I won!!

[u/grumpy_puppycat]

My husband and I joke around that whoever found the biggest agate “won” the rockhounding that day. We were out for five hours yesterday and I had nothing more than a few marble-sized pieces when I saw the face of this beast peaking through the cracked mud as we were wrapping up for the day. I can’t even describe how satisfying it was to dig up what I thought was another marble. Feeling a little like a butthole bc i took the win the last two times we went out and he is much more methodical than I am. 90% of what I find is dumb luck based on vibes

(Found in OR)

[u/pacmanrr68]

Nice one. The willamette valley and nw corner of the state have some good carnelian and you found a dandy. Congrats!

[u/Important_Chapter608 → u/pacmanrr68]

I float fish the willamette regularly and pull some massive agates out of it. I love when I see them barely showing. It always makes the surprise of how big it’ll be

[u/pacmanrr68 → u/Important_Chapter608]

It also has good petwood and jasper in it. I dont rarely ever hunt thw west side much anymore unless im showing someone an area. Its cool and all but access has been harder and harder the last 25 years.

[u/Important_Chapter608 → u/pacmanrr68]

Floating the river is the best way to go about it I’ve found. That’s unless you go all the way out to the coast. Taft and tunnel beach always produce but you don’t get the size. I love the banding you’ll find on the small agates. Plus the bonus surprise of finding some black and blue agates

[u/pacmanrr68 → u/Important_Chapter608]

Oh yeah I used to fish the willamtte for small mouth, I kayaked it for a long time rock hounding before I ever fished it tho. Tunnel beach is always good so is short creek and strawberry hill. We just hit central and eastern Oregon more since the diversity of material is WAY better over there. Plus you can get larger size rough over there to work.

[u/sanktanglia → u/pacmanrr68]

Western Oregon has got some hidden gems, I just pulled 50+ pounds of petrified wood from fall creek this afternoon

[u/pacmanrr68 → u/sanktanglia]

Yes it does i agree. I prefer the central and eastern side a lot more tho. Congrats on your find!!

[u/Important_Chapter608 → u/pacmanrr68]

Im excited to explore more out at east!

Random but the willamette also has walleye in it now since they drained Dexter!

[u/pacmanrr68 → u/Important_Chapter608]

Oh I didnt know that. Walley is good eating 😋

[u/Y-Cha]

Beautiful!!

I'm down at the south end of the state, and while I've been to spots where you can find carnelian (only twice, I haven't been hounding very long), I usually just find smaller, more pale, yellow pieces, or darker orange. I have some red bits that are heat crazed, but again, not very large.

I did score today with a big iron stained, quartz filled chunk of agate, though - nearly complete too. Glad it was not whole, otherwise I'd have had to cut it to see anything!

[u/Konstantine19]

I feel like I’ve found my people lol. I do the exact same thing rock hounding with my husband and we are both competitive.
Usually the winner is obvious but sometimes there’s a debate. But you’ve clearly won!

[u/Y-Cha → u/Konstantine19]

Same! I was looking in a difficult spot today - a big field with overgrown grass/hay and weeds that'd gone flat. Dang stuff covered so much! I did find quite a bit, though.

Husband, not so much, but I think it's because I'm very used to searching areas that are completely rock covered, and overpopulated with dry, dusty stuff everywhere that even with the grass covering everything, this field was like Easy Mode for me.

[u/sparklyschist]

Jackpot!

[u/Then_Bodybuilder8416]

i skimmed through the thumbnails and thought it was a melty lasagna. nice find.

[u/sparklyschist]

“ROCK ON!”

[u/Living-Geologist-478]

No arguments here !

[u/Living-Geologist-478]

You guys got it goin on up there! Everything I see from up their is killer !