My neighbor had rocks this size (and larger) put in her backyard. She hired a company that came out with a crane to 'install' them.

The rocks you need to transport sound wonderful, and we know how excited you are. We've hauled all of our own granite rocks home over the last 10 years from distances of up to 50 miles. Ours have all been under 1500 pounds, though. A few of them are pictured below. (I went outside tonight and took some pics in the dark right after I read your post!)

It can be done, but safety is the biggest concern. It is good to have help; there are 4 of us, our two teenage sons and my DH and myself; but we have loaded them with just two people, too. For the rocks pictured below, we used a car trailer capable of hauling 2000 pounds and a (now very tired) 1991 Buick Century to pull it. To load the rocks, we use chain come-alongs and basically ratchet the rock up onto the deck of the trailer. Our trailer has a bed that tilts, which makes it much easier to load them, but there have been times we couldn't tilt it due to obstructions, so in those cases, we used either very heavy planks or an I-beam for a ramp. You can wrap the rocks with burlap or other heavy protective material (old rugs) where the chains will be attached to protect them from scarring. After the rock is loaded, check the position of the rock on the trailer to see if it is centered and balanced well. We use several heavy chains to secure it to the trailer from all 4 corners and 4X4 scrap lumber to block the rock from rolling. We always carry crowbars in the trunk, too. We have trailer gates,but as you can see in the picture, the gates and the trailer have had a hard life. We have always been able to find backroads that enable us to drive slowly with minimal traffic, but I realize that's not always possible. A point to remember is your vehicle's stopping distance towing a trailer with a 1500 pound rock on will be GREATLY increased, ALWAYS err on the side of caution.

Unloading is much simpler, but still dangerous; we try to get the rocks as close to their new home as possible, stand clear and tilt the trailer bed again...but sometimes they have to be pried off. After they are on the ground, we move them with crowbars and blocks of wood. It is amazing how easily a stone can be moved this way once you get the hang of it.

So much depends on the size of your trailer, any helpers available to you and most of all whether you'd feel comfortable attempting this as it is dangerous...maybe you could hire the biggest stones loaded and hauled professionally if you're uneasy with all of the above and haul the smaller ones yourself.

Having had experience with stone delivered by dumptrucks, you're right, they will crash into each other when unloaded unless only one rock is on board at a time, but then there's the cost to consider, too.
So, safety first and whatever your decision, we wish you the best of luck with this adventure, and hope you keep us posted on the outcome! :-) Karen

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We had a dump truck full of rocks delivered when we first build our house. Most of them were not smooth, but looked more like Karen's. They were dumped in a pile in our yard which was just sand at the time. They sat there all winter and in the spring were placed with a loader. I think they probably got scratched up at the time, but I don't remember scratches on them and the don't have any noticable scratches on them now, 5 years later.

I've hauled smaller rocks than the ones you described by rolling them up a 2x12 into the back of my Jeep.

I'm not sure why I'm even writing this, since Karen has TONS more experience than I do! I just know how fun it is to get new rocks in your yard. Have fun with your new rocks and post a picture when you're done, please.

As I see it your problem is going be the loading and "a farmer with a huge tractor" scares me. The problem will be how much the rocks are embedded in the soil, I would be much happier with Karens method although you might want to consider a kevlar strap instead of the chains if your aim is to minimise damage. As for unloading and placement this depends on how close you can get to the final destination and the surface surrounding it. For instance if you get one up into the back of your truck and you can reverse to where you want the rock you can drop it off the back (remove the tailgate first). If the surrounding area is firm a rented fork lift will do the job, you either slide the forks under the rock or attach your strap. Moving large rocks along the ground can be done with a winch and scaffold poles on the ground for rolling over. Small rocks can be moved with a dolly.

Thanks for the input everone! Karen, thanks for the pictures, they really help. I liked seeing the picture of your trailer and how big the rocks are, because now I can visualize it better, and know what is possible. Most of the rocks I'm considering look about the size of the ones you show with the trowel. Some are larger. I really like the idea of old rugs and scrap wood to stop movement. I hadn't thought of that so your experience is quite useful!

If my friend only had 2 or 3 rocks I wouldn't even consider hiring loaders, etc, but since she has at least 10, it starts seeming like it might be worth it. They are in an old hedgerow, plucked from the fields decades ago, so it appears that most of them are not buried, but on top of the dirt. (never can be sure though :-) She lives right next door to a quarry (to give you an idea of the number of rocks she has) so if the farmer can't move the rocks, we can hire a guy from the quarry to come right next door.

By coincidence yesterday I struck up a conversation in the grocery store with a guy who turned out to be a truck driver with a flat bed trailer. I discussed with him and he said no problem to move granite stones on a flat bed. He said the straps he uses are rated for 6000 pounds and are very doable. He even agreed to do the job for $150, even though it will wind up being a few hours for him, with loading, unloading, driving etc. What a stroke of luck, no?

Now I need to line up a huge loader on this end. Then get the rocks more cleared, because saplings, bushes, brush, etc. cover them now. Probably do one pass with a tractor to get everything out and lined up. Then another day to get everything done.

