tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77884016560554946742024-03-14T02:31:30.937-07:00RockchaserRockhounding, Gold Prospecting, Offroading, Lapidary (gem cutting), Silverwork, rock shop life, and other stories of foolish adventure.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-84373161140308405802015-12-08T17:53:00.000-08:002015-12-08T17:53:46.321-08:00Want to see more great rocks? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCOKm1hcHvE/VmeGoKrnKUI/AAAAAAAAAeg/eX94Hah07pQ/s1600/pegminebefore%2B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cCOKm1hcHvE/VmeGoKrnKUI/AAAAAAAAAeg/eX94Hah07pQ/s320/pegminebefore%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--mW5GtgmEmQ/VmeGrUvc37I/AAAAAAAAAek/Kl5OvLogS6Y/s1600/pegmineglassy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--mW5GtgmEmQ/VmeGrUvc37I/AAAAAAAAAek/Kl5OvLogS6Y/s320/pegmineglassy.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_nQmY5x1xFA/VmeGuCiz-DI/AAAAAAAAAes/UEZfPyUJ2qk/s1600/pegminesessa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_nQmY5x1xFA/VmeGuCiz-DI/AAAAAAAAAes/UEZfPyUJ2qk/s640/pegminesessa.jpg" width="640" /></a>For the continuing adventures of Sesame Pooch and the Temple of Jargoon (jargoon is a pale variety of zircon and this is a word play on The Temple of Doom), please check out my new blog location: http://landofstrange.com/blog/ . These particular photos are from my post Journey to the Pegmatite Mine: http://landofstrange.com/journey-to-the-pegmatite-mine/ . I will be posting all my new happenings there on my new blog, some rockhounding and gemstone related stories and some shop related stories. And of course always some Sesame Pooch related stories! I hope to see you all again soon! :-) -Eva<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-68196834327221215662014-02-03T00:03:00.001-08:002014-02-03T09:36:07.872-08:00Copper Creek, San Marcos, California<br />
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A spur of of the moment decision, we visited an old copper mining area in San Marcos, California called Copper Creek. Walking through chaparral trails and then through soggy riparian areas, we saw many new kinds of plants but strangely not a single poison oak bush was to be found. Usually they thrive in such conditions but not here.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5tU8szJpuk8/Uu9HTp6cOQI/AAAAAAAAAcs/9SYgfRJAyY8/s1600/coppercreek2014f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5tU8szJpuk8/Uu9HTp6cOQI/AAAAAAAAAcs/9SYgfRJAyY8/s1600/coppercreek2014f.jpg" height="120" width="200" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gW7_PPbXnN8/Uu9HcQA22DI/AAAAAAAAAc0/60149wS0S2M/s1600/coppercreek2014e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gW7_PPbXnN8/Uu9HcQA22DI/AAAAAAAAAc0/60149wS0S2M/s1600/coppercreek2014e.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a>First the dirt was an ordinary brown grey color, but then it became rusty red (first photo) until finally becoming stained green, all because of native copper in the soil. A gentle river meandered through the steep canyon walls and we crossed many small wood plank foot bridges on our way. Copper ore is known to make beautiful green or blue rocks and that was what we wanted to see!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h0SIokXGRLE/Uu9IGJEJSMI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/2hE-aNC_alo/s1600/coppercreek2014b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h0SIokXGRLE/Uu9IGJEJSMI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/2hE-aNC_alo/s1600/coppercreek2014b.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
The mining itself was done in the late 1800s with considerable infrastructure being built, including a large rounded dam (see second photo), road improvements, and large platforms to station the highliner and equipment to ferry the ore to the main road. The platforms were made using local rock, the cement of the time, and sections of metal cable instead of rebar. Over a hundred years later, the platforms are still in good condition!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BWJRQDKZVKQ/Uu9HhwNLFII/AAAAAAAAAc8/7G5YpJ53ZqY/s1600/coppercreek2014d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BWJRQDKZVKQ/Uu9HhwNLFII/AAAAAAAAAc8/7G5YpJ53ZqY/s1600/coppercreek2014d.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Throughout the hillsides, small diggings, strewn rock tailings, and green stained rocks were evident. Just above the platforms, an apparent spill zone from the ore carts showed us what they were likely after, green crumbly dirt clods of copper ore, easy to mine and easy to extract the ore from, because they were so soft. That same softness meant that the pretty green rocks would have no use for jewelry or collection but they did give the countryside an interesting flare. Many years previously, I had visited this same area and one of our party at that time was able to find an area where small nodules of natural copper lay on top of the soil in their more pure copper metal state, but after so much time, I was unable to remember where or know if they were still there. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T6Sq2sD8cj4/Uu9HkUqgCkI/AAAAAAAAAdE/bLCBQW5eBSY/s1600/coppercreek2014c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T6Sq2sD8cj4/Uu9HkUqgCkI/AAAAAAAAAdE/bLCBQW5eBSY/s1600/coppercreek2014c.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>After many hours of hiking, stumbling around piles of strewn rock, and picking carefully over slippery river outcroppings, Sesame Pooch had investigated every nook and cranny and was able to finagle her way into all but one of the photos. Not another soul was seen all day, probably because everyone else was home watching the super bowl. But soon darkness was on us and we had to high tail it on the long walk back to the car. <br />
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What a beautiful hike on a beautiful Sunday!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-52212439731300818872011-05-25T07:50:00.000-07:002011-05-25T08:44:50.996-07:00Fixit Cheap!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ahxArb75I4/Tdkjq7jxjVI/AAAAAAAAAYA/nScwUNLnki8/s1600/jbweld_lrg%255B1%255D.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 199px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 308px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609554031315881298" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ahxArb75I4/Tdkjq7jxjVI/AAAAAAAAAYA/nScwUNLnki8/s400/jbweld_lrg%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>Don't you hate it when things on your car break and you have to pay a lot of money to the mechanic to fix them? Dave hates it too. That's why when his truck radiator sprung a giant crack across the top, instead of replacing it, he just glued it back together! The secret to such success is JB Weld. Apparently, this stuff is considered an essential travel item for classic car enthusiasts who can't easily find replacement parts for their very old cars.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7sS0pkJebX4/Tdkkw3LgZJI/AAAAAAAAAYI/pxNDfJkw-YQ/s1600/DSCN1589.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 359px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 282px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609555232731194514" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7sS0pkJebX4/Tdkkw3LgZJI/AAAAAAAAAYI/pxNDfJkw-YQ/s400/DSCN1589.JPG" /></a><br />Here's a picture looking down on the the top of Dave's radiator covered in the grey sealant. He made this repair about 6 months ago. Eventually, he does hope to replace the entire radiator, but only because he considers the old plastic of such an old radiator to be unreliable in general and it could spring a leak in another area next. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-54712143642376974862011-05-18T21:43:00.000-07:002011-05-18T22:05:51.128-07:00See I told You!Dave rambled his jeep down the washboard road at a considerable pace, until finally, one of his passengers had about enough so he told Dave that he really ought to slow down. He was going too fast! Dave teased him back and continued on at the same rate. Until suddenly, everyone started to smell smoke. It was coming out of the dashboard! At that point, Dave was now ready to quickly stop the jeep after all, jump out, and fling up the hood. A giant cloud of black smoke billowed out from under the hood! And under the smoke was red hot flames! Dave and another passenger promptly began smacking down the flames with old towels. It was not looking good!<br /><br />But eventually the flames were put out. What had happened? Bouncing on the rough road had put that last iota of pressure on some old worn out metal straps around the battery. The straps had broke and the battery slid forward until it hit a small piece of metal that bridged the gap between the positive and negative nodes of the battery. This short circuit then caused the metal to heat up and start a fire in the insulation under the hood.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qED6vDMIqzU/TdSkQvWJ6oI/AAAAAAAAAX4/8tw0RTq60wY/s1600/DSCN1591.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608288043477363330" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qED6vDMIqzU/TdSkQvWJ6oI/AAAAAAAAAX4/8tw0RTq60wY/s400/DSCN1591.JPG" /></a><br />The amazing part was that nothing was actually seriously damaged. A few wires were singed and a quick repair was made via some electrical tape. And the battery was anchored back in place via some bungee cord. And there is a tad less insulation now present. Now Dave keeps a sharp eye on the current state of bungee cord and straps around the battery and checks it regularly!<br /><br />But the funniest part was the response to the event from one of his passengers who had been complaining about Dave's driving speed. Just as the flames were put out, all he had to say was, "See I TOLD you that you shouldn't drive so fast!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-76795359029213663962011-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:002011-04-29T09:17:14.619-07:00Faceting a Space Ship<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VEDzE0FbujU/TbJhlXhn0SI/AAAAAAAAAXY/_fo9i06zX-E/s1600/DSCN0900.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 360px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VEDzE0FbujU/TbJhlXhn0SI/AAAAAAAAAXY/_fo9i06zX-E/s400/DSCN0900.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598644581373038882" /></a><br />One of our more active club members, Bruce, has recently gotten involved in gemstone faceting. You can often find him at the shop sitting in front of one of the faceting machines sliding his stone over the grinding plate and fashioning some of his arcane projects. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_uu9qybZzgo/TbJiNvhHE7I/AAAAAAAAAXg/G--eNHagNsQ/s1600/DSCN0899.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_uu9qybZzgo/TbJiNvhHE7I/AAAAAAAAAXg/G--eNHagNsQ/s200/DSCN0899.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598645275008111538" /></a><br /><br /><br />Bruce likes to do unusual designs for his stones instead of the same old thing. His current project when I was at the shop was taking clear pieces of quartz and shaping and polishing them into large faceted gemstones in the shape of space ships.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aWUxc0HNLM0/TbJjfwmR9SI/AAAAAAAAAXo/bF6zqzyOSvk/s1600/DSCN0986.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 261px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aWUxc0HNLM0/TbJjfwmR9SI/AAAAAAAAAXo/bF6zqzyOSvk/s320/DSCN0986.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598646684047504674" /></a><br /><br />A closeup of one of his stones half way done shows some of the facet faces on the stone already polished and reflective while some of the other facet faces are still milky looking from lack of polish.