....I love your avatar!!