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I have found some very interesting mixes of jasper in those small thunder eggs. Maybe worth taking a few and cutting them open. Thanks for another great video.
Since I use the material differently than you do, i would like the haul. I would cut away anything not colorful and cut or shape the pieces left for Christmas jewelry for relatives and friends. I would not go there again and keep looking around. Keep the adventures coming and woof to the pup. The jasper was my favorite.😊 😷⚒
I really like your descriptions of the areas you frequent. This coming spring, 2024, I will be traveling throughout Central Oregon and visiting the better collecting sites you talk about in your videos. In addition, I'll be collecting petrified wood at the Saddle Mountain area. I am also interested in the North Central and Eastern parts of Washington. Your videos have inspired me to once again get out and explore and collect. It's been at least 30 years since the last I had boots on the ground. Regards, Don Wilson, Tacoma.
Thank you so much for leaving this kind comment for me. Hearing things like this is truly motivating for me. You will love Saddle Mountain! I hope you have a great 2024 rockhounding season.
Some nice vibrant greens in a few of them rocks, one was winking at me wih a suspicious smile i think. Knowing only what ive seen here, not my cup of tea for rocks, however for communing with nature, totally. Looks like you got a sample to show for it that it wasnt a bust, and seeing a bobcat would be exciting. Lots of holes but didnt see anything too deep or precarious fom camra view. Keep it rocking!
My father and I dug in the white fir springs agate beds for years. We went at least twice a year. My Dad started going there in the 50's and the first time I was there i wasn't a year old yet. Where you were digging was what we dumped over the hill. I have tons of agate from there and thunder eggs up to 100+ pounds. Some really beautiful moss in blue agate. It wouldn't be easy to find anymore but i think I could still find a good spot or 2 up there.
Another great outing! Hey, btw, the area we walked (Yakima Bluffs) is vacant. The wine growers on top are gone and soon the area will be a Costco. I ran into several people with shovels and wire grates fossil hunting. I also saw some cut outs (fresh) in the lower section by the river. Very interesting 🤨
There are some that I would prolly be happy with, but then again, I don't have anything really to cut or polish with, so my limitations with picking might be better off there at that site. I don't know though. All that I would be using the rocks for would be as a highlight piece in one of my reptile's enclosures, so having a beautifully polished piece might not be the best option for in there, especially compared to something that's more rough and rugged like what you found in this video. I'm more thinking through my keyboard than anything related to thought of your finds lol. Good video though; you have me considering that location now so yay for that!
My partner and I spent a week dry camping up there. I wish I had spent more time rockhounding. My friend spent his time practicing archery for the jackpot shoot on the weekend. That limited my wanderers for fear of being shot. We spent a lot of time at the John Day fossil dig by the high school. Came up empty. Would love to return.
Also, take a look at plastic levelers (e.g anderson camper levelers) for camping rigs....not much room taken with packing them and a lot of variation from the little tweak to inches in leveling. I hate the blood rush to the head, or the feeling that i need to swim uphill at night in my sleeping bag. :)
@@CurrentlyRockhounding if you go up the HWY toward the summit and turn onto the 27 road past the lucky strike turn theres a campsite just off the road in walking distance of Cougar Butte. Tons of agate everywhere on the ground. I have managed to dig a tiny bit there but havnt located the source, just tons of float available to fill a pocket or two.
Well that looks like the type of place that I would not generally go to dig period. If I have to dig down 10 feet to get below the fill then I'm not digging and it sounds like that is what happened to you guys and although my expectations and standards are way lower than yours because I don't have but a hand full of small ones, of my own, so I'm much easier to please but there are way easier and eggs that are consistently abundant that I would much rather go to. I'm wanting just a chunk of the rhyolite with the tiny eggs in it from the lilypad bed! And there are others like that where my expectations are less. I want to go out to dugways even though I hear it's been really worked over now and that is the one place I would dig down to get to the pay later! Dugways are my favorites so that would be worth it for me! And whether they are filled in or are geodes they are beautiful and even the smooshed ones are lovely! They are just cool to me! Thanks Jared and Sara for all your hard work out there, at least it was a nice camp experience for you guys! Thanks!❤
I'm with you, it can be hard sometimes to really know what to do at these places on your first visit and in this case, it seemed like the wholes had been backfilled and compressed over time, which makes it extra hard.
