Providing a Clearer Picture of this Continent

As I travel across the United States and Canada, I research as much as I can about where I’m going and about the places I’ll be passing through to get as clear a picture of what I can search for and narrow down exactly where I can search. The problem is there is truly limited information readily available online regarding mineral and fossil locations. Some places have more information than others, obviously, but there still are large expanses of land with almost zero documentation. Mindat is a great resource for a panoply of mineral info, including identification help and locations of mines and quarries old and new, as well as providing a message board to further spread this invaluable knowledge. Not everywhere that we look is a mine, however. Additionally, it’s often difficult to gain access to mines and quarries and it seems like there are fewer and fewer locations that we can access.

I want to provide a resource for people looking in their areas for places to rockhound that they can easily find on the internet. I want to provide, in essence, a free map detailing what fossils and minerals people can find near their homes, wherever they live. I want to provide a clearer picture of North America and what it’s made of…literally.

This site is my attempt to provide a worthwhile, scientific journal of a sort that is easy to read and can be of use to anyone. Geologists, Paleontologists, serious and part-time hobby collectors, and parents who want to take their kids out to do something fun, active, educational, and affordable should all be able to use this site to get the information they want quickly and easily.

I use location names for my journal entries and location, minerals and/or fossils identified as tags which you can use to look up what you need via search engine.

Please use this information responsibly. Do not deface or vandalize and leave everything as you left it, less a few nice specimens, hopefully.