"Hi Laura,

Can not believe no one has posted back to you so far. Great Idea, I have been thinking about selling some of my stuff or doing custom cabbing for people. I did work for a Jeweller in Tacoma some years ago so might get back to that.

I try to get out every year to do some digging mostly centeral Oregon, Northern Califorina. So I know where to go to get different types of material. Have maps of some areas. Love to share with others who want to go digging or want information on how to do something.

Keep me posted please on how you are doing getting that site set up.

Glen"

"Well..... to hell with them I say! There will always be people out there who will spoil the party. I do not intend to put any super secret sites out there and a lot of my links will point back to the wiki. I think that rockhounding is a dying hobby and we have a responsibility to net new people interested. Not everyone three-toothed redneck tweeker is going to go out and destroy sites but that being said I do have an awareness around it for sure. I have been to some of these areas being shut down. I would love to lead group trips where etiquette and respect is taught. I am going to comb the internet for what is already available and put it all in one place.

I love that the wiki already does these things but what it does not have is a marketed storefront or a super easy to use interface. It's a amazing resource filled with amazing people, I want to make rockhounding more accessible to teenagers with their noses stuck in their iphones.

"

"It all sounds great for sure. Especially getting the noses out of the ipods and off the computers and to get outside! :-) This is a very good thing. And educating the public to our hobby will only help the efforts.

As for a dying hobby, I frankly think here lately there has been a resurgence in the hobby. Unfortunately the demise if hunting locals is not only bad practices by very few people that call themselves rockhounds but the environmentalists who would like to lock up all of the public lands so no one can use them for anything.

The storefront will be great. The wiki has the classifieds but it is somewhat hard to find without some effort.

I think the website is a good idea for sure and will be willing to do what I can to participate.

I love your passion for this! :-)

Paul"

"All I know is that I'm going on 63 and I will still climb up a mountain and it doesn't have to have a road. I figure old must be some where in the 80's. "

"You tell her Skeeter. At 68 yrs. old, I just finished tramping over hills of gravel at Railroad Buttes in S.D., and if it hadn't been getting late, I would have gone back out for a few more hours of hounding.
Don"