About

Q: What is the Rock Spoon?

A stainless spoon head on a golf shaft, held like a club, that lifts one stone out of packed sand without kneeling. Built by hand at Higgins Lake and replaced free if it breaks.

Q: Can my shop carry this?

Yes. One shop per zip code gets exclusivity on the line, and anything can be customized for the store. Details at skiptherock.com/wholesale.

Who made it

I'm Steven. I live on Higgins Lake and I've spent my life picking things up off these beaches. Skip is the rock I drew for the brand, and everything here grew out of him: the posters, the app, the spoon, the shirts my friends kept asking me to print.

The whole thing started after I adopted a 27-year-old cat. Yes, really. That's why ten percent of every order goes to northern Michigan animal shelters.

Spoons are built by hand here, posters and shirts print to order, and I ship each piece the day it is ready. If a spoon breaks, I replace it.

Home water

The cabin on Higgins, the yard, and the three who run the place.

sunset over Higgins Lake from the dock — HIGGINS LAKE

Lucy and Calvin sharing the window sill — LUCY AND CALVIN

Murphy, the old one — MURPHY, THE OLD ONE

Lucy watching the yard from the window — LUCY ON WATCH

Calvin wearing sunglasses in the window — CALVIN, A.K.A. MEGATRON

Lucy inspecting a locket full of small stones — QUALITY CONTROL

one of the cats holding down the couch — COUCH DUTY

the back yard at dusk with the lights on — LIGHTS ON

the blue doors on the side of the cabin — NOCTURNE BLUE

Ten percent of every order goes to northern Michigan animal shelters. These three are the reason.

Skip's the name

The unofficial mascot of Great Lakes rockhounds.

If you walk the beach with your eyes down, he is for you. Skip started as a doodle of a rock with a face, and he turned into the part people recognize before they know my name. Everything on this site got built around him.

Every stone in the guide carries a rarity tier, bedrock to grail, the way trading cards do. A Petoskey stone is an uncommon. Isle Royale greenstone is a grail. Once it clicks that this is a Michigan beach turned into a card collection, you won't keep people off the shore.

The give-back

10% of every orderGoes to northern Michigan animal shelters: Roscoe Rescue and the Roscommon County Animal Shelter. For every $50 you spend, a rescue animal eats for about a week.

Give straight to themRoscoe Rescue and the Roscommon County Animal Shelter. If you'd rather skip the store and donate directly, the links are in the footer.

The app costs nothing, everThe Rock Journal has no account, no ads, and collects nothing. Your finds stay on your phone. It installs from the browser, no app store.

Collecting rules, printedThe posters carry the line I actually mean: protect our shores, take less than you love. I want these beaches worth walking in thirty years.

Quick facts

Everything about the brand on one screen.

Brand

Skip the Rock (skiptherock)

What it is

A rockhounding brand for the Great Lakes: field guide posters, a free rock logging app, shirts, and a spoon for lifting stones off the beach.

Run by

Steven Berkobien, on his own

Where

Higgins Lake, Roscommon County, Michigan

Made

Spoons built by hand here. Posters and shirts printed to order.

Posters

18 x 24 inches, $19.99 each, or $30 for both. The specimen field guide and the Lake Superior agates poster, plus two Mohs hardness charts that are free to download.

The Rock Spoon

$19.99. Stainless head on a golf shaft, so you lift a stone without bending over.

Shirts

Comfort Colors, garment dyed, sizes S through 4XL.

The app

The Rock Journal. Free forever, no account, no ads, nothing collected. It installs from your browser at skiptherock.com/journal

The roster

48 Great Lakes stones and fossils, each with a rarity tier from bedrock to grail.

Giving back

10% of every order goes to northern Michigan animal shelters: Roscoe Rescue and the Roscommon County Animal Shelter.

If it breaks

I replace a spoon, free, for as long as you own it.

Wholesale

Open to shops, with zip code exclusivity. skiptherock.com/wholesale

Text

815-768-5358

steven.berkobien@theberk.com

Social

@skiptherockMI on Facebook, @skiptherock on Instagram, @skiptherocksmi on TikTok

Questions I get

What is Skip the Rock?

A small Michigan brand for people who walk the beach with their eyes down. I make field guide posters of the 48 Great Lakes stones and fossils, a free app to log what you find, shirts, and a spoon that lifts a rock out of the sand.

What rock did I find?

Start with the field guide at skiptherock.com/rocks, which shows all 48 with a drawing and a photograph of each. The Rock Journal app has the same roster in your pocket, along with the beaches where each one turns up.

Is the app really free?

Yes, and it stays free. No account, no ads, and nothing leaves your phone. It installs straight from the browser, so there is no app store in the way.

Where do the posters ship from, and how fast?

They print to order and ship rolled in a tube, usually within about a week. If you are near Higgins Lake, text me and I will hand it to you instead.

What is the Rock Spoon?

A stainless spoon head on a golf shaft. You hold it like a club and lift one stone out of packed sand without kneeling down. I build them by hand at the lake, and if one ever breaks I replace it.

Can my shop carry this?

Yes. I give one shop per zip code exclusivity on the line, and I can customize anything for your store. The details are at skiptherock.com/wholesale, or text me.

Where does the 10% go?

Roscoe Rescue in Roscommon and the Roscommon County Animal Shelter. It started because I adopted a 27 year old cat, and the links to donate to them directly are in the footer.

Where can I actually find these stones?

Anywhere the ice dropped gravel, which is most of the Michigan shoreline. The app maps the beaches I have walked, and the posters print the collecting rules, because I want these beaches worth walking in thirty years.