# Amateur geode-hunting for bored idiots
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 8, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611 "2010-08-08T17:48:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/1 "2010-08-08T17:48:33Z")
So my brother is going through a rocks and minerals phase, and he’s got several kid’s books on gems and crystals and so forth, and it got me thinking about geodes. It’s always been a fantasy of mine to find my own geode and crack it open (after I found my goggles, that is). The problem with this plan, apparently, is that geodes tend to live in the southwestern deserts. New Jersey is not a southwestern desert. New Jersey is northeastern, in fact, and not exactly known for its natural wonders. I did fnd one website that said geodes “have been found” in an unspecified area of the Garden State.
So… say I were an an obsessive rock hunter with a lot of time on my hands and no understanding of probabilities. Where would I start looking if I wanted my very own pretty crystal?
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/2 "2010-08-08T17:59:51Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> New Jersey is northeastern, in fact, and not exactly known for its natural wonders.
[indignant sputter][Nonsense!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Barrens_Tree_Frog)[/is]
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/3 "2010-08-08T18:04:10Z")
In Indiana (Not New Jersey, but not the desert Southwest, either) geodes are usually found in creek beds. Might be a good place to start looking, if you don’t have any other guidance.
If you want to narrow it down a bit, though, you might just try contacting someone in the geology department at a local university. If there’s a natural history museum with geologists on staff, try them too. You might get shuffled around a bit, but in my experience geologists are often happy to talk to geologophilic members of the public.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/4 "2010-08-08T19:08:12Z")
Montana and Wisconsin, for two alternatives. Also near the Badlands in SD ([agate allotment](http://www.badlandsinfo.com/things-to-do-outside-the-park/rock-collecting/))
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/5 "2010-08-08T19:56:21Z")
I bought a geode from the gift shop at the Page Museum. Cracked it open, and it wasn’t even hollow. No crystals, nothing. Just grey rock. ☹
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/6 "2010-08-08T20:29:30Z")
American Science & Surplus sells whole [geodes](http://www.sciplus.com/search.cfm?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=search&utm_content=cf&utm_campaign=celsearchtest&formfield1234567891=39&formfield1234567892=6&formfield1234567894=&term=geode&btnHand.x=0&btnHand.y=0) for a fairly reasonable price.
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### Author:  [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/7 "2010-08-08T21:49:06Z")
Come to middle Tennessee. We got them coming out our ears.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/8 "2010-08-08T22:08:42Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> > [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
> >
> > New Jersey is northeastern, in fact, and not exactly known for its natural wonders.
>
> [indignant sputter][Nonsense!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Barrens_Tree_Frog)[/is]
Okay, I stand corrected.
I’d heard about the natural beauty of the Pine Barrens, actually. Over here it’s the natural traffic-ness of the shopping malls, but still…
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> American Science & Surplus sells whole [geodes](http://www.sciplus.com/search.cfm?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=search&utm_content=cf&utm_campaign=celsearchtest&formfield1234567891=39&formfield1234567892=6&formfield1234567894=&term=geode&btnHand.x=0&btnHand.y=0) for a fairly reasonable price.
I know you can buy them. I just have this silly daydream of finding my own.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/9 "2010-08-08T22:39:09Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> American Science & Surplus sells whole [geodes](http://www.sciplus.com/search.cfm?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=search&utm_content=cf&utm_campaign=celsearchtest&formfield1234567891=39&formfield1234567892=6&formfield1234567894=&term=geode&btnHand.x=0&btnHand.y=0) for a fairly reasonable price.
122 $$4 and a surplus rad meter later … damn that site is fun =)
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### Author:  [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/10 "2010-08-08T22:45:19Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> The problem with this plan, apparently, is that geodes tend to live in the southwestern deserts. New Jersey is not a southwestern desert. New Jersey is northeastern, in fact, and not exactly known for its natural wonders.
First of all, New Jersey is known for many natural wonders. Well, not a whole lot of wonders. It has some…
Okay, I can’t name any, but since you’re talking about rock collecting, do you know that New Jersey is known for its deposits of amber? There’s some good sites around Sayreville in Middlesex County.
Maybe it’s not as great as breaking open an ugly round rock and finding some beautiful crystals inside, but amber comes in a range of strikingly beautiful colors, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find what is called an _inclusion_ which means that some sort of creepy crawly thing got caught in the amber before it fossilized.
Bet you won’t find that in a geode.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/11 "2010-08-09T01:15:20Z")
Less than a 90-minute drive from Chicago is a town named Coal City. I went there with a buddy who said there were plenty of geodes and fossils in the area. We stopped at a random spot on the shoulder of a main road where a creek ran and it was just as he said. Most of the geodes were not impressive, and IIRC the fossils were almost all scallop shells or something similar. But they were there and they were easy to find.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/12 "2010-08-09T02:17:23Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> I’d heard about the natural beauty of the Pine Barrens, actually. Over here it’s the natural traffic-ness of the shopping malls, but still…
Change your hobby to carnivorous plants. 🙂
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### Author:  [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/13 "2010-08-09T04:11:53Z")
I was taken to the [Sterling Hill Mining Museum](http://sterlinghillminingmuseum.org/) _twice_ on school trips, so it’s obviously _very_ educational. There’s no geodes there, but it ought to be very interesting to a budding New Jersey geologist. Among other things, they specialize in fluorescent minerals.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/14 "2010-08-09T22:02:24Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> > [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
> >
> > I’d heard about the natural beauty of the Pine Barrens, actually. Over here it’s the natural traffic-ness of the shopping malls, but still…
>
> Change your hobby to carnivorous plants. 🙂
You know, I tried that last year.
They died.
All my plants die; it’s like I emit toxic fumes or something.
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/15 "2010-08-09T22:23:13Z")
I have nothing to contribute.
But, New Jersey is just over the river from me and I would also like to find a geode.
**Qazwart** I have a friend who is very into amber. Could you give us more information?
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### Author:  [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/16 "2010-08-10T03:55:02Z")
> [@DocCathode](#):
>
> **Qazwart** I have a friend who is very into amber. Could you give us more information?
A bit of Googling brought up [this page](http://www.johnbetts-fineminerals.com/jhbnyc/trips/amber.htm).
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### Author:  [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-geode-hunting-for-bored-idiots/549611/17 "2010-08-10T15:04:15Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> [snip]New Jersey is northeastern, in fact, and not exactly known for its natural wonders. [snip]
Well, maybe not NOW, but in a million years or so all those skeletons from decades’ worth of mob hits and other dead bodies dumped in the Meadowlands ought to make for some pretty exciting human fossils! 🆒
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> > [@carnivorousplant](#):
> >
> > Change your hobby to carnivorous plants. 🙂
>
> You know, I tried that last year.
>
> They died.
>
> All my plants die; it’s like I emit toxic fumes or something.
That’s not you, ducks; that’s just New Jersey! (I’ve been killing off a few plants lately myself.)