Looking for stones in the upper midwest - help !

dtree

Hello - I live in the Minneapolis area and I am wondering if anyone knows of some good sites for stone hunting around here. Maybe the north shore area ? Thanks for your help.
-dtree

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huamingji

i have some unique suisekis for relaxing.email me at jimihu123@yahoo.com.cn

soonami

I'm sure you will find stones, but true suiseki is usually volcanic rocks or those carved by seawater, so idk where you would find a place like that in St. Paul.

If you are just looking for stones for fun, I find that creek beds next to flood plains are always a god bet to find something interesting.

dtree

Well, there is a really big lake (Superior) not too far from here. Is that enough water to carve rocks ? Also, there are plenty of volcanic rocks to be found, just no volcanoes at this time.

rockm

"but true suiseki is usually volcanic rocks or those carved by seawater, so idk where you would find a place like that in St. Paul."

Hardly. Not true at all. Suiseki have many origins, including mountain streams, deserts, woodland, caves, etc. There are some very notable stones collected in desert southwest of the U.S.. The eel river in California is another notable site in the U.S. where choice stones are collected.

There is no one place or one type of stone that "true" suiseki are composed of (suiseki aren't made, they're found and appreciated). Look around you wherever you are. You will probably find them.

http://www.bonsai-nbf.org/stonelinks/index.htm

soonami

To say there is no "true" suiseki is to say that any tree in a pot is "bonsai." I was a little too narrow in my classification of suiseki because I was at the lab and didn't have much time to elaborate, so maybe I shouldn't post on this site if I don't have the time to post a completely comprehensive message. But just as there are rules for bonsai, there are rules for suiseki. But in the same way that a normal person can enjoy a mallsai no matter how much it offends the eye of an bonsai master, a normal person may find much beauty in a rock that is just a rock to a serious suiseki collector.

Mark, I appreciate all the advice that you give people, but you always seem to want to contradict people by always quoting something they say and attacking it. I'm not saying I know everything, but often you come off as if you do. I'm not too sensitive to this, but I see that a lot of people are turned off by this and while some like the direct approach others value a bit more tact.

rockm

If I offended you, I apologize.

"but true suiseki is usually volcanic rocks or those carved by seawater, so idk where you would find a place like that in St. Paul."

I guess I was questioning why you gave advice about not being able to find suiseki any place in St. Paul--which is the conclusion the orginal poster seemed to draw. You said there are no "true" (your words, not mine) suiseki anywhere but in volcanic rocks near water.

I contradicted your words because they really aren't accurate and no further explanation was provided.

Of course I don't know everything. I just found your words a bit discouraging to someone looking to collect something that's really all around them.

dtree

I guess what I should have started this with was, "are there any particular, specific types of stone in my area that make good suiseki, any specific areas to search for them ?" Thanks.