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krazychefkurt
12-25-2003, 05:06
I was just wonderin' if there were any other rockhounds out there that hike besides me? I love to hike into a new trail and explore the rocks and see maybe if I could find some minerals or quartz. Well just puttin it out there.

feedbag
01-15-2004, 20:05
I'll be graduating this spring with a degree in Geology-Biology, I try to find out what facies I'll be walking through before I get there and try to find them on the trail. I find myself looking down as much as up on the bare sections. I have to restrain myself from loading my pack up with rocks.
"Hey is that mica schist? cool."
good hiking and rock hunting
MAX :D

Hikerhead
01-15-2004, 21:14
I'll be graduating this spring with a degree in Geology-Biology, I try to find out what facies I'll be walking through before I get there and try to find them on the trail. I find myself looking down as much as up on the bare sections. I have to restrain myself from loading my pack up with rocks.
"Hey is that mica schist? cool."
good hiking and rock hunting
MAX :D

You've probably already read the book "Underfoot" by V.Collins Chew. But if not, you might want to. It's decribed as the first geologic guide to the Appalachian Trail.

ga>me>ak
01-16-2004, 13:51
Always scratching and looking around. Some really cool stuff out there. One of my goals is to find a meteor, one day :)

U-BOLT
01-16-2004, 15:19
Always scratching and looking around. Some really cool stuff out there. One of my goals is to find a meteor, one day :)

I'd like to find some radioactive waste. "Hot" Georgia marble, wouldn't that look good in the corridors of power in Washington?

pixpusher
01-16-2004, 17:16
while we're on the topic of rocks...

would it be a wise idea to carry a small piece of rock flint in my firestarting kit?

flint rock (or the stuff i bought from www.jastown.com) is pretty sharp. i did a pretty good job cutting my pinky finger wide open while practicing "flint & steel" technique. <owwwwwch!> i'd imagine you could use it as a make-shift knife, indians used it for arrowheads right?

also... matches can get wet, and lighters can die. flint can be broken, but that just gives you more pieces to use. ;)

oh, and don't folks usually bring a rock with them to leave on top of big k? seems like flint would be a good "multiple-use" solution. ;) -- following that ever-popular ultra-light mantra.

i'm sure flint can be found in places along the trail? is there someplace special to look? i'm not a geologist, so plz forgive the ignorance... where does one find flint rock in the wild? -- seems to me i heard it can be found in-between layers of soft-rock, like limestone?

-- pp

1234
02-16-2004, 22:40
Been a rockhound for years. Some nice garnets on blood mtn. small but very clear, deep red. On standing indian mtn there are garnets big as marbles but you cannot remove them and they are not clear. In Virginia there is plenty of unikite, follow fisher gap till ya get out of the park then unikite is all over, best in the world. Have to carry it 2 miles to get to a road and best use and old canvas pack. (make sure you do not carry any back into the S. Park. Anyone else know of any good spots along the trail. Hey when filtering water it can take hours, just cannot stop looking at all those rocks.

Kozmic Zian
02-16-2004, 23:10
Yea......Rocks?I am always lookin' for anything primative. NA tools, pottery schards, clovis points, the stuff legends are made of. It's out there, you just have to do the opposite of what Jack Hershiesher on the Astronomy TV Program does....."Keep Looking Down".....ha.ha.ha....KZ@