Yes opalized stuff is far superior for sure. I just don’t find that much around here, and when I do it’s just white Opal. Would love to head out of Nevada someday. I also cut Australian Opal as a side gig.
Found your channel on Facebook. I'm an amateur rock hound and really enjoyed this great video! I retired last October and have more time now to learn about the rocks I have collected and get out there more. I'm in SW WA, a couple miles from Oregon.
Hi there! I have just subscribed to your channel. I’m a Colorado native amateur geologist. I’ll be headed out tomorrow to hunt in lake George for amazonite, and came across you’re channel. You have some really amazing finds from the construction site. As you requested, if I wanted to know where this locations was I should ask. If you’d oblige I’d love to know. I’d also like to ask for permission to get in touch with the administrator if you have that information as well. Look forward to watching more of you’re videos! Thank you again for you’re content!
Hi Alicia. The land I’ve been searching is the Toll Brothers neighborhood development at the back of the Pinery in Parker. You can google their main number. I did that and just asked whoever answered the phone if it was OK that I went to the construction sites to pick rocks so long as I didn’t get in the way. They obliged. They appear to be preparing to excavate a few more plots soon so there should be a lot of fresh material. Another spot you might want to try is the new development going on the west end of Stroh Rd in Parker. I’ve found some nice pieces there too but that’s really only accessible during the weekends. Happy hunting!
Cool video. I am from Colorado, never hunted that area but an old friend of mine gave me a bucket full of slabbed pieces from there that were collected years ago and I have been cabbing and polishing the slabs for family and friends. Just found you and subscribed with the hope you will come back to do more videos. GD
Just yesterday, I filled up a bucket with some amazing pieces I found just south of 470 in a development area I was working in. I think it is right along cherry creek there is still a ton there
Thanks for the tip! I’ve stopped there a few times on my way home from work. Hard to find stuff but in about 30 minutes I found about a half dozen decent ones to take home.
Yea I’m drawn to the red stuff for sure but strangely, the red stuff doesn’t look nearly as nice slabbed. Turns out the red is really just on the exterior on most of these. I should do a slab video I guess. I have a lot.
Hello I'm new to your channel I live in Greeley. A very eager Rockhound looking for fellow rockhouding friends in Colorado to go on hunting trips with.
I wish I could still do things like that! Unfortunately my twin toddlers keep me pretty close to home. If you’re ever in the Parker area I can steer you towards some decent hunting grounds.
@@stormymountainrockworks definitely will I might be in the Parker area sometime this week since I'm on vacation and I get to feed my rock addiction lol definitely will let you know. If you want we could swap socials to stay in touch.
Hey there. I wish I had the time but the stork visited us so I don’t really have the amount of time I need to make a decent video. If you’re on FB I post a lot in the Boneyard group. Really cool group that trades in high end petrified wood and Dino gem bone.
@@stormymountainrockworks Hey thanks, I'm actually heading out of town for the week but if I can remember to sign into FB when I get back (it's like once a year anymore) Ill definitely go digging for it! By the way, congrats on the new delivery!
@@raygay3375 yes. I’ve learned a lot since this video. Definitely about is jasperized but I think a lot of the terminology is up to the individual. We can all agree it is silicated wood so I might just leave it at that.
The area I hunt is called the Palmer Divide. It is a massive geological formation that spans a 40 mile thick band starting at the Rockies and ending almost at the Kansas state line. The Palmer Divide is basically just the area between Denver and Monument, CO. Exploring any creek washes or new construction digs will usually yield some nice material. Hit me up whenever you’re in town and I can let you know if there are any fresh digs that I know of.
Great video, thanks for the tips! I live just down the road from Parker near Castle Rock. Any specific areas/new neighborhoods you could share where to find some nice large pieces? Would love to get out there soon and check it out.
I mostly hunt around the new builds at the back of the Pinery in Parker. But I have read plenty of accounts of people finding nice pieces in Castle Rock too. I’d recommend just walking around the new builds in your area. It’s usually lying around pretty clearly. As far as I know, it’s pretty plentiful hunting from Castle Rock to Kiowa. I’d recommend watching the RU-vid video called a Geological History of Colorado. Really informative. Talks about the ancient tropical forests here and why the Palmer Divide area is especially good for PW.
@@kristenheitzmann4550 definitely. There’s still construction in the back of the Pinery but the biggest hunting spot right now is that big HEI dig on Hess. People are finding wood all over the place over there.
Howdy neighbor! I'd love to see your collection, and invite you to Elizabeth to see mine! Our property is littered with fossil wood from the same geologic formation as nearby Parker, the Dawson-Arkose formation. It lays directly beneath the Castle Rock conglomerate, and can be seen throughout Castlewood canyon and the nearby open space parks. Through the years, prior residents have dragged all the big pieces from our pastures to the house. How can a rockhound NOT love a home that comes with a ready-made rock collection? While some of the wood here is large and impressive, the best pieces I find here are tiny, but they are brilliant neon orange, translucent carnelian. I suspect that they are also remnants of fossilized wood, but I haven't found a large enough piece to prove it. I'm happy to find the tiny pieces, because they make exceptional cabochons. I also found a chunk near Elbert that is a lovely, warm translucent gold. That brecciated piece you show at 12:04 is amazing! I'd love to see it polished!
Yes. Let’s definitely get together. I’m usually at the locker plant once a week. Always interested to see what’s around outside of the neighborhood. It’s amazing how different the specimens are that are only separated by a few miles.
I have several large-ish slabs yet to be polished, including that brecciated piece. We moved to the front of the neighborhood last year and I lost a lot of my workspace in the trade lol.
@@stormymountainrockworks Give me a call next time you will go to the locker plant. Maybe we can meet at the brewery when you're finished, and then take a drive out to my place. I found a bunch of the small neon orange carnelian pieces after the recent heavy rains, and cut a couple into a small carving and a small, intense orange cabochon that's begging to become a ring. If you feel like digging for orange gold, we can go sift some sand! Every rain exposes a few pieces that were hiding just below the surface, but it's easy digging in the sand, sifting material from farther below the surface. Thankfully there's no need to dig up grass first: our horses love to roll in the soft sand in the place where the most carnelian is, and their rolling keeps the grass away. Give me a call! 3 oh 7-76 oh- 4 seven 96.
Don't be a wuss! I got a two hundred pound agate in Utah up a few hundred foot tall butte by myself. Then rolled it down the other side to get it to my van. It didn't crack luckily. Took almost two days. Wasn't worth it because it was basically just light blue chalcedony inside.
Haha. I did try to get a few of the big ones. I think the largest I got into my 4Runner was about 150lb. There’s a few pieces back there that are easily 300+. I just don’t know what I’d do with them once I got them home.
who did you call to get permission to go out there? you said it was an administrator, im curious because i too would like to call them (the diff construciton complanies) and get permission for diff areas
I just called the developer’s main line and talked to whoever answered. In this case it was Toll Brothers. I don’t think they care. I just do it to be polite.
I sometimes visit a really gorgeous chunk of fossilized wood in a remote badland in southern Wyoming, a wilderness study area called Adobe Town. I've considered trying to build a travois to drag it out of the badlands, but that chunk is heavy, and it's a long slog to the wilderness boundary! I'm on board with your instruction: "don't hurt yourself over wood." 😄 Besides, that chunk adds to the beauty in a killer scenic location. If I bring it home, it's just another chunk of wood in the rock garden.!