Would I dig there?? Is it an invite??? Awesome video! Always see wildlife while I am out and about, except last year in Utah. Lots of agate, no critters there.
Yeah I'd hit a different spot. Not sure if it's a natural alluvial type deposit or if there's just been a lot of previous digging but either way it's going to take a LOT of looking to find something good there. If there are better sure things nearby I'd be on my way for sure. Hope you guys are well!
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I thought it would be a common thing, with all the agatized fossils, but I haven't been able to find similar things to these ones. I thought you may have seen some and I was just being bad at looking stuff up online.
Great video and 'sparse' or 'slightly confusing' is a pretty accurate description of the white fir agate beds in my opinion. I have, however, pulled some nice eggs out of there and the cores are generally very nice and vary widely (moss, waterline, fortification, and nice colors). The rhyolite shell also takes a nice polish. It might also be worth mentioning for your viewers that the white fir agate bed is under claim (at least when I was there last year) by the Prineville PowWow. Any member can dig for free (and if I recall correctly, membership is only $10/yr and 100% worth it is you go to the Prineville Powwow in June).
I'm glad it's not just me then who is slightly confused by this area. If they do have a claim, then it is not legal without proper signage and monuments. Part of owning a claim is maintaining it and making it known.
To me, it looks like you were digging in tailings. That area has been dug for decades, so I think you would have to dig a very deep pit to find the real bed. The best White Fir egg I've ever seen was about 8 inches in diameter. The bottom half was Jasper filled, but the upper half was an Amethyst crystal pocket. I've only seen it once about 15 years ago. I would love to find something like that! Oh and we have a Bobcat in our neighborhood! It wandered through last summer, but by the time I was able to get outside with my camera, it was gone. And for those who might be skeptical of whether I know what a Bobcat looks like, I've rubbed foreheads with one many times. There's a picture of me doing so on my Facebook wall, but I won't put a link in here as this is not my post, it's Jared's.
Once again it is nice that both of you are participating and I really liked seeing your campsite. Bottom line though is you and the way you do things and explain your decisions. Thank you
It was a little hard for me to really tell whether it was tailings or not, I know this area has been dug for a long time, but it seemed compacted enough to be fresh ground. If I wasn't in the middle of nowhere, I would have thought it was big house cat and not a bob cat at a distance.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Bobcats run about 50 pounds or so. If you think it was close to 50 pounds, then it most likely was a Bobcat. Nice to see in nature regardless. I always enjoy seeing most any critter when I'm out hounding. Although, I prefer to see the bears while still in my vehicle. Just saying.
Must be a big year for cougars/ mountain lions/bob cats. We just had sightings in Minneapolis neighborhoods. I heard it got it by a car but they believe there is another one traveling with it. It had a tag from Nebraska. He traveled a long way.
😆 without seeing any of the material, just going off your reactions & the tone of your voice... Do NOT go back there. Go get some of those jasper eggs on Sarah's face. It didn't seem like you guys were liking that location at all. That opal-looking thing on a log was very interesting, though. 18:15 really cool example. Reminds me of a teenage mutant ninja turtle wearing an eye patch.
You at least got some examples to officially add the location to your collection. There are some great eggs there but it takes some effort to get to them. It's high on my priority list for my next trip to the area.
Oh for sure, I don't need a lot to be happy with something, but I do like to come away from a location having a better understanding of it, and that didn't really happen here. Was there a better area to be digging? Was I in tailings the whole time? How deep do you need to go?...etc.
I never made it up the hill to the beds but I like the jasper that comes out of here. It’s a pretty creamy color. BTW “white fir” (aka TNT) as listed in the Lars book is a private claim owned by the Mt Hood Rock Club. One website stated the claim in past the fence but that is wrong. The area where everyone has been digging is our actual claim. I think this summer we need to plan a field trip to better mark the claim and maybe set up some perimeter markers. It’s frustrating because everyone is tearing up the land and our club is responsible for returning it to its natural state.
