rock shows Archives - American Geode

November 14, 2025November 14, 2025

Stone Cuts Trail of Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama Hiking Review

Stone Cuts Trail at Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, AL

While we have plentiful hiking opportunities here in North Georgia, I wanted to get out a little and drive a few hours for a new hike. The Monte Sano State Park is a pleasant, mostly rural and regional road drive of about 4 hours, and the famous Stone Cuts Trail is worth it.

After paying $5 entrance at the welcome gate, stop by the office for a map and got your hiking badge for your walking stick, and then drive to the “Biker’s Trailhead” aka Biker’s Pavilion where you can park for the day.

Monte Sano State Park walking stick medal badge

The pavilion has table and more than one bathroom! It is a great starting point. Then find the one trail that originates from there, and that is the Sinks Trail that will connect you to Stone Cuts Trail. The Sinks Trail is a pleasant 20 minutes through the woods. I was hiking alone and may have had the entire park to myself on the fall Thursday, so it was a little spooky hiking by myself in a trail I had never seen. This Sinks Trail however is well marked, and after about 20 minutes you arrive at Stone Cuts Trail – and you can’t miss it!

The Stone Cuts Trail looks like you are about to cross through the Misty Mountains to get to Moria, in the Lord of the Rings! The Stone Cuts Trail is carved through a limestone area that has cracked, and you are walking in sometimes very tight pathways, with all kinds of little caves and crevices all around you. I took my time to inspect and admire the limestone for fossils and interesting geology, and was just happy to be so isolated in a such a landscape that truly felt like something from Middle Earth. I also found a hidden geocache work of art that was a delightful surprise: https://northgeorgiaculture.com/2025/11/03/october-2025-discovery-at-monte-sano-state-park-alabama/. See the video below for highlights and photos. Here are the Monte Sano State Park trail requirements per American Geode:

Plenty of water and snacks – the pavilion where you start has water from the sinks but no food.

Walking stick is a MUST. The Stone Cuts Trail is EXTREMELY rocky and uneven. A walking stick is a must.

Your must sturdy hiking boots are also needed to be sure not to twist or strain or sprain anything while hiking.

Be prepared for a longer than expected walk back to your car. There is a way to circle back but we did not discover it so after finishing the Stone Cuts Trail, we followed signs to get back to the main road through the park and there is likely a faster way to get back to where you started via the trails. We could consider the trail a medium hike, moderate depending on the scale you consider for your hikes.

Watch our highlights video and if you visit Monte Sano State Park, please tell them American Geode sen’cha!

August 25, 2025August 25, 2025

Rock Shop Review – Pezrok Gems, Minerals, Fossils Gallery in Blue Ridge, Georgia

Pezrock Gems and Minerals of Blue Ridge Georgia

524 E Main St, Blue Ridge, Georgia 30513

Blue Ridge, Georgia is one of North Georgia’s true “gems.” Full of fine restaurants, cool dive bars, adult arcades, fine dining, easy dining, the wonderful Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, and also one of the finest gem, mineral, fossil and interior design stores that American Geode had ever visited. The expensive minerals are well labeled with relevant provenance and history and Pezrock also has very affordable minerals, gems and fossils and they are also well documented.

We were instantly impressed to see that they have out on the Main Street Blue Ridge sidewalk and geode cracked, that we instantly recognized as a version of a sawed off soil pipe cutter like the one American Geode uses to crack geodes!

In addition to the fine minerals, gems, and crystals, we discovered interior design concepts and a kitchen showroom constructed with counter tops and panels of the famous Green River fish fossils, and the kitchen bar stools and other home furniture like dining tables were carved from old hardwood in a style that maintained the form of the tree trunks and limbs. These were some of the most beautiful home designs we had ever seen, and made you want to own a home to incorporate these gorgeous Green River fossil designs,

So when in Blue Ridge, be sure to visit Pezrock as you must see their collection with your own eyes to believe it, and you will likely want to acquire one of their fine works too. Please tell them you read about Pezrock on NorthGeorgiaCulture.com!

September 28, 2021September 28, 2021

Knoxville Gem & Mineral Society 2021 Show!

Knoxville Gem & Mineral Society 2021 Annual Gem Show

Rothchild Conference Center 8807 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37923

Friday, October 15, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Saturday, October 16, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Sunday, October 17, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm

As a precaution for Covid masks will be required for admittance.

The show will feature 23 vendors with a wide variety of jewelry, fossil and mineral specimens, meteorites, gemstones, and decorative objects. There will also be educational activities and gem and mineral ID tables. Admission Adults: $6.00 Run of Show Pass: $10.00 Children Under 12: Free

June 12, 2021June 12, 2021

Summerville, Georgia Agate Rockhounding Trip 2021

Through one of the gem and mineral clubs to which we belong, we were invited to rockhound for lace agate, banded agate, moss agate, and druzy quartz from a private mining site near Summerville, Georgia.

I arrived and was lucky to have the entire mining area to myself except, over the course of the morning and afternoon, 2 different couples stopped by to collect agate, and a family was out on a rockhounding trip.

American Geode takes that attitude that if you can, take a lifetime supply. We filled up every bucket and bin we brought, and also picked up many large and heavy agates. The stone was plentiful. The only time we used our tools was to break apart a behemoth stone into more manageable sections. We found moss agate, lace agate, banded agate, and our favorites had druzy quartz pockets.

The beauty of these stones were not easy to see without being splashed with a little water, but we ran out of water, so started collecting more than enough to overcompensate as we expected to have some stones better suited for the garden. On a recent gem and mineral meeting over Zoom, when I was showing off these fine agate specimens, I learned that the agate, and the stone formation containing covers a lot of Northwest Georgia, even into Tennessee, but it is on private land, or federal park land, so not available or accessible to the general public.

This agate tumbles well, but it loses a lot of surface area during the tumbling. It is beautiful however, and we are sure that a cabochon or lapidary person would have even more fun with this agate.

We are selling this agate here: https://www.ebay.com/usr/americangeode

Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate
Summerville Georgia lace agate

June 12, 2021June 12, 2021

Gardening Benefit for Cabochon and Rock Tumbling Rockhounds

We have been tumbling North Georgia river stones, and most recently the Summerville Agate, in a 20lb barrel from MJR Tumblers. Each stage of tumbling takes about a week, and at the conclusion of each tumbling stage, I have been dumping the grit and the agate and river stone grit into the flower garden. The flowers LOVE IT! The rose bushes are more plentiful than ever before, and deeper colors than they were last year. One small rose bush that was red last year, was almost tie-dyed looking with streaks of white. The red impatiens are now a shade of orange. The mint and parsley plants are overgrowing! While this is not fertilizer, I can only guess the plants appreciate this concentrated mineral content in the otherwise mostly red clay soil. After I do dump the tumbling grit sludge into the garden I dilute it, and that happens naturally because I need to clean the tumbling barrel before the next stage, and also need to rinse thoroughly the stones before starting the next tumbling phase, or polishing phase, so I am hosing down the barrel and stones over the garden too, and that helps dilute the sludge and make it run over more of the garden to be soaked up.
I am sure that the sludge mix from a cabochon workstation would have the similar effect on your outdoors flowering plants. Never dispense of tumbling or cabochon grit down a drain, and no never, dispense of that valuable mineral sludge, but add it to your garden. For any questions about gardening, or rock tumbling, feel free to contact Charles at charles@americangeode.com.

Hope this is helpful!