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SJPyBHZYdjA/TbJkNXsQ0-I/AAAAAAAAAXw/1Y0wmjgEQaA/s1600/DSCN0914.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 158px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SJPyBHZYdjA/TbJkNXsQ0-I/AAAAAAAAAXw/1Y0wmjgEQaA/s200/DSCN0914.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598647467635692514" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />An end on view shows the likeness of the spaceship more clearly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-23195151621171359452011-04-25T23:32:00.000-07:002011-04-26T00:43:19.952-07:00The San Diego County Council Tailgate - Amethyst Flowers<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bZhk6b3i-nQ/TavB3ruxYlI/AAAAAAAAAW0/G2mDx65GeQM/s1600/DSCN1324.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 317px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bZhk6b3i-nQ/TavB3ruxYlI/AAAAAAAAAW0/G2mDx65GeQM/s400/DSCN1324.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596780124313838162" /></a><br />Inside one nice covered outdoor booth were many especially beautiful specimen types of stones but one type in particular caught my eye here. They were called 'amethyst flowers' and were large, about one foot or more in diameter, sprays of amethyst. Almost no bits of host rock were evident. It was all quartz. Some of the specimens had a bowl shaped pattern with steep sides, almost like the bottom of a bucket. <br /><br />The one in the second photo was (if I remember correctly) over a foot across and was priced at $200.00 which I thought was very reasonable. Apparently, the amethyst flowers are found in layers of basalt and the flowers must be carefully taken out and then the basalt and matrix must be carefully removed from the flower using hand tools. Sounds very tedious! <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iHVUA6UkQ_I/TavCc5eUELI/AAAAAAAAAW8/RF1cbQVBoW0/s1600/DSCN1325.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 336px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iHVUA6UkQ_I/TavCc5eUELI/AAAAAAAAAW8/RF1cbQVBoW0/s400/DSCN1325.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596780763658064050" /></a><br />The flowers appeared delicate but seemed surprisingly sturdy when handled. The proprieter of the booth looked only slightly nervous (and I don't blame him!) after telling me it would be OK for me to move the flowers around to gain better photos. <br /><br />He was very nice to me and mentioned that he also did watch repair, and custom stonework for watch bands. I don't know of anyone else in the San Diego that does that. As a courtesy, I will include here a photo of his card and contact information for anyone who might be interested.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y16L9kfwMiI/TavDH9OvIMI/AAAAAAAAAXE/2NejxZvlHvk/s1600/DSCN1327.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y16L9kfwMiI/TavDH9OvIMI/AAAAAAAAAXE/2NejxZvlHvk/s320/DSCN1327.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596781503400845506" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-58077627344396854582011-04-22T14:39:00.000-07:002011-04-22T14:48:13.411-07:00Austrian Finds HUGE Buried TreaureWhat do you do if you are digging in your garden and instead of worms, you end up finding a big cache of buried gold, silver, and gemstone jewelry? Apparently, if you are one Austrian man, you throw the stuff into an old box, stick it in your basement, and forget about it for 4 years! Then I guess finally you see a bit of sparkle through the sluffing dirt and at long last you decide to show the stuff to the authorities who tell you the items are probably 650 years old and worth quite a bit of money! <br /><br />But even after all that, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_austria_buried_treasure">the man was apparently not overly excited about the whole thing!</a> Supposedly, there are about 200 items in the stash, but very few photos have been published. Hopefully, more will be coming soon. The items are indeed interesting looking and not of the style currently popular.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-33857823241972504172011-04-20T08:03:00.000-07:002011-04-20T08:15:12.372-07:00The San Diego County Council Tailgate - Hand Faceting Machine<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cPgk8IGjWWg/Tau7lO6H3eI/AAAAAAAAAWk/Ww1YB_FMmEA/s1600/DSCN1252.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 207px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cPgk8IGjWWg/Tau7lO6H3eI/AAAAAAAAAWk/Ww1YB_FMmEA/s400/DSCN1252.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596773210269408738" /></a><br />While walking the aisles at the tailgate, my eye was quickly caught by a small machine on a table (click on photo for larger view). It was Bob Johnson's table, but a nice young lady was manning it and allowed me to take pictures of their hand faceting machine. I never knew such a thing existed! She was in the middle of cutting a stone, which she said was coming out well. <br /><br />The small hand machine sits on the table with the stone at an angle against a polishing plate. Various polishing compounds can be added to various plates depending on what stage the stone is at. The machine has dials to set angles. The user sets the angle, chooses the plate and the drags and swirls the stone around the plate manually. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZulTFcmVoI/Tau8Hrv41OI/AAAAAAAAAWs/N1iNSqXLZRo/s1600/DSCN1253.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 258px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cZulTFcmVoI/Tau8Hrv41OI/AAAAAAAAAWs/N1iNSqXLZRo/s400/DSCN1253.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596773802126660834" /></a><br />What struck me was that this machine would probably be quite a bit less in cost than your standard electric powered faceting machine. I was told this particular machine in the picture was purchased used for very little money. Since the tailgate show did not have electrical hookups to plug in a regular faceting machine, they were playing around with this little hand machine instead.<br /><br />Looking on the internet, I do see there is a similar device available for $400 <a href=:http://buy.id.ebay.com/buying/en/display/320667410275_New-Hand-Faceting-Machine--Stonetes-Tes-Lap">here</a>, but I bet one of these could be found used for a lot less!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-68219939370252516492011-04-17T08:47:00.000-07:002011-04-17T09:42:42.910-07:00The San Diego County Council Tailgate - HyperstheneLast weekend, we had the County Council Tailgate show at the Vista Gas and Steam Engine Museum. The show is one big tailgate in a grassy field with all outdoor vendors, just the kind of show I like best. Low fees for vendor slots (just $20 per large slot) means that I will find lots of rough cutting material and the show will have more vendors oriented towards rockhounders. This is the third year for this show and I have been pleased as to how the show has evolved. I think this show is well on its way to becoming the best show in San Diego for rockhounders. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o2650uMNBbI/TasXK9IYFjI/AAAAAAAAAWc/v8kicume0ss/s1600/DSCN1341.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o2650uMNBbI/TasXK9IYFjI/AAAAAAAAAWc/v8kicume0ss/s400/DSCN1341.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596592438913799730" /></a><br />I am also pleased that in the second row of vendors, I found a rough material that I have been trying to find for several years now. Many years ago at Quartzsite, I found a scrap of a slab sitting in a bin of water. The slab was dark grey with lines of chatoyant banding. I love chatoyant rocks and had never seen this one before so I snatched it up and asked the vendor what it was. He said it was called hypersthene, which I had never heard of. He didn't know much about it but it was only $.50 which is my kind of price! I took it home and didn't work on it for quite some time. I figured it looked like crumbly metal and would probably be messy and not cab well, so I put off trying it. But eventually, I got to it and was surprisingly pleased with the results. <br /><br />Cabbing it was not much of a mess after all. I had feared it would be something like the black morass that happens when cutting psilomelane but instead, it cut more like jasper, except softer. And only one small corner crumbled. The rest polished up nicely. Now I was in love with this stone and wanted more!<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_fDEUHL4gg/TaVBIbE_uuI/AAAAAAAAAWE/5WTIKJkfJmU/s1600/DSCN1340.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_fDEUHL4gg/TaVBIbE_uuI/AAAAAAAAAWE/5WTIKJkfJmU/s400/DSCN1340.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594949725041179362" /></a><br />But I couldn't find it. Most places that touted they had it instead had what looked like low grade bronzite, or the hypersthene they did have lacked the chatoyant banding. A year later, I did find some slabs of it again at Quartzsite but the vendor wanted at least $30 per slab which seemed quite a lot! I wasn't ready to pay that much at the time, but as the months dragged by and still I could find no other source, I began to regret not having bought the expensive stuff when I could. <br /><br />Until last weekend that is! One vendor had about 10 pieces of hypersthene there for $8 to $18 dollars. Some pieces lacked the the chatoyant banding so I skipped those and settled for 2 chunks and one slab. You can see a rough piece in the top photo, the slab in the middle photo, and you can see a pendant I made from my original tiny slab in the photo below. The pendant is denim lapis with 3 cabs of polished hypersthene. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iCuoN-cJOVw/TaVBlq8DY5I/AAAAAAAAAWM/RaahpfxPiuw/s1600/DSCN1359.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iCuoN-cJOVw/TaVBlq8DY5I/AAAAAAAAAWM/RaahpfxPiuw/s400/DSCN1359.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594950227514844050" /></a><br />I was told by the vendor, whom I foolishly did not get contact info for, that this hypersthene material comes from somewhere in Canada. Here's some of the technical info on <a href="http://www.classicgems.net/gem_hypersthene.htm">hypersthene.</a><br /><br />There were also many other neat things at the tailgate, many that I could not afford. And I spent a lot of time talking to vendors and learning things, which was just as fun. Need I mention again, this was my kind of show! I'll be going again for sure next year and in the following days/weeks, I will be posting about other interesting things I saw at the show.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-7362080915545313762011-04-13T20:57:00.000-07:002011-04-14T00:05:51.227-07:00Underground Mines Galore<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rgowk0IUXXs/TaPrywyv7nI/AAAAAAAAAUE/XJVNdpHRYZg/s1600/DSCN1365.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rgowk0IUXXs/TaPrywyv7nI/AAAAAAAAAUE/XJVNdpHRYZg/s400/DSCN1365.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594574419448032882" /></a><br />Fields and acres of short yellow flowers covered the lower cow pocked hillsides as we headed North and East towards the Montezuma gold mining district. Higher up the mountain, light swirls and dustings of Styrofoam sleet balls sprinkled my hair as we searched, a biting chill wind testing my bones, but not quite enough falling ice to actually accumulate on the ground. We've taken this road to Montezuma many times before, but we have yet to explore all the region has to offer. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SzaELqeW9L4/TaPs0_YEmTI/AAAAAAAAAUM/preOVus-ZE4/s1600/DSCN1369.