Rock Out at the beach!

This is a trial trip that we are putting together for Lincoln City visitors & tourism development.  We are hoping for gravel to be exposed but so far not many storms with wind out of the SW.  We will meet as the article states at the D-River Wayside State Park beach access on Highway 101 in the center of Lincoln City at 1:00pm. Rubber boots are recommended to cross streams of water. The beaches to be visited during the field trip depends on the local gravel bed conditions found that day and we will announce where we are headed after we meet everyone in the parking lot. 

We are very fortunate to have the Oregon Fossil Guy with us as he has just returned to the Oregon coast from living in Colorado for the last four years. On any other day the Oregon Fossil Guy (this is his actual business) charges for his tours so this is a one time field trip without a fee.  Naturally there is no guarantee of where nature will uncover the gravel for this date so we will do the best we can with local information that we get that day.

If you do not have a pocket guide of Agates of the Oregon Coast you can check with the merchants in your area or Lincoln City to get your copy. This guide featuring agates to zeolites is in true color and you will be able to lay your dry specimens on the guide to identify your finds.

We look forward to seeing you folks for this fun day of beach combing in Lincoln City.

Large Smiling Sard Agate found.

Agate collector Nancy, of Sacramento was beachcombing here on the Oregon Coast when she found this beautiful  smiling 3" sard agate weighing at just under ½ pound with fortification banding surrounding a crystalline pocket.   Congratulations Nancy on another wonderful find.

John's Beachcombing Trophies Found at Newport

John one of our agate collectors from Stayton comes out a couple of times a year for beach combing here at coast and as you can see he had a great visit. These are just a few of his recent trophies he found this week here at Newport.

Editors Notes: Image lower right appears to possibly be a "Clam Belly Agate" (agatized fossil) the one above it is an extra fancy carnelian with a beautiful lacy coating. Sorry about the glare of the light, we wanted to share with you the beautiful red-orange hue.

More Treasures Of The Sea being found daily!

Every day we are getting reports of more and more Japanese glass floats being found here on Oregon's central coast. All sizes, colors and shapes are found from the tide line to the cliffs. This has been like an Easter Egg hunt for our beach combers and yes they are also getting agates too!

False Brain Coral

Thank you to beachcomber Sue of Lincoln County for submitting these nice sizable specimens for this entry. Sometimes known as False Brain Coral, this is home to a colony of worms known as Dedecaceria fewkesi, or a.k.a. Pacific Fission Worm Rock.

The close up shows the grains of sand wedged into the holes, kinda looks like tiny agates in there.

Beautiful weekend beach combing for agates in Newport!

Boy what a great weekend here on the coast, sunny, no wind or rain! Saturday a local couple had already found a couple of great fossil shells, one was a Musasha indurata (pictures to follow later after Christmas, due to no time for photos).

Parking for all the agate beds was scarce yesterday when we took our drive south. The beaches were still covered with sand yesterday but the beachcombers were getting their fill of collecting agates of the Oregon Coast. Today Cheryl a local beachcomber, brought in her beautiful black banded trophy agate weighing in at 1¼ pounds and just under 4 inches in length.

Blue Agates just found...

These are two nice blue agates were just found by lucky Linda out beach combing Saturday. Good work Linda.

Trophy Sized Petrified Wood Found on the Oregon Coast

Just in yesterday: this trophy sized petrified wood was found by Dane, a north county resident earlier this year, here on the Central Oregon Coast. This is the biggest piece we have seen so far weighing in at just under 72¼ pounds, looks to be part of a very large limb or a part of the tree trunk. The color is actually blue grey measureing 11" x 12" and wet as you see it (as seen for scale over a large full size 22 ounce geologist pick for scale) it takes on a black with beige wood grain pattern running through it. It looks like it might be Spalted Myrtle an Oregon Myrtlewood.

This was found by lucky beachcomber Dane, a north county resident. It took him three hours to carry it home from the beach. What a determined guy he is.

Storms have started!

Have you read the latest Rock & Gem (October issue) magazine yet? They have a wonderful article on the Origin of Agate, written by Steve Voynick a mineral collector and former hardrock miner. For all of you that want to know more on the formation of agate this is an article you won't want to miss.

Here on the Oregon coast the rockhounds are all anxiously awaiting the scouring of the beaches for the agates and the fossils to reappear for all of our beachcombers to experience treasure hunting during the discovery season now through May.

Oregon Shores Vacation

Thank you to local beachcombers Linda and Mike for sharing your photo with all of us that others too may see what our Oregon shores looked like a few weeks ago. This was not the norm for the summer time but an exception!

Today and for the weekend we are having more minus tides again. Maybe some of us will be lucky and find some treasure in the tide pools again. However we are all anxiously awaiting to see what the winter storms will uncover.

Not a Turtle Fossil found on the Oregon Coast

Updated from: Lori Tobias of The Oregonian Latest info on this is that it is NOT a turtle after all as it was thought to be in the story below!

