Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine | JUL ’19 51W
e all have that one rock. Our favorite rock. The rock. We
remember exactly where we found it, who we were with,
the weather—everything. My rock is a Leland Blue the color
of a robin’s egg and about the size of my fist. I found it on a sunny
afternoon in June 2016. The air was 80-something degrees and
Lake Michigan was that stop-and-stare Caribbean blue. It was
sitting in the sand on Van’s Beach about 10 feet from the water’s
edge. I held on to it so tightly on the walk home, that the round
outline was imprinted on my palm.
Perhaps no one understands the lure of the rock better than
Traverse City’s Kevin Gauthier. When Kevin was nine, he spent
the summer lying on his surfboard face-down in Lake Leelanau
looking for Petoskey stones. He filled shoe boxes with his treasures,
and pretty soon, his entire closet was stacked high with heavy,
rock-filled shoe boxes.
Years later, Kevin turned down a promotion at his job in Chicago
and instead came back home to start a rock shop. It’s a decision
he doesn’t regret 21 years later. At Korner Gem, tucked across the
street from West Grand Traverse Bay and Greilickville Harbor Park,
you’ll find thousands of stones in every color—and Kevin grinning
as he polishes a Petoskey.
Kevin Gauthier gives us a lesson on Northern Michigan’s most
iconic stones...KELSIE SULLIVAN / DUDLEY
MARCELINA CLARK PHOTOGRAPHY
MICHIGAN
ROCKHOUNDING
IS A PASSION
UNLIKE ANYWHERE
ELSE ON EARTH,
BECAUSE WE HAVE
THE BEST DARN
BEACHES ANYWHERE
ON EARTH.
GRAB A BUCKET,
THE SUNBLOCK
AND KEEP YOUR
EYES ON THE PRIZE.