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SzaELqeW9L4/TaPs0_YEmTI/AAAAAAAAAUM/preOVus-ZE4/s200/DSCN1369.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594575557234039090" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cyQJvUEttP0/TaPuHt4dNSI/AAAAAAAAAUc/7HeWzkXm7IY/s1600/DSCN1395.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cyQJvUEttP0/TaPuHt4dNSI/AAAAAAAAAUc/7HeWzkXm7IY/s320/DSCN1395.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594576978467173666" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Along one dirt road, car sized blocks of pure glistening white marble can easily be seen. This area was once mined for marble but now only crumbling blocks of cement foundations remain in places where the marble blocks were once slid along cables to the main road. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wxd7D6il8e4/TaPu1CnZEaI/AAAAAAAAAUk/UVQY-WgfvSw/s1600/DSCN1399.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wxd7D6il8e4/TaPu1CnZEaI/AAAAAAAAAUk/UVQY-WgfvSw/s320/DSCN1399.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594577757126857122" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nBC24ijAsg0/TaPwHR7le9I/AAAAAAAAAUs/pg0OEMve_Xk/s1600/DSCN1370.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nBC24ijAsg0/TaPwHR7le9I/AAAAAAAAAUs/pg0OEMve_Xk/s200/DSCN1370.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594579169987361746" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vl8XBMeW6Q8/TaP8nwbYDHI/AAAAAAAAAV8/J829rpfS7h8/s1600/DSCN1401.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vl8XBMeW6Q8/TaP8nwbYDHI/AAAAAAAAAV8/J829rpfS7h8/s200/DSCN1401.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594592922069109874" /></a><br /><br />In this same area, we often find small garnets. Recently, Dave found a nice pocket of large garnets and aquamarines, but this area is fickle. You might find a decent pocket right away or you might dig for hours and days and not find another. Today, we found very little other than a few very small garnets, one of which you can see in the photo.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6tWuON-3cs/TaPxoYfIGaI/AAAAAAAAAU0/gzw9HWxlfgo/s1600/DSCN1438.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w6tWuON-3cs/TaPxoYfIGaI/AAAAAAAAAU0/gzw9HWxlfgo/s400/DSCN1438.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594580838194354594" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MHl9a9Cay4I/TaPyQpXcsrI/AAAAAAAAAU8/YmhHZKnTUBE/s1600/DSCN1415.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MHl9a9Cay4I/TaPyQpXcsrI/AAAAAAAAAU8/YmhHZKnTUBE/s200/DSCN1415.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594581529920320178" /></a><br />Driving along one of the smaller brush covered paths, Dave also found a very large boulder hidden among the weeds which managed to apply a very large dent to the right underside of his jeep, just under the passenger side door. It also tore off a chunk of plastic moulding that was left to dangle precariously. But the damage looked to be all aesthetic, so we pressed on through the high shrubs.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kjdk9TDJfwE/TaPzkMaVlGI/AAAAAAAAAVE/1hKL9NYBWOk/s1600/DSCN1427a.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kjdk9TDJfwE/TaPzkMaVlGI/AAAAAAAAAVE/1hKL9NYBWOk/s400/DSCN1427a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594582965256819810" /></a><br />Later in the day, the sun broke through the clouds, dissipating the sleet, and we drove to an area where many old gold mine tunnels can be found. And we were sure to explore as many as we could. The first one was entirely flooded, the water actually spilling out along the road and into a small river. We surmised that the excavation there probably opened a small spring that may run all year around, feeding the river beside it. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YThgd7Unqn8/TaP0pIGdmnI/AAAAAAAAAVM/5QTNIXLmnEU/s1600/DSCN1435.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 351px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YThgd7Unqn8/TaP0pIGdmnI/AAAAAAAAAVM/5QTNIXLmnEU/s400/DSCN1435.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594584149510691442" /></a><br />However, other mine entrances were higher and drier. In the photo, you can see Dave inspecting a large vein of white quartz inside one of the mine tunnels and in another photo, you can see a closeup of one tiny gold nugget present right there in the mine wall quartz (click on photo for larger view). Yes, squint very hard, it's that tiny speck! As often happens, the gold was present in areas of white quartz that had heavy iron staining (that reddish color on the quartz) and also dark almost bluish staining that indicates presence of other metals. Dave did his best to collect what nuggets he saw and those that did not accidentally fall onto the mine floor and become lost with the other dirt and rock have ended up in a small baggie for later inspection. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIKD7bDCuQ4/TaP3Y22k09I/AAAAAAAAAVk/R68tQpik5Yk/s1600/DSCN1467.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZIKD7bDCuQ4/TaP3Y22k09I/AAAAAAAAAVk/R68tQpik5Yk/s320/DSCN1467.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594587168537629650" /></a><br />Many of the mines have preexisting denizens like rats that weave large nests from dried grasses, and bats that cling onto the walls and ceiling waiting for dusk to start their activities. As I zoomed in for a photo of one of the bats, my head brushing against the ceiling as I did so, I suddenly felt a small tickle on my ear and I jumped back, only to realize it was just Dave tickling my ear and not an actual bat. He was trying to mess with me and I guess he succeeded! <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8xDe51purwU/TaP37L-45SI/AAAAAAAAAVs/2NyFyvgWRjE/s1600/DSCN1510.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 317px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8xDe51purwU/TaP37L-45SI/AAAAAAAAAVs/2NyFyvgWRjE/s400/DSCN1510.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594587758325196066" /></a><br />Bare in mind that all of these mine tunnels were pitch black inside. We all had small flashlights but for the most part, I could see very little. In order to take photos, I would just point and click and only later find out what showed up in the flash of light generated by the camera flash. Therefore, I was rather surprised in one flash photo to see that Sesame Pooch had turned into a glowing demon eyed chupacabra dog! But I guess she needed those x ray eyes to so blithely stroll around inside the mines with us, even though any other smart and sane dog would have had common sense enough to wait outside instead. I would have been nervous of her potentially falling into a vertical shaft, but some of us had been in these mines some years earlier, so we knew there were no dangerous drop offs present. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TY2JUe95Kc4/TaP4Xgl8YoI/AAAAAAAAAV0/i4aEOxZPwag/s1600/DSCN1525.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TY2JUe95Kc4/TaP4Xgl8YoI/AAAAAAAAAV0/i4aEOxZPwag/s400/DSCN1525.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594588244894048898" /></a><br />In the demon dog mine, the camera also found many orbs which are round circle things that seem to float in the air and usually only show up in camera photos. Orbs are either specks of dust or evidence of ghosts, depending on who you ask, but for whatever reason, there were hundreds of orbs in almost all photos from that one demon dog mine, but none appeared in any photos from any of the other mines. You can see some of the orbs in the demon dog photo. <br /><br />Overall, the day was fun and the scenery beautiful. I even enjoyed the sleet as, being a California girl, I see such a thing only very rarely, and it did not interfere with our rock hunt. However, we did not find much take home rock this day. I guess I will just have to instead work on the tons I already have in my front yard!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-41768473364618110752011-04-11T08:27:00.000-07:002011-04-11T08:34:11.691-07:00Silver and Rhinestone NecklaceOne of my latest little projects has been to redo a necklace that my mother found at a garage sale for a dollar. The original necklace had sterling silver round beads and long curved tube shaped beads strung onto a leather cord. We always like it when she can find sterling items for next to nothing, but neither of us cared much for how the necklace looked on us. In addition, the clasp was unreliable and would sometimes let loose after only a slight jostling.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-77kpkMZhcHo/TZ_gxrGV-BI/AAAAAAAAATs/CAv1kMJj7yY/s1600/DSCN0074.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-77kpkMZhcHo/TZ_gxrGV-BI/AAAAAAAAATs/CAv1kMJj7yY/s400/DSCN0074.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593436406204987410" /></a><br />We both felt the necklace needed a center piece but after trying multiple options that we already had on hand, we still could not find anything that really wowed us. Luckily, about a week later, my mother found an old moth eaten white dress in a thrift store for a few dollars. The dress was a mess but on the neckline was stitched an interesting rhinestone assemblage which my mother felt would look nice on the silver bead necklace. So she bought the dress and tore out the rhinestones and stitched them onto the necklace as a center piece. At this stage, I thought to take a photo which you can see at the top right. (Click on photo for larger view.) <br /><br />We liked the rhinestones as a center piece but felt that overall, the necklace now lacked cohesiveness, so I invested a few more dollars to buy four rhinestone and sterling Swarovski rondelles to add in between the other beads in order to bring some of the rhinestone flash into other areas of the necklace. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n0gjR-BRLgw/TZ_hONcdp3I/AAAAAAAAAT0/Ti2AtW1xW8E/s1600/DSCN1182.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n0gjR-BRLgw/TZ_hONcdp3I/AAAAAAAAAT0/Ti2AtW1xW8E/s400/DSCN1182.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593436896460908402" /></a><br />Then there was the problem of the leather and unstable clasp. The solution was to restring. At first, we had hoped to use a sterling silver chain in place of the leather, several of which my mother had on hand from other lucky garage sale finds. And we had some additional silver beads on hand that we could cannibalize from another ugly silver bead necklace my mother had once picked up. However, the holes in the existing silver beads were very large and designed for a large thick type of cord. The end result was that on a small thin chain, the silver beads would flop erratically and not hang straight. A similar thing happened when I tried Soft Flex beading wire.<br /><br />For a while, I was at a loss as to how to have the necklace strung as I desired while still having the big hole beads hang properly. But finally I came on the idea of using a big thick heavy gauge silver wire and stringing the beads onto that instead. Happily, I already had some on hand that I had bought previously with vague plans to maybe use it in a soldering project someday. The thick wire managed to hold the beads steady. At each end of the necklace, I bent the heavy gauge wire around itself to form two loops. In one loop, I put a large lobster claw clasp and the other loop would be the place the clasp would attach. The second photo shows the finished product. <br /><br />The end result is a ridiculously glam mix of art deco sparkle meets native American rustic. But we like it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-83587104691843624722011-04-08T10:15:00.000-07:002011-04-08T10:24:13.419-07:00Mooralla, Australia Smokey Quartz Fieldtrip[Note: This article was reprinted with permission from the author, Bob Jackson of <a href="http://www.geologyadventures.com">Geology Adventures.