Rockin the Rockies

Rockin the Rockies
Rock Hounding

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Rockhounding the Denver Basin


A few years ago a frontage road was put in along I-25 near Lonetree.  I collected some very fine specimens of wood along that roadcut.  Last weekend on my way up to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds I noted another new road going in near Happy Valley.  I decided to go up there today and try my luck.  The road graters and earth-movers have been very busy turning over rocks.  I arrived late in the afternoon so as not to disturb the workers.  I found petrified wood shards in a few places and decided to dig in the earth with my rock hammer uphill from the site and to my delight found quite a bit of fossilized wood.  I discarded the orange jasper colored wood and concentrated on the more colorful agatized and opalized wood.  Within 1 hour I had 25 lbs.  Above are some pictures of my finds.  The fossilized bark on some of the pieces was remarkable.  I left some nice pieces behind for others, maybe I will return again another day.

2 comments:

  1. How and where can I get rocks identified near Thornton/Northglenn, CO.? I think one is Jasper attached to maybe Jasperized wood or at least wood of some kind. I might have found it in Yellowstone years ago or somewhere. Another one is a rock but has different other items in it, bones or bone maybe. I'm 68 and just curious.

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  2. If there is a rock Club near you, try them. You can send me a pic, but seeing something in person is always better. Some rocks are difficult to identify without testing them. I have a rock at the Colorado School of Mines waiting on identification. There may be a group of FB that helps with identification as well

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