Tag Archives: rockhunts

Spring Rockhunts for 2015

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The cold weather is over for a while, and I was out on the Singleton Ranch this last Sunday, on top of Telephone Hill.  The rain, ice and snow that we’ve had in the past six weeks has made agate visible everywhere.  The grass has not yet begun to grow, and the pickings are very, very good.  The same applies at the Ritchie Ranch, and I’m sure it applies to the Walker Ranch as well.

I’ve got Singleton Ranch rockhunts scheduled for the second and fourth weekends in February and March.  If you have a chance to come out in February and March, the weather should range from cool to moderate.  In other words, just about perfect for rockhunting. The schedule for the Singleton Ranch hunts will be modified in April, when the Walker Ranch hunts occur.

The second and third weeks of March are Spring Break for most schools in Texas.  I’m scheduling special hunts for families with kids at the Ritchie Ranch during these weeks.  The hunts will be Monday, March 9, and Wednesday, March 11; and again the following week on Monday, March 16, Wednesday March 18, and Friday, March 20.  The hunts will be about half a day long, and start at 10 a.m. at the Antelope Lodge in Alpine.  For details, look at my website at www.terismithrockhunts.com.

The special April rockhunts will begin on Tuesday, April 14, which is the week of the Gem and Mineral Show in Alpine.  There won’t be any hunts the weekend before that because I’ll be out of town for my husband John’s 59th high school reunion in Goliad.

The hunts at the Walker Ranch will probably begin Wednesday, April 15 and continue through Monday, April 20.  After that will be hunts to the Singleton Ranch, the Ritchie Ranch and East Needle Peak.

One of the reasons I haven’t finalized the schedule is that I’m looking at a brand-new ranch this weekend.  If there is lots of agate on this new ranch, it will impact the schedule for the days after the Walker Ranch hunt.  The ranch is located between Highway 118 and Highway 385, close to Santiago Peak, so it may have agate that’s different from any of the other places where I lead field trips. I’ll let y’all know early next week.

This year, another event is also taking place in Alpine on the same weekend as the Gem Show and Walker Ranch Rockhunts.  It’s a show at the Museum of the Big Bend entitled Trappings of Texas.  It’s been held for many years, but until this year it was in February, concurrent with the Cowboy Poetry weekend.  What this means for rockhunters is that lodging in Alpine is going fast.  So as soon as you decide that you wish to come out for the rockhunts, consider booking a room.

More to come next week.

Regards,
Teri

October Rockhunting Field Trip Report/Singleton Ranch Schedule

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The field trips of October 2014 are over, and I’m enjoying sleeping in for a few days. The fieldtrips were extremely successful, with a total of 82 rockhounds going on 19 field trips at the Singleton Ranch, the Walker Ranch, and East Needle Peak. The weather varied from hot to cool to rainy, and all the rain we’d had in the summer moved the soil around enough that lots of agate nodules were poking up from the ground, waiting to be found. There were lots of wonderful agates found at each ranch. Labradorite was plentiful at the Walker Ranch, especially around a little spot that Ed Tindell has named “Labradorite Hill”. Animals spotted included mule deer, pronghorn antelope, javalina, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits, foxes, lots of horned lizards in a variety of colors, a Western box turtle and a Texas Banded Gecko. The wildflowers were blooming out of season, and there were butterflies everywhere, along with lots of grasshoppers. There were a couple of rattlesnake sightings, but one of those really doesn’t count, because Robert Redmond photographs snakes and went looking for them. Lisa Tirey Butler photographed the Milky Way from the Walker Ranch, and the photos are spectacular. If any of y’all have photos you wish to share, email them to me at agatehunter@sbcglobal.net. I’ll put as many up on my website as I can! Some of y’all had been here many times. Others were new to these field trips. We had kids as young as 12 and as old as – me. Besides coming from all parts of Texas, rockhounds came from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. And remember that the season’s just starting! There are hunts at the Singleton Ranch scheduled on the second and fourth weekends of each month from now until next May. Here’s a schedule for those hunts: November 6 – 9 (yes, this week!) November 20 – 23 December 11 – 14 (tentative, because it’s deer season, and hunters with guns have priority) December 25 – 28 (‘ll hunt on Christmas Day if anyone wants to go!) January 8 – 11 January 22 – 25 February 12 – 15 February 26 – March 1 March 12 – 15 March 26 – 29 April 9 – 12 (before the Gem Show and the Walker Ranch hunts) April 23 – 25 (after the Gem Show and the Walker Ranch hunts) May 7 – 10 May 21 – 24 Just let me know when you want to go! For those who have kids who would like a rockhunt that doesn’t last a full day, the Ritchie Ranch will be available for hunts during Thanksgiving week, Christmas Vacation and Spring break. The ranch is ideal for kids and beginners. Contact me for details. The Spring Walker Ranch hunt is tentatively scheduled for April 19 – 23, which should be concurrent with the Alpine Agate Festival, which hasn’t posted its dates yet. I’ll let you know when the dates are finalized for that hunt. And East Needle Peak, the Singleton Ranch, and the Ritchie Ranch are also available on a “need to go” basis. Let me know the dates when you’ll be out here, and I’ll set the field trips up just for you! See you soon! Teri 

October 2014 Rockhunt Information

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Hi Y’all! We’re starting to get signups for the October rockhunts this year. There’s still space available for all the rockhunts on the schedule. If you don’t have the schedule handy, got to www.terismithrockhunts.com and scroll down to the email dated August 21.

