Rockhounding New Mexico

More than a third of New Mexico is public land that holds untold quantities of mineralogical treasure. With this book anyone can learn where to find unusual mineral displays, fossils, jasper, agate, petrified wood—not to mention more obsidian than one rockhound could possibly collect in a lifetime. The array and quality of such materials just waiting to be found in New Mexico are almost mind-boggling.

Rockhounding New Mexico describes 140 of the state's best rockhound sites, covering popular and commercial sites as well as numerous little-known areas. This handy guide describes where and how to collect specimens, includes maps of each site as well as directions, and provides reliable recommendations for accommodations, camping, and other special attractions. It is, in short, a complete and outstanding introduction to the many sides of a fascinating hobby.

Ruta Vaskys and Martin Freed have had a number of careers including faculty appointments at various colleges, entrepreneurs, trapping and collecting wild herbs in Vermont and Alaska and outdoors and conservation writers and photographers.

Ms. Vaskys has a BS in Occupational Therapy and a masters in counseling. She has worked in both fields and has been a professional commercial artist. She studied at the Maryland Institute of Art, the Richmond Professional Institute and did her graduate study at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Mr. Freed taught geology, chemistry, oceanography and mathematics at a number of colleges and universities. He graduated from Coastal Carolina with a BS and did his graduate work at the University of Alaska in physical oceanography.

Before going to graduate school the couple built a cabin in the Green Mountains of Vermont and lived without electricity or running water for a number of years.

After graduate school, Martin and Ruta made Alaska their home. In 1988 they bought another home on the Eastern Shore Virginia and currently have residences in Fairbanks, AK and in Quinby, VA. They split the year between the two.

They started writing outdoor articles in the mid 1980s and have sold articles to many regional as well national publications. Some of these are: Fur, Fish and Game, Easy Street, the Eastern Shore News, Maryland Life, The Mid-Atlantic Fisherman, What¿s Up Annapolis, Shotgun Magazine, The Chesapeake Angler, The Salisbury (MD) Times, Alaska, Fish Alaska, Game and Fish and many others. Both are members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA.)

The couple's first book Fishing Virginia was released in the Spring of 2007.

The couple met on top of Mount Abraham in Vermont in 1976 and have been climbing mountains together ever since.