</a>]<br /><br />Some folks would say youʼd have to be mad to travel half way around the world to collect quartz crystals. I am crazy for quartz, particularly when the specimens in question are smoky quartz from Mooralla, Australia. Perhaps those same folks would say I could have ended the previous sentence after the 3rd word, but those folks would not be mineral collectors. Mooralla smoky quartz crystals are unique in the world. They somewhat resemble “Herkimer diamonds”, being doubly-terminated, extremely lustrous,and equidimensional.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjBdVg8qGQI/TZaemFmCNuI/AAAAAAAAAP8/lCs5r4Qldto/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-7%255B1%255D.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjBdVg8qGQI/TZaemFmCNuI/AAAAAAAAAP8/lCs5r4Qldto/s200/JacksonMarch2011-7%255B1%255D.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590830364600973026" /></a><br />The flight from Seattle to LA to Melbourne is long, but the November skies were smooth,and I managed to sleep for half of the LA-Australia leg, which departs LA late evening. This was my 12th visit in 20 years, so I knew what to expect. My last flight there was on United, which seemed to have had its seats designed by a pickle-packer, so I took my chances with a new airline, VAustralia, the newest of Bransonʼs Virgin-clones, and was pleasantly surprised. Arriving relatively refreshed, I gathered my bags and caught a bus to Ballarat, the eastern-most point of the Aussie Golden Triangle, the equivalent of Californiaʼs Mother Lode country. My old friend Doug met me there with his ʻuteʼ (pickup truck) for the 3 hour drive to Mooralla.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jHyeO1rZsOk/TZadQ5UdTuI/AAAAAAAAAPs/QFp07OqAgAU/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-6%255B1%255Da.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jHyeO1rZsOk/TZadQ5UdTuI/AAAAAAAAAPs/QFp07OqAgAU/s400/JacksonMarch2011-6%255B1%255Da.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590828901017145058" /></a><br />Mooralla is the name of a station, the Aussie equivalent of a ranch. The original station comprised over a thousand acres, but the digging area is set aside as a public ʻfossickingʼ (rockhounding) area. Australiaʼs mining laws are quite different than our US laws. All mineral rights are held by the government, including those on private land. The original station owner of Mooralla found smoky quartz crystals on the surface while tending sheep, and told a neighbor, who filed a mining claim on it. Claims of interest to fossickers can be turned into permanent public collecting areas, which is what happened at Mooralla. So this formerly private land is now set aside for fossicking and is one of the Aussie destinations for rockhounding tours led by yours truly for GeologyAdventures.com.<br /><br />Our camp is in the bush, about an hour south of the nearest country town, so once there, we settle in for a month. My tour business causes me to spend about a third of every year camping out ... Mooralla is a most comfortable camp. I reside in a tent, Doug has a trailer outfitted with frig and freezer, so on our way in we fill the ute with frozen food and beer. Evenings at Mooralla are sublime: dinner cooked on the barbie, collectors cooked by the sun cooling off with a cold one, hot water for a shower warming in a bucket, kookaburras laughing and cockatoos scolding as the sun sets behind gum trees.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vT0nI6Xu20w/TZae8w9C8AI/AAAAAAAAAQE/PO-Fijpl6ZA/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-3%255B1%255Da.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 381px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vT0nI6Xu20w/TZae8w9C8AI/AAAAAAAAAQE/PO-Fijpl6ZA/s400/JacksonMarch2011-3%255B1%255Da.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590830754197336066" /></a><br />Doug arrived at Mooralla a week before I did, and had set up camp and gotten a hole started. The hole-starting process involves putting up a 20 X 20 ft. tarp, for sun and rain protection, and slicing chunks of clay out of a 10 X 10 foot surface. <br /><br />The clay is derived from an Eocene rhyolite flow. Over the past 40-odd million years, the rhyolite has decomposed to clay. The smoky quartz crystals formed in lithophysae, aka: thundereggs. The clay shows the sub-horizontal banding of the original rhyolite, and varies from a moist, elastic, dense medium that sticks to your shovel, to a hard adobe like substance. Depending on recent rainfall, the hole starting process can take from a day to a week.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qc5VWAwtYII/TZaf_vlf-pI/AAAAAAAAAQM/t3-swe3FTAk/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-1%255B1%255Da.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qc5VWAwtYII/TZaf_vlf-pI/AAAAAAAAAQM/t3-swe3FTAk/s400/JacksonMarch2011-1%255B1%255Da.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590831904881375890" /></a><br />Once you dig through the surface clay, the material becomes more uniform. About 5 ft. down is a red clay zone that marks the beginning of the lithophysae-bearing area. Fossicking areas require that only hand tools be used, so we set up a hand-powered rope windlass to haul the muck out of our hole. As the hole deepens, more time is required to remove each round of waste. In a week we were down 10 ft; by the end of the second week, 16 ft. Muck leaves the hole by windlass. An hourʼs digging in a 10 X 10 ft. hole requires 20 minutes of hoisting buckets.<br /><br />As we continued down, we encountered layers where lithophysae were abundant. Collecting crystals is a lot slower than digging clay, so our downward progress slowed. The third week we only dug 4 ft. of muck, but produced over a thousand crystals. Every evening we cleaned our daily take of ʻeggsʼ, at least enough to judge the quality of the crystals found. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WRbW_7U73T4/TZahCYz5ldI/AAAAAAAAAQU/G4vN7E0mJHw/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-5%255B1%255Da.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WRbW_7U73T4/TZahCYz5ldI/AAAAAAAAAQU/G4vN7E0mJHw/s400/JacksonMarch2011-5%255B1%255Da.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590833049818994130" /></a><br />During our third week, we struck a layer of large eggs, up to a foot in diameter. Eggs this large are uncommon at Mooralla. In the photo, you can see the normal-sized<br />eggs (+/- 3 inches) in the pink clay band above, with the larger eggs below in the grey clay horizon. The pick head is 10 inches. At least 50% of the smokies are double terminated. Fast growth (vapor phase) caused frequent inclusions and enhydros to form within the crystals.<br /><br />It is hard to imagine how the crystals formed in these lithophysae, as they are so densely packed there is little room for the clay. Almost every egg, even tiny ones, will have at least one smoky, usually sitting on a bed of small, clear quartz druse. Larger eggs will contain multiple plates of smokies attached to thin shells of silicified rhyolite. Opening a large egg is like peeling an onion. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nPX9SzFoxm0/TZaiBIxnKhI/AAAAAAAAAQc/ThVI_mkU_ds/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-2%255B1%255Da.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nPX9SzFoxm0/TZaiBIxnKhI/AAAAAAAAAQc/ThVI_mkU_ds/s320/JacksonMarch2011-2%255B1%255Da.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590834127846189586" /></a><br />That week I returned to Melbourne to pick up a group of visitors from the U.S. & Canada; they had the experience of digging out one egg after another. When the eggs are widely separated, it is easy to pop them out with a deft swing of a pick, but when they are tightly packed, much delicate work is required to avoid damaging the crystals. <br /><br />During our 4th week, the rainy system that had caused floods in Queensland reached Victoria. Working the hole in the rain is normally no problem, as the large tarp shunts the water away from the hole. Walking between camp and the hole can be an adventure, as the clay ground surface is extremely slick, and your boots quickly accumulate many pounds and inches of gooey clay. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vOrB2qPduB4/TZaih0pRUOI/AAAAAAAAAQk/jfl4XMel6oI/s1600/JacksonMarch2011-4%255B1%255Da.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vOrB2qPduB4/TZaih0pRUOI/AAAAAAAAAQk/jfl4XMel6oI/s400/JacksonMarch2011-4%255B1%255Da.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590834689378177250" /></a><br />After 3 days of nearly-continual rain, we decided that maybe a visit to town was in order. The access to the locality requires fording two creeks, normally dry in November. The first time I looked, there were 6 inches of water in the creek. The second time, 2 hours later, the creek was 18 inches deep and moving quickly. Since my flight home was scheduled later that week, it seemed a good idea to make a run to town. Was glad we did, as 2 days later our camp area was submerged. The zone in the bottom of the hole was encouraging, weʼll return to dig it back out another year.<br />-Bob JacksonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-1360680391796902502011-04-05T21:18:00.001-07:002011-04-05T22:33:36.265-07:00Retina Scorchers Part II<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eib3-p_vLJ4/TZvuHT3_qiI/AAAAAAAAASU/7T3ULmpfIUg/s1600/DSCN1239.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eib3-p_vLJ4/TZvuHT3_qiI/AAAAAAAAASU/7T3ULmpfIUg/s200/DSCN1239.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592325171672230434" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k3BUfKUZmRM/TZvu2Hb_hRI/AAAAAAAAASc/-jo_nAhoJO8/s1600/DSCN1072.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k3BUfKUZmRM/TZvu2Hb_hRI/AAAAAAAAASc/-jo_nAhoJO8/s200/DSCN1072.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592325975787406610" /></a><br />I have too many flower photos! Here are a few more just to fill up the day. Click on individual photos for larger view. Acacia redolens is a low growing hardy drought tolerant shrub that has millions of yellow puff ball flower this time of year. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elevLYCPChI/TZv31z-MqoI/AAAAAAAAATU/ylTsl-ExNvQ/s1600/DSCN1138.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elevLYCPChI/TZv31z-MqoI/AAAAAAAAATU/ylTsl-ExNvQ/s400/DSCN1138.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592335866166815362" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9YGkJ844Bb0/TZvxErrqQbI/AAAAAAAAASs/uGbqtmRa914/s1600/DSCN1167.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9YGkJ844Bb0/TZvxErrqQbI/AAAAAAAAASs/uGbqtmRa914/s200/DSCN1167.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592328425058222514" /></a><br />Another crowd pleasing shrub is pink raphiolopus, which is planted all over the place in parking lots and other difficult landscaping areas. It's a survivor and this time of year, it becomes saturated with pink flowers.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IuzA1SAswMM/TZv48zc13pI/AAAAAAAAATc/1DvSm_nxko0/s1600/DSCN1089.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IuzA1SAswMM/TZv48zc13pI/AAAAAAAAATc/1DvSm_nxko0/s400/DSCN1089.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592337085797621394" /></a><br />The bouganvillea plants are just starting to bloom now as well. They come in many colors like red, violet and purple. This one is a red violet color. Bouganvillea will bloom for the entire warm season. It's flowers are not true flowers but instead are modified leaves that change color at the end of the stalks for an exquisite display of vibrancy.