Monthly Archives: April 2009

The Beach Hunt

I finally got out to search for Petoskey Stones on the beach. I will confess that this particular hunt site is in the Charlevoix area, but I am sworn to secrecy on the exact location.p4190018

This was the first weekend that the snow had cleared enough in the woods to get to this area. It is very remote and requires a 4WD to get to it. I went with my best rock-hunting buddy Gary. We had great expectations of finding a good quantity of Petoskey stones as well as high quality Favosites, and were not disappointed.

It actually sprinkled continuously while we were hunting, which made the stones on the beach stand out. The water was smooth so we could also see the rocks in the water. Within a month of ice leaving the area rocks become covered in slime and moss, making it almost unhuntable (my spell check says this is not a word, but I like it anyway), so early spring is the only time to have good hunting in this area. This is a prime example of knowing when to hunt certain areas and when not to. I’m sure, for example, out west you would hunt hard in the cooler weather and not hunt the desert in the summer.

Normally we park our truck at the end of the hunting area and hike the beach back the way we came in. We take a couple empty buckets and dump any buckets we fill next to the trail we came in on, then pick up full buckets as we leave.

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Indeed it was a great hunt as anticipated. Gary and I each filled a five-gallon bucket with high quality stones. This took a couple hours. Next time we’ll take our insulated waders so we can check further out in the water for the “big” ones.

As an aside, it is April 22nd as I write this and we had snow again last night. When will the winter end?

First Petoskey Stone Hunt of 2009

Living in northern Michigan is sometimes harsh, as it has been this winter. We have officially had snowfall for 7 months in a row. This is April 18th and there are still some snow piles scattered about.

On April 3rd Bonnie and I made a trek out for the first Petoskey Stone hunt of the year, to one of the private gravel pits we hunt . We did not expect much as it was dry, but we were honestly stir-crazy and wanted to get out. Normally we hunt Petoskey stones in the rain because they show up better.

I checked one of the streams from the melting snow and discovered a few small stones in the clear cold water. Good thing for the gem scoop as I would not have relished putting my hand in that cold water to retrieve a rock. Bonnie picked up a few right out on the flat ground of the pit. This time of year the stones are clean and stick out well on the washed sand.

It did sprinkle a little, which helped find more stones on some of the gravel piles. I checked the rock falls (These are stones which eroded out over the winter and fell to the bottom of the steep gravel banks), always a good place to look. I found a good quantity of nice stones in these falls including two high-quality pink Petoskey Stones. We also found a nice Puddingstone, which is not native to our area, but was brought here by glaciers from Sudbury, Ontario which is 150 miles away.p4190023

We are awaiting a good rain so we can go out and find greater numbers of stones.

My best find of the day was a softball sized and flawlessly-patterned beauty. I’ll probably polish that one and sell it with a tripod stand. We ended the day with about 35 pounds of really nice stones, an excellent first hunt.

I’m happy the winter is over and a beach hunt is scheduled for next week. I’ll keep you informed.

Lake Superior Agate

“Lakers” are found as beach pebbles on the shores of Lake Superior as well as in glacial till primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but also in Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and throughout Michigan. They are also commonly found in the amygdaloidal basalt in the Keweenaw Peninsula and on Isle Royale National Park.

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The basic material of agate is Chalcedony, a silicon dioxide form of microscopic fibrous crystals. The fibrous makeup of the Lake Superior Agates, makes them hard and able to accept a wonderful, glass-like polish. This brittle structure also makes the Lake Superior Agate prone to cracking from thawing and freezing or being moved vast distances in the glacial till. A crack-free “Laker” is quite rare to find, and are coveted highly by rockhounds and jewelry makers.

The ancient basalts of the Lake Superior region are amygdaloidal (containing gas bubbles called vesicles) in nature. Of volcanic origin, the holes from the bubbles became filled with various minerals. Often these minerals were silica, forming agates. There are several theories on how agates are formed which can be read about in some of the books we recommend on this site.

Lake Superior Agates are most often quite small, but have been found up to 20 pounds. It is rare to find a “Laker” over one-half pound. I love to tell the story of the day I personally found six “Lakers” over one half pound.

“Lakers” can be almost any color, but reds and browns are common colors. Agates are most often banded, but can occur as tubes, eyes, moss, shadow, sagenite, plumes, and almost solid colors, often orange (carnelian).

One of the most popular and sought after Lake Superior Agates is the classic red and white “Candy-striper“. A nice “Candy-Striper” cannot be mistaken for any other type of agate.

I strive to use only fracture-free, classic banded Lake Superior Agates, as well as uncommon varieties in my jewelry. No finer wire-wrapped Lake Superior Agate jewelry can be found on the web. I think the Lake Superior Agate has always been my favorite stone.