Out of the Tumbler

Beach Cobbles, San Simeon, CA

As I posted back in March, I spent a pretty mind-blowing day collecting on the beaches near San Simeon, California, on my way up the coast. Why was it so great?  Because nearly every rock on the beaches there is of something interesting, whether a brecciated jasper, or an interesting agate, or some things that I don't even know the names for. But whatever they are, they have loads of color and striking patterns and polish beautifully in the tumbler.

They do especially well in the tumbler since they are already well-rounded by the wave action. In fact, I usually skip the first coarse grit step in the polishing process and go directly to the finer 120/220 silicon carbide.

I'm still processing rocks I found months ago, and by the time I'm done, it'll be time to head South again to find some more!

Revealed

I am slowly working through the rocks I collected in southern California last month, including some interesting jaspers from the Central Coast. One of my favorite locations, as I have mentioned before, is the stretch of coast between Cayucos and San Simeon. Some of the most colorful, varied, and spectacular jaspers I have ever found were here, a place I am sure to go back to again and again.

Sometimes, I pick up rocks that show very little on the outside, maybe a little color, or the glassiness  of agate or jasper. I don't remember what I saw with this one. It was yellow overall, with the smooth sheen of jasper, but very little patterning on the surface.

Today I cut through it revealed a wonderful variety of patterns, almost like the "Picture Jaspers" I look for every year in the Owyhee canyons of Eastern Oregon.  These are the two cut ends of the same piece, about the size of my fist.  Wonderful.

Going Crazy in California

San Simeon Jaspers - Naturally tumbled

I do a lot of beach-walking around the Northwest where I live, and often find intriguing and worthwhile rocks mixed in with a lot of junk. So you can imagine what a kick it is to stumble on to a place where nearly every stone is colorful, and beautifully patterned. I had heard about the brecciated jaspers of San Simeon Creek, near Cambria, California and seen some beautiful examples (see Hans Gamma's mouth-watering collection ) but nothing prepared me for a walk along the surf-line yesterday. It was like walking through a kaleidoscope...  In less than an hour I had filled up two cloth bags, and I could have spent days there, seeking out the perfect specimens.

an iPhone sample

The location is the small beach area just south of the San Simeon State Park campground. It's only a quick scramble down the slope and out to the beach. Most of the rocks on the beach itself were tumbler-sized. I'm guessing the big specimens must be somewhere up in the Coast Range headwaters of San Simeon Creek and others. But there are also loads of medium-sized rocks (e.g. 1-4 pounds)  up high on the beach, but I didn't have time to carefully go through them. I'll bet there are some winners there.

But for anyone whose idea of a perfect day is to walk along a wild Pacific beach picking up beautiful stones, you would have a hard time finding anything better than San Simeon.