I would dig there for a half day, then move on. I'd rather have a good representation of rocks of the the area instead of just one.The opal looking one is very pretty
I would love to have unlimited time to try a place out, so to speak, but I'm with you. If a half day doesn't produce anything meaningful, it's time to try something else.
It kind of looks like people have just came in there and and just just destroyed those those beds like it was mindless digging and they was just digging to be digging and not caring about what they tore up on for what they found they was more looking for the wow factor and didn't care about the quality of the Stone
I think you need to try a place, but if it's not very productive, move to a new location. Otherwise you will be left with always wondering what you could have found and what adventures you might have had!
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Sometimes, you gotta take what you get! 😊
I have found some very interesting mixes of jasper in those small thunder eggs. Maybe worth taking a few and cutting them open. Thanks for another great video.
Spent the summer of 2016 out in the Ochocos. Beautiful country. miss the wild horses
It's an outstanding place for sure.
Since I use the material differently than you do, i would like the haul. I would cut away anything not colorful and cut or shape the pieces left for Christmas jewelry for relatives and friends. I would not go there again and keep looking around. Keep the adventures coming and woof to the pup. The jasper was my favorite.😊 😷⚒
I really like your descriptions of the areas you frequent. This coming spring, 2024, I will be traveling throughout Central Oregon and visiting the better collecting sites you talk about in your videos. In addition, I'll be collecting petrified wood at the Saddle Mountain area. I am also interested in the North Central and Eastern parts of Washington. Your videos have inspired me to once again get out and explore and collect. It's been at least 30 years since the last I had boots on the ground. Regards, Don Wilson, Tacoma.
Thank you so much for leaving this kind comment for me. Hearing things like this is truly motivating for me.
You will love Saddle Mountain!
I hope you have a great 2024 rockhounding season.
The fun is in the looking!
You do such a wonderful job on your videos keep up the great work
Thank you very much for the kind words.
I think some of these are beautiful and could be so pretty as slabs polished. I would love to have a few of those.
The thunder egg you cut looks like Jabba the Hut's face! Lol So cool!
I would've dug a brand new hole close by. Nice pet rock! Great video as always!
That would have been good, but time is always an issue for us.
@CurrentlyRockhounding of course, you would always want to check the other spots as well.
Some nice vibrant greens in a few of them rocks, one was winking at me wih a suspicious smile i think. Knowing only what ive seen here, not my cup of tea for rocks, however for communing with nature, totally. Looks like you got a sample to show for it that it wasnt a bust, and seeing a bobcat would be exciting. Lots of holes but didnt see anything too deep or precarious fom camra view. Keep it rocking!
My father and I dug in the white fir springs agate beds for years. We went at least twice a year. My Dad started going there in the 50's and the first time I was there i wasn't a year old yet. Where you were digging was what we dumped over the hill. I have tons of agate from there and thunder eggs up to 100+ pounds. Some really beautiful moss in blue agate. It wouldn't be easy to find anymore but i think I could still find a good spot or 2 up there.
Those would be some really big thundereggs and something you really gotta cut!
Another great outing! Hey, btw, the area we walked (Yakima Bluffs) is vacant. The wine growers on top are gone and soon the area will be a Costco. I ran into several people with shovels and wire grates fossil hunting. I also saw some cut outs (fresh) in the lower section by the river. Very interesting 🤨
Oh, that is a very interesting.
Also, congratulations on the Costco, I guess! :D
Beautiful thunder egg polish - looks like pirate twins.
Thank you!
There are some that I would prolly be happy with, but then again, I don't have anything really to cut or polish with, so my limitations with picking might be better off there at that site. I don't know though. All that I would be using the rocks for would be as a highlight piece in one of my reptile's enclosures, so having a beautifully polished piece might not be the best option for in there, especially compared to something that's more rough and rugged like what you found in this video.
I'm more thinking through my keyboard than anything related to thought of your finds lol.
Good video though; you have me considering that location now so yay for that!
Interesting spot; I'd been to the usual White Fir bed, but had no idea this spot existed. Thanks for sharing (I would definitely dig here).
I'm sure there are more places like this as well if you just start walking off.
