Rock Hounding (NF)

[fishinggeek]

Never done it before, unless you count on the beach as a child. Anyone have any suggestions within a 2 hour drive of Toronto?

[yellowboat]

Rock Hounding is illegal with out a prospectors licence.

[ccmtcanada]

You don't need one if you are a hobbyist....check out this link....

 

http://www.bancroftontario.com/index.cfm?v...p;vSub2NavID=23

 

Here's the document from the govt...

http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/MNDM/MINES/LANDS...y/lp701-1_e.asp

Edited March 20, 2008 by ccmtcanada

[fishinggeek]

Is it really illegal? I wouldn't have guessed that because they have some rock hounding tours I googled. Is it easy to get these licenses? I was going to look for a handful of rocks with my kid nieces.

[kennyman]

I was just going to say Bancroft,but that's a little further. Good call Cliff.

[yellowboat]

Better to have the licence and not get hassled it only $25 for 5 or 10 year and simple to get.

http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/MNDM/Default_e.asp

 

Cliff thanks for the info they musta changed the rule since I obtained my licence

Edited March 20, 2008 by yellowboat

[fishinggeek]

Thanks CCMT. Interesting info there for sure. I wouldn't want my little nieces having to explain to my sister why they got a ticket for rock houding without a license.

[fishinggeek]

Yes I always find Bancroft, Thunder Bay, etc. But that's much too far for the kids.

[yellowboat]

Bancroft would be the closest crown land access to TO to the east, to the west I'm not sure.

 

At a quick look I didn't see anything to the west.

Edited March 20, 2008 by yellowboat

[yellowboat]

Minden area maybe closer for you and I have found some good Quartz deposits around there.

[maybe]

If the girls are still really excited about chasing rocks when summer rolls around, you could make a weekend of it and take them to the Bancroft Rockhound Gemboree. This year'll be the 45th annual, if I remember correctly. Always the first weekend in August. Book accommodations well in advance, because town gets absolutely overrun. I've seen traffic backed up 2 solid miles on hwy 62, trying to get through the stop sign at hwy 28.

 

The Gemboree is held at the arena (and in the parking lot surrounding it). Exhibitors from all over, and you can buy anything from books and specimens to home decor and fine jewelry. Rockhounding bus tours run during the event, and they'll take you around to choice locations with permission.

 

For more information, get hold of the Bancroft & District Chamber of Commerce. Please note, any web pages giving their address as Station St, or "the old station" are out of date. Town council managed to get the historic station condemned last year, so that they could toss the Chamber and art gallery out on their ears. The Chamber landed at 17 Snow St, just northeast of McDonalds, and I don't know if the Mineral Museum (a Chamber offshoot) exists anymore. Current contact details for the Chamber are here.

 

If your nieces are interested in hunting for treasures outdoors, have you tried them on geocaching?

[Sinker]

Just south of minden, they have re-done hwy #35. I see lots of people there getting rocks. With the new excavations on the sides of the hwy, there are lots of exposed quartz deposits.

 

Sinker

[fishinggeek]

Thanks everyone for the info! This board is fantastic for everhything, fishing and otherwise. Looks like Minden will be it. The gemboree looks amazing. I never knew these things existed. I should really be taking advantage of this more. If the spring rock hounding is a success, we might look into the gemboree. And geocaching sounds interesting. That might be a good birthday game idea if I can get another GPS unit.

[bassboy]

FishingGeek....

 

Geocaching is a lot of fun too....I do it myself (though admittedly not as much as I used to) and if I remember correctly, Barneysbandofgold on the board here does it too. They (geocaches) are all over the place now, and believe it or not it can be very educational as well. I cant speak much for rockhounding though......I have few specimens here that I have picked up here and there but its not something I did on purpose

 

If you are looking for geocaching info.....there is lots here: http://www.ontgeocaching.com/ .

Or if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM. If I can help out I certainly will!

 

Bill

[maybe]

Geocaching in general is a great thing to do with kids. I wouldn't take a big bunch of kids to a normal cache (there's only so many little trinkets inside one), but you can hide your own just-for-you one-day container and have the kids search for it the same way.

 

Each cache's page on geocaching.com has a description that'll tell you if the terrain is difficult, or the container is too small to contain the normal toy rewards, or even if there's poison ivy in the area. Reading logs posted by recent finders is a gold mine. Costs $3 a month for a premium membership, but most caches are available to free members. The biggest advantage of paying is you can see where caches are on a google map, instead of just a text list.

 

Having a Garmin brand unit makes geocaching life a lot simpler - they've got a browser plugin that lets you upload the coordinates to your GPS by clicking a button on the cache's web page. I use an eTrex Vista Cx, but its also my boat and car unit - you can get away with a lot less toys for geocaching. I recommend the guys at Radioworld - conveniently located on the way to Bass Pro. Great prices, and their knowledge base and customer service is downright spectacular.

 

Depending on where you are, you might want to check out the Central Ontario Geocachers. Their Spring Fling IV is coming up in May, and I understand that newbies can get matched up with old pros for a hands-on master class experience. Highly recommended by Garmin's trade show crew.

 

Any questions while you're getting up and running, don't be shy about shooting me a PM.