Saturday, July 7, 2012

The Most Illegal Adventure?: The First Rock Hunt of Summer

Good afternoon, fellow adventurer!

After I purchased my rock tumbler (which was a steal, fellow adventurer!), I figured that, with the 3-6 weeks it takes to polish stones, I should go out and find some rocks. I rolled out of bed at about ten o' clock (the weekender's six a.m.) and got ready to go out in search for the finest stones. Thankfully, Logan has a lot of nature. But with all that nature, I knew I'd need a co-adventurer! So I grabbed my pal, Brad Brough (Junior Adventurer 1st class) and hauled him along for the search. 

Brad, wasting all his water before we've even begun

Two important things to remember about hunting for rocks: First, it might be illegal (it's that whole "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" thing). I'll be honest with you, fellow adventurer, I don't really know the rules up in Logan Canyon. But the adventurer acts first and deals with the consequences later! The second thing to remember is, rocks don't have families, so don't worry about separating them from their loved ones. They don't have any! Rocks are the orphans of the natural world!


These rocks don't even know what love is!

As I mentioned in my post about the rock tumbler, if you find smooth rocks that have already been worked over by streams (or "rivers" as we Utahans call them), you can skip the first step of rock tumbling. Shortcuts are an adventurer's favorite thing! 

Some call it cheating.

So look in the rivers for stones that catch your eye!


Brad, excited to be in his natural habitat

Look for colors, even subdued ones, that catch your eye. Maybe the polishing will bring the colors out (I really don't know, this is my first time)! But be careful, fellow adventurer! Watch your co-adventurer closely, because he might make a series of bad decisions in the face of so much adventure. 


Brad, calling upon the spirit of the mighty gazelle 


Brad, returning to shore. Sadly, unharmed 

Once you've collected about three pounds of rocks or are sick of walking, pack up and turn around. If you're still afraid that what you're doing is less than legal, make sure you have the right carrying sack:

If anyone stops us, we can just say the bag is full of dog poops!
If anyone asks us where our dog is, we can say we lost him!
If anyone offers to help us find the dog, we can push them in the
stream and make a break for it!

The best part of living near Cache National Forest is that it has so many uses! 


So many!

So make use of what you have around you, fellow adventurer, and happy hunting!

When we returned home, I pulled out the rock tumbler and the instruction booklet that comes with it (which I have half a mind to burn, because who needs it?) and got to work on setting up the barrel for tumbling. 


The best part about instruction is that you can skip most of them!

While I read instructions, Brad took this picture, because he's extremely vain! 


If I give it a caption, he wins

I filled the barrel with rocks, grit, and water (because the book said I had to) and swished it around a little (because I figured the tumbler shouldn't have to do all the work). I oiled up the bearings on the tumbler with vegetable oil (because it's what I had and I don't want to know if it's the wrong thing to do so back off) to make sure the rods would turn without heating up and exploding (which probably happens). I was ready! 


A barrel full of soon to be beautiful rocks (which I have no idea what to do with)

The book told me to find a good solid surface to put the tumbler. So I put it down in the basement on the floor (where, if it explodes, it has the least possibility of waking me up while I'm trying to sleep). The basement of our house is incredible. The owner, Jonathan, used to paint down there, so there's a lot of great, weird, terrifying, nightmare-inducing stuff! 


Haha! No thanks! Adventurers deal with reality!

We found a little corner of the room where we could hide the tumbler from my roommate, Mike, who doesn't believe in adventure. Now came the moment of truth: turning on the machine and hoping it wouldn't explode.  


 For many lapidarists (rock-hounds), this is the last thing they ever see

Well, it clearly didn't explode, fellow adventurer, because I wrote this. But weren't you on the edge of your seat with suspense? Of course you were.

Actually, the tumbler is pretty quiet, which makes sense since it's simulating a stream or waterfall with it's gentle motion. I'll try to make it louder next time. Maybe I'll put all the rocks in the washer for the next step!

Conclusion: Adventure in progress. Also, Junior Adventurers should only be adventurous for an hour, tops, or they start making bad decisions and taking pictures of themselves.

Wish me luck, fellow adventurer!

1 comment:

  1. Hmm...I never thought about the fact that the word "poop" might require a plural form.

    I'm on the edge of my seat for the next installment of the rock tumbling adventure!

    ReplyDelete