Now I've got to get up the nerve to do it. (smile) I've never done a big project like this, but those rocks are calling me. I even dreamed about it all night last night. My mind is stuck on this. I know exactly where they will go, and I think it will look great! But I'm running out of time. We usually get snow in mid to late November, and the weather gets nasty. The rocks have to be taken in late fall after harvest, because the rest of the year the fields are planted in corn and the rocks aren't accessible.

Thanks for the encouragement, not everybody is crazy for rocks. When I talk about it here, most people just look at me strangely to think I want them. Makes me wonder if my design taste is really ok, or whether I'm fooling myself. Thank goodness for this forum, for like minded stone lovers.

Well, it's been a few days and I've just got to ask, what stage is the rock moving in? How lucky that you found a truck driver willing to haul them for a reasonable price. Now you won't have to worry about hauling them, and can concentrate on the fun part, placing them. Rest assured, you'd get no strange looks from me when you discuss rocks, in fact I'd want to go visit your friend who lives next door to the quarry, too! We're wishing you the best of luck with this adventure and hope you let us know what happens. :-) Karen

I'm going over this morning and we're having the farmer unbury the rocks and pull them out of the hedgerow. We'll get them all in place so loading next week will go smoothly. (we hope) We'll also put the farm tractor through the paces to see if it can lift some of the big guys to load them on the tractor trailer. If it's not powerful enough, we'll learn that today and line up the quarry loader for next weekend.

The truck is lined up for next Saturday. I wouldn't have made it such a production for one or two rocks. But since it's 10 or more, it seems better to leave the lifting and driving to professionals, since I think I got rather reasonable estimates. I'm sure I'll be back later for smaller ones, one-at-a-time.

I'm still lining up the unloading. A neighbor with a tractor and bucket says he can get them off the flat bed truck, but suggests not putting them in place until next spring, to save the lawn. We've had just enough rain to make the ground soft. I need to get them out of the field now, in the fall, because the farmer will have the field planted in corn next year and they will be inaccessible.

I'll take photos, and when it's all done (fingers crossed!) I'll post them. Wish me luck!

Congratulations! Thanks for the great story. I love hearing stories like yours and Karen's. I look forward to seeing how you use your rocks in your landscape next summer. Don't forget to post some more pictures!

Rob

Just to give yourself a thrill, you could call a professional landscaper and ask what it would cost for them to supply and deliver these rocks. I bet you would be even happier with your $500 deal! My brother bought 3 rocks a few years ago for a cost of over $500 and they were not nearly as huge as your boulders.
Laura

Well, Congratulations on getting those beauties home! I am very glad to hear it went so smoothly. Wow, they are gorgeous stones. Your four year old son is going to want to get involved with placing them next spring, just wait and see; our eldest son (now 19) was that age when we started gardening w/rocks and he's as addicted as we are.

As far as the cost goes, Laura is right; $500 is exceptionally reasonable for the type of work you had done and the amount of people involved. This was definitely a bargain. I know people who don't like rocks cannot understand:

1. Why you would want rocks in the first place
2. Why you would pay money for them
   (we have had many strange looks over the years, rest assured!)
   However, I'll bet they will understand when the garden is completed and they see the end result. Thanks for keeping us posted on what's going on and for your wonderful pictures. It's going to be REALLY hard to wait until spring now, isn't it? ;-) Karen

I have been moving rocks like those pictured all summer long. 2 or 3 and sometimes 4 at a time. I found some heavy plastic that is used to line landfills and laid that on the bottom of the landscape trailer. I then used a loader ( with Forks not a bucket) to place the rocks on the trailer. My wife and I then pulled the rocks off the trailer with a strap.We also found out that we could slide some pretty big rocks on pastic, like those (roll-up snow sleds) We struggled a little but got them here and have them placed about where we want the majority of them. the rest will be moved with a bobcat. We have several tons in now ready for the pond building this spring.


The largest of the rocks 4'+ dia. we that we have yet to bring home we are going to move by dump truck..

So you may want to mention forks instead of a bucket they are much easier to get the rocks on.

BoneCarver - good point about the forks. If you have them available they probably do work better. Looks like you have a beautiful bunch of rocks.

I'd like to know where I can get my hands on some of that plastic. I've been thinking myself that if I could just have a big sled, I could drag these rocks across the snow in the winter and they would cause a lot less damage to the grass and be a lot easier. Need to do some more research on moving the rocks into place . . .

Here are some pics of my kids enjoying the rocks. They are happy with them already. Probably be too wet in spring to move, I'll have to wait until summer.

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I am not sure where you would find the plastic such as I used. I work for the county and just happened on some scarp pieces.
I see from the fence you might be a farm.. if so does that include a tractor? or even a suv, I used the Excursion to move some, but it was kind of big to Maneuver in the tight spots. LOL
I know this sounds a bit crude but the right car hood would work as a sled that would slide on snow, even on of the kids, saucer shaped sleds would work for some.

Never can have enough rocks..

Good look
Curt

A car hood . . . . that might work, probably can find one somewhere. (no, not the neighbors') We have a tractor to drag them. I still have a few months to work this out.

What would have the quarry charged to deliver 12 tons of rock? I got a load for $400 from a quarry 40 miles away. I like working with quarry rock over glacial field stone. The fieldstone does look nice next to water though. The broken quarry stone makes better ridges.

Congratulations! You are going to have a fun time placing those rocks.

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