bkbend - 1-19-2014 at 11:41 AM
I'll be needing to pull a small utility trailer NB later this spring. Empty, the thing hops all over the road so I'm thinking of loading it with
enough rock to keep it grounded. Looking at the recent import thread I see that soil is a prohibited item, so can I hose the sand off the rocks and
bring them across the border? Or will I be inviting hassles? I'm lodged in the camp that brings and declares nothing in hopes of avoiding secondary.
I'm old and lazy and trying to avoid unloading the rocks near the border and reloading once back in CA. Thanks
[Edited on 1-19-2014 by bkbend]
jimgrms - 1-19-2014 at 11:47 AM
Buy a plastic trash can and fill it with water , if hassled at the border dump the water then refill it in ca .
weebray - 1-19-2014 at 11:50 AM
Remember, you are a criminal trying to enter the US illegally. It is assumed that you are trying to smuggle contraband into the motherland. The term
"rock" is a euphemism for cocaine. You complain that you are old and tired. Are you willing to spend an afternoon breaking rocks at the secondary
inspection area? Why not haul a load of dead fish like most of the overfishermen in Baja do?
dasubergeek - 1-20-2014 at 07:50 AM
Buy a couple of bags of concrete.
PaulW - 1-20-2014 at 08:41 AM
Tire pressure to high when unloaded
bkbend - 1-20-2014 at 09:38 AM
Thanks for the ideas. I'll look into the water or concrete options (but not together). The trashcan might be a little tippy but I'll think along
that line only with a different container.
bajalearner - 1-20-2014 at 09:39 AM
I wil be going through the SY border Today (Monday MLK day) or tomorrow and I will ask the guard about rocks and report back on this thread if that
helps you.
David K - 1-20-2014 at 10:12 AM
Rocks must be free of soil (dirt)... but that was back before the current batch were hired and don't know or can't used logic in their thinking. I
have lots of rocks from Baja... well, until I moved last summer into a smaller place. I still have some. You will know my door because there is a big
chunk of El Marmol onyx outside it! 
bajalearner - 1-22-2014 at 07:26 AM
Tuesday night I crossed n/b at S/Y and asked the guard about bringing rocks to the US. He said he has never heard that they would be illegal. As far
as he knows,the rocks would not be a problem.
bkbend - 1-22-2014 at 10:09 AM
Thanks, bajalearner!
rocks going north to U.S.
noserider - 1-22-2014 at 10:35 AM
bk,over the past few years I have been bringing beach rocks across with no problem , I have had discussions with customs officers in secondary about
the rocks and they have told Me they are not a problem to bring back, I tell them use them for landscaping at My home, just declare them to the
officer at the booth and be specific that they are beach rocks or whatever type, don't just say rocks because could get You sent to secondary, I was
asked once if I meant diamonds when I said rocks.
Pompano - 1-22-2014 at 10:48 AM
Make sure you clean your rocks.
"Do you want to start a wheat blight in North Dakota?"
...was what the customs inspector (an Ag) asked me when he saw a box of odd rocks I had collected while rummaging around the Baja Sur outback. I had
guilty images of the folks back home starving on their barren farms while I helped him wash the rocks on a table with a hose.
I left with 'clean rocks' and a clear conscience.
'Soil is prohibited' was forever etched into my mind.
dasubergeek - 1-22-2014 at 02:05 PM
That explains why they don't like it when my truck is dirty... which it usually is. 
bajalearner - 1-23-2014 at 08:48 AM
The discusion above about cleaning the rocks, made me remember that the CBP guard also told me that he did not see a problem "unless the rocks have a
fungus or something".
As other's have said, I would wash and brush the rocks so they are very clean looking.
bkbend - 1-23-2014 at 10:30 AM
It's no problem to wash the rocks before heading north. I'm still not discounting an alternate ballast, my yard NOB sits on a lava flow outcrop and
I've got no shortage of rock for landscaping. More of a problem of what to do with it when the other half wants another flower bed. Thanks again for
the advice!