Sitting here in the bunker, maintaining social distance with the rest of humanity, I have spent a lot of time thinking of places to ride. One of the things that I have found that would make a destination extra enjoyable would be if I could enjoy another hobby while I am there. Places to go camping, or fishing, or for some of you hiking. You get the idea. Well, since I was a little kid, I have been into rocks and fossils. Washington State is full of places to go and collect your own samples. While a lot of places are on public land, many aren't. It's up to you to make sure where you go to is public or private land, and make arrangements accordingly.
What types of rock and fossils am I talking about? Petrified wood (our state gemstone), opal, jade, thundereggs (geodes), mammoth teeth, palm leaf, and other plant fossils, and numerous prehistoric animal fossils are among what you can find in Washington State. Many aren't far from the more populated areas, and some are a bit further afield. It all depends on how far you want to ride or drive depending on how many rocks you think you might bring home.
I was surfing the "worldwide interwebs" and found a few interesting downloads. I will provide a link to an interactive map for Minerals and Fossils in Washington.
There are also a couple of good books that can be found online to be ordered. One is "Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier National Park and Vicinity". It contains 15 separate road trips to take in the greater Mt Rainier area that can be enjoyed while looking for rocks and minerals. With just a little patience, and looking on the WSR Photography website, the entire book can be downloaded as a .pdf about 300Mb is size. There is also a book in .pdf format that can be downloaded on Roadside Geology of Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument and Vicinity. But for some strange reason, I could only find the entire book by using two separate downloads. I am providing links to get the first half of the book and the second half of the book in .pdf format.
With a little time online you can find some amazing places to look for gems and fossils and other minerals in Washington State. If getting there includes some good twisting mountain roads to ride, all the better, right? We are all hunkered down in quarantine, or some form of social lockdown at the moment. So if you are interested in perhaps planning somewhere to go once we can get out of the house and go somewhere again, consider checking out. Any good excuse to get out and ride, and maybe make a weekend of it. Think about it. It can be quite pleasant to think about spending some time out in some amazing locations. Full of fresh air and scenery, and to maybe come home with some sweet gems or fossils could be a cool way to spend out and about.
Catch you on the road sometime...
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