Rockhounding Near Los Lunas, New Mexico

My Dad and I drove on dirt roads, along the railway and past a scattering of mobile homes with corrals out back, out so far into the mesa that the worry of discovering something other than rocks becomes real.

The map was precise, though, and after a sequence of seemingly random turns we found the site. It must have been a riverbed at some point in geologic history, because there was a swath of stones about a quarter mile wide and then nothing - no stones at all, just sand and the occasional juniper - on either side.

The assortment of rocks was impressive, which also leads me to believe they were carried from distinct places and deposited all together. It was a real jumble, the kind of treasure rock hounders dream about. We found jasper (mostly poppy red and mustard hues), obsidian, petrified wood, some sedimentary rocks that look like cracked mud, and many others that I'm unsure how to classify.

When we returned home, I washed the rocks and set them out to dry in a gradient, both according to size and color. So appealing to my personality to look at all that beautiful order!

Now I need to learn how to cut some cabochons...