What It’s Like When We Actually Start Finding Rocks — Pt. 2

It’s not as easy as it looks …

In the first blog of this series, we started answering a question a jujujemster asked after one of our social media posts: “What exactly do you do when you go on these rockhounding trips?”

In that blog, we talked about everything that happens before we ever get to a location — the planning, the packing, the driving, the hiking, and all the things that can go wrong before the first rock is even in sight. If you missed that one, it’s in the blog section at jujujems.com. This is the second post in a series of three, and now we get to the part most people think is the easy part … actually finding the rocks.

Now we finally get to the rocks

Once we make it to the spot, after all the loading, driving, bouncing down roads meant for mountain goats, and hiking farther than we probably should have, you would think the hard part is over. Sometimes it feels that way — for about five minutes. Then you look down and...

Rocks.

Everywhere.

All shapes, all sizes, all colors, and most of them are not the ones you hiked all that way to find!

Rocks upon rocks in Goodyear, AZ

This is where experience matters. You can’t just walk around scooping stuff up like you’re at a rock buffet. You slow down, peer closer, and pay better attention to the color, texture, weight, and how it looks when it gets wet — if you can’t tell when dry.

That’s why we carry spray bottles. A quick spritz of water can turn a dull-looking rock into something you were looking for or confirm that it should stay exactly where it is and move on.

Not every rock is worth the walk

There’s also a lot more work involved than most people expect. There’s bending, squatting, lifting, digging, and cracking rocks open to see if there’s anything worth bringing home. Some places let you dig, some don’t, and others make you wish you had stayed at the truck.

The frenzied flies and stinging nasties need some swatting, but you’re holding a rock pick and know that won’t end well. Then add in the wind blowing dust into your eyes, uneven ground determined to twist an ankle, prickly plants and bushes, and the whole endeavor starts to feel less like a peaceful nature hike and more like a full-day marathon you didn’t train for.

The cactuses making a point ... go away!

Then there’s the part where the path isn’t really a path. Sometimes it’s a wash or a hillside, and other times it’s just a general direction because the map said, “You’ll find it here.” You may have to do the spider monkey climb or do literal leaps of faith — hopping boulder to boulder, hoping you stick the landing. Again, mountain goats, we are not.

Ah, nothing like another rocky path! - At Camp Verde, AZ

We’ve trekked for over an hour to get to a spot, looking at rocks along the way more than once, saying, “We’ll grab that one on the way back.” Of course, once you finally get where you were headed, you realize you still have to make the same trek back … but heavier. That’s when you realize how far you wandered.

Carrying them back is the real workout

Yes, picking up rocks is the fun part. Carrying them back, not so much.

It’s one thing to find a nice piece and toss it in your bag. It’s another thing to haul a backpack, tools, bags, and whatever you just found all the way back to Beastie, playing 'Spot the Truck.' The hike back always seems longer, mostly because when you say, “Just one more” and bend down to pick it up, the pack keeps getting heavier. Your legs like to remind you that you’ve overdone it, and the knees agree wholeheartedly.

Spot the Truck in Saddle Mountain, AZ

And at least once a trip, one of us asks, “Remind me why we thought this rock was a good idea?” answered by, “We are not leaving this here after carrying it this long!”

Yet, some days you come back dusty, tired, and wondering if the best thing you found was a new bruise and maybe one good rock out of a pile of “what were we thinking?”

Some days the rocks win

Every outing is not a success. There are plenty of times when the location looks perfect, the research says material should be there, and we still come home with less than we hoped for. Rocks don’t always follow the rules, and what you read about a place doesn’t always match what you see when you get there.

Even when we do find good material, it doesn’t always look impressive at first. Some of the best pieces we’ve ever brought home looked plain, dusty, or even ugly when we picked them up. It’s not until they’re cleaned, cut, or polished that the real character shows up.

That’s one of the things rockhounding teaches you — you start to notice potential, not just what looks good right away. And sometimes the one you almost didn’t pick up turns out to be the star of the whole trip.

Not every bucket turns into inventory

We bring home a lot of material, but what you see on the site is only part of the story. When you’re out in the field, it’s easy to feel like a kid in a candy store, eyes wider than the Grand Canyon, convinced that each rock you see might be something special. Buckets fill up fast when you’re in that mindset, and it all seems like a great idea at the time … until you get home and inspect them a little more carefully.

Green Fluorite before it's all pretty. We think! - At Fluorite Ridge, NM

That’s when reality sets in. Some pieces aren’t as nice as you thought. Others need more work than you figured on, and you’re already backlogged. And those you had high expectations for didn’t turn out the way you hoped. This is why these trips don’t end when we leave the field.

We never see disappointments as failures, but rather as learning experiences. It makes us savvier and sharpens our discernment, making future outings more successful with time better spent.

Next comes the real work

In the next post, we’ll talk about what happens after the rockhounding trip — the cleaning, the sorting, the deciding, and why only a small percentage of what we bring home ever makes it onto the site.

Stay Sparkly! ✨

The jujujems Team