Some people like climbing rocks, but others like collecting them.
Dozens of rocks and minerals were on display at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre Saturday for a rockhounding presentation.
“Rockhounds” are amateur geologists who like collecting gems, minerals, precious stones or fossils.
Anyone can be a rockhound, said Chris Robak, co-owner of Silver Cove, a gem and mineral company with stores in Red Deer, Lacombe and Edmonton.
“You can be a little boy picking up a pebble at seven years old or an 80-year-old man who’s looking for a stone to throw in his rock tumbler,” said Robak.
There are many different styles of rockhounding, he added.
“It’s about how to do it, where to do and what level you want to do it – whether you want to put on mountain climbing gear or walk along the beach and pick stones up, there’s different avenues.”
Robak said he’s loved rocks since he was nine years old. He started his business about 14 years ago.
“Rocks are cool,” he said. “I eat, breathe and sleep this stuff – I never get tired of it. Every rock I flip over … there’s always something new to discover.”
Minerals throughout Alberta “kind of suck,” Robak said.
But “fossils are huge in Alberta. The government has some pretty strict fossil regulations, but there are some rules in place to allow amateur rockhounds to go out and collect fossils,” he said.
If you do find something that seems important while rockhounding, it’s best to turn it in, Robak added.
“Fossils are important to our history and heritage, but if you’re walking around and find a little clam shell or a piece of dinosaur bone, that’s cool to keep,” he said.
Tanya Wells, Kerry Wood Nature Centre special event co-ordinator and public programmer, is from Nova Scotia where she was friends with many geologists. That’s where her love of rocks began.
Wells said it’s important for rockhounds to know it’s easy to walk along and find something without having to tear apart a riverbank.
“If you’re just a general rockhound … you need to respect the environment and not create that kind of chaos,” she said.
Wells and Robak co-hosted the presentation Saturday.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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