Our newest dig resulted from a mineral inspection Bob did on a ranch in southern Arizona.  La Fluorita Dulcita means "Sweet little fluorite" in Spanish, an apt description of what you'll find on this dig.  Tho perhaps we should have named it Grande Fluorita, as the specimens do come BIG as well!  The fluorite occurs here in shades of purple: from grape to lilac to pinkish. Specimens were introduced at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, February 2013.

The deposit is a vein system in limestone.  Specimens are abundant, as the limestone was karst (had solution caverns), so fluorite crystallized in large vugs and seams.  Like our Rock Candy adventures, you'll be standing on specimens while you collect others!

The fluorite crystallized in three distinct forms:

1. Octohedrons to 1.5 inches, with sharp purple and white faces. 2. As small octohedrons and cube-octohedrons, to 3/8 inch, coating or partially coating quartz epimorphs after calcite, to 4 inches, often on a matrix of bubbly lilac fluorite.  Epimorphs are surface coatings of an earlier crystal, from which the earlier crystal has dissolved.  Another term is hollow casts.  Epimorphs occur here as bright white massive to drusy quartz, which are then either coated or filled with another generation of fluorite crystals.  Sometimes both.  3. As "ochsenauge", German for eye of ox.  We think it looks more like the decorative oranges you see at breakfast buffets ... an orange that has been quartered but not cut all they way through, then opened up to resemble a flower.  Whether you think these look like ox eyes or oranges, this form is extremely rare, mostly occuring a a couple small European localities.  It appears that La Fluorita Dulcita could produce more ochsenauge crystals than all the other localities combined.  All the above forms occur on a matrix of sparkling druzy quartz, which makes a great contrast with the purple fluorite.
Specimens of all these forms will soon be for sale on our Fresh Sheet.  For more locality info and photos:    see my article in the Mar/Apr 2013 Rocks and Minerals magazine, or

The logistics: we meet you in Benson, Arizona.  We recommend the Best Western there as a place to stay.  The dig is about an hour's drive from Benson.  We drive several miles inside a locked ranch gate, so we cannot accommodate late arrivals or early departures. As on many of our trips, you are welcome to keep everything you find, but you may have to pay an additional charge to keep specimens valued over $500/each.  The vast majority of specimens found so far were valued under $500 each, but a few dandies reached in excess of $2,000.

Dates: October 5 & 6, 2013.   You can book for one day, all the days, or anything in between.  We will expose fresh rock each evening for the next day's digging.  Dig runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.  We'll depart Benson about 8 a.m.  A maximum of 6 collectors will be allowed on site each day.  Email us to book.

Price: $400 per person.  Kids 12 and up welcome, but will be charged full price. 

Come along as we go Rockin' Across the Cascades, and you'll explore the way Washington was assembled.  Our state contains pieces of ancient sea floor, volcanic islands, fossil-rich sediments, and huge masses of magma crystallized into granites, porphrys, andesites and basalts.   At the end of our trip, you'll be able to identify these and other rock types, and will have collected heaps of the beautiful gems, fossils, and crystals they contain.

The Klondike Mountain formation, exposed near Republic, contains abundant fossil plants from the tropical forest which once covered Washington. Everyone will find interesting fossils at this very easy access locality, which is stop #4 on our three days of family geology adventure.

Read more...

On this Rockin' trip you'll learn the secrets of prospectors, to be able to find your own gem and mineral localities.   This trip is the field portion of Bob's popular prospecting class, but you do not have to take the class to find treasures on the trip. You'll learn to read the rocks for clues, as we collect jasper, crystals, pumice and other volcanic surprises, all of which owe their existance to Washington's volcanic heritage.  We'll trace the violent explosions and quiet eruptions which built the Cascade volcanos we see today, all outside the park, so you can keep all the treasures we find! 

We overnight in Chehalis, where you'll dig into our edible geology program on Saturday evening.  Our mid-price motel offers comfortable accomodations; we provide a booking code with your confirmation so the motel will give you our discounted rate. You can attend the evening program whether you stay with the group or on your own.

Read more...

Join us for a fun-filled, weekend family camping adventure (motel accommodations available for non-campers) , exploring how BC was assembled. We'll collect fossils, crystals, and gem materials as we follow ancient coastlines turned to mountains.

Trips start Saturday in Osoyoos, B.C. (group trips can start in Kelowna, B.C. or Wenatchee, WA) and end Sunday in Grand Forks. On Saturday, you'll learn the fascinating geology of the Okanagan Valley, collect crystals, agates and serpentine, and learn to identify many rock types. You'll put that knowledge to good use at our campfire edible geology program Sat. night. On Sunday, you'll collect pretty copper minerals, then find fabulous fluorite, beautiful barite, and sparkling quartz geodes at the famous Rock Candy Mountain. Head home at your own pace.

Read more...

  Fish are among the most prized fossils, and you’ll collect a bunch of them on our trip to Wyoming’s Green River basin! The 48 million year old fossils are collected in quarries, where the hard work of stripping overburden has been done for us. Our first stop in Wyoming will be at Fossil Butte National Monument, where you’ll see all the amazing fossils the area has to offer. Then we’ll dig for one day in a public quarry, where you will learn professional collecting techniques. Our second day will be in a private quarry, not open to the public. You can reasonably expect to collect a dozen to a hundred fish of different species, depending on luck and how diligently you hammer.  Click here for our Wyoming photo album.

As on all our Rockin’ trips, we’ll collect at a different locality each day as we drive across the spectacular scenery of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. We’ll find ammonites, petrified wood, and thundereggs at public and private localities along our route, then have two full days in the Kemmerer fossil quarries.  Last year, every person on the trip, including a 9 year old, found at least 100 fish!

Read more...

Imagine Bed & Breakfast at a mountaintop crystal mine... with the miners exposing fresh vugs every day, just for your collecting pleasure! That's our Ultimate Adventure.

Your small group (2 to 5 people, adults only), will spend 3 days at Spruce and 3 days at Rock Candy. We'll drive between the localities in our comfy air-conditioned van, with stops at other crystal and fossil locales along the way. Depending on your interests, we can include wildlife photography, hotsprings, or Native American heritage side trips.

Read more...