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-waHrlS0BTg4/TZvzTU8k20I/AAAAAAAAAS8/_pn2en0RDkw/s1600/DSCN1093.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-waHrlS0BTg4/TZvzTU8k20I/AAAAAAAAAS8/_pn2en0RDkw/s200/DSCN1093.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592330875676449602" /></a><br />Dangling clumps of purple wisteria are just starting to emerge from their pods at this time. Eventually, these beautiful danglers will turn to seed pods that will wait until a windy day in fall at which time they will snap open violently and their seeds will eject all over my yard. On that day, I will hear the snapping sound all day as these pods intermittently explode. And once the rains come, seedlings will begin to sprout in all manner of odd places.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xoyvy8fczYE/TZv6LlNts-I/AAAAAAAAATk/bE4imUNtBHU/s1600/DSCN1131.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xoyvy8fczYE/TZv6LlNts-I/AAAAAAAAATk/bE4imUNtBHU/s400/DSCN1131.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592338439185740770" /></a><br />On the flip side, the wild lilac season is just coming to a close right now. Chaparral hillsides in this area experience several weeks of intense blue color as the wild lilac bushes push out their blooms. These wild children need no water once established and grow naturally all around me. In addition, many cultivars are planted as landscape. In the photo, you can see a large tree like bush of lilac in full bloom with Sesame Pooch lounging below the trunk, and a close up view of the flowers in the photo just down and to the right of the larger photo.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tDPC8WETdWU/TZv1Ig7emEI/AAAAAAAAATM/C9m7jiwDZKM/s1600/DSCN1147.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tDPC8WETdWU/TZv1Ig7emEI/AAAAAAAAATM/C9m7jiwDZKM/s200/DSCN1147.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592332888937764930" /></a><br />The large tropical leaves and bright orange tongues of the Bird of Paradise flower seem to please men the world over. Every man I've known has liked this flower but could not say exactly why. This bush grows readily in San Diego county.<br /><br />Another classic flower is Vinca with its picturesque chiseled blue flowers. Vinca is a hardy drought tolerant vine that grows well in shade, unlike most flowers that instead like sun.<br /><br />Part one of Retina Scorchers is <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/04/retina-scorching-flowers-of-san-diego.html">here.</a><br /><br />I've spent a lot of time viewing flowers lately, but I miss my rocks! Luckily, Dave told me yesterday that he found a new nearby location that has small garnets and aquamarine crystals! Hopefully, we will be able to go there again on Saturday so I can get me some good pictures and specimens!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-81535900051659134912011-04-04T22:16:00.000-07:002011-04-05T22:41:18.325-07:00Retina Scorching Flowers of San Diego<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BuZttijKWUU/TZqxGmdcrWI/AAAAAAAAARM/6OsEI0Uoqts/s1600/DSCN1156.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BuZttijKWUU/TZqxGmdcrWI/AAAAAAAAARM/6OsEI0Uoqts/s200/DSCN1156.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591976614295285090" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IKzYeVYG6bw/TZqthj53N5I/AAAAAAAAAQs/4Davd0WB4Mk/s1600/DSCN1045.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IKzYeVYG6bw/TZqthj53N5I/AAAAAAAAAQs/4Davd0WB4Mk/s200/DSCN1045.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591972679419115410" /></a><br />The flowers around my house have exploded. Color is everywhere. Click on photos for a larger view and bare with me as I can't resist posting some photos of our local flowers that grow well in this area. If you choose the right plant for its environment, it will thrive with little care. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dn4pCbunz5c/TZqu2jpyjYI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/iP2zQMy3ymM/s1600/DSCN1111.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dn4pCbunz5c/TZqu2jpyjYI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/iP2zQMy3ymM/s200/DSCN1111.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591974139640581506" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GpByz0bjZ1c/TZqyQxMntAI/AAAAAAAAARc/5TzJ6CwRRuA/s1600/DSCN1036.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GpByz0bjZ1c/TZqyQxMntAI/AAAAAAAAARc/5TzJ6CwRRuA/s200/DSCN1036.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591977888487814146" /></a><br />One of the local favorites is this vibrant fluorescent lavender ice plant (top left), the flowers of which have such an intense color that they could easily be mistaken as fake. During flowering season, it creates a carpet of color that can be seen for miles. Bright lavender is the most common color but a bright red type can also be found and in this photo (2nd down on left), they grow side by side.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zirMtbZ3K1Y/TZqxVLWEhjI/AAAAAAAAARU/V3fw3wVvhDg/s1600/DSCN1035a.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zirMtbZ3K1Y/TZqxVLWEhjI/AAAAAAAAARU/V3fw3wVvhDg/s200/DSCN1035a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591976864714622514" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k1bep2HJhYg/TZqzxj0k2vI/AAAAAAAAARk/kEudsJ0TWCs/s1600/DSCN1082.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k1bep2HJhYg/TZqzxj0k2vI/AAAAAAAAARk/kEudsJ0TWCs/s200/DSCN1082.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591979551344614130" /></a><br />But the classic California flower had got to be the California poppy which in the right season will cover the hills in orange and gold. Here is a closeup view of one poppy plant (top right) with multiple floppy four lobed flowers. However, apparently at this current time, all of the fields of gold that I found turned out to be caused by a different flower, the vibrant African Daisy (2nd down on right) which looks like fields of gold from far away (3rd down on right), but turned out to look quite different from poppies close up. They only share a common color. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3pNcBdnNRgU/TZq0pOqw7OI/AAAAAAAAARs/ir_TwEctBmI/s1600/DSCN1078.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3pNcBdnNRgU/TZq0pOqw7OI/AAAAAAAAARs/ir_TwEctBmI/s200/DSCN1078.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591980507738991842" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ats1LdSm7cE/TZq1VOY0ifI/AAAAAAAAAR0/FZhO-LBkyFM/s1600/DSCN1074.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ats1LdSm7cE/TZq1VOY0ifI/AAAAAAAAAR0/FZhO-LBkyFM/s200/DSCN1074.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591981263577975282" /></a><br />Another common appearance here along the hillsides are bright fuzzy splashes of orange floating on top of other plants (3rd down on left). These orange vines (4th down on right) in the photo are not flowers at all but in fact are a parasitic vine called Dodder which first sprouts and grows as a normal plant but then must quickly find a host plant to feed from. It wraps it's tendrils around the host plant and derives all of its nutrients from that plant. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-FW8rMS7Mw/TZq3jcjOUNI/AAAAAAAAASE/Fgi6-0Oa0Kk/s1600/DSCN1165.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 156px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t-FW8rMS7Mw/TZq3jcjOUNI/AAAAAAAAASE/Fgi6-0Oa0Kk/s200/DSCN1165.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591983706921128146" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFAQ8HO-CUc/TZq2cjowcgI/AAAAAAAAAR8/dfLdhLIdkqk/s1600/DSCN1133.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFAQ8HO-CUc/TZq2cjowcgI/AAAAAAAAAR8/dfLdhLIdkqk/s200/DSCN1133.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591982489052672514" /></a><br />Dodder in our area seems to grow mostly through the winter and spring and then die back for the rest of the year, corresponding with the typical wild plant growing season here in San Diego where winter brings much needed rainwater but no snow except for in the highest elevations.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T86FejWOgMs/TZq4nWDsRnI/AAAAAAAAASM/1-eJcZgzBOY/s1600/DSCN1186.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T86FejWOgMs/TZq4nWDsRnI/AAAAAAAAASM/1-eJcZgzBOY/s200/DSCN1186.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591984873409365618" /></a><br />Other common sights during this time of year include delicate clumps of white flowered sweet alyssum (4th down on right), red rods of fluffy bottle brush (bottom right) hanging in profuse numbers from their trees, and hillsides of bulging purple Status, which are especially excellent as dried flowers (5th down on right and bottom right).<br /><br />See Part II of Retina Scorchers here:<a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/04/retina-scorchers-part-ii.html#links">Rockchaser: Retina Scorchers Part II</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-76225349370813567952011-03-31T08:47:00.000-07:002011-03-31T08:58:12.620-07:00Shark Tooth Hill Bakersfield Finds<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tOLyuzFwDFk/TZK0fkww6XI/AAAAAAAAAPM/M7rs50PmT_Q/s1600/DSCN0887a.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 186px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tOLyuzFwDFk/TZK0fkww6XI/AAAAAAAAAPM/M7rs50PmT_Q/s200/DSCN0887a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589728542057359730" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mit5Z_7jS-g/TZK0Bx2nz0I/AAAAAAAAAPE/bKbY3QCGFE0/s1600/DSCN0893a.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mit5Z_7jS-g/TZK0Bx2nz0I/AAAAAAAAAPE/bKbY3QCGFE0/s400/DSCN0893a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589728030175514434" /></a><br />One of our rock club members, Mike, just got back from a paid fieldtrip dig at Sharktooth hill in Bakersfield, California. He and two friends spent six to eight hours digging and the cost was $85 per person per day. One of his friends elected to give most of his finds to the other two, so that what you see here is approximately half of the take home finds for 3 people.<br /> <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y750az50_yU/TZK4D_Ep0XI/AAAAAAAAAPk/qNEZkNKFCKo/s1600/DSCN0883.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y750az50_yU/TZK4D_Ep0XI/AAAAAAAAAPk/qNEZkNKFCKo/s320/DSCN0883.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589732466130276722" /></a><br />They found a lot! Most of the items found were shark teeth but Mike also brought home one slightly broken fossilized seal tooth, one whale inner ear bone, and one dolphin inner ear bone. Click on pictures for larger view.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmbxm8_m5fY/TZK3YpY9mEI/AAAAAAAAAPc/E_vGe8iMrlI/s1600/DSCN0891A.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zmbxm8_m5fY/TZK3YpY9mEI/AAAAAAAAAPc/E_vGe8iMrlI/s200/DSCN0891A.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589731721575503938" /></a><br />At the shop, Mike was in the process of cleaning the dirt from his finds. He had one pile, arrayed here nicely in a circle for viewing, of cleaned fossils and one tray full of uncleaned ones.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZHDklKVBjU/TZK2jAjnJ1I/AAAAAAAAAPU/R0HF_LziJsY/s1600/DSCN0890a.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZHDklKVBjU/TZK2jAjnJ1I/AAAAAAAAAPU/R0HF_LziJsY/s200/DSCN0890a.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589730800081250130" /></a><br /> <br />Overall, he said he had a great time and he felt the experience of the dig was well worth the money spent. Paid fieldtrip digs to Sharktooth hill are organized through <a href="http://www.sharktoothhill.org/">Buena Vista Museum.