Customer Reviews

Gem Trails of Utah

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was the best guide to out of the way Utah we could have hoped for. Some of the sites are very well known and collected, others not so. Our vacation consisted of following the locations in the book, with plenty of sidetracks of our own inbetween. The specimens from some sites are fantastic. Using this book as a guide in the way we did, we learned how to spot promising areas anywhere. We have subsequently purchased the Gemtrails of Arizona, and New Mexico and loved them the same way. A review of one of these mentions wishing for GPS coordinates. Although a moden update with those might be nice, we rarely had difficulty finding the sites. And as I mentioned, the inbetween explorations were productive and beautiful too.

This book was an extremely useful tool for my wife and me as we combed the back country of Utah, gathering rocks. From the litle-known sites like Painter's Spring in West Desert, to the world-famous Dugway geode beds, this book gave us the directions we needed. The petrified wood sites in southern Utah were especially appreciated.

Like "Rockhounding Utah" this book provides good tips and hints at areas but a lot of the areas are picked clean. My advice would be to find a hardcore rock hounder and tag along or join one of the different mineral societies in the state of Utah there are quite a few. i hope this helps all you future rock hounds don't give up there are others out there just like you searching!

We purchased this book, and also the Gem Trails Arizona book for our recent vacation to Utah and Arizona. Some of the sites were easily found. Unfortunately for us (and I'm very good at map reading) we felt that the book needed updating and correcting. Some of the maps are very hard to understand, as it seems they were drawn from memory rather than actually looking at the site and marking the directions. We were mostly in Region III and Region IV mentioned in the book. Some examples:
Region III/Agate Hill: We did find nice specimens here, easy to get to wtih our Toyota Highlander. You are not seeing Bryce Canyon in the distance tho as the book suggests. It is miles away, and you are looking at Red Rock Canyon NP.
Region III/Cainville: Area was okay for selenite only in our opinion.
Region IV/Potash Road: This is where the map was lacking. After you reach the end of the paved road, you need to continue straight on along the river. You can turn to the right to the Potash Mining Company's property. We met a very nice man up there who has seen dozens of these books and had to turn people away because they were led in the wrong direction. He has lived in the area his whole life and told us to try going up the river and looking. We followed the gravel road to the end where there is a boat launch site, a pit toilet of sorts and a lot of fallen boulders. It is in the area where the boulders are next to the parking lot you can hammer away at some fossil bearing rocks. There are a few large weathered specimens on the ground but unless you have a backhoe and permit, I think it's better to leave those for everyone's enjoyment.
Region IV: San Rafael/San Rafael Reef: Very disappointing on the south end of Interstate 70 and you don't really want to risk anything but a high clearance vehicle in the area. We did not drive under the hwy but it was an easy walk. We found no hard geodes. Found some round balls of sandstone. We had hoped because they felt light that we had found some of the mentioned geodes. But when breaking them it was like a ball of hard packed sugar. Evidence of people being there and smashed rocks on some of the large boulders. We did find some interesting jasper, mostly on the north side of the wash area. We did not find the directions to San Rafael reef clear at all. We finally gave up, turned around and focused our search along the wash area nearer to the road and the hwy underpass area.
All in all, you have to be very careful and safe when searching. There is a site mentioned that is 'across from the entrance to Arches NP'. Except that the locals will tell you that was true years ago. In fact they used to take school trips there. That was before the road was widened and not in my opinion it is not safe to stop there and look for fossils. The bank is very steep going up and there is only room for a car to pull off to the side. You still have to deal with a lot of traffic in the area, large hauling semi's coming down the hill is quite concerning in my opinion and not a place to pull over to scavange for some fossil finds. Certainly the author makes a case for the beauty that is in Utah when you are looking up and not around at the ground. I do agree that the book needs updating...and be forewarned that many of these sites are picked over and you might be disappointed. We took our two sons with us on this trip...11 and 14...and they had a wonderful time hunting for rocks with us. I agree with another reviewer about finding a local or someone who does this regularly to find new places or better ones.

My Boy and I have been using Gem Trails of Utah for Father Son treasure hunting now for 3 years. Some people claim these areas are all picked out, but We have had better luck than that. I suppose it somewhat depends on what you are looking for and where. Sometimes it takes a bit of looking, or digging but we find what we are looking for and more, usually. A great addition to this book not found in other Rock hounding books, is pictures of what you are looking for and what can be done with the material. If you have children that like rocks, well then this is just a fun thing to do, and the book is full of ideas for your weekends. You will find that collecting takes you to places you would not have thought of going before, and yet you will not regret having gone. This book takes you too some of the most beautiful places in Utah, gorgeous scenery most tourists will miss, and hey you get free souvenirs for your trouble. If you are going to Topaz though, you will want to get "A field Guide to Topaz and Associated Minerals of the Thomas Range" which is available at the world famous Rock Shop in Delta, Ut. It will not only tell you where exactly on that mountain to look for Topaz, putting you on the stuff like an English Pointer on Pheasant, but it will also give you many other hints and tips for other material, including the elusive red beryl. The people in the shop are some of the friendliest people and loose lipped with secrets too. I recommend going with Estwing E3-22P 22-Ounce Rock PickEstwing B3-3LB Drilling Hammer Metal Handlealso, as the better your tools, the more success you will ultimately have.

I really don't know what the people buying these type of books are expecting. If you want to have a complete guide to every rock hunting site in Utah where you can go and pick up buckets full of material to take home, you will not find it in this or any other rock hounding book. " They do not exist "!

I have found this guide to be very helpful in many cases, other times not so much. But, it every case, it has helped me get in the general area and help me to get out and go exploring and find some great stuff.

As many of the reviews have said, doing your research, talking to the locals at rock shops, and talking to people in local rock & gem clubs is always the best way to go.

From my perspective rock hunting is about the journey and the exploring. Anyone who expects books to be written about every gem, fossil, or semi-precious stone find in Utah is sadly misguided. I'm no geologist so this book is a great starting point for me in my explorations. Happy hunting:)

We found all the gems, rocks and fossils with this wonderful book by James Mitchell. Grandkids were amazed at the fossils and Sunstones.

This book has been a wonderful refrence. James Mitchell is a great author. I would reccommend any of his books.

I recently purchased this on Amazon as I'm unfamiliar with the Utah area and was looking for a good resource...this one was not that! It is very outdated and the maps/directions aren't even remotely close in some cases. I began visiting sites just south of I-70 on route 24 and couldn't even find the first two. The maps were inaccurate, road names (numbers) were wrong, and mileage was 30-60% off in each case. I had some time on my hands so I spent a couple of days 'tooling' around. By the fourth site it became a challenge to see if there was a site in the book that was 100% accurate in description, directions, and mileage. It took me until the seventh site (which happened to be right along the road) to find one that matched everything in the book. On the way home to CO I hit two more sites and both were off. Maybe by pure chance I found the eight sites that need to be updated...I'm guessing not. The author seems very knowledgeable in some areas, but every time I went to a new site I asked myself "Has this guy ever even been here???". It was very frustrating to say the least and I won't be buying the Colorado edition. The best thing you could do is go to a local 'rock shop' and get someone who knows the area and all of the changes that have been made since this book was first printed.

I should have realized that with the item being 30 years old (revised 1987) that the information was very outdated. Not seller's fault. Should have read description better.