Two things have happened . . . the air has cleared and daytime temps have dropped. So it is perfect weather to do some rockhounding.
There is no shortage of places to find fossils, minerals and rocks in Central Oregon, but all are nearly void of shade. Any roads near these sites will quickly become impassable with a day or two of rain. That in mind fall is an ideal season.
The two low hills look like most of the hight desert landscape between Bend and Burns. A few patches of scrub pine and juniper amid large swaths of sage and rabbit bush.
Drive up the gravel road a few miles and quickly you start to see the glint of black rock scattered between the sage brush. Obsidian is typically black but at the Glass Buttes area you can find red, snowflake, green, and a number of other color combinations. This makes this a popular rockhounding site.
We found a spot away from the crowds in the Little Butte area. It didn’t take too long to fill our bucket with marble sized pieces, perfect for the tumbler, and a few larger chunks as well. The material we picked up was mostly black but there are some with red and mahogany streaks. All were picked up off the surface with only minimal digging.
Once back home we rinsed the desert dust, inspected our finds and separated a load to polish in the tumbler. In addition to obsidian, we found some samples of petrified wood.
