My wife and I were in Cody, Wyoming visiting our daughter, when we decided that we had to get out in the field and collect some rocks.  I remembered that I had stopped at Tough Creek a number of years ago and there was chacedony laying all over the ground.

This site is mentioned in the Rockhounding Wyoming guide book, and it isn’t hard to find.  The site is just a short distance north of Shoshoni.  The material is actually called quartzite, I guess because it is not as smooth as agate when chipped.

There is a lot of material, and I even found a few small pieces of petrified wood.

We started out a little late in the morning and had to dodge the thunder storms on our way down.

This Storm blew in just as we were leaving.

The Tough Creek road sign is quite large, but we still managed to miss it on our first pass.  We had to turn around and backtrack a half mile.

Don't miss the sign.

We pulled off the main road, across the cattle guard and parked.

The parking area is quite large.

The terrain here is hilling with a lot of scrub brush.  We were able to find material within easy walking distance from the car.  In fact there was so much material, it was hard to decide what to pick up and what to leave.

Too much material!

Most of the material in the above picture is quartzite.  We hiked around awhile picking up material, mostly stuff with color and pattern.  My daughter finally called me over and showed me what she had found.  It was a large 15+ pound piece.

Looking good.

We dug it out of the ground and hauled it back to the car.  My wife was busy taking pictures of flowers as well as a couple of dedicated rock hounds.

It isn't as easy as it looks.

My daughter then told me that she was disappointed, because there was so much material it took all the fun out of looking.  She then decided to concentrate on looking for “green” rocks.  She said that it brought the excitement back.

She was only able to find a few small pieces.  At first I thought that one of them might be “apple green jade”, but was put straight by an older lady we met that had owned a rock shop in Cody for years.  She said that it was just green quartzite.  Oh Well maybe next time.

This is when the thunder storm caught up with us and we decided to beat feet.

We stopped in Thermopolis and my wife and daughter had a good soak in the hot springs.  It was a fitting end for a nice day.

Thanks for joining us.

chasfire