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Post by lpl on Mar 15, 2019 13:03:32 GMT -5
I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of some don't miss things to do/places to go in Montana...rock related are a plus, but not absolutely necessary! I always take my son on a road trip in the summer, and this year we are headed a bit north to Montana. I've only dipped my toe there in the past, but this time we would like to see a lot more. We are planning to head north out of Ft. Collins and see the Custer Battlefield site, then work our way over and up to Glacier National Park. We will have about 10 days and I'd love to see what we can see around Helena, or Bozeman or anything really along our way. I'm open to going into Idaho a bit as well. Are there some good roockhounding or pay to dig sites? Fun museums or attractions that I should see? Any help would be greatly appreciated and thank much!
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fredito
off to a rocking start
Member since May 2016
Posts: 21
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Post by fredito on Mar 15, 2019 17:34:39 GMT -5
Gem Mountain in Phillipsburg is a great place to go for sapphires. Around Helena are some pay to dig sapphire places as well. If you google the area and El Dorado it should pop up. Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman has a great dinosaur display. While your out that way, mining museum in Butte is pretty cool. Virginia City is also pretty cool, if your into history. Right by it is a place called Alder that has the Red Rock mine. It’s mostly garnets, but fun. Over by Dillon is crystal park. It’s $5 a car load if I remember. Taking screens really helps there. In Spencer Idaho is an opal mine. I haven’t done it but it’s fire opal.
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Post by lpl on Mar 16, 2019 8:02:34 GMT -5
Gem Mountain in Phillipsburg is a great place to go for sapphires. Around Helena are some pay to dig sapphire places as well. If you google the area and El Dorado it should pop up. Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman has a great dinosaur display. While your out that way, mining museum in Butte is pretty cool. Virgini City is also pretty cool, if your into history. Right by it is a place called Alder that has the Red Rock mine. It’s mostly garnets, but fun. Over by Dillon is crystal park. It’s $5 a car load of I remember. Taking screens really helps there. In Spencer Idaho is an opal mine. I haven’t done it but it’s fire opal. Awesome! Thank you for all of the suggestions. That gives me a great place to start.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,666
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 16, 2019 9:58:29 GMT -5
A lot of great fossil hounding around the Custer Battlefield site, going east... Great rock shop in Billings a buddy (Bob) of mine owns.. THE ROCK SHOP... Also amazing Montana Moss agate on the Yellowstone river in that area also... Then in Virginia City, my cousin Randy owns the Rock Shop there also.... He might even give you information on where to hound for goodies too... Montana my home state... I would buy this book, for your Montana travels "The Rockhound's Guide to Montana by Robert Feldman.. It has a orange yellow cover on it, with rocks and fossils displayed.. Best hounding book out there... Can get it off of Amazon and Ebay… You have to hit Yellowstone Park too, it's amazing! HAVE FUN!!!
PS: Don't know if it was mentioned, but Crystal Park down by Dillion is a great place for amazing crystals...
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Post by lpl on Mar 16, 2019 10:13:02 GMT -5
A lot of great fossil hounding around the Custer Battlefield site, going east... Great rock shop in Billings a buddy (Bob) of mine owns.. THE ROCK SHOP... Also amazing Montana Moss agate on the Yellowstone river in that area also... Then in Virginia City, my cousin Randy owns the Rock Shop there also.... He might even give you information on where to hound for goodies too... Montana my home state... I would buy this book, for your Montana travels "The Rockhound's Guide to Montana by Robert Feldman.. It has a orange yellow cover on it, with rocks and fossils displayed.. Best hounding book out there... Can get it off of Amazon and Ebay… You have to hit Yellowstone Park too, it's amazing! HAVE FUN!!! PS: Don't know if it was mentioned, but Crystal Park down by Dillion is a great place for amazing crystals... Fantastic tips and suggestions fossilman I really appreciate it and can't wait to go!
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willie
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2019
Posts: 16
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Post by willie on Apr 10, 2019 5:59:15 GMT -5
Moss Agate Yummy, I am a first time post and couldn't resist creating an account just because of this post/question... I drove a truck for close to 20 years and every time I followed that route I couldn't resist stopping at one of the junctures to do a little rock hounding I have close to three hundred pounds of Agates I've collected from Yellowstone River Custer, Glendive , Miles City , all along 94 look for where the river crosses 94 huge gravel beds rock hounds delight every year the river freezes over and breaks up with sheets that are the size of buildings piling up on the banks and so the picking is fresh every year it's nothing to find baseball size and down Moss Agate and in truth just about anything else Jasper fossil Make sure to get some good boots for ankle support and some Advil for sore backs from lugging out your finds. I just purchased my first cabbing machine used and it's supposed to be here tomorrow it needs some TLC but you can guess that will be some of the first stones to kiss the wheels 😜
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,666
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Post by Fossilman on Apr 10, 2019 15:14:12 GMT -5
Moss Agate Yummy, I am a first time post and couldn't resist creating an account just because of this post/question... I drove a truck for close to 20 years and every time I followed that route I couldn't resist stopping at one of the junctures to do a little rock hounding I have close to three hundred pounds of Agates I've collected from Yellowstone River Custer, Glendive , Miles City , all along 94 look for where the river crosses 94 huge gravel beds rock hounds delight every year the river freezes over and breaks up with sheets that are the size of buildings piling up on the banks and so the picking is fresh every year it's nothing to find baseball size and down Moss Agate and in truth just about anything else Jasper fossil Make sure to get some good boots for ankle support and some Advil for sore backs from lugging out your finds. I just purchased my first cabbing machine used and it's supposed to be here tomorrow it needs some TLC but you can guess that will be some of the first stones to kiss the wheels 😜 AWESOME Dude!!!!! Driven that highway, more than I can count - also...…..Rock heaven on that route!
