How many years does a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?

Well it appears that all of the mountains are on their way to the sea, (eventually) and in doing so….. in some places….reveal their secret gems. I guess the fact that mountains are eroding is what makes for all of the fun of rock hounding.  As the gems become exposed they too erode and scatter down the washes, leaving evidence for “prospectors” like Ken and I. (and Tucker)

The two pictures above are of Turtle mountains….. California along hwy 95

Recently we have given up on our Rock books, instead just looking out at the mountains and saying….”lets go see what is on that mountain”. The technique we use is akin to the childs game…. warmer warmer warmer… colder .. warmer.  Seeing bits and pieces of cool rocks we look closer and look up.  Knowing that water always flows downhill and so do rocks, we follow the trail of secrets up, up, up. Some times the trails peter out ….. sometimes they reveal veins, or seams in the rock. Seams of opal, chalcedony, crystals …..

This picture was taken in mountains along hwy 78 eastern California

We are essentially lazy prospectors, and so we do not hammer away at the seams to extract larger bits of rock, we just pick up what the elements (winds water and temperatures) have broken off chunks for us to just pick up 😀

What we found in all the hills/mountains we went up is that the views were amazing and the odd formations were interesting. Always curious as to why those rocks are there.🤔

We really wish we had more knowledge of why certain rocks are on one place and not another. We have read a lot about geology, but like any area of education….. without the basics, it is hard to fully understand some parts. Despite this we DID find lots of cool rocks around the veins/seams in the rocks. AND took home a few….

Geodes….

And this rather tiny skeleton was maybe 3 inches long??? could not figure out what it could have been.

Of course Tucker was pretty darned excited about our amazing discoveries….

..and trust him to find a few amazing things of his own….

Sadly he always buries the bones, despite the rocky ground covering OUCH….to his nose.

There never seems to be a shortage of US military adventures going on …..We watched these guys for awhile, there WAS a hose between them and they were flying slowly… I guess they have to stay up in the air in case some foreign flying object might stray into their airspace. Or could they be training for adventures in foreign lands?🤔

I guess the other part of all of this, is the very deluxe “accommodations” along the way.

This is along hwy 78 south of Blythe

Mojave national reserve….

Well there you have a snapshot of our recent adventures. Thank you for reading, Janet Ken and Tucker (our ever present co adventurer)