Back from the wilds of Wyoming - The Polished Pebble



Chalk Mountains - Wyoming

Well, we survived another hunting season. Score.....NO Elk - lots of rock. It seems we are on a every other year schedule for getting an elk. On the other hand, rock seems plentiful & is only limited by how far I want to drive & how much weight I can carry back to California. Got to get a bigger truck ;)

This years weather has been interesting everywhere. And the first two weeks of October in Wyoming was right on par with the rest of the weird weather. When we left Bakersfield it was upper 80's to lower 90's....the last few days of Sept. When we arrived in Wyoming it was in the low 80's.....we were hoping for a nice cool down, but mother nature had other ideas.

With few exceptions, the weather stayed very warm our whole trip (2 weeks & a few days). The weather played a big part in the NO ELK. Because it was still so warm, they just weren't moving out of the mountains.

Earlier in the year they had LOTS of water. Which exposed more rock in areas where the pickings had been slim or even unseen. I found the prettiest Agatized Petrified Wood on a friends' ranch that they had never seen before. It had been exposed by the excessive rain earlier in the year...but more on that later.

We have been trying to get everything back to normal here after the trip. The weekend was spent washing clothes, giving the dogs a bath, giving the truck a bath..(should have took pictures before - it was covered in thick sticky mud), mowing the lawn....and the list goes on. One thing I made sure we did was clean out the rock saw. After sitting idle for over two weeks it was fairly easy to drain & then muck out the sludge on the bottom. It is running as I type. Lots of pretties to open.

Here is a look at what we brought home....

Included in the pile is Black Agate, Moss Agate, Agatized Petrified Wood, Turitella Agate, Bull or Snow Quartz, some Jade, Sweetwater Agate and a whole lot of "Pretty" rocks.

Recounts of the daily rockhounding trips to follow - stay tuned.

Connie - The Polished Pebble

Jade, JADE & more JaDe The Polished Pebble

We have been working on adding more cabochons to the website - ThePolishedPebble.com and one of the finished cabs is Golden Rain Jade . We had gotten this gemstone rough from a longtime friend who's parents once owned a rock shop (here in Bakersfield) & a jade mine in the mountains above Fremont, CA.

The story goes, that there were many grades & different types of jade in this claim area. Some had black, feather like dendrites. Some had white inclusions, and most was beautiful gemmy green jade. Different shades where throughout the mine area.

But there was one inclusion that brought a premium price. That was the jade that had golden tendrils through it. It was called Golden Rain Jade. Sadly, I don't know the reasoning behind the popularity. I don't even know if our friends ever knew - there was one buyer that would pay a higher price than any of the others. Just so he would have all that was for sale.

Our friends sold tons of Jade from the late 1960's thru 1970's until there was a falling out with their partner that ultimatily lead to my friends losing their ownership of the mine. I don't know the statis of the mine at this time - but my friend thinks the new owner lost the claim many years ago.

When they were selling off their remaining stone I was able to get a few choice pieces. Some bigger than my saw can cut at this time. Many that are just waiting their turn.

Our friends were quite surprised when we uncovered this one piece of the Golden Rain Jade. They thought it had all been sold. I offered to let them keep it - but the declined. Too many rocks, not enough time & they were downsizing


That brings us to today. I had finally gotten around to slabing that piece & have one cabochon finished & listed on our website. It is a beauty, but that's what you would expect from Golden Rain Jade - right?


Don't forget to checkout the new Gemstone Cabochons on our website - The Polished Pebble  your source for quality designer gemstone cabochons for your jewelry needs.