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[Kaljaia]

Packed a big block of rock off the hill yesterday and took a few slabs on the end today. It looks a little like wonderstone. Hard, but softer than agate. I haven't tried polishing any yet, will try for that tomorrow evening. It bleeds brick red all over, naturally, but the color is pretty nice!

(It's not that red. my phone camera over saturates the color a bit.)

[lithicbeads]

It has commonalities and wonderstone is found in rhyolites such as yours. Wonderstone can be a range of harnesses and can have soft spots in harder stones. Beautiful rough by the way.

[PhilNM]

also looks a little like indian paint stone.

[rocks2dust]

Looks a lot like "Antelope jasper" in colors and patterns that I always assumed was from your area 20 or more years ago. Now there is something called "Antelope" or "Fire Cracker" jasper with similar colors that sellers are saying from the Owyhee area.

The older "Antelope jasper" that I'm recalling wasn't as soft as rhyolite, but still only took a soft polish.

[Kaljaia]

That's interesting, though from what I can find online Antelope Jasper isn't from the Antelope, Oregon area, but from over in the Owyhees. I could very easily be wrong, though. But it is visually similar! I think the red diminishes farther in and might have been brightened by heat from a wildfire.
This was up a very annoying scree chute and everything else I found was pale and in very tiny pieces. I do hope it takes something of a polish, though I'm also not terribly enthusiastic about dealing with the slide to get back up there again. One of those "in hindsight I probably shouldn't have been there" places.

[Enchantra]

This was up a very annoying scree chute and everything else I found was pale and in very tiny pieces. I do hope it takes something of a polish, though I'm also not terribly enthusiastic about dealing with the slide to get back up there again. One of those "in hindsight I probably shouldn't have been there" places.

Those are often the best places to find rock!
This is why the buddy system is also a good idea.  Either someone goes with you so they can contact someone in an emergency, or that buddy is someone who knows where you are going and if you aren't back by a certain time, knows the approximate area you are in to direct a search party to.
Also not a bad idea to take some kind of communication device with you - cellphone, walkie talkie, mirror for signaling...

[rocks2dust]

The pieces I recall from decades ago, I thought came up from the Big Muddy area. Could just have been misinformation, or it could be that something similar from the Owyhees was sold under the same name. There was an old guy in the Sisters area who had a lot of it, and I don't think from the other stuff in his piles that he ever got far beyond the central parts of Oregon. You might take a small slab with you if you go to the Prineville or Madras shows and see whether any of the old-time sellers remembers it. If it is Antelope, then what you took is very high-end. I second Enchantra's advice: Don't risk your neck, bring someone along, and be very careful if you are tempted to go back for more.

[Kaljaia]

This was up a very annoying scree chute and everything else I found was pale and in very tiny pieces. I do hope it takes something of a polish, though I'm also not terribly enthusiastic about dealing with the slide to get back up there again. One of those "in hindsight I probably shouldn't have been there" places.

Those are often the best places to find rock!
This is why the buddy system is also a good idea.  Either someone goes with you so they can contact someone in an emergency, or that buddy is someone who knows where you are going and if you aren't back by a certain time, knows the approximate area you are in to direct a search party to.
Also not a bad idea to take some kind of communication device with you - cellphone, walkie talkie, mirror for signaling...

Yeah I was by myself that time but did have folks who knew where I went and when I'd be back, and I always carry a radio. We use radios because no cell service and there's a dozen or so people monitoring the channel. Local fire alarms go through the same system so it's a good emergency contact- people are always listening. Now it would be highly undignified to ever need rescuing, so I try my best not to get into too many scrapes!

The pieces I recall from decades ago, I thought came up from the Big Muddy area. Could just have been misinformation, or it could be that something similar from the Owyhees was sold under the same name. There was an old guy in the Sisters area who had a lot of it, and I don't think from the other stuff in his piles that he ever got far beyond the central parts of Oregon. You might take a small slab with you if you go to the Prineville or Madras shows and see whether any of the old-time sellers remembers it. If it is Antelope, then what you took is very high-end. I second Enchantra's advice: Don't risk your neck, bring someone along, and be very careful if you are tempted to go back for more.

That's interesting! Muddy runs from just about Clairno all the way to Donnybrook tho, big range to explore. I harassed folks all over Madras last year and a few years back but it's hard to pin anything down on a map in this place. People did talk about good material, but no one had been to any site themselves or could give definite directions. I'll do some internet spelunking about antelope jasper and see what turns up.

[Kaljaia]

Here's a quote from Freeform from the old forum:

Antelope jasper, comes from Oregon, is part of the famous Owyhee jasper occurance that spans just abuot every picture jasper from Oregon/Idaho that is brown in color. The main exption there would be the Biggs picture jasper occurance.
Antelope jasper was a very small find near the Morrisonite diggins. Much of it was collected ilegally by many until a claim was put on it. Which changed the name to "red butte" picture jasper. However the jasper was best know for its Flower patterns, so that term gets thrown in there from time to time. That claim was shut down over 20years ago, and the site pretty much burried. In the last 5 or so years, a new claim was put up just down the road per say from the old claim and is mining the same material. However this new material will go by the name of "fire cracker" jasper.

I think that's why I have it stuck in my head it's not actually from Antelope, Oregon.

[irockhound]

I got a piece from Oregon like that material years ago and it was marked Sunset Jasper, any relation or just similar?  Wonderful colors!

[rocks2dust]

I got a piece from Oregon like that material years ago and it was marked Sunset Jasper, any relation or just similar?  Wonderful colors!

Hadn't thought of that - similar colors for sure. There are both an "Owyhee Sunset" jasper and a "Sunset Ledge" jasper from Oregon. Both have those peachy and pink colors. The latter I recall as coming from the eastern part of Richardson's Ranch, which is a couple hundred miles nearer to Kaljaia's area than the Owyhee material, though I doubt either would be related geologically.