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 11, 2019 7:52:16 GMT -5
Moss Agate Yummy, I am a first time post and couldn't resist creating an account just because of this post/question... I drove a truck for close to 20 years and every time I followed that route I couldn't resist stopping at one of the junctures to do a little rock hounding I have close to three hundred pounds of Agates I've collected from Yellowstone River Custer, Glendive , Miles City , all along 94 look for where the river crosses 94 huge gravel beds rock hounds delight every year the river freezes over and breaks up with sheets that are the size of buildings piling up on the banks and so the picking is fresh every year it's nothing to find baseball size and down Moss Agate and in truth just about anything else Jasper fossil Make sure to get some good boots for ankle support and some Advil for sore backs from lugging out your finds. I just purchased my first cabbing machine used and it's supposed to be here tomorrow it needs some TLC but you can guess that will be some of the first stones to kiss the wheels 😜 Welcome and thanks for your input! Sounds like you got some good hounding in. You're gonna love cabbing!
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Post by lpl on Apr 11, 2019 10:16:25 GMT -5
Moss Agate Yummy, I am a first time post and couldn't resist creating an account just because of this post/question... I drove a truck for close to 20 years and every time I followed that route I couldn't resist stopping at one of the junctures to do a little rock hounding I have close to three hundred pounds of Agates I've collected from Yellowstone River Custer, Glendive , Miles City , all along 94 look for where the river crosses 94 huge gravel beds rock hounds delight every year the river freezes over and breaks up with sheets that are the size of buildings piling up on the banks and so the picking is fresh every year it's nothing to find baseball size and down Moss Agate and in truth just about anything else Jasper fossil Make sure to get some good boots for ankle support and some Advil for sore backs from lugging out your finds. I just purchased my first cabbing machine used and it's supposed to be here tomorrow it needs some TLC but you can guess that will be some of the first stones to kiss the wheels 😜 Awesome suggestion and thank you!! My plan to go to Glacier NP has changed a bit due to road construction in the park, so we are still going to MT/Idaho just not so far north, and my son said he wants to do more rock hounding. I think we will spend a day poking around in the area you mentioned here and see what we might be able to find. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply here and welcome to the forum!
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Apr 11, 2019 14:00:16 GMT -5
I highly recommend checking out the Mineral Museum in Butte. Just west of Butte is Phillipsburg with a commercial sapphire operation where you can buy pay dirt to pan (onsite or offsite) for gems. And south of Butte is Crystal Park which is a public dig location for quartz crystals. Also pick up a copy of MT Roadside Geology. Links below. Cheers
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willie
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2019
Posts: 16
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Post by willie on Apr 11, 2019 22:05:44 GMT -5
I couldn't resist I have some small pieces of moss Agate and wanted to see how the machine does, believe it or not the polish I used was a cutting compound for buffing cars and even funnier is the fact that the wheels on "Nova" side are dried up and cracked. I know it ain't perfect by no means but I just had to try
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Post by lpl on Apr 12, 2019 11:59:19 GMT -5
I highly recommend checking out the Mineral Museum in Butte. Just west of Butte is Phillipsburg with a commercial sapphire operation where you can buy pay dirt to pan (onsite or offsite) for gems. And south of Butte is Crystal Park which is a public dig location for quartz crystals. Also pick up a copy of MT Roadside Geology. Links below. Cheers
Thanks for the tips!! I'm really looking forward to the trip this summer!
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Post by lpl on Jun 8, 2019 18:43:33 GMT -5
A lot of great fossil hounding around the Custer Battlefield site, going east... Great rock shop in Billings a buddy (Bob) of mine owns.. THE ROCK SHOP... Also amazing Montana Moss agate on the Yellowstone river in that area also... Then in Virginia City, my cousin Randy owns the Rock Shop there also.... He might even give you information on where to hound for goodies too... Montana my home state... I would buy this book, for your Montana travels "The Rockhound's Guide to Montana by Robert Feldman.. It has a orange yellow cover on it, with rocks and fossils displayed.. Best hounding book out there... Can get it off of Amazon and Ebay… You have to hit Yellowstone Park too, it's amazing! HAVE FUN!!! PS: Don't know if it was mentioned, but Crystal Park down by Dillion is a great place for amazing crystals... fossilman we are in Billings today. Went to The Rock Shop and met Bob. Great guy! Fun shop with so much to look at. He made me a killer deal on some slabs and gave my son a very nice specimen. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,666
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 11, 2019 9:13:16 GMT -5
A lot of great fossil hounding around the Custer Battlefield site, going east... Great rock shop in Billings a buddy (Bob) of mine owns.. THE ROCK SHOP... Also amazing Montana Moss agate on the Yellowstone river in that area also... Then in Virginia City, my cousin Randy owns the Rock Shop there also.... He might even give you information on where to hound for goodies too... Montana my home state... I would buy this book, for your Montana travels "The Rockhound's Guide to Montana by Robert Feldman.. It has a orange yellow cover on it, with rocks and fossils displayed.. Best hounding book out there... Can get it off of Amazon and Ebay… You have to hit Yellowstone Park too, it's amazing! HAVE FUN!!! PS: Don't know if it was mentioned, but Crystal Park down by Dillion is a great place for amazing crystals... fossilman we are in Billings today. Went to The Rock Shop and met Bob. Great guy! Fun shop with so much to look at. He made me a killer deal on some slabs and gave my son a very nice specimen. Thanks for the suggestion. AWESOME! Bob is a "Hoot"..... Glad you liked it there! Your in prime fossil country too, just ask around for leads...
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