How Many Rocks Can One Jeep Grand Cherokee Hold?

If you've been following our adventure from the beginning, you will remember when John and I first became addicted to rockhounding. Yes, that fateful day at the Oceanview mine in California where we pulled so many wonderful, sparkling gems out of the earth. One of the reasons we were so excited to explore Arizona was for the fact that so many beautiful rocks, minerals, and gemstones are found there. Among the selection are turquoise, peridot, amethyst, opal, fire agate, and Payson diamonds (really a high-quality quartz, not diamond). Most of these gems and minerals are mined on private or tribal lands, or are in extremely remote areas. So unfortunately, most of these beauties were out of our reach, but of those that were findable, we took full advantage! 

Payson, Arizona was our first rockhounding spot, as well as the beginning of our longest boondocking stretch (dry camping: no hookups, only the water we brought with us and the electricity held in our deep cycle battery).  With limited showers and more hot dogs and potatoes than ever, we were not so much RVing anymore as truly camping. All the "hardships" were well worth it, however, because there were treasures to be found everywhere!

In this particular area, the conditions were just right to form very high quality, usually double terminated, quartz crystals. They are so clear and hard that they resemble diamonds, hence their nickname. The crystals form on the abundant limestone found in the area, and then are eventually chipped off and fall to the ground. Some get mixed up in the bed of pine needles, while others are washed down into gullies and seasonal creeks, or covered in years of collected erosion. So as the rockhound, all you have to do is walk around, scraping off the surface layer, and look for the tiniest glint amongst the dull debris. Many times, that glint is a precious jewel signaling its position to you! At first, finding the crystals proved difficult. But after we had found a few and had trained our eyes to what we were looking for, voila! They were everywhere!  

This area of Arizona was vastly different from the areas we had visited previously. First of all, we were at almost 7,000ft above sea level, so we were surrounded by pine forests and a much colder climate. Strangely enough, it was here that we had our first rattlesnake encounters. We would have expected to come across them down in the deserts, but they were quite a surprise to us in the mountains. No harm done, however (thankfully!), and we continued our collecting with more careful hands and watchful eyes--and longer walking sticks to poke around with!

In the evenings, we enjoyed our secluded campsite while inspecting our day's bounty. It was almost as exciting looking through the crystals a second time as it was finding them to begin with! We would fall asleep to the gentle swaying of the trees and the occasional hair-raising howl or banter of coyotes. We definitely weren't in Southern California anymore!

 

Our next rockhounding spot proved to be even more remote than the last. We drove southeast, out of the mountains and onto the sprawling desert plains. Puffy clouds, no cell phone service, and the sweetest roadrunner ever welcomed us to round mountain. Which really, was not a mountain at all, but more of a tiny hill... The directions we had found online said we were technically in Arizona, although we had to cross into New Mexico on the highway before following winding dirt roads to the collecting area. As the sun was about to set on us, we pulled just off the dirt track road to an easily found flat spot.

 

The beautiful stone we were after here is called fire agate. Found only a few places in the world, we were lucky to be able to collect them on public land. Below is a photograph I took with my cell phone of a fire agate rough we found. To create a gemstone from the rough, one has to grind and polish a large percentage of the material away. Below the rough is an image I grabbed off the internet of a finished gemstone. Unlike in Payson, here the gems we were after were so abundant, we had to become choosy of which to take with us. Over the week we spent at round mountain, we collected six or seven gallons of fire agate rough. Plenty to keep us busy grinding a polishing for years!

Building a massive collection of fire agate rough was not the only joy we found there. Being so secluded was a great opportunity to unwind from the busy places we had recently visited and to relish what nature has to offer. Besides the few scattered cows that belonged to the local farmer, I don't think any of the animals here had interacted with humans very much. We had a roadrunner return to our camp each evening to hang out and "chat" with us. He would call, we would call back, he would call... on and on. I think we confused the poor guy as he came within three feet of us multiple times and never saw another roadrunner. Unobstructed by trees or light pollution, the night sky at round mountain was magical. We had an almost 180 degree view, as there were only flat plains as far as we could see.

After about a week, we were running low on food, water, and electricity, and decided to head towards civilization. Massive Saguaro cacti and the promise of good Mexican food led us to the big city of Tucson!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Phew! What a whirl-wind couple of months it has been! Even though we are currently multiple states away from Southern California, I will pick up on our story where I left off: heading into the Grand Canyon state.

We had high expectations for adventure in Arizona--and we definitely were not disappointed! Our exploration began near Sedona and its beautiful red rock country. We spent a lot of time there, enjoying bountiful hummingbirds, warm weather, and stunning scenery. We spent a few days hiking amongst the red rock spires and arches, a few days perusing the unique shops and boutiques, a day or two fishing, and celebrated both John's 25th birthday and Duke winning the NCAA men's national championship. It was a memorable destination!

 

Even though we spent the most amount of time in Sedona, we made sure to experience all that Arizona had to offer. Our next destination was Winslow, putting us within an easy day trip of Petrified Forest National Park. We listened to the Eagles song, Take it Easy and tried "Standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona." It actually was a fine sight to see! Homolovi State park was near our campsite, and we spent an afternoon there learning about traditional pottery making and exploring ancient Pueblo ruins. Populations inhabited the sights in this area as early as AD 620 and as recently as AD 1400. The ground was covered with shattered pottery--some with intricate textures and others with painted native designs.

From Homolovi, we continued down I-40 towards Petrified Forest National Park. The closer we came to the park, we began to notice a higher and higher concentration of tourist shops selling petrified wood. You could get a small, unpolished piece for a few dollars, or if you recently inherited a fortune from a long lost uncle, you could buy a 4ft slice of rainbow petrified tree for only a few hundred thousand! The real treasures, however, were within the park itself. We were astounded to learn that all the trees currently laying petrified within the park are over 200 million years old. What a humbling feeling it is to touch something that was around before dinosaurs walked on the planet!

John and I took a walk off the beaten path and main tourist attractions to a butte covered in petroglyphs. To reach the butte, we had to cross a wash littered with millions of pieces of petrified wood. They absolutely dominated the landscape.

Once we reached the butte, we realized that the petroglyphs were not in short supply either! There were many hundreds all together, and below are just a few examples. Some boulders had only one or two figures carved into them, while others were almost completely covered. It was fascinating trying to decide why these artists chose certain rocks over others to use as their canvas.

Of course, we couldn't help but stop at some of the more popular exhibits as well. The rainbow silicas that are responsible for the petrification of these ancient trees are a welcomed sight in an otherwise almost colorless landscape. 

Homolovi State Park and Petrified Forest National Park were wonderfully historic sights to experience. They helped to broaden our view of what Arizona really is: a rich diversity of landscapes, climates, plant and animal life, and even human history. We are so glad we visited!