Boulder Hunt!

Truck Shop · Dec 8, 2019

For some reason I have a feeling this cartoon fits here-Bugs Bunny-Wet Hare.

https://www.supercartoons.net/cartoon/1040/bugs-bunny-wet-hare.html

aighead · Dec 9, 2019

Pixie said:
If they are solid white, usually with a flat side, I'd guess quartz. Mottled, mixed up coloring might be granite. Just guessing by what we find around here. The rocks here often get discolored by the iron in the soil.

I was thinking quartz as well, I'll have to go out and take a look tonight, now that the rain has likely washed them off a bit...

Ronsii · Jan 27, 2020

We been fining plenty of em' and ours ain't quartz!!

Plenty of 2+ footers

And lots of 5-6 foot across boulders.

aighead · Jan 28, 2020

Oh man, beautiful! I could use all those, from the bottom picture!

Ronsii · Mar 10, 2020

Found some more last couple days on a logging grading job!!!

This one was too big and I have to leave it to grow some more

lots of little rock offspring from it but I couldn't even budge it so am guessing it is bigger than a VW or two

aighead · Mar 11, 2020

Wow! Good ones Ronsii! That third picture looks like a bunch of flint? I don't know much about rocks other than the flint I've seen tends to be extremely sharp like that.

Ronsii · Mar 11, 2020

I fractures like flint and a few others... but I think it's just a landscape rock...

you see a lot of retaining walls made from it... poor choice because it tends to fracture on a seasonal basis... and I've seen embankment walls under roadways failing because they used this stuff.

DIYDAVE · Mar 11, 2020

Ship me a load of 800 pounders, I need them fer the end of my driveway, where all the a$$holes HAVE to turn around, in my lawn!

My goal, in life, is to see an oil pan stuck on one of the rocks, down there, and an oil stripe, leading to the DOA bmw...

Ronsii · Mar 11, 2020

If I can find a usps flat rate box big enough I'll give it a go

aighead · Mar 12, 2020

If that's a real deal, I'll take you up on it too! Ha!

aighead · Oct 12, 2020

I think I've mentioned and shown pictures of the clearcut field across the street. Anyway there's a bunch of land and rocks there and I asked the owner of the property if I could have them. He said that he thought the guys that cleared the land for him may be selling them to landscapers but if they didn't I could have them. Well months have now gone by, no one seems to be doing anything on the property and I had enough beer in me, last night, to go grab a few! A couple have been teasing me for weeks now as I see them when I drive past. Regardless of any of that I've doubled up on my pile of this size rock and I'm thrilled about it!

rsherril · Oct 13, 2020

Around these parts we use our rocks differently.

Instead of digging them up, we just dig them. Completed five so far, just waiting for that roadheader to show up and we'll make a few more.

rsherril · Oct 13, 2020

I'll try this again

aighead · Oct 14, 2020

Am I seeing that you are IN the boulder, @rsherril ? Insane! Seeing that you are in far west Colorado also reminds me of our family trip to Mesa Verde, where the natives built into the side of giant rock like that... Very neat! I guess I'll toss in a picture of that too!

This picture is showing how these folk would scale the cliffsides:

Hole-N-The-Rock style, if you don't know there is like a house in there. And a tourist trap.

rsherril · Oct 14, 2020

The Hole in the Rock was constructed in the 1950's as a restaurant. Many Uranium miners in the area at that time and they were employed to make the space. I found myself working in and around these mines for twenty years and understood how comfortable compared to outside they could be. It's not unusal to have 40 degrees F temperature swings in a day and over 100 degrees in a year. The rock mass moderates that. Good ventilation is a must. Insulated sheetrock interior walls make it acceptable for most people.
Using rock for shelter is common. Using modern building technology in combination with modern mining technology, make this feasible for living enviroments. I know of a dozen or so in the general area, Around the world I suspect that thousands are in use today.
Any way, I like your boulder hunt. I would suspect that there are tools like ground penetrating radar or sonar that might refine your search a bit. Maybe some geological maps available that may indicate higher concentrations.
My motto "A Rock for every purpose and a purpose for every Rock".

DIYDAVE · Oct 14, 2020

rsherril said:
The Hole in the Rock was constructed in the 1950's as a restaurant. Many Uranium miners in the area at that time and they were employed to make the space. I found myself working in and around these mines for twenty years and understood how comfortable compared to outside they could be. It's not unusal to have 40 degrees F temperature swings in a day and over 100 degrees in a year. The rock mass moderates that. Good ventilation is a must. Insulated sheetrock interior walls make it acceptable for most people.
Using rock for shelter is common. Using modern building technology in combination with modern mining technology, make this feasible for living enviroments. I know of a dozen or so in the general area, Around the world I suspect that thousands are in use today.
Any way, I like your boulder hunt. I would suspect that there are tools like ground penetrating radar or sonar that might refine your search a bit. Maybe some geological maps available that may indicate higher concentrations.
My motto "A Rock for every purpose and a purpose for every Rock".

Ever run into residual radiation or radon problems in rock houses?

aighead · Oct 15, 2020

@rsherril I've done some studying on geological maps at the suggestion of someone else here, but either don't know enough to read it properly or I can't find precise enough info. I know there are big rocks around but ruining the entire yard, in the hunt for them, seems like a bad idea!

rsherril · Oct 20, 2020

DIYDAVE said:
Ever run into residual radiation or radon problems in rock houses?

None that I know of. The primary issue would be the accumulation of Radon gas from the surrounding earth and ventillation solves that problem.
Most issues have come from water and humidity with rot/mold problems. Some issues with rock fall, both can be mitigated.

Welder Dave · Oct 20, 2020

This might be appropriate here.

https://mymodernmet.com/dick-clark-the-flintstones-house/

Willie B · Oct 20, 2020

VT is where glaciers went to die. I believe there were staggering deposits of rock when glaciers melted after the Ice Age.
Adding to glacial deposits, I live in a steep valley where a high speed, (lots of vertical) stream flows. Each major flood event brings millions of tons of rock down from the mountain. One storm washes boulders away, next brings in more.
I paid for years to have them hauled away, then I bought machinery. My wife says rocks are my hobby. I pile them ever higher to make space between them. I'll get pictures.

Years ago a contractor was hired to surround 22 handicapped outhouses in the National Forest. While there are billions of boulders in the National Forest locally, he wasn't allowed to use them. Each outhouse was to have 25? 4' boulders in a circle surrounding it.
The contractor came to me. I said "Knock your socks off. Take all you want."
I came home after he left. My father was around at the time, I asked: "Why didn't he take any?" He said: "He took 7 tandem loads." I couldn't see a change!

If you pay for a rail car, I'll fill it free.

Boulder Hunt!

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