Something I’ve discovered in life is that I need a warmup before I’m good at anything.
In my glory high school days playing Halo 2, I needed at least two hours of practice before doing a single team match. Baseball was the same. Working out, I struggle more on the first few exercises than the last 75%.
I take time to get in my zone. Rockhounding is no different.
I wasn’t having luck here at first, but as I was getting tired of the area, my rockhounding senses started kicking in.
Many times I’ve searched out a location only to be disappointed in my first sweep, but then something compels me to take a break, get down on my knees or look from a different angle. It’s this small change of pace that switches me from practice to game mode. Suddenly I start seeing exciting rocks everywhere.
First my body switches to “the zone” and then I consciously realize it. I find it takes a trigger.
This has happened at multiple new places and even my usual locations, the ones for which you’d expect I wouldn’t need a warmup.
I love rockhounding in shallow water. There’s always something, you just have to keep looking sometimes.
My girlfriend mentioned it down at the Nanaimo estuary recently: it takes some time to get used to the rocks in an area, and then you start seeing more.
People, including me, are just not used to looking at rocks. You really need to examine your area if you want to rockhound for real.
So don’t feel bad if you aren’t finding much at first. Maybe you need to get in a rockhounding zone too!
A flash of rough yellowy Dallasite.