Vanadanite

A geologist friend of mine was kind enough to invite me a long on a mineral collecting trip. We were looking for vanadanite, a really neat, hexagon shaped, red mineral. We ended up finding some; the geologists said it's fairly easy to get.

The process of extracting the vanadanite was a bit more exciting than I expected. These folks pulled huge boulders off a rock wall to expose new material. The boulders crashed down a hill and broke up on a pile of previously dislodged rocks.

The spot was in or near Patagonia, Arizona. It's a beautiful, open place.