My partner and I spent a week dry camping up there. I wish I had spent more time rockhounding. My friend spent his time practicing archery for the jackpot shoot on the weekend. That limited my wanderers for fear of being shot. We spent a lot of time at the John Day fossil dig by the high school. Came up empty. Would love to return.
I'm somewhat surprised to hear that you came up empty-handed at the Wheeler High school fossil dig. Did you happen to see the video I shot there?
I think all of them are pretty 🤩 thank you for sharing this video and your finds.
Good video like always😊 I need to make a trip over there we truly enjoy the outdoors
If I was your age, I would wander all over that country and find a new bed. They are there!
It's a massive area for sure.
That thunderegg that you cut looks like Jabba the Hutt's face. 😄
Ha! It does have that look to it.
Also, take a look at plastic levelers (e.g anderson camper levelers) for camping rigs....not much room taken with packing them and a lot of variation from the little tweak to inches in leveling. I hate the blood rush to the head, or the feeling that i need to swim uphill at night in my sleeping bag. :)
One of my favorite places to wander.
It's a very nice area.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding if you go up the HWY toward the summit and turn onto the 27 road past the lucky strike turn theres a campsite just off the road in walking distance of Cougar Butte. Tons of agate everywhere on the ground. I have managed to dig a tiny bit there but havnt located the source, just tons of float available to fill a pocket or two.
@@TinkerinWithTim Thank you for the tip!
Well that looks like the type of place that I would not generally go to dig period. If I have to dig down 10 feet to get below the fill then I'm not digging and it sounds like that is what happened to you guys and although my expectations and standards are way lower than yours because I don't have but a hand full of small ones, of my own, so I'm much easier to please but there are way easier and eggs that are consistently abundant that I would much rather go to. I'm wanting just a chunk of the rhyolite with the tiny eggs in it from the lilypad bed! And there are others like that where my expectations are less. I want to go out to dugways even though I hear it's been really worked over now and that is the one place I would dig down to get to the pay later! Dugways are my favorites so that would be worth it for me! And whether they are filled in or are geodes they are beautiful and even the smooshed ones are lovely! They are just cool to me! Thanks Jared and Sara for all your hard work out there, at least it was a nice camp experience for you guys! Thanks!❤
I'm with you, it can be hard sometimes to really know what to do at these places on your first visit and in this case, it seemed like the wholes had been backfilled and compressed over time, which makes it extra hard.
That funky rock of your almost has Cookie Monster like looking face in it.
Pretty place. I’m guessing, long long ago, the place blew up. Otherwise, I don’t see how all those rocks come out fractured. Thanks!
Would I dig there?? Is it an invite??? Awesome video! Always see wildlife while I am out and about, except last year in Utah. Lots of agate, no critters there.
Free camping, thundereggs found...maybe not great quality. Finding a beauty is a challenge. I enjoyed the video.
Thank you!
Another informative and enjoyable video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Great video!
I'm glad you liked it!
Yeah I'd hit a different spot. Not sure if it's a natural alluvial type deposit or if there's just been a lot of previous digging but either way it's going to take a LOT of looking to find something good there. If there are better sure things nearby I'd be on my way for sure. Hope you guys are well!
Sometimes it is challenging to really weight out if a place has been dug in the past and if it's worth your time.
I love the Jabba the Hutt looking face.
:)
Have you ever seen banded agates, like lake superior agates, but inside brachiopods? Where it's a nodule formed kind.
I have not seen that.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding I thought it would be a common thing, with all the agatized fossils, but I haven't been able to find similar things to these ones. I thought you may have seen some and I was just being bad at looking stuff up online.
Great video and 'sparse' or 'slightly confusing' is a pretty accurate description of the white fir agate beds in my opinion. I have, however, pulled some nice eggs out of there and the cores are generally very nice and vary widely (moss, waterline, fortification, and nice colors). The rhyolite shell also takes a nice polish. It might also be worth mentioning for your viewers that the white fir agate bed is under claim (at least when I was there last year) by the Prineville PowWow. Any member can dig for free (and if I recall correctly, membership is only $10/yr and 100% worth it is you go to the Prineville Powwow in June).
I'm glad it's not just me then who is slightly confused by this area.
