Rocks
- The Bear Pit
- 100 Replies
So in the 'proper' spirit of this thread...
Not really a rock hound or collector... but here are some cool rocks (and related items) I've picked up on motorcycle trips, conflict archaeology gigs or that were gifted to me. Not really valuable, but priceless trip souvenirs and some cool gifts from friends!
Turquoise from a trip along Rt 66. The gold colered 'rock' at the back right is not a rock. It's a piece of a tire from Cadillac Ranch! The reddish rock is from way up in the Canadian Arctic from my Muskox hunt last year. Some of the oldest rock in the world from the Canadian Shield and under ice most of the time.
Fossil worm from a stream bed in the Candian Maritimes. Trip was around Gaspe and Bay of Fundy which is some really great fossil territory! Especially some of the cliffs on Bay of Fundy. Thousands of fossils along the beach at low tide. Could have filled a pickup truck!
Fossilized ferns, also from Bay of Fundy.
Fossil fish from Bay of Fundy cliffs.
Razor clam fossil from Cape Breton coastline.
"Legal" piece from gift shop at Petrified Forest. Picking up so much as a pebble in the Petrified Forest Monument will get you in deep, deep doo-doo! This came from the gift shop with a receipt! The guys at the checkpoints have no sense of humor that they are aware of if they think you might have picked up fossil wood!
Slice of a Triceratops Leg Bone... a gift from a buddy who picked it up in Madagascar. Great for resting hot pots on my dining table!
Piece of a flint nodule picked up in a corn field at the very top of the white cliffs of Dover in the UK. As I was picking it up, a Spitfire came roaring along the cliffs. The field is littered with nodules that were used to make the fine English Rifle flints that conquered the empire and lost the Revolutionary War. Most American flints were also imported, though, so won the war, too!
Not a rock... but a splinter off a German shell. I excavated this in the famous grotto where Audie Murphy and his squad were pinned down during the San Pietro Infine campaign. This was part of the expedition I went on in 2019 with Nat Geo and became the documentary "The Bloody Road to Rome" part of their "Buried Secrets of WW2" series on Nat. Geo. Somewhere there is a thread on that trip posted here. Finding the 'Grotto' was a major goal of the expedition. My buddy Jim, myself and a great English conflict archaeologist 'found it.' It wasn't that hard. There was a sign pointing to it placed by the Regimental Association. We considered that to be a 'clue.' And walked up to the path to the grotto! So much for being intrepid treasure hunters! We found a lot of material in there. Murphy wrote about being pinned down for a Hellish couple of days in his Memoir "To Hell and Back." Someday I'll get this framed with a picture and some other memorabilia.
So not much of a 'rock' guy. But rocks make great memories. Much better than your average gift shop schlock. You just can't carry too many of them on a bike or airline baggage!
Next trip includes a ride up Pike's Peak! I'll be bringing a rock down from there for sure!
Cheers,
Sirhr
Not really a rock hound or collector... but here are some cool rocks (and related items) I've picked up on motorcycle trips, conflict archaeology gigs or that were gifted to me. Not really valuable, but priceless trip souvenirs and some cool gifts from friends!
Turquoise from a trip along Rt 66. The gold colered 'rock' at the back right is not a rock. It's a piece of a tire from Cadillac Ranch! The reddish rock is from way up in the Canadian Arctic from my Muskox hunt last year. Some of the oldest rock in the world from the Canadian Shield and under ice most of the time.
Fossil worm from a stream bed in the Candian Maritimes. Trip was around Gaspe and Bay of Fundy which is some really great fossil territory! Especially some of the cliffs on Bay of Fundy. Thousands of fossils along the beach at low tide. Could have filled a pickup truck!
Fossilized ferns, also from Bay of Fundy.
Fossil fish from Bay of Fundy cliffs.
Razor clam fossil from Cape Breton coastline.
"Legal" piece from gift shop at Petrified Forest. Picking up so much as a pebble in the Petrified Forest Monument will get you in deep, deep doo-doo! This came from the gift shop with a receipt! The guys at the checkpoints have no sense of humor that they are aware of if they think you might have picked up fossil wood!
Slice of a Triceratops Leg Bone... a gift from a buddy who picked it up in Madagascar. Great for resting hot pots on my dining table!
Piece of a flint nodule picked up in a corn field at the very top of the white cliffs of Dover in the UK. As I was picking it up, a Spitfire came roaring along the cliffs. The field is littered with nodules that were used to make the fine English Rifle flints that conquered the empire and lost the Revolutionary War. Most American flints were also imported, though, so won the war, too!
Not a rock... but a splinter off a German shell. I excavated this in the famous grotto where Audie Murphy and his squad were pinned down during the San Pietro Infine campaign. This was part of the expedition I went on in 2019 with Nat Geo and became the documentary "The Bloody Road to Rome" part of their "Buried Secrets of WW2" series on Nat. Geo. Somewhere there is a thread on that trip posted here. Finding the 'Grotto' was a major goal of the expedition. My buddy Jim, myself and a great English conflict archaeologist 'found it.' It wasn't that hard. There was a sign pointing to it placed by the Regimental Association. We considered that to be a 'clue.' And walked up to the path to the grotto! So much for being intrepid treasure hunters! We found a lot of material in there. Murphy wrote about being pinned down for a Hellish couple of days in his Memoir "To Hell and Back." Someday I'll get this framed with a picture and some other memorabilia.
So not much of a 'rock' guy. But rocks make great memories. Much better than your average gift shop schlock. You just can't carry too many of them on a bike or airline baggage!
Next trip includes a ride up Pike's Peak! I'll be bringing a rock down from there for sure!
Cheers,
Sirhr
