Journey of a California Jade Hound

I remember being a young child growing up in the Midwest of the United States. I would spend many of my days digging around gravel lots and the shoulders of roadways searching for rocky treasures to add to my collection. I was not searching for anything particular but rather anything which captured my interest. My collection was primarily basalt diversified by shape and texture. I thought these rocks were the most amazing things in the world since my exposure was limited.

Everything changed one day when my father took me on a trip across the country to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. We went to a shop and I saw mineral specimines for the first time and I was exuberant. I was gifted an amethyst by my father as he could clearly see my fascination. Forget all those smooth grey rocks I had spent hours collecting back home; this was something truy special. I still hold that amethyst in my collection and to me it will always be treasure.

When I returned back to the Midwest visions of quartz geodes, fire agates, and amethysts would fill my head for years to come. I continued to search through fields, parking lots, and playgrounds in hopes of finding some of the treasures I saw in Arizona. Despite my best efforts I found very few specimines to be treasured and naturally, being a child, my interest trailed off as I grew up to pursue other areas of life.

Many years later I found myself living on the coast of northern California. One day while walking on the beach I discovered some small jasper and agate specimines when I realized those visions of treasure seeking had never actually left my head.

Over the following months, I would spend many hours searching the gravel beds on those beaches. I couldn't help but remember searching through those gravel parking lots as a child. A sense of personal satisfaction; look how far i've come. My findings were mostly agate, carneilian, and jasper but I had heard rumors of nephrite jade in the area. Determined, I continued to comb the beaches regularly and expanded my searches to gravel bars on the local rivers.

After many more months of searching, I had finally hit my lucky break. Pure apple green nephrite jade. These rocks may not seem like much to you, but to a kid growing up in the Midwest let me tell you, these are absolutely treasure.