How to use GemTrails.com

Introduction - GemTrails.com is intended to provide up to date information on rockhounding locations listed in the various Gem Trails books. As there are hundreds of these sites, we can only succeed if all Gem Trails users contribute by posting and commenting on their experiences. In order to contribute, users must be registered. Registrations will help us eliminate spam from the blog and it will help ensure that contributors are serious. You must provide your email address in order to register, but we pledge that we will never use your address for any commercial purpose and we will never sell or share it for any reason without obtaining your prior explicit approval.

Finding Gem Trails Site Information – You do not need to be logged in to GemTrails.com in order to use the site for information. Gem Trails uses the blog format to facilitate user contributions. Unfortunately, at present there is no good indexing capability. However, there are a few ways to navigate the Gem Trails to look for the rockhounding site you are interested in..

  1. By State – Click on your state under ‘Categories’ in the left hand column. Only postings for that state will be shown and you should be able to scroll down looking for the site by name and or number.
  2. By rock or mineral – Look at the ‘Popular Tags’ list in the right hand column and click on a rock or mineral that is the site is known for. Only postings that are tagged as such will be shown and again you should be able to scroll down looking for the site by name and or number. If more than one type of material is supposed to be found at the site, you can try various tags to shorten the number of sites shown.

If you can’t find a site listing, it means no one has yet contributed information for it

Posting Site Information – You must be a registered user and logged in to Gem Trails to create or edit a post. You will not be able to edit another user’s post, but you can make comments. To post, click on the ‘WordPress Admin’ link on the bottom right corner of any Gem Trails page. This will take you to the Dashboard Screen. In the left column under ‘Posts’ click on ‘Add New’ to write a new post or ‘Edit’ to update a prior post. Title your posts with the same title used in the Gem Trails book and include the state abbreviation and site number. Please make sure your post includes at least 3 sections: Directions, where you can provide details on locating the rockhounding site; Date, month and year of your vist; and Notes, where you will list details of your experience. Provide as much detail as you can on how you found the site, including GPS coordinates and/or maps, particularly if the book information was misleading or incomplete. If you have photos to include, click on the little screen icon just right of the ‘Upload/Insert’ label then on the form provided, browse to the photo on your computer and then enter a caption. Before publishing your post, remember to select the ‘ Gem Trails by State’ category and the ‘State’ category for the site. Also, please add tags for the names of any rocks, gems or minerals that you have mentioned in your post. Click where it says ‘Add new tag’ and enter the tags, separated by commas; then click ‘Add’.

Commenting on Site Posts – You must be a registered user and logged in to comment on a post. If you have not done so, click on the title of the post and display the ‘Leave a Comment’ option at the bottom of the post. Click on ‘add one now’ and write your post in  the comment box. Then click ‘Submit’.

Logging On to Gem Trails – Click on the ‘WordPress Admin’ link on the bottom right corner of any Gem Trails page. This will take you to the login screen where you can enter your Username and Password.

Registering for Gem Trails – Click on the ‘WordPress Admin’ link on the bottom right corner of any Gem Trails page. This will take you to the login screen where you can click on the ‘Register’ link. Then at the Register page, enter your desired Username and your email address. A password will be emailed to you. Retrieve your password and login. You may change your password after logging on and going to the click on the ‘WordPress Admin’