Claybabies - Now I gotta keep my eyes out for them on puget sound salt shores

Greg Price · Oct 21, 2023

Two In Tow & On The Go: Claybabies are a Fox Island find - Gig Harbor Now

Claybabies are rare rock-like formations shaped naturally by the elements in select geographical locations - like Fox Island, Washington.

www.gigharbornow.org

albula · Oct 21, 2023

I always enjoyed bringing home unusual rocks collected from waters around the world where I have fished. Here are a few that were sitting on the fireplace. The brownish volcanic one is from a Kamchatka river, the Sopochanya, the smaller gray one from the Ruakituri on the north island of NZ and the large schmoo, a granitic rock from a famous BC steelhead stream. Often wondered what kind of story it has to tell.

Josh · Oct 21, 2023

I had never heard of "claybabies" before. Very interesting!

Stonedfish · Oct 21, 2023

Clay babies are quite common in areas around the sound with bluffs.
Hag stones are tougher to find.
SF

Matt B · Oct 22, 2023

There are a bunch of those on the middle Middle Fork...around the clay banks left over from ancient glacial lake sediments. Never heard them called that before. Many of them end up looking pretty phallic.

Sam Roffe · Oct 22, 2023

One of the coolest places I remember visiting as a kid on our boat trips to BC were the Canadian Gulf Islands. The small islands had caves carved out from the water actions over time. This islands seemed like ginormous clay babies.

_WW_ · Oct 22, 2023

Rocks!
When I first met my wife she had a box of rocks. Since 1982 I have moved that box of rocks twice in CO, twice in TX, twice in VA, and three times here in WA. These rocks have also been moved from one box to an upgraded, more sturdy type of box several times. Someday...she is going to do something with them...

Matt B · Oct 22, 2023

_WW_ said:
Rocks!
When I first met my wife she had a box of rocks. Since 1982 I have moved that box of rocks twice in CO, twice in TX, twice in VA, and three times here in WA. These rocks have also been moved from one box to an upgraded, more sturdy type of box several times. Someday...she is going to do something with them...

I guess at least she doesn’t keep asking for a new rock?

Brute · Oct 22, 2023

In Hawaii, it is considered bad luck to take a rock from certain areas home to the mainland…many such rocks have been mailed back…

_WW_ · Oct 22, 2023

Matt B said:
I guess at least she doesn’t keep asking for a new rock?

Well...every new box is bigger than the last one.

SurfnFish · Oct 22, 2023

decades ago, took a last wave after a way fun session at a fave surf spot, a hike in off the radar, and this rock was sitting right in front of when I landed on the beach, been with me ever since...the talismans we empower are a reflection of the space within

Pink Nighty · Oct 22, 2023

albula said:
I always enjoyed bringing home unusual rocks collected from waters around the world where I have fished. Here are a few that were sitting on the fireplace. The brownish volcanic one is from a Kamchatka river, the Sopochanya, the smaller gray one from the Ruakituri on the north island of NZ and the large schmoo, a granitic rock from a famous BC steelhead stream. Often wondered what kind of story it has to tell.

View attachment 87103

The large one with the hole looks like it was hydraulically drilled. A rock hit that one just right during a flood and started to spin until it drilled through it. I'm not totally sure, but the spiral pattern looks suspiciously like the threads on a drill.

albula · Oct 22, 2023

Pink Nighty said:
The large one with the hole looks like it was hydraulically drilled. A rock hit that one just right during a flood and started to spin until it drilled through it. I'm not totally sure, but the spiral pattern looks suspiciously like the threads on a drill.

How would you guess this one was formed?