SOME IMPORTANT FINANCIAL DETAILS:

The Walker Ranch trips require payment of half the fee in advance. If you send your fee postmarked by September 16, and received by Saturday, September 20, you get a free day at the end of your rockhunt. We’ll need to have a minimum of 20 people who have paid their deposits by September 30 for each weekend in order to have that weekend of the rockhunt happen. The price is still the same: $75 per person per day, or $150 per person for 3 days. The fourth and fifth days are $35 each. To send your Walker Ranch deposit in, please make a check out to Bryan Crumpton for half of your total fee, and send it c/o Teri Smith, 509 N. 8th Street, Alpine, TX 79830.

You don’t need to send me deposits for the Singleton Ranch and the East Needle Peak rockhunts. However, you do need to let me know that you are coming on those hunts. If no one signs up for a hunt, I’ll cancel it, so I need to know that you are coming.

The Singleton Ranch wants to be paid in CASH ONLY. It would be great if you had close to the exact change of $50 per person per day. The Rollin Rock Club can be paid by check at the time of your field trip. I cannot accept credit cards for anything that has to do with rockhunting because our beloved federal government would consider that to be money laundering. There are several ATMs in Alpine that you can get cash from if you need to.

Here is the list of people currently signed up for the Walker Ranch hunts:

Allison, Linda: 1 person for 2 days. Starting date: 10/25 total fee $150.
Backo, John: 1 person for 3 days. Starting date: 10/25 total fee $150. Also 10/28 – 10/29 Singleton
Bean, Debra: 1 person for ? days. Starting date: 10/23.
Braun, Betty & Mike: 2 people for 3 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $300.
Cantou, Pierre: 1 person for 4 days. Starting date: 10/16
David, Ken & Sandra: 2 people for 3 days. Starting date: 10/17 total fee $300.
De Hoyos, Joe: 1 person for 4 days. Starting date: 10/16
Easom, Carol & James: ?
Foegelle, Thomas & Barbara: 2 people for 3 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $300, paid.
Gazdar, Di: 1 person for ? days. Starting date: 10/23.
Gunter, Christine: 1 person for ? days. Starting date: 10/16?
Haffey, Suzanne & David: 4 people for 4 days. Starting date: 10/23. Also 10/21 Singleton
Ivie, Steve: 1 or 2 people for ? days. Starting date: 10/16. Also 10/9 – 10/12 Singleton
Jahn, Andy: 1 person for 3 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $150, deposit of $75 received, balance due $75. Also 10/15 Singleton
Manis, Paula: 2 people for 1 day. Starting date: 10/26 total fee $150. Also 10/12 Singleton
Montgomery, Mark: 1 person for 5 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $185, deposit of $92.50 received, balance due $92.50. Also 10/9 – 10/12 Singleton, 10/14 East Needle Peak
Newberg, Stephen: 1 person for 2 days. Starting date: 10/23 total fee $150.
Redmond, Robert: 1 person for 2 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $150, deposit of $75 received, balance due $75. Also 10/15 Singleton
Rutledge, Greg & Paula: 2 people for 1 day. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $150.
Terlecki, Larry & Margie: 2 people for 1 day. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $150. Also Singleton 10/15
Tindell, Ed: 1 person for 6 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $220, paid. Also may go to East Needle peak 10/14 and Singleton 10/15
Tirey-Butler, Lisa: 1 person for 4 days. Starting date: 10/16 total fee $185. Also East Needle Peak 10/14, Singleton 10/15
Waugh, Steve: 1 person for ? days. Starting date: 10/16.

Please let me know if I don’t have your information correct. Remember that the 16th is the postmark deadline for the Walker Ranch deposit if you wish to hunt an extra day for free.

 

Apologies and more Apologies!

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I have been very late at responding to the email of those kind folks who have tried to get ahold of me in the past two months. The emails have not been forwarded and I haven’t been looking at my site, assuming that there weren’t any emails to reply to. I have LEARNED MY LESSON! From now on I will be checking my site daily! I LOVE getting email and LOVE corresponding about rocks and most of all I LOVE leading field trips, so my lack of response was not due to lack of interest but instead due to USER ERROR! And if I don’t respond within a day or so, please call me at (432) 837-1026, or email me at agatehunter@sbcglobal.net.

Thank you!
Teri