Search the Community

While out wandering with friends in Clarno vicinity (the town, but probably also the formation; well away from the Palisades and on public land open to rockhounding and collection,) we came across some really vibrant, bright petrified wood, quite unusual for the area. The source tree looks like it's encased in a coarse ash or tuff, with a "shell" of harder material. The wood looks agatized but is still very brittle, too brittle for lapidary application but gorgeous for display; lot of opalized areas and mineralization. I tried to get back far enough to get a solid round but was unsuccessful (read: it was windy and I got lazy!) There was a scattering of other wood in the area, of varying levels of preservation; the formation wasn't rich with it by any means. No observed leaf fragments. Most of petrified wood we get out here is carbon-black, poorly preserved or just little brown float fragments, so finding something this bright made for an exciting day.