as i was walking along an old stone wall that i have walked so often in my childhood i was struck with the idea that it would be really neat to take a nice sized rock home to my fire pit and when i had a nice fire i would be warmed with memories of my youth. as i was walking back home home with rock in tow i thought man wouldn't it be nice to have a couple rocks on the fire pit from different, special places of my youth? i plan to do it slowly as i revist special places and slowly build a warm fire of memories. could be just me being me but i thought i would share the idea in case it might sound nice to someone else.

Thanks foe sharing Ken, thats a great idea  

That is a cool idea. Thanks for sharing!

Stones do that to people...they talk.
When the Forest Service demolished and removed the chestnut shelter I used to use, they also removed the fire pit. A group of my friends rebuilt it, with my help, and the pit means more than ever.

I walked the creek I used to walk as a child, where I had lost a freshly-shed tooth (came out as I was drinking at a fountain at school, lost it in the creek on the way home and picked up a white toothy-looking rock to place under my pillow to fool the Tooth Fairy with. It worked!). I spied a special rock there, some forty years later and took it with me as a remembrance. Do they do things for us? Yes, in our souls. And I believe that the things they do for us is payment for the "taxi service" we provide them, taking them further along in their journeys. Their journeys last for all time, and we will never know their beginnings nor their ends. It is an honor to encounter them and pass time with them, then, for we become part of the everlasting trek.

I know you will see much as you gaze into the coals of your fire pit. Thanks for sharing.
Killdeer  

I have done the same.  
It reminds me of "the rocks are gonna talk and the rivers will sing out in praise"
Last falls elk hunt I grabbed a couple rocks and rusty nails from the ground up on a 10,000 foot peak's old fire lookout.  Someday (when my backyard is a bit bigger perhaps) I plan on building my bow workshop and I am going to re-create that lookout... windows all around with the hinged-upwards shutters...

and it'll have that handfull of small rocks on the front doorstep as well as a couple nails...


Mike

its funny why we feel the need'want of doing things as i am constantly picking up rocks along my walks and carring them for awhile then setting them down. i have allways done this, unsure of why but when i read things like Killdeer wrote i know i'm not alone. i run often and carry a rock that i found for strength, just feels right, feels strong and alive.
 Elk Ninja,
thanks for sharing the picture, i love to see area like that, beautifull!

For some reason I can't explain, I like to bring back rocks from places I've visited, hunted, etc.  There certainly is something 'cool' about rocks.

When friends go to far away places, that I will never be able to visit, I always ask them to bring me back a pebble, aor a small stone.  These visitors, now tell me stories of far away places and long ago times.  Every pebble has a special place in my spirit!

I take a little bit of charcoal from each fire on my hunts and add it to my collection to add to my Mojo.

I crush it all together and use it to blacken my face while hunting - That way everyone that has enjoyed the fellowship of the fires is along with me while hunting -

Regards;

T-Bell

That is an awesome idea Ken. Thanks. I know of a few stones that I would like to bring home for something like that.

T-Bell,
      i have also taken ashes from old camp fires that i have found in the woods from long, long ago. makes ya wonder about the past visitors and their stories.

You do have a way with words Killdeer. All of you are sharing some pretty neat thoughts. Thanks.
Making me think of my son.
Sitting here...with the cursor blinking. Fingers on the keys...Trying to think of how to say...Momentos, like rocks and seashells bring back memories.

Ken,
I have a coffee table FULL of various mineral specimens, pottery shards, arrowheads, axes, etc that I have picked up all over the country- TX, NM, WY, IN, OH, NJ, NC, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Northwest Territories, CA, AZ and all I have to do is look at them, or pick them up to remember exactly hwere I was and what I was doing at the time.

I can't explain it either, just know I like it and its pleasurable to do- I don't really feel a need to explain it to others or justify..I just know its a fun thing to do that makes me happy.

Near where I live a man has collected rocks for years to honor the memory of his grandmother who was transported to Oklahoma during the Trail of Tears, escaped and walked all the way back to north Alabama. He wrote a book about her journey.

The wall he built from these rocks is so incredible it is hard to imagine one man accomplishing such a task.

Now people bring him rocks from all over the world to leave in this sacred place. I have some ancient nutting stones I am going to give to him to put in the wall, he has one section that looks like faces and the nutting stones would fit perfectly.

Scroll down on the link and you can see his wall.

http://www.spiderruth.com/Tennessee%20Fitness%20Spa.htm

when i was over last oct man that sounds so long ago LOL!!! any ways me bob and his son bobby were walking up this little ridge and bobby spots somthing on the ground and picks it up it was a bit of cristal rock so that had me looking as well and i found two nice little bits that i brought home. every time i look at it i laugh as it reminds me of ralph hes the guy i left behind as i didnot want to bring him home with me. LOL!! and of all the real nice people i saw like killie and ron- martin -bob- rob -tommy -chuck i dont know there trad names but hey it was like family. they all had a laugh at ralph i think this pic will say it all.thanks for the real good time i had while i was over there guys your all tops in my book. oh and you to killie  

Yup.  I've been bring rocks, and sometimes bones and tree/plant parts and other stuff, home from my hunting trips for a lot of years.  They work better than my journals in jarring my memory.

broke the new "memory pit" in today with friends and family, will add more as i go along. great day.

Pretty cool post! I'm constantly picking up rocks and other items when I'm out walking about. Sometimes I carry them for a while like Ken mentioned and then just decide to put them down. Other times they get added to my collection of rocks and things that I have laying around at home. They each have a story and bring back memories of good times and places  

yup it sure is a neat post thanks forstarting it bro.

I came across what appeared to be an ancient fire pit in Michigans` Upper penninsula. I was in a Cedar swamp, and either a Cedar tree grew up in the middle of it, or someone placed the rocks in a circle around the tree. Either way, I left the stones where they were, but dug some of the dirt from within the circle, and took it home.

I put it in a jar, and gave it to my wife for Christmas. She loved it, and it sits on top of her piano.

I was gonna take a rock, but I had severly underestimated how long it would take me to get back to a road, and I knew I was gonna have to double time most of the hike back to camp so everyone wouldn`t be worried.