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-38003771105500306022011-03-27T21:53:00.000-07:002011-03-29T19:15:00.970-07:00How to Train Your Dog to Avoid Rattlesnakes<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zH6-AOWpUV0/TZAn-zv_9QI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fhpBb5JshwA/s1600/DSCN1024-1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 189px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zH6-AOWpUV0/TZAn-zv_9QI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fhpBb5JshwA/s400/DSCN1024-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589011097563690242" /></a><br />Many rockhounders have dogs and a common danger on the trails is poisonous rattlesnakes. One way to lessen the danger is to train your dog to want to stay away from poisonous rattlesnakes. Since my dog, Sesame Pooch, is a breed that has a naturally high prey drive, this training is all the more important for her. But how to train her? <br /><br />Erick Briggs of <a href="http://socalrattlesnakeavoidancetraining.com">Natural Solutions Dog Training</a> (Check website for schedule and availability) has the answer. <br /><br />First, you need some rattlesnakes. Erick and his crew maintain a collection of various local rattlesnakes species, both large and small, so that each dog will be trained on a variety of likely encountered local rattlesnake species. During the dog training, each snake is muzzled for safety. This allows the snakes to be handled safely by humans and approached safely by dogs. <br /><br />Then you need to give the dog a reason to not want to go near the snakes. This is done with a shock collar. Some may feel this method is hard for the dog, but personally, I feel it is much easier on a dog than a rattlesnake bite would be and Erick makes sure that only just enough stimulus is used to be effective. The strength of the stimulus is tailored individually to each dog. You just want enough to deter the dog from future encounters but you don't want to use more stimulus than necessary. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0fmzQQet1FQ/TZAnU8skk1I/AAAAAAAAAOM/O6nj-QZ8qHk/s1600/DSCN1027-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0fmzQQet1FQ/TZAnU8skk1I/AAAAAAAAAOM/O6nj-QZ8qHk/s400/DSCN1027-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589010378410726226" /></a><br />During the training, a snake is layed out on the ground. If a dog has never been trained before, it is not uncommon that such a dog will simply stroll right up to a rattlesnake to inspect it. <br /><br />I remember the first time I took Sesame Pooch to be trained when she went right up to the snake and put her nose right on top of it! In any other situation, she would have guaranteed herself a bite! If anyone wants to tell me that using the shock collar is too hard on the dog, I will tell them that it would not be even 5 percent as unpleasant as the rattlesnake bite that she would have gotten otherwise. <br /><br />Anyway, so what happens is when the dog allows itself to come close to the snake, the dog receives a carefully timed shock such that the dog thinks the snake was the cause of the unpleasantness. Some dogs at this point will already want to move away from the snake. But strongly curious or prey driven dogs will sometimes instead keep trying other tactics to get at the snake. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PYhZHD8UVDs/TZFPNDGfbDI/AAAAAAAAAO8/WKoHqwsL_rs/s1600/DSCN1001-1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PYhZHD8UVDs/TZFPNDGfbDI/AAAAAAAAAO8/WKoHqwsL_rs/s400/DSCN1001-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589335698132921394" /></a><br />I remember after Sesame Pooch's first 'bite' with the shock collar (the shock collar could be said to simulate an unpleasant attack or 'bite' from the snake), in her next try, she tried to sneak up more carefully, but then she still got 'bit.' So then she tried to sneak up from behind, but she still got 'bit!' Then she tried to circle around and sneak up very slowly and gingerly from the side, but she still got 'bit!' After a while, she finally decided there was no effective way to sneak up on it and that the snake was just too nasty to go after. <br /><br />Of course, the whole process is not always that simple. Multiple snakes and situations are used and the dog is tested at the end of the process to make sure the lesson has been learned. And of course, each dog reacts differently and training methods are tailored to each dog. Some dogs will be energetic and jump around whereas other dogs' responses will be careful and measured. Some will be more curious or not curious and others will be more prey driven. And it is recommended that the lesson be repeated yearly to remind the dog and reinforce the avoidance. <br /><br />This is Sesame Pooch's 4th training session and she becomes smarter each year about avoiding the snakes. This time, she was only willing to go a little bit close to a rattlesnake one time and only received one small correction. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Jp3T9J_Yg4/TZAo66_XHVI/AAAAAAAAAOk/RQse60sxeIQ/s1600/DSCN1014-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Jp3T9J_Yg4/TZAo66_XHVI/AAAAAAAAAOk/RQse60sxeIQ/s400/DSCN1014-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589012130299321682" /></a><br />However, another dog that followed her was totally new to the training and acted much as Sesame did on her first training. In the photos, you can see this dog being curious about the snake but then later rearing back when the snake 'bit' him again. Eventually, the dog decided snakes were just not worth it and by the end of the training, this dog too had decided that rattlesnakes were best avoided. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z80NiuOjXJY/TZApdRLvCxI/AAAAAAAAAOs/BoGwEQHVqW4/s1600/DSCN1012-1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z80NiuOjXJY/TZApdRLvCxI/AAAAAAAAAOs/BoGwEQHVqW4/s400/DSCN1012-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589012720372353810" /></a><br />At the end of the training day, the Natural Solutions crew allowed me to take a few up close photos of some of their snakes. You can see that each snake has a muzzle preventing them from popping their mouth open, but the muzzle was not so tight as to prevent the young speckled snake from sticking his tongue out to inspect me during his photo op. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v0q9cRKTk2E/TZAqL9BmLsI/AAAAAAAAAO0/RI6plZtqp-8/s1600/DSCN1031-1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 289px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v0q9cRKTk2E/TZAqL9BmLsI/AAAAAAAAAO0/RI6plZtqp-8/s400/DSCN1031-1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589013522414972610" /></a><br />I will continue to take Sesame Pooch to the Erick Brigg's Natural Solution dog training each year and would recommend them to anyone whose dog runs the risk of encountering a poisonous rattlesnake. <br /><br />No training is complete proof against snake bites. Sometimes, a dog (or owner) may not be aware of a snake, walk by unknowingly, and get bitten by accident. And sometimes a dog will be attracted by an injured or dieing snake because of the change in smell that occurs when death or gore is present. However, overall, a dog's chance of not getting bitten by a rattlesnake is much better after snake training. At least I know my dog will no longer stroll up and deliberately stick her nose on top of the next rattlesnake she meets! That alone is worth the $75 training fee.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-77975888092140863142011-03-26T19:47:00.000-07:002011-03-26T19:52:43.854-07:00The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 3<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LQSB28SZcoQ/TYrPhsKdioI/AAAAAAAAAMc/qNV2GgTMb1o/s1600/DSCN0847.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LQSB28SZcoQ/TYrPhsKdioI/AAAAAAAAAMc/qNV2GgTMb1o/s400/DSCN0847.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587506465404193410" /></a><br />On day three, we decided to take an easier and safer road to an area known for saginite. Saginite is more of a morphological term than a geological one. Saginite is basically a word that described when a rock contains a spray or fan shaped array of needle like structures that often look very striking. In fact, the word is vague enough that opinions vary on exactly what does and does not constitute saginite, but this location had the classic looking golden or black needles in clear or white agate. One piece I found even had some black needles mixed with back spots in white agate with white spots and some clear areas (photo 1). Very interesting! But at first, I had to admit I couldn't find a darned thing. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dGXDaNlq0P0/TYrOajm5wAI/AAAAAAAAAMM/6rG9Ai-12Tc/s1600/DSCN0850.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dGXDaNlq0P0/TYrOajm5wAI/AAAAAAAAAMM/6rG9Ai-12Tc/s200/DSCN0850.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587505243336851458" /></a><br />The good saginite agate at that location looks much the same as the nodules that contain no saginite, and most of all of them have a lot of desert varnish and black stuff on the outside, such that you can't really see what is inside unless you break them. See the blah looking exterior of the rough saginite in photo 2. But since the nodules are small, you don't really want to crack them in half either. However, sometimes you can just barely see the fan shape of the saginite on the outside of the rock as well (photo 3). <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MGWthj9rQLg/TYrP14vzZmI/AAAAAAAAAMk/zLFU8qbwR8U/s1600/DSCN0849.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MGWthj9rQLg/TYrP14vzZmI/AAAAAAAAAMk/zLFU8qbwR8U/s400/DSCN0849.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587506812379424354" /></a><br />Eventually, I wandered further from the main site and found some veins of white and clear plume. A few pieces had red centers that were very striking but I couldn't find the source for those. Everything seemed almost randomly scattered and fickle veins changed colors and pinched in and out erratically. At one point, one of our party called us over and showed us where she had found a very large desert tortoise that seemed only slightly irritated at our arrival, and then just a short distance away, she found a much smaller baby desert tortoise smaller than my fist. Of course, I had to have pictures of both! (photos 4 and 5) Finally, we heard the leader of the group calling us back as we were the farthest out. They were already heading back to the trucks and we needed to leave as well. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXS8mQa1kIE/TYrQwIGUIoI/AAAAAAAAAMs/O7t8SqiMfR4/s1600/DSCN0742.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXS8mQa1kIE/TYrQwIGUIoI/AAAAAAAAAMs/O7t8SqiMfR4/s320/DSCN0742.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587507812932788866" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9lJZ0b8SUlo/TYrRU-4mj0I/AAAAAAAAAM0/oabJTAyHhxc/s1600/DSCN0744.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9lJZ0b8SUlo/TYrRU-4mj0I/AAAAAAAAAM0/oabJTAyHhxc/s200/DSCN0744.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587508446114516802" /></a><br />Walking back out, one of our group fell and gouged her elbow on the ground only a short distance from the truck. Solicitously, Jay Valle, our driver, volunteered to fish out some nice clean band aids for her to stem the bleeding from the cut. No sooner had he popped open the tin of band aids than did we see a mummified lizard skeleton on the very top if it! (see photo 6) Only a rock hound would think to store a pristine skeleton there on top of the band aids and then forget about it and leave it for months! Luckily, band aids come sealed in their own wrapping and we all had a good laugh at the sudden appearance of the skeleton in such an improbable location. