Teri Smith Rock Hunts

Hello, fellow rockhounds! Below is the schedule for my Spring 2026 rockhunts. This is a firm schedule for me, given that there are no political or environmental problems that make it impossible to get out to the ranches. I will be in Alpine, TX, leading these field trips in March and April just as I’ve done for almost the last 30 years. If one person (you) signs up for the trip, it will happen. And there is no maximum number of people allowed on my trips, so bring your family, friends, and gem club members with you.

At this point, I am the only person leading rock hunts in the Big Bend Region, and there are no ranches available for hunting without a guide. If you’ve dreamed of rockhunting in the Big Bend and haven’t yet done it, I would encourage you to come out this spring. You never know what will happen in the future, and since I don’t own the land where we rockhunt, I can’t guarantee that we will be able to get on the ranches forever.

To sign up for a hunt, please text or email me your name, the date and location of the hunt, the number of adults and kids under 12 or so that will be hunting, and provide me with a phone number that will work while you’re out in the Big Bend. My cell number is (432) 386-3431, and my email address is [email protected]. Please email your requests to
[email protected], rather than replying to this email, because my email service insists on having my reply emails sent to it instead of my email.

I’ll send you a confirmation text or email at the time you book the hunt. I will try to send you a reminder about a week before your hunt, but even if I don’t, the rockhunt will happen unless you hear from me cancelling it. In the past 30 or so years, I’ve only cancelled six or seven rockhunts, mostly due to extreme weather conditions.

Rollin’ Rock Club membership required for all hunts. Cost is $10 per year for a single membership, or $16 for a dual membership.

We meet in the morning at the following places:

Alpine: in the parking lot of Little Caesar’s Pizza, on the southeast corner of the intersection of Holland Avenue and Highway 118 South.

Balmorhea: in the vacant lot across FM 2903 from the Alon Gas Station and Uncle’s Convenience store on Highway 17 in the town of Balmorhea.

Study Butte: In the dirt lot south of the Alon Gas Station and restaurant/store at the junction of Highway 118 and Highway 170 in Study Butte.

See you on a rockhunt!

Teri

Below is the schedule for Spring 2025. Starting with a special four-day hunt at the Pigmon Ranch on March 4 – 7, and continuing with four rockhunts a week until the end of April, this schedule has me going once a week to each of the ranches I lead field tips on.
The schedule shown below is a .jpg file. It should fit on a page for printing, if you don’t mind teeny tiny margins. I’ll post the schedules all over town here in Alpine and hopefully other towns in the area, too. And feel free to email them to anyone who might be interested.
I didn’t have room on the schedule for the starting times and starting locations for the hunts, so here they are.
For the 4-day hunt on the Pigmon Ranch, we’ll start at 8 a.m. in Balmorhea, in the vacant lot that’s across the street from the Alon Station/ Uncle’s convenience store in the town of Balmorhea. This is only for the March 4 – 7 hunts. The rest of the Pigmon Ranch hunts will start in Alpine.
Teri’s hunts to the South Larremore Ranch, East Needle Peak, and Pigmon Ranch will start at 8 a.m. in the parking lot of Little Caesar’s Pizza in Alpine. The hunts to the Ritchie Ranch start an hour later, at 9 a.m. in the same Little Caesar’s Pizza lot. The reason the Ritchie Ranch hunts start later is because the ride to the ranch is about 5 minutes long.
The Little Caesar’s Pizza in Alpine is at the corner of Holland Avenue (the one-way street going east) and Highway 118 South (also called Cockrell St.). There’s a blinking light at the intersection, which makes it easy to find.
To sign up for my hunts, text or call me at (432) 386-3431, or email me at [email protected].
All of Jean’s hunts also start at 8 a.m. in the parking lot of Little Caesar’s Pizza in Alpine.
to sign up for her hunts, text or call her at (432) 294-0860, or email her at [email protected].
When I find out about Aaron Thomas’ hunts for spring, I’ll add them to my schedule and reissue it.
Regards,
Teri

The Pigmon Ranch, located between Balmorhea and Toyah, is Open NOW!

