Agate Update

I've decided I'm going to create a new page on this site to display the agates I (we) find.  The agate posts are becoming numerous and they take up a lot of space.  So look up at the menu bar at the top of this page to see the continuing agate adventures of my family.

Honey Hole

 

My last agate post talked about a new spot that the Mrs. and I discovered.  We've been back several times since, and it has paid off!  Here are just a few samplings of what probably amounts to a few pounds of agates that we have found there.  The biggest we have found is a little over 2 ounces.

This one is one of the biggest we have found in the new spot.  It's one of the biggest I've ever found (in my top 5).  There's a lot of quartz in it, but still some good banding.  I shouted when I found it, sticking out o the dirt.











I don't remember this one - I may not have found it.  But it's got a cool spread between agate and quartz between the exterior and interior.

This one is actually not from our new spot - it's from a gravel road in Brainerd, MN.  The Mrs. found it when we were up there camping a couple weeks ago.  Believe it or not, agates like this are common on gravel roads up there.  In fact, the best agate I've ever found in my life was found on a gravel road in Brainerd.

Another one from the new spot.  Nice banding and an interesting color.

This one has great lines.  I'm not sure if this is technically a paint or an eye agate.  My guess is paint, as I think eye agates are mostly ones that have perfect circles banded in them. Either way, it's cool.

This one is not very impressive on its face, but it is remarkable because this is a true eye.  You can seen the circle in the orange part just to the right of center.  See it?

I like the bright red color of this one.  Such bright reds aren't that common.

Look at that!  From the new spot.  Small, but really neat.

The Mrs. found this gem.  It was the highlight of her day last weekend.

Another small guy, but great banding.

I went to this new spot a total of four times this week, and came home with great agates each time.  Tonight's hunt yielded this guy.  You can't tell from the picture, but it's a very thin shaving off an agate.  It has the shape of an axe blade.

This is the first "good one" I found on today's hunt.  It's kind of big, but has a lot of quartz.

This is the winner for size in today's hunt, and may be the biggest one I've found from this new spot.  I haven't weighed it yet, so the jury's still out, but I think it will eclipse the others that I've found.  At first glance, it may seem to be chert, but take my word for it: it's agate.  The other side makes that very clear.  There isn't any good banding on this one - the quality of the stone is its size.

This one looks great in person but isn't very good when photographed. Another big one from today's hunt.

A New Spot

Yesterday the Mrs. and I went and scouted out a new spot to pick agates.  It turned out great!  Here are some of our better finds.  Sorry for the picture quality, as the iPhone camera isn't great.

The Mrs. found this one - the biggest and best one of our exclusion.  Look at those bands!

I found this guy - probably the best one I found all day.  Not as big, but the banding is fantastic. 

A smaller paint.  You can't see it in the picture, but some of the bands have a blueish tint to them. 

There were several more besides these, but these few are the definite gems of the excursion.  I can't wait to go back!

Agates

One thing I'v never noted on this blog before is one of my hobbies, namely rock collecting.  As a kid we would frequently walk my grandpa's driveway in search of agates - Lake Superior agates - but we didn't know that at the time.  A long hiatus from rock collecting later, a few years ago I picked up the hobby again and have been enthralled by it since.  It has now become a family activity in our house, and we frequently go on "Agate Adventures" (where we go find a gravel road and pick out the agates).  Anyway, I thought it might be neat to document the agates we find.  I have quite a bit of catching up to do, however, and it's not feasible for me to document all of the agates we've found in the last three or four years or so, so I figured I'd just put some more recent finds up here right now and then hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the new ones we find (click the images to embiggen).

At the end of April, 2016, my family took a trip up the North Shore for the express purpose of hunting for agates.  This was our haul on the last day of our trip.  

One night early this summer, while playing catch in the backyard, I noticed an agate in some landscaping rocks.  A little more digging revealed the rest of these guys. 

The Mrs. and I took a trip up the North Shore in early June.  This was our takeaway from a couple of beaches just north of Two Harbors.

I found this agate, loaded with quartz, at Gooseberry Falls at the end of June.

Found this one on the MN Waterfalls Road Trip, I think on the beach at Naniboujou Lodge.  Although small, this is one of the most unique agates I've ever found.

Also found this one on the MN Waterfalls Road Trip. 

A week after the MN Waterfalls Road Trip, my co-worker went on vacation on the North Shore and brought these home.  Since he knew I collect agates, he gave them to me.  

In mid-July I was visiting a church member after her hip surgery at a hospital in Burnsville.  There was plenty of landscaping rock outside the hospital that I quickly glanced at as I walked out.  Coincidentally, this agate popped out at me.  

Here's a plain, but larger agate I found in the landscaping rock outside Kmart in West St. Paul. 

For a couple years I brought my car to a local repair shop in South St. Paul.  A year or so ago the shop was razed to the ground.  The gravel heap that was left in its wake yielded this guy at the end of July.