Garret Romaine

Garret Romaine

Garret Romaine is an avid gold prospector, rockhound, and fossil collector with years of experience in the field. He is a longtime writer for Gold Prospectors magazine and is the author of multiple books on geology, field collecting, and prospecting including The Practical Geologist; Modern Rockhounding and Prospecting Handbook; Rocks, Gems, and Minerals of the Southwest; Rocks, Gems, and Minerals of the Rocky Mountains; and Rockhounding Idaho, all from FalconGuides, as well as Geology Labs for Kids from Quartto Press and Gem Trails of Oregon, Gem Trails of Washington, and Gem Trails of Northern California for Gem Guides.

Garret started his writing career as a sports reporter for the Valley Times in Forest Grove, Oregon, and worked for the Newberg Times and Willamette Week on the energy & environment beat before switching to the Oregon high-tech industry. Garret earned a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Oregon and a master’s degree in geography from the University of Washington, and completed his education with an MBA from Portland State University. He worked as a technical writer, managed teams of writers, and taught in the technical communication department at Portland State University before retiring in 2022.

After writing multiple books on Pacific Northwest geology and field collecting, Garret joined the board of directors at the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals in Hillsboro, Oregon. He also served a stint as interim executive director at the museum, and now volunteers there. Garret has two children and has been married to Cindy Romaine since 1979.