Boat Bum
Well-known member
As long as you're not bringing rocks in from other states...
What do you like to "find" when out and about?
- Thread starter Vanbrat
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Contributor
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This is from the Arizona BLM, nothing about only residents are allowed to collect rocks.
Also if you go on BLM website, Rock Collecting is a big hobby across the US.
Also if you go on BLM website, Rock Collecting is a big hobby across the US.
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Vanbrat
Well-known member
My son once found a Canadian 20 as we left the ferry for home. Since we didn't have time to do any kind of exchange for US money he had fun treating us to dinner at McD's.
I like finding out of the way fabric stores hubby and I both like finding good thrift stores though we don't usually buy anything just cause 1 We are old and have too much stuff as it is, and 2 because now we travel in a small van and it is full of our camping stuff so no room...
But we bought an old jeep once and it had in the back of the glove box a small saint Christaphor charm and a small Mexican coin. We were informed by the previous owner they were 'blessed' in Mexico on some trip or other. So when we sold the car to a friend of a friend we told them the same story and that maybe it would be wise to let them live in the car.
Vanbrat
Well-known member
Thank you for clarifying that. I would hate to be breaking some rule just because I didn't know it, I will be happy to know my tiny pebble picking is not going to get me in trouble.
Vanbrat
Well-known member
I would love to see these at a campground sometime.We have collected coffee mugs from the various places we've been. We've collected State Park T-shirts. We're collecting bird feathers for our grandson.
But I have found, it's more fun to "leave" something, than take something. But, it IS very important to leave something that does not destroy nature too. Leaving cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans is not what I'm talking about.
Here is a small sample of what I'm now leaving behind ... provided I can find enough rocks to do this. It's fun, it's relaxing, and it takes a steady hand.
Cane Creek County Park, Waxhaw, NC:
Pilot Mountain State Park, NC:
This leaves me to think about what you have added to places you have been to.
I love the abandoned art thing I found somewhere, but now I don't have the Facebook site. I have left painted rocks, and books in book exchange boxes/library's. I have made art in sand and labyrinth trails on beaches I have left fairy houses in/beside busy trails. And before you get your britches in a bunch I would never do anything in a nature trial pristine type place.
Who else does fun things like this?
We are getting ready to go out again and I hope we see something fun....
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JudyJB
Well-known member
I started collecting beach sand a few years ago. Most of my collection is in Ohio at my younger son's house, but I have four samples with me that are more recent. I put my samples one at a time in a paper bowl in the microwave and heat them to kill any tiny critters, and then store them in small bottles but the lids on the originals rusted. I now have some new all-glass spice bottles and a new spice rack that will fit them. When I get back to Ohio, I will transfer my old samples to the new bottles and somehow find a place to mount the spice rack in my motorhome. I also need to print out some nice labels for the bottles.
Here is what two samples look like. One if from Henderson Beach SP on the Florida Panhandle and the other is from Gamble Rogers State Park. It is amazing how different they are. (I have a couple more from Pacific Beaches in Washington state but don't have photos of them.)
Here is what two samples look like. One if from Henderson Beach SP on the Florida Panhandle and the other is from Gamble Rogers State Park. It is amazing how different they are. (I have a couple more from Pacific Beaches in Washington state but don't have photos of them.)
Wasillaguy
Well-known member
We do this too. Often have a pint and dinner at the brewery, then head for the campground with growlers. It's a great way to meet locals and find out what's happening in the area.
Mountain high
Guest
We have collected coffee mugs from the various places we've been. We've collected State Park T-shirts. We're collecting bird feathers for our grandson.
But I have found, it's more fun to "leave" something, than take something. But, it IS very important to leave something that does not destroy nature too. Leaving cigarette butts, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans is not what I'm talking about.
Here is a small sample of what I'm now leaving behind ... provided I can find enough rocks to do this. It's fun, it's relaxing, and it takes a steady hand.
Cane Creek County Park, Waxhaw, NC:
Pilot Mountain State Park, NC:
I worked 6 months for the Parks and Recreation in Colorado. Leaving no trace is better for nature. Others will enjoy it as much as you first saw it.
Why You Shouldn’t Stack Rocks On Hikes And What To Do If You See Them
Stop taking the natural world for granite.
www.iflscience.com
SeilerBird
Well-known member
I collect National Parks. Got about 50 so far.
SeilerBird
Well-known member
Take only memories, leave only footprints.I worked 6 months for the Parks and Recreation in Colorado. Leaving no trace is better for nature. Others will enjoy it as much as you first saw it.
Why You Shouldn’t Stack Rocks On Hikes And What To Do If You See Them
Stop taking the natural world for granite.