William Orr, state paleontologist; Bill Hanshumaker, marine education specialist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center; and Guy DiTorrice, an avocational paleontologist, visited the site Tuesday the 15th together at low tide. They wanted to more closely study what local beach walker Carol Ritzert reported finding about a month ago. Ritzert had watched erosion reveal the rounded formation for about one year.

Scientists think this fossilized tortoise found along the beach in Lincoln County may be 20 million years old. The domed back of the stone, which measures roughly 30 inches long by 24 inches wide, suggests it was a land turtle.

"Oregon's Fossil Guy" Guy DiTorrice says the last time a discovery of this significance was made was in the 1970s, when Guy Pierson, also an avocational paleontologist, found a seal or sea lion of similar age near Newport. Parts of that fossil are at the University of Oregon museum and the Smithsonian.

"This is big," says Bill Hanshumaker, marine education specialist at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. "I've never seen anything like it before."

Time is of the essence to preserve this fossil in order to save it before it is lost by nature and erosion or destroyed by humans, DiTorrice and Hanshumaker hope to see it displayed at the Hatfield Marine Science Center at Newport.

Editors Note: by Lori Tobias, The Oregonian Saturday September 05, 8:05 PM and Tuesday September 15, 2009, 8:35 PM.

Prospecting & Tidepool Discovery...

Thank you Larry for sharing your copy and making us aware that there is a new issue of Gold Prospectors The Magazine for Gold, Gem & Treasure Hunters, featuring a good article Newport's local Moolack Beach fossils by Garth Rimble. Another feature article is on the the Oregon State Gemstone Oregon Sunstone by Carrie Milanoski. Great reading for our rock hound friends and beachcombers alike!

Now regarding local info: last week we had folks coming in with agates that they had found. A couple of ladies had found some black agates (first one over a quarter of a pound and her second one was over one pound). Another gentleman also reported having had good luck that day also. More often than not the norm has been sparse collecting for very very small pea sized agate and some small jaspers!

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area ~ Events: We are having some very early minus tides so Tidepool Discovery Day - will be Saturday, August 22 from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m. Naturalists will be stationed at the tide pools from 7 to 9 a.m. to share the wonders of the tidepools and the life forms that inhabit them.

Films and hikes highlighting the entire Scenic Area will also be available at the Visitor Center Theater from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Henry Fonda filled his spare time collecting agates too!

During his time spent in Lincoln County, to film the movie Sometimes a Great Notion, Henry Fonda filled his spare time as he sketched watercolors and collecting agates. He bought himself a tumbler to polish his rocks.


EDITORS NOTE: The photograph accompanying this article is courtesy of photographer Gerry Lewin. Lewin was a staff photographer for the Salem Statesman in 1970 and covered the event for the paper.

Oregon Coast Minus Tides Reward Agate Hunters

This multi-color agate beauty of over 1 pound was found today during the morning minus tides here in the Newport area by beachcomber and agate collector, Don of Snohomish WA. Don found others as well but this is really one to write home about. He left here waiting for the tide to go out again this after noon.

Nice find Don, keep up the good work.

With temperatures predicted to be 90+ to 100 degrees over the weekend in the I-5 corridor, we are seeing a rush of folks here to beat the heat on the coastline, where it will be measurably cooler than the inland part of the state.

Minus tides beckon tidepoolers again this week...

Sorry we haven't had a chance to get back to the blog, pretty busy these days. Wish we could be out there on the beach with you to enjoy the great tide pooling during these minus tides and beachcombing that so many of our guest are experiencing here on Oregon's central coast!

I come across this site earlier and wanted to share these excelent photos of tide pools to get a close up and personal look of what you may experience here during these minus tides. Yes folks are finding a few small agates too but keep in mind this is NOT agate hunting season.

Memories of Christmas at the beach

Agreeably the best Christmas ever! We met this family from Calgary, Alberta, Canada on the beach the young boy in the photo is now 27. All of us had a wonderful time collecting the treasures that nature had left us beachcombers for Christmas on the Beach 1987.

Agates, colorful jaspers, petrified wood and more...

Oh Danny boy you did it again!

Newport resident Danny found this beauty just yesterday here in the Newport area. Great way to start the season!

Tali-Ho and off to school she goes!

Have a safe journey and good luck at school, Tali you will be missed by all of us here in Newport! You have been such a great team player here with us for the last two years. We know you will excell in anything you set your mind to.

Tali is shown here with her gold wire wrapped cloud agate that was actually found here in Newport with the inclusion shaped as a cross. How fitting a piece to send her off to Boise Bible College.

Good Luck from all of us!

Agate Hunting at Roads End in Lincoln City, Oregon

Enjoy 4 minutes of beachcombing at the surf line and around the cove during the low tide for agates on the beach at roads end with Jafravh. Her bonus footage will also include close up views of the tide pools, home to a variety of colorful sea stars and sea anemones which are groups of water dwelling, animals of the intertidal area plus a spectacular close-up of our national symbol the Bald Eagle perched on a rock out crop at the Oregon Coast!