Rock Hounding in Pacifica California for Easter
The straps of the Osprey backpack weigh on my shoulders with our new hammer, one of its sides a sharp hatchet, hooked onto the side strap. I don’t mind the weight. My eyes graze the ground. I’m searching. There are hundreds in front of me, but I’m looking for something more. Something special.
I realized Easter was on Sunday. Miles from my childhood home (Hawaii) and nephews (also in Hawaii), I felt a bit depressed. I’m not religious. I’ve never met Jesus. But I love dying eggs and opening the little riddles my mom hides in colorful plastic eggs. She still sends me an Easter basket, and I’m always thrilled to indulge in the chocolate See’s egg she sends, but I wanted to do something special this year.
It didn’t take me long to decide what that ‘something special’ should be.
A few months ago, my boyfriend and I had discussed trying a new hobby. I’m not a big believer in needing hobbies, and I never stick with anything long enough to consider it one. I’d rather just go where the day takes me, whether that be walking aimlessly (some might call it hiking), jogging very slowly, paddleboarding, falling from a board into the ocean (some call it surfing), or typing words onto a screen (some call it writing).
He, on the other hand, likes hobbies.
And he wanted to do one with me. That was pretty darn sweet, so I succumed to the hobby pressure on three conditions.
It had to be something we could do outdoors.
It had to be something active—but not super active.
It had to be something that would require us to be present, not on our phones.
The ideal activity that met all three: Rock hounding!
We bought a book a while back and had a gardening shovel at the ready, but hadn’t yet gone out looking for rocks.
Easter, I realized, was the perfect day for this. As I mentioned, I don’t know much about Jesus, but I do know that he came out from behind a rock when he was resurrected, and that felt like a sign that we should go looking for some.
Picking Up Rock Hounding Supplies in Pacifica
A quick Google search showed that there was rock hounding to be had in Pacifica. More specifically, Basalt and Jasper were prevalent in the area. Fueled by a ton of caffeine and a smoothie made from bananas, yogurt, adaptogens, cinnamon, and protein, we hit the road.
It was a short twenty-minute drive to Pacifica. The highway was clear of cars as we took the exit toward Palmetto Avenue. We wound our way toward the ocean. It’s always one of my favorite drives. The gray-blue of the Pacific was eyewatering against the clear blue sky. Only small white puffs, like Cheetos, made a statement in the vast universe above us.
We turned onto the exit that would take us to where my cousin had stayed in her Airstream (only one weekend before), then crossed over to the local Ace Hardware to pick up some supplies.
We found a bucket (we had big plans to do a beach clean-up after we rock hounded), a pick hammer, and some suet for the birds who live in my boyfriend’s backyard. Then we got back into the car, stopped at Starbucks for yet more caffeine and a pee, then headed to the Pacifica Quarry Running trail.
Rock Hounding on the Pacifica Quarry Running Trail
Turning into the small oval-shaped parking lot at the trailhead, we couldn’t believe our luck when a car pulled out and their parking spot opened up. We pulled into the spot, then unloaded our gear.
One backpack. One pick hammer. Our Rock Hounding book. Two water bottles. A shovel.
From there, we walked up and onto the trail. A paved road is lined with gardens, created by those who have said goodbye to loved ones. It’s a beautiful walkway of memorials, flowers blooming, and mementos left for those whose imprints remain in the hearts of those still living. We chose to step up from the paved trail and onto a dirt path to the left. We followed it for a few steps, before beginning our first rock-hounding adventure.
The grass on either side of the trail was lime green, and spring wildflowers dotted the hills. Straight ahead, the ocean beckoned. We scoured the ground, trying to decipher what was a common rock and what was a hidden gem, literally. Hundreds of stones littered the sandy trail.
The first rock we picked up sparkled in the sunlight. It shimmered white with dark gray specks. We did a quick scan with the Rock Identifier app, and it identified it as Diorite, a type of Igneous rock. It was pretty, but fairly common in this area.
Our goal was to find some Jasper.
Next, we picked up a Basalt stone. We’d pre-read about this in our book, knowing there was a ton of it in this location. The description promised variety with some gray while others were tinted green. We were delighted to discover that both were easy to spot, once we’d identified the first one.
On a fallen tree, bleached white from the sun, a lizard did push-ups and waited for us to take his picture. The brown and tan of his skin looked like plaits, braids of scales.
We continued picking up stones, then returned to the path. Trying not to mistake abandoned snail shells for pretty rocks. We dropped one of the stones we found after reading that it was radioactive.
A Crystal on the Path
My boyfriend shouted from up ahead on the trail.
“The hammer!”
I jogged over and handed him the pick hammer. He used it quickly and rose with a freaking crystal in his hand. It looked like something I’d purchased in a gem shop, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Had we really just found this growing in the ground?
It was a quartz and had geometric sides cut perfectly from nature. It had gone unnoticed by trail runners, dog walkers, and bikers who were getting their morning exercise.
For first-time rock hounders, we couldn’t believe our luck!
We realized going slightly off-trail into open grassy areas could help us discover a wider variety of rocks, and we took our time dusting off stones and digging until we had a good amount of Jasper, Serpentite, Calcite, as well as a few other common types of stones, like Quartz and Quartzite.
Remembering to Look Up While Rock Hounding
The trail has areas where you can sit and look out across the hills toward the sea or toward the bucolic scenery of rolling landscapes with grasses in shades of lemon and chartreuse with tufts of emerald green trees.
It was important to remind ourselves to stop and look up from the ground every once in a while to appreciate where we were and how impressive it was to find this so close to the city.
After climbing up one of the trails before the last stretch toward the seaside cliffs, we decided the heat was finally getting to us. It turned out to be an 80ºF day, and we were desperately dehydrated despite drinking 16oz of water each.
We turned around and hiked back to the car.
We’d spent just over an hour-and-a-half on the trail, looking at rocks and finding new versions of those that we now saw as common and easy to spot.
We were starting to get hungry, and after a quick drive around Rockaway Beach parking lot, we decided we’d schedule our beach clean-up for another day. We drove back to the city for some lunch.
Barebottle Brewing and Impossible Smash Burgers
We drove to Barebottle Brewing and ordered some Athletic N.A. beers and a smorgasbord of bar food. We were pretty dang hungry and scarfed Impossible double smash burgers and garlic fries. It was the perfect end to a day spent in the hot sun, searching for rocks, and I felt like it was an Easter Sunday well spent.
Rocks, brews, and Battlestar Galactica, as they say.
Here’s to another perfect day in the Bay!
