Jun 121 min read

I’ve Got These Giant Pieces of Petrified Wood …

… and I don’t know what to do with them.

I’ve said this many times, I’m not a great rockhound. That was my dad! But I’ve got his rocks now.

I have no idea where or how my dad got these chunks of petrified wood. When I was a little kid, I used to play on these rocks, so my dad probably acquired them even before I was born. When I disposed of the family property, I went to some trouble to get them down to my home in Springdale. I had them loaded on my truck, and off again, with heavy equipment. I drove several hundred miles with the rocks on board. I can tell you … the truck handled differently with these rocks loaded.

The agate in them is beautiful! You can see the red, blue and yellow. And they’re full rounds.

Right now, they’re sitting in front of my house. I have no idea what will eventually happen to them.

Does anybody have a suggestion? Leave a message!

7 Comments

Trent Burroughs

Jun 12

Can confirm that these logs are incredible! I was lucky enough to get a smaller one and it's so dang cool.

Here's a vid of me starting to polish it.

https://imgur.com/yDkdvuj

Dan Mabbutt

Jun 16

Replying to

I did a week on a raft in the Grand Canyon when I was about your age. ... In the dim and distant past ... I think John Wesley Powell did the same trip about a month earlier.

When you and your dad were going to hike from rim to rim, I predicted "No ... You won't." And I was right. But this time I'm predicting, "You'll have a great time." They've got these trips down to a science and they know what they're doing. There are a lot more rules now that you'll have to follow. But we had a relatively wet winter and they're still releasing a lot of water past the dam (The hundred thousand or s…

Unknown member

Jun 12

These are museum worthy specimens. I could totally see them aweing visitors at the Smithsonian or any other museum.

Dan Mabbutt

Jun 13

Replying to

Well ... Ja ... They are. Yagotta figure -- I'm getting toward the end of days myself and I think my dad got them before I was born so he wasn't that far behind Marsh and Cope. (Look it up.)

My dad was never looking for "museum worthy". I think his life-long focus was rocks that have the kind of agate that could be cut and polished. There is a LOT of petrified wood in the hills around here. ... Well ... There WAS a lot. Just about every old timer here has a bunch of big rock logs in his front yard. The problem is that around here, it's all junk wood. Not a decent chunk of agate in…

Edited

I’ve Got These Giant Pieces of Petrified Wood …

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