If they do have a claim, then it is not legal without proper signage and monuments. Part of owning a claim is maintaining it and making it known.
To me, it looks like you were digging in tailings. That area has been dug for decades, so I think you would have to dig a very deep pit to find the real bed. The best White Fir egg I've ever seen was about 8 inches in diameter. The bottom half was Jasper filled, but the upper half was an Amethyst crystal pocket. I've only seen it once about 15 years ago. I would love to find something like that! Oh and we have a Bobcat in our neighborhood! It wandered through last summer, but by the time I was able to get outside with my camera, it was gone. And for those who might be skeptical of whether I know what a Bobcat looks like, I've rubbed foreheads with one many times. There's a picture of me doing so on my Facebook wall, but I won't put a link in here as this is not my post, it's Jared's.
Once again it is nice that both of you are participating and I really liked seeing your campsite. Bottom line though is you and the way you do things and explain your decisions. Thank you
Nice face on the first polished piece 🙂
It was a little hard for me to really tell whether it was tailings or not, I know this area has been dug for a long time, but it seemed compacted enough to be fresh ground.
If I wasn't in the middle of nowhere, I would have thought it was big house cat and not a bob cat at a distance.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding Bobcats run about 50 pounds or so. If you think it was close to 50 pounds, then it most likely was a Bobcat. Nice to see in nature regardless. I always enjoy seeing most any critter when I'm out hounding. Although, I prefer to see the bears while still in my vehicle. Just saying.
Must be a big year for cougars/ mountain lions/bob cats. We just had sightings in Minneapolis neighborhoods. I heard it got it by a car but they believe there is another one traveling with it. It had a tag from Nebraska. He traveled a long way.
😆 without seeing any of the material, just going off your reactions & the tone of your voice... Do NOT go back there. Go get some of those jasper eggs on Sarah's face. It didn't seem like you guys were liking that location at all.
That opal-looking thing on a log was very interesting, though.
18:15 really cool example. Reminds me of a teenage mutant ninja turtle wearing an eye patch.
You at least got some examples to officially add the location to your collection. There are some great eggs there but it takes some effort to get to them. It's high on my priority list for my next trip to the area.
Oh for sure, I don't need a lot to be happy with something, but I do like to come away from a location having a better understanding of it, and that didn't really happen here.
Was there a better area to be digging? Was I in tailings the whole time? How deep do you need to go?...etc.
@@CurrentlyRockhounding then we are in the same boat. My first trip there was really frustrating. The 2nd was much more illuminating.
I would have not gone back. It either excites or not.
I never made it up the hill to the beds but I like the jasper that comes out of here. It’s a pretty creamy color.
BTW “white fir” (aka TNT) as listed in the Lars book is a private claim owned by the Mt Hood Rock Club. One website stated the claim in past the fence but that is wrong. The area where everyone has been digging is our actual claim. I think this summer we need to plan a field trip to better mark the claim and maybe set up some perimeter markers. It’s frustrating because everyone is tearing up the land and our club is responsible for returning it to its natural state.
From a legal perspective, it's only a legal claim if properly marked and your implication here is that I'm digging on your club claim, which I am not.
👁👁 Always a pleasure
I would dig there for a half day, then move on. I'd rather have a good representation of rocks of the the area instead of just one.The opal looking one is very pretty
I would love to have unlimited time to try a place out, so to speak, but I'm with you. If a half day doesn't produce anything meaningful, it's time to try something else.
Its the thunder egg monster look out he will dull your blade lol
Ha!
Are any finds ever show fluorescence?
Most do.
It kind of looks like people have just came in there and and just just destroyed those those beds like it was mindless digging and they was just digging to be digging and not caring about what they tore up on for what they found they was more looking for the wow factor and didn't care about the quality of the Stone
I think you need to try a place, but if it's not very productive, move to a new location. Otherwise you will be left with always wondering what you could have found and what adventures you might have had!
I agree, we never have unlimited time at these places, so we do need to be picky with how we spend our time.
This is Big Foot territory.
Bigfoot wasn't around because we didn't have any Jack Link's Beef Jerky with us.
Go to the other places
You got a few nice ones.... but that place looks like a dud...