Rockbound 2026

Annual Meeting

The annual gathering for field labs, certification clinics, publication sessions, chapter leadership, and member exhibits.

Featured materials

Common member references

Guided outings with safety briefings, locality notes, and post-trip specimen review.

Committee meetings, awards, board updates, and member listening sessions.

Publication tables, club displays, educator resources, and ARE Field Shop merchandise.

An annual chapter fundraiser and crystallographic competition in which Rockies compete to grow the largest, clearest, and most improbably…

A summer day trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats to study evaporite crusts, collect hopper-faced halite, and run the only sanctioned taste …

A joint session of the confectionery geology program: carbon dioxide vesiculation in candy and lava, with a strictly regulated tasting lab.

The largest regional mineral show in the Pacific Northwest, featuring dealers, identification clinics, and the ARE chapter showcase.

The 2022 meeting in Albuquerque explored Rio Grande rift geology, with a desert-rose selenite field lab and the first confectionery geolo…

The 2023 meeting in Tucson leaned into Basin and Range geology, lapidary demonstrations, and the desert show season.

The 2024 meeting in Salt Lake City paired Wasatch and Great Basin field trips with safety clinics and a strong educator track.

The 2025 gathering in Denver brought field labs in the Front Range, certification clinics, and a record exhibit hall to the foot of the R…

Four days of field labs, certification clinics, publication sessions, chapter leadership, and member exhibits.

A hands-on January weekend on specimen photography and documentation, feeding directly into the documentation specialist credential.

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Field Guides Rock & Mineral Identification Safety Standards Certification Member Benefits