Teri Smith Rockhunts is pleased to announce the opening of the Pigmon Ranch for rockhunting. This ranch is located between Balmorhea and Toyah, on rolling hills and flats, where you can find agate, jasper, petrified wood, flint, and chert. There is quite a bit of blue agate on the ranch, and some of it has black, grey, or white plumes in it. There’s also lots of other types of agate, such as fortification agates, tube agates, water-level agates, seam agates, banded agates, and saginitic agates. And there is petrified wood, flint, and chert in great colors and patterns.

I hope to get photos and a description up on my website in the next day or so. The agates are so beautiful and varied that it will take lots of photos to give you an idea of what you can find there.

The Pigmon Ranch is about 70 miles from Alpine. It will be easy to access, as a paved county road goes right through the ranch!

Cost for the hunt is $50 per adult per day. Children are free. Rollin’ Rock Club membership is required ($10 for a single membership, or $16 for a dual membership.) Contact Teri Smith at [email protected], or text or call (432) 386-3431.

Hi Y’all! Rockhunting season is starting in the Big Bend of Texas. As I mentioned in my earlier email, I’ve provided you with a list of dates that work for me, and you can let me know what date(s) you’d like to hunt, and what ranch(es) you’d like to hunt on. (If you don't have that email, the schedule is on my website, www.terismithrockhunts. com.). Or you can join a hunt that’s already been scheduled. The dates I’ve got people scheduled for right now are:

Saturday, March 02: Ritchie Ranch. Start time 9 a.m.
Sunday, March 03: Ritchie Ranch. Start time 9 a.m.
Monday, March 04: Ritchie Ranch. Start time 9 a.m.
Friday, March 08: South Larremore Ranch. Start time 8 a.m.
Monday, March 11: Ritchie Ranch. Start time 9 a.m.
Tuesday, March 12: East Needle Peak. Start time 8 a.m.
Friday, March 15: East Needle Peak. Start time 8 a.m.
Thursday, April 11: South Larremore Ranch. Start time 8 a.m.

Once again, the hunts will begin in the parking lot of Little Caesar’s Pizza in Alpine, at the corner of Holland Avenue and Highway 118 south. To sign up for a field trip, email me at [email protected], or call or text me at (432) 386-3431. Email and text work best because then I have your information written down. You can sign up for an existing trip right up to the day of the trip. To schedule a special trip for you and your group, please give me a few days' notice to ensure that I can get all of my routine tasks done and out of the way so we can have fun rockhunting.

Here are some details about the rockhunts:

East Needle Peak
Cost: $50 per person per day. First bucket of rocks you collect is included in cost.
Location: About 100 miles south of Alpine Texas via Highway 118 and FM 170.
Road Condition: Bad. Hilly, rough, unmaintained dirt road from highway to site. Can be impassable if it’s rained recently. High ground clearance required, 4wd preferred.
Terrain: Mostly rough mountain slopes and arroyos. Several flat places to hunt, including a huge dry creek bed.

South Larremore Ranch
Cost: $60 per person per day. First bucket of rocks you collect is included in cost.
Location: 45 miles south of Alpine on Highway 118.
Road Condition: Medium. Dirt road from highway to hunting sites. Can be muddy if It’s rained recently. Otherwise it’s quite dusty. High ground clearance preferred.
Terrain: Basically flat, with occasional gravel mounds and arroyos, including the dry bed of Calamity Creek.

Ritchie Ranch
Cost: $20 per person per day, plus ”Good” rocks at $1 per lb. I’ll work with you to tell you which rocks are “good”, and which ones are free.
Location: On the edge of Alpine.
Road Condition: Good. Dirt road from highway to hunting sites. Can be muddy if it’s rained recently. Main road is well maintained, branch roads can be a bit overgrown. Can be traversed in almost any vehicle.
Terrain: Flat to rolling hills.


P.S. I’ve still got great rocks for sale. I‘m still cataloging what I’ve got, and I’ll send out an email about that as soon as I have an idea what I have.

My schedule for rockhunts during March and April, along with all the other hunts I know about in the Big Bend, is available on my website.

Rock Hunting in the Big Bend of Texas 2022 and 2023 Rockhunt Schedules Posted on November 5, 2022 by Teri Smith Reply My apologies to everyone for not emailing you sooner concerning rockhunts this fall and winter. I’ve been working on several projects, which are, of course, proceeding more slowly than I had planned. For the last few m...