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vm6GwTwHHw4/TYrSFb6b7bI/AAAAAAAAAM8/-Gd4zK0sdQw/s1600/DSCN0749.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vm6GwTwHHw4/TYrSFb6b7bI/AAAAAAAAAM8/-Gd4zK0sdQw/s320/DSCN0749.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587509278540557746" /></a><br />The next stop was actually just along the road going back. Some years ago, some of us had been working with poor directions and had been unable to find what we were looking for, but we did instead accidentally stumble upon a tall outcrop of white quartz stained with copper ore. Now we would lead the others to that site and many of us were soon busily clambering around on the outcrop and picking and chiseling away at the white and blue walls of quartz. (photos 7 through 11) <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hNkIyryNoyQ/TYrTqWmdskI/AAAAAAAAANE/rMhUFFqc_0M/s1600/DSCN0759.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hNkIyryNoyQ/TYrTqWmdskI/AAAAAAAAANE/rMhUFFqc_0M/s400/DSCN0759.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587511012281397826" /></a><br />One of us experienced with gold hunting said the rock was probably originally investigated for gold because copper and quartz are both indicators of possible gold presence. Many jokes about finding gold nuggets were then bantered around but not surprisingly, no actual gold was found. There were rumors of an abandoned crumbled stone cabin somewhere near and we also found an old abandoned car with thousands of bullet holes in it, which also made for a nice picture.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfpgQJxEscg/TYrUz_u5rZI/AAAAAAAAANM/cieItGkjUUA/s1600/DSCN0752.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZfpgQJxEscg/TYrUz_u5rZI/AAAAAAAAANM/cieItGkjUUA/s400/DSCN0752.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587512277453090194" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KKOD0ouaz24/TYrVe7zLIGI/AAAAAAAAANU/k-hyFUEXICI/s1600/DSCN0788.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KKOD0ouaz24/TYrVe7zLIGI/AAAAAAAAANU/k-hyFUEXICI/s200/DSCN0788.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587513015131644002" /></a><br />From that location, the rest of the campers took the nice easy gravel road back to camp. They had to leave that night and so wanted an early start, but we weren't leaving until Monday morning so we opted to go back to the saginite location for further exploration. Our legs were now getting tired, but that did not stop us from walking over many hills and ravines to scout for agate anywhere we could find. Most of the region had no rock of interest but in a few places with did find more agate seams, some with interesting plumes and shapes. And I found some nice Drusy, most of it white and clean already so that I will not have to remove any staining in order to make it look good. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRv-3zC1W70/TYrWWjSmXVI/AAAAAAAAANc/9YrgSFkaPR0/s1600/DSCN0798.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRv-3zC1W70/TYrWWjSmXVI/AAAAAAAAANc/9YrgSFkaPR0/s400/DSCN0798.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587513970625240402" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-836c-LB0VIU/TYrYzQCD7JI/AAAAAAAAANs/HC67Bmp8V5I/s1600/DSCN0800.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-836c-LB0VIU/TYrYzQCD7JI/AAAAAAAAANs/HC67Bmp8V5I/s200/DSCN0800.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587516662695062674" /></a><br />We ended our walk by cutting back through the main traditional saginite collecting area and towards the end of it, I suddenly began finding saginite. Perhaps I had finally gotten the eye for it, but also it seemed I was suddenly in a very productive 10 foot diameter region that had lots of pieces. Almost every nodule I picked up looked to have some saginite and we both stopped and scoured that area. Once having thoroughly checked that area and moving slightly further away, I only found one other piece and after a consider time of fruitless continued searching we had enough and continued back to the truck. I had a pocketful of small agate nodules and hopefully many will contain saginite, but I won't know for sure until I polish some corners so I can see inside of them. The day had been good but they sky was darkening.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WuVsEuodLNQ/TYrZ3CJJHDI/AAAAAAAAAN0/bMvgjiLjOnc/s1600/DSCN0808.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WuVsEuodLNQ/TYrZ3CJJHDI/AAAAAAAAAN0/bMvgjiLjOnc/s320/DSCN0808.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587517827197770802" /></a><br />We went into Blythe for a steak dinner and then returned to camp to burn the rest of the firewood. That night, the wind picked and light rain fell in the morning hours. But it stopped at sunrise and were able to pack and leave in comfort. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OR3oKXOoTAM/TYrakKrS83I/AAAAAAAAAN8/x-BpIkDBYUg/s1600/DSCN0806.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OR3oKXOoTAM/TYrakKrS83I/AAAAAAAAAN8/x-BpIkDBYUg/s200/DSCN0806.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587518602582618994" /></a><br />It was time to say goodbye for now to the blooming flower fields of the desert in springtime, sharp red ocotillo flowers pointing skyward. Another wonderful adventure came to a pleasant conclusion and now I can't wait to cut and polish my new treasures!<br /><br />Day 1 here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-at-chuckwalla-springs.html">Rockchaser: The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 1</a><br />Day 2 here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-at-chuckwalla-springs-day-2.html">Rockchaser: The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 2</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-67522739536385401152011-03-23T20:49:00.000-07:002011-03-26T22:42:18.365-07:00The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 2<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8oq6kWxxDew/TYmCfHqNcbI/AAAAAAAAAKk/Rib3y8-15S0/s1600/DSCN0647.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8oq6kWxxDew/TYmCfHqNcbI/AAAAAAAAAKk/Rib3y8-15S0/s320/DSCN0647.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587140283873456562" /></a><br />The next day, the trucks assembled and headed out to the first location, which was an old abandoned gold mining area that contained a number of decaying structures (photos 1 and 2). Some of the parts of the structures had been cannibalized by metal recyclers and other parts lay strewn on the ground. Around the area were also many small agate nodules resting on the surface of the ground, most containing gentle white and clear banding. The Searchers spread across the hills inspecting the agates. In photo 3, Searchers field trip leader, Robert Burson, helps direct newbies to the good stuff. My goal was to find some agate with green wormlike inclusions inside, something that other rockhounders had found on previous fieldtrips and which I wanted, but was not able to find on this trip. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c9LdPcr_dpQ/TYmDRPNkm9I/AAAAAAAAAKs/UgTQuF7D32w/s1600/DSCN0660.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c9LdPcr_dpQ/TYmDRPNkm9I/AAAAAAAAAKs/UgTQuF7D32w/s400/DSCN0660.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587141144894282706" /></a><br />Instead I found a dead snake lieing near a bush. It was a light tan color with about 5 segments of rattle (ie about 5 years old) and appeared to have been recently run over by a vehicle. I alerted others and another camper came over and picked it up to inspect it, but then I noticed it was starting to slowly writhe its coils. <br /><br />Many people don't realize that even a recently dead rattlesnake can still bite. Many of it's muscle movements are automatic motions that can be triggered just by handling, as long as some power remains in the muscles, similar to how a chicken can run around even after its head has been cut off. Picking up a snake that is not fully depleted of life force is dangerous, but luckily, this time nothing unfortunate happened and our driver, Jay Valle, quickly came over and put his foot over the snake's head, cut it off, and buried it, so that no other human or animal would be at risk. I was also relieved to see my dog hanging back and showing reluctance to approach. Clearly, the snake training she had received the previous year was still remembered. We only stayed at that site for about 30 minutes because the second site of the day was reported to be better. And it was!<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oIkCQ0AKzuA/TYmEFcCVTGI/AAAAAAAAAK0/WANo5fE-R1Q/s1600/DSCN0665.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oIkCQ0AKzuA/TYmEFcCVTGI/AAAAAAAAAK0/WANo5fE-R1Q/s320/DSCN0665.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587142041690000482" /></a><br />The road was rough and three of our vehicles had only 2 wheel drive, which resulted in some trouble on some of the rough gravel covered up hill roads which caused the 2wd drivers to spin out instead of moving forward. When this happened, people jumped out with shovels to make road improvements and all of us eventually made it to the final destination of the day. <br /><br />Slippery hills covered with white and clear plume agate in some places (photos 4 and 5), and green moss agate in others, rose up on both sides of the road. Other material could be found by simply walking along the dry wash in the center, which also served as the road. More than 30 people fanned out in all directions with picks and shovels and started collecting. Material was plentiful so we had the luxury of being selective. I only wanted the best and thickest white plumes.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ru0o80CkR3c/TYmHp_ysEgI/AAAAAAAAAK8/G35uzItZFic/s1600/DSCN0859.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ru0o80CkR3c/TYmHp_ysEgI/AAAAAAAAAK8/G35uzItZFic/s400/DSCN0859.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587145968298234370" /></a><br />First, I scaled steep slippery slopes to the right, immediately finding some green moss agate and then later finding mostly white plume agate. Later, I slithered back down to the main wash and observed what types of rock were rolling down the hill. At one point, I found some agate that looked like many white dots with green fuzzy growth between each dot (photos 6 and 7). <br /><br />I immediately scaled the hill looking for more and found the vein, but excavating it showed the most of the vein was very cruddy and crumbly and probably only a few pieces might polish. Sesame Pooch, of course, was eager to assist by laying in the crevice I had created and 'protecting' it for me with her fuzzy white stomach. In photo 8, you can see Sesame lounging on top of my green agate vein with other hounders on the opposite side of the ravine in the background. You can also see someone hiking up along the same vein running up the other side of the ravine, which from what I saw was even more crumbly than on my side. However, if those pieces that I did find do hold together, they have great promise for beautiful cabochons. I spent a considerable amount of time working my side of the vein before returning to the truck to unload. I also found several interesting pieces of twisted agate desert roses on the way back. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0N48qOI5VqE/TYmJHxc-J4I/AAAAAAAAALE/1olnB8GHibc/s1600/DSCN0860.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0N48qOI5VqE/TYmJHxc-J4I/AAAAAAAAALE/1olnB8GHibc/s320/DSCN0860.