Leilani needed a ride back to Great Falls, and I jumped at the chance to take her. ?We spent the first few days visiting friends along the way, but today we decided to make a rest stop on the banks of the Blackfoot River.

The rickety steps over the fence.

Rockhounding Montana by Montana Hodges and Robert Feldman states “The agate is usually red, brown, gray, and green and not translucent…”.

It didn’t take long before we found our first “agate”. ?It was brown with white patches in it and I would have called it a jasper.

Not the translucent agate I am used to.

We spent the next hour walking over the gravel bars near this site.

Plenty of gravel to check out.

It was a very pleasant stop. ?We found a number of jasper/agate pieces and had a nice rest from sitting in the car. ?Some of these jasper/agate pieces were the size of a small football, but most were smaller than a fist.

Typical Rockhound posture while walking along the gravel bars.

I would have liked to spend more time combing these gravel bars but Crystal Park was calling my name, and we had to hit the road in order for me to leave Great Falls in time to get there before dark.

If you are ever in Montana and have a chance to drive along this river I would highly recommend you stop and check this site out.

Thanks for joining us.

chasfire