Joel and I went on our first-ever rockhounding experience in May with the Sedona Gem and Mineral Club. What a wonderful time it was! On a beautiful, bright, sunny Saturday morning, about 20 of us gathered together then caravan-ed up into the hills above Jerome, AZ. Some of the club members already scoped this area out to make sure it would be a worthwhile place to field trip our efforts (and OH, YES- it sure was!). This area is littered with Red Jasper containing brilliant Hematite bands.
Oodles of pieces were already laying exposed on the ground- you could practically trip over them! Other larger chunks were lying in wait, and we dug some up using crow bars and small shovels. Nobody went home empty handed. It is fractured material, however, our cutting guy, Mike, is proficient in using Opticon, so that helps 😊 and we've polished up some very nice pieces. The hematite bands really pop within the solid red jasper color. We are offering this material as both rough for cabbing and carving, and smaller pieces as slabs at ColorWright.com.
If you find yourself in Sedona during the Oak Creek Arts and Crafts show seasons, (click here to view their schedule.) you can see us in person and purchase hand-size pieces of this material partially polished, along with other locally-sourced kinds such as Apache Gold, Malachite/Azurite (also from Jerome) and MORE!!
CLICK HERE to see more pictures and a few short videos of us digging.
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| Home with our load. Time to clean 'em up! |
Our 2 biz partners were not available to be with us, but they sure were pleased with what we brought back! It was so much fun and very rewarding to add to our inventory by our own means and adventuring. We'll definitely be going out on other trips with the club, when they resume after the heat of the Summer is over.
MANY THANKS to the Sedona rock club for scouting out this location and taking us up with them! We're so blessed to have joined this group and we look forward to seeing everyone again in the Fall!
Until next time,
TallyHo! and ROCK ON
