Blog

I guess three years has somehow passed since our last trip to Glass Buttes. It seems like yesterday. How time flies. As meteorological spring started on March 1 (astronomical spring is right around the corner) it was high time to get the camper on the truck and get out on our first trip, and Glass Buttes seemed like as good a spot as any for an inaugural 2020 trip.

We arrived as it was getting dark on Friday but found a nice quiet spot and settled in for the night. It wasn’t long until the coyotes sang a welcome. We woke up to fresh snow on Saturday just as you would expect from spring weather. There were also some sagebrush buttercups blooming.

Before too long we set off on a wander to look for some good obsidian. We happened to pick a camp that was next to a wide variety. The regular black along with red, silver sheen, lace and mahogany all made it into our collection by the end of our walk. With a new rock polisher we focused on smaller pieces that are now tumbling away, but I do admit that a few large shiny objects made it into the collecting bag as well. We didn’t see another soul the entire day.

After our rock walk we sat around by the fire for a bit before we were chased inside by the sinking sun. A great horned owl kept us company through the night, I suppose the coyotes need a day off every now and then.

The next morning we had intended to seek out some rainbow obsidian but it snowed again overnight and into the morning, making the roads slick and muddy. Once we took a look at the road we were going to need to traverse to get to the rainbow deposits we changed our mind.

So with that we took the long route home by way of Hampton Buttes. There is a good spot with petrified wood there we wanted to check out. We did find the spot but we didn’t have enough information or time to really “dig in” to finding it. We didn’t come away empty handed but we’ll definitely have to go back with a few new tools and more information.

2020 is off to a good early start. It was fun to get out, pop the top of the camper and hear the coyotes and owls. I’m looking forward to our next night under the stars.