Outdoor Story: Mindy Waters, Rock Hound

Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife

To Mindy Waters, all rocks are hidden gems, just waiting to be found and added to her collection at home in Cedar Creek.

Oh we have jaspers, agate, petrified wood. Rocks lining our garden and rocks lining our driveway. They’re everywhere in our house! You open a drawer and there’s a rock, you know.

She and her husband are confessed “rock hounds” and enjoy scouring the Texas countryside in a game of rock hide and seek.

We just love rocks, we hunt rocks, we go to different places. And once you look at some rocks, you get hooked. If it’s in your blood and you want to hunt rocks, that will do it.

And it certainly is in their blood—nipping on the heels of their rock hunt are their up and coming collector grandchildren, or “pebble puppies.”

McKinney Roughs has a lot of good places to look for rocks; just lying on the ground. You find a lot of jaspers, flint. I remember my grandson and I, when he was young, he’d pick up a yellow rock and he’d say, “what’s this?” I’d say, “that’s flint.” Then he’d pick up a red rock and say, “What’s this?” and I’d say, “Well hun’ that’s flint also.” Then he’d pick up a black rock, he’d say, “Don’t tell me it’s flint, right?” I’d go, “yes.” We have a lot of flint here. It’s amazing! So even though it’s flint it just comes in many, many colors. Once you start really looking at what you walk on, it’s amazing, it really is.

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That’s our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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