Mountain high
Guest
I use to think the same, but too many footprints aren't good either. As a child in the mid-1960's we backpacked within the Sierra Nevada on trails near the Mammoth Lakes. The trails were deeply rutted by pack mules and were quite difficult to walk. Idaho just came out with this article...
SeilerBird
Well-known member
Leave only footprints is only a metaphor. It means leave it as you found it.
SeilerBird
Well-known member
Speaking of collecting rocks, Lucy gathered quite a collection in 'The Long Long Trailer'. Great movie to see real video of Yosemite in 1954.
Rene T
Site Team
As soon as we started camping with a pop up we explained to our kids to leave the sight better than we found it.
Wasillaguy
Well-known member
Growing up, we went tent camping all over the U.S. and Canada. The first thing when we arrived, and the last thing that happened after the car was all packed was combing the site for trash. After us 3 kids thought we were done, we played "point and pick" where Dad went around and pointed out everything we'd missed.
The tradition continues to this day, but now I only pick if no grandkids are around.
The tradition continues to this day, but now I only pick if no grandkids are around.
PerroSucio
Well-known member
Great Idea !
Vanbrat
Well-known member
Again, I would never mess with the natural trails etc. Only places I would leave things is places where things are already "altered" like the parking lot at the Playground. Edge of a well used campsite for kids to find (fairy House) even then I have my own 'rules' No plastic or glass or metal or non-biodegradables and only with non-living things. The fairy houses are made of sticks and twigs from the site. As far as stacking rocks, I would love to find the rocks at my fire pit.
There is an Island somewhere (I don't remember where) that is not only OK but expected that fairy houses will be built. With the rules that I follow too. There is a series of kids books by Tracy Kane that talks about the Island. My sons used to build tiny towns for their match box cars, so did my brother. There have been a few camp sites that I have seen the remains of play spaces and they always make me smile. I taught my kids, as my mom taught my brother, do not leave ANY toys, trash or stuff behind. We hiked some really interesting trails into some wonderful places. And there we were taught take only pictures and leave only footprints. But not on the pueblo walls!
Kids need to find something magical sometimes as well as the reason for it. As in leave the camp cleaner then you found it, it makes the fairies happy. Kids need to interact (PLAY) with the things we want them to protect later, or they won't.
There is a public beach here on my little Island that I live on that is GROWING some great builders. It gathers driftwood like no place else. As well as lots of pieces of rope and docks and once even a small broken up boat, and all summer long the locals, young and old, build driftwood structures. Some are really thought out and very large, some are small just thrown together and then there are the tiny fairy houses. After Christmas we get lots of old xmas trees and these are fun to stand up and decorate with seaweed and shells and stick ornament's. With the first big storm they all come down. I can't imagine that beach without these and I wouldn't want to. It is an unwritten rule use only what you find at the beach no nails, screws or new rope and NO paint if you find some old, charred sticks write only with those. Most beaches are wonderful places and I love all of them, but this one is different and if you ask any of the local kidos which beach they want to go to for the day it is this one. There is not one piece of playground equipment or even a table on the beach itself. There are always several dumpsters for the trash that also washes up with the driftwood. And they get filled pretty fast. Again, an unwritten rule, clean-up as you play.
There is an Island somewhere (I don't remember where) that is not only OK but expected that fairy houses will be built. With the rules that I follow too. There is a series of kids books by Tracy Kane that talks about the Island. My sons used to build tiny towns for their match box cars, so did my brother. There have been a few camp sites that I have seen the remains of play spaces and they always make me smile. I taught my kids, as my mom taught my brother, do not leave ANY toys, trash or stuff behind. We hiked some really interesting trails into some wonderful places. And there we were taught take only pictures and leave only footprints. But not on the pueblo walls!
Kids need to find something magical sometimes as well as the reason for it. As in leave the camp cleaner then you found it, it makes the fairies happy. Kids need to interact (PLAY) with the things we want them to protect later, or they won't.
There is a public beach here on my little Island that I live on that is GROWING some great builders. It gathers driftwood like no place else. As well as lots of pieces of rope and docks and once even a small broken up boat, and all summer long the locals, young and old, build driftwood structures. Some are really thought out and very large, some are small just thrown together and then there are the tiny fairy houses. After Christmas we get lots of old xmas trees and these are fun to stand up and decorate with seaweed and shells and stick ornament's. With the first big storm they all come down. I can't imagine that beach without these and I wouldn't want to. It is an unwritten rule use only what you find at the beach no nails, screws or new rope and NO paint if you find some old, charred sticks write only with those. Most beaches are wonderful places and I love all of them, but this one is different and if you ask any of the local kidos which beach they want to go to for the day it is this one. There is not one piece of playground equipment or even a table on the beach itself. There are always several dumpsters for the trash that also washes up with the driftwood. And they get filled pretty fast. Again, an unwritten rule, clean-up as you play.
