Rubies are among the most precious gemstones in the world. They are formed naturally in the earth under specific conditions and can be found on many places around the world. I thought to myself that this could be an adventure to find these gemstones. If you search for rubies in Norway, you can find some fairytales about the gemstone, but they are well hidden in the forest.
Rubies are only created when very specific minerals are combined together, and the most necessary of which is the mineral corundum. When rubies are treated to extreme heat and pressure, such as when continents collide, they are formed under the earth’s surface. The red color varies in depth and clarity, and these are graded by using color and clarity. The ruby gemstone is also a birthstone, which is a gemstone that represents a person’s month of birth. Birthstones are often worn as jewelry or as a pendant. Ruby is the birthstone of December. The rubies which is found in Norway, don’t have that clarity you want on a ring, but I still wanted to go for a hunt after them. I used google and knowledge to locate them. They are found in Aust-Agder, Froland. They can be found in a very small area, which means it’a almost like finding a needle in a haystack!
The gemstone hunt started out in Kragerø, Norway. From this location we drove to Arendal. The municipality is bordered to the northwest by Froland, where the rubies is hidden in the forest. The rubies are located at Kleggåsen. You have to walk deep into the forest to find the area where the gemstone is located. Luckily for you, other people have found the path, which makes it easier for you to find during the summer.
After walking for an hour in the rain, we saw a mountain of rock where there were many holes in the ground, and it looked like someone had dug there. As we got closer, we found rubies almost immediately, they were everywhere. They were quite small, but there were so many of them that we thought it was quite sick. We didn’t even have to dig for them. Some of them were slightly larger, but none of the rubies we found were transparent. They were porous and most likely have little value. We were not looking for the values of the rubies, but rather the adventure.
Going on adventures looking for gems was exciting. We didn’t know what we were getting into or whether we would find something. It may be that you have ideas that they should look perfect, as you do with the jeweler. It was not so, and rubies often need to be heat treated to obtain clarity in the stones. It’s exciting to see what the earth has to offer. If you use the eye and get down to the ground level you can find so much wonder. It is important to keep your curiosity and care for the beautiful planet we have. Maybe you’re going to look for gems? Where do you want to look?
Hike & Adventure 