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587147579356751746" /></a><br />Later, I went up the hills on the left, but found on reaching the top that the agate did not seem to extend far in that direction so after following the top of the ridge for a while, I found myself looking for an easy way back down to the wash. In this case, 'easy' meant it was still very slippery, but at least I was able to maintain my footing for the entire route down. <br /><br />Since that side had not panned out, I went back to the other side, scaled up again, and then pushed out directly away from the road, still finding mostly white plumes but many very nice ones. At one point, one of the hills was so slippery, that while attempting to crawl up, with a diet coke in one hand as if it wasn't hard enough already, I suddenly slid backwards for about 10 feet before coming to a stop when my back leg finally found purchase on a larger boulder. Luckily, there were no sharp rocks and the decent was slow enough that no pain came of it, and I did not even spill my soda! Of course one must always keep one's priorities straight! ;-) <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cTVF5RDPAdQ/TYmJ_K2mOsI/AAAAAAAAALM/HrUTR7pP7iA/s1600/DSCN0855.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cTVF5RDPAdQ/TYmJ_K2mOsI/AAAAAAAAALM/HrUTR7pP7iA/s320/DSCN0855.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587148531067927234" /></a><br />However, I did finally make my way up safely, collected more white plume and a bit more moss agate, and then headed back to the truck. Some of us wanted to go back to the first site and look more for the green worms, so we were eager to leave, but getting back would prove tricky for some of the other vehicles that would follow us.<br /><br />One particular road coming out of a big wash was steep and gravelly and had a deep ravine on the right. A small dip at the base of the road prevented any kind of decent running start. The 4wd trucks had no problem but the first 2wd could not get out of the first small dip. So of course, many people jumped out with picks and shovels to improve the road and a tow strap was set up to drag the first 2wd up the hill. As it turned out, both were needed as the road was at first too steep and loose for the 4wd to get enough purchase to pull another vehicle. However, eventually we got the first stuck truck up the hill. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ukJDvLOetV8/TYmK8gfzoTI/AAAAAAAAALU/kWP4psRa9m0/s1600/DSCN0856.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ukJDvLOetV8/TYmK8gfzoTI/AAAAAAAAALU/kWP4psRa9m0/s200/DSCN0856.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587149584849936690" /></a><br />With considerable improvements now made to the road, ie cutting down the top of the dip and filling in the bottom, the next 2wd wanted to try making a run for it. I was standing on the side of the road near the top, purportedly to take a picture of the event, but the truck ended up taking a faster than was good for him running start and started losing control as he charged up the gravely hill. The truck was bouncing and fishtailing wildly, its back wheels dancing on the edge of the 3 foot ravine on the right. Twice, the back right wheel actually went part way into the ravine only to bounce back out in a feat that I swear defied all rules of gravity. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TgzOEU4OZd8/TYmMDCxI61I/AAAAAAAAALc/Zln5LuwHgZA/s1600/DSCN0687.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TgzOEU4OZd8/TYmMDCxI61I/AAAAAAAAALc/Zln5LuwHgZA/s400/DSCN0687.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587150796640283474" /></a><br />For myself, I was thinking at the time about if I was going to have to jump down the hill to safety if this truck continued to gyrate around as it approached me, but the driver managed to regain control and complete the upper most part of the hill safely, so instead I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. Those of us who were watching still cannot believe he somehow made it. By all rights, he should have ended up high centered with his right side in that ravine and since he himself could not see his wheels as he drove, he had no idea how close he came until we told him! <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--qqsYBfmu9k/TYmNSrfFPVI/AAAAAAAAALk/u4k75qwaw8o/s1600/DSCN0713.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--qqsYBfmu9k/TYmNSrfFPVI/AAAAAAAAALk/u4k75qwaw8o/s400/DSCN0713.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587152164780064082" /></a><br />Unfortunately, I had been too surprised and awed by the show to even remember to get a picture, but I did get one of the first truck being towed up (photo 9). The third truck, perhaps seeing the danger the second one courted, took the road at a slower charge, with enough momentum to make it up but not so much as to lose control, and thus made it comparatively without incident. Later in the return trip, another smaller hill yielded a bit of trouble as well (photo 10), but also was conquered via road improvements. Once we made it back to the abandoned gold mine area, the roads were smooth sailing and so we were not worried and took more time scouring the area for more nodules. However, I never did find any green worm nodules so I will have to leave that hunt for another trip. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4ClR0FUqg4/TYmO96tDkYI/AAAAAAAAAL0/cfKNZ-h__Gw/s1600/DSCN0719.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4ClR0FUqg4/TYmO96tDkYI/AAAAAAAAAL0/cfKNZ-h__Gw/s200/DSCN0719.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587154007111209346" /></a><br />That night, we had a potluck dinner, with a variety of delicious items and a roaring fire. We chatted with both local rockhounders and some from many states away. <br />The wind died to almost nothing and it was another night of perfect weather and temperature. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aC-cD1a0evc/TYmPq_Dfy-I/AAAAAAAAAL8/REXx80HeLY8/s1600/DSCN0836.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aC-cD1a0evc/TYmPq_Dfy-I/AAAAAAAAAL8/REXx80HeLY8/s400/DSCN0836.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5587154781373189090" /></a><br />A glowing full moon made flashlights unnecessary and I walked around comfortably in my flip flops. But the day had tired out Sesame Pooch (last photo) and all too soon it was time to rest.<br /><br />Day 1 story here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-at-chuckwalla-springs.html">Rockchaser: The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 1</a><br />Day 3 story here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-at-chuckwalla-springs-day-3.html">Rockchaser: The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 3</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-45731902600121692632011-03-21T20:16:00.000-07:002011-03-26T22:43:57.065-07:00The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 1<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PuYY8IekMPs/TYgY4DHF9kI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/6AgFI7XPrb0/s1600/DSCN0838.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PuYY8IekMPs/TYgY4DHF9kI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/6AgFI7XPrb0/s320/DSCN0838.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586742688939898434" /></a><br />California poppies painted the hillsides gold as I drove North and then East towards the California/Arizona border. My destination was Chuckwalla Springs, a collecting site known for agate and saginite, among other things. I arrived Friday afternoon. Several trailers were already present at the campsite but their occupants were already out in 4wds looking for rocks, so I made myself busy scouting the surrounding areas for whatever could be found. The area proved to contain a smattering of agate, quartz, twisted desert roses, and Drusy quartz. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Be_Vb3w_Q4Q/TYgZRBzv1zI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/L_0mab82vB4/s1600/DSCN0840.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Be_Vb3w_Q4Q/TYgZRBzv1zI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/L_0mab82vB4/s320/DSCN0840.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586743118087051058" /></a><br />Picking up clean white sparkling Drusy quartz and weirdly twisted agate is always on my agenda and I found several nice pieces. I also was surprised to stumble on what looked at first to be a giant weirdly puffed up cow patty, but upon cautious nudging with my foot, I realized it was in fact actually made out of wood. I immediately hauled it back to the truck on my shoulder. That weird thing was definitely coming home with me! <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g60PWU57SRw/TYgZzFaLC-I/AAAAAAAAAKE/zlAU5orfC-I/s1600/DSCN0722.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g60PWU57SRw/TYgZzFaLC-I/AAAAAAAAAKE/zlAU5orfC-I/s320/DSCN0722.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586743703169076194" /></a><br />Later, I returned to the area and walked further to find a large gnarled and dead tree that may have originally spawned the cow patty wood. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say the tree had been afflicted with some kind of illness that caused the bulges, before it finally died. However, even its corpse made an awesome picture with Sesame Pooch posed in front. Unfortunately, I had neglected to take my camera so I had to walk a half mile back to the truck to retrieve it and then a half mile back in order to get the picture. Never walk off without a camera! (And a rock hammer of course!) <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wUD36dit5vs/TYgafSHqlTI/AAAAAAAAAKM/NFgh_qQPVVg/s1600/DSCN0642.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wUD36dit5vs/TYgafSHqlTI/AAAAAAAAAKM/NFgh_qQPVVg/s400/DSCN0642.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586744462495356210" /></a><br />That night, campers continued to trickle in to the campsite for the next day's field trip which was officially run by the Searchers rock club, but also had members from other clubs. The Searchers are a very active and dynamic club with many field trips and members from all over the country. We had a nice campfire before retiring to perfectly comfortable camping weather, neither too hot nor too cold for a good night's sleep. And we would prove to need all our energies for the activities of the next day!<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-82WT9B6DtZU/TYgcmNoNNTI/AAAAAAAAAKc/qIZ6ge1mnjg/s1600/DSCN0819.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-82WT9B6DtZU/TYgcmNoNNTI/AAAAAAAAAKc/qIZ6ge1mnjg/s400/DSCN0819.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586746780572005682" /></a><br /><br />Day 2 here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-at-chuckwalla-springs-day-2.html">Rockchaser: The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 2</a><br />Day 3 here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/searchers-at-chuckwalla-springs-day-3.html">Rockchaser: The Searchers at Chuckwalla Springs Day 3</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-82244252236666706672011-03-15T22:13:00.000-07:002014-05-26T15:33:25.036-07:00Malaysian Silver Art (actually from Sumatra apparently..)<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jUae0Uut-ME/TWH84fQUOwI/AAAAAAAAAEE/wo32kq7_X2U/s1600/DSCN0050.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jUae0Uut-ME/TWH84fQUOwI/AAAAAAAAAEE/wo32kq7_X2U/s200/DSCN0050.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576015861054192386" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 200px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 150px;" /></a><br />
Seek and ye shall find! Every weekend, my mother likes to make the garage sale circuit. Many times, she finds little of interest but sometimes she makes some extraordinary finds. One day several weeks ago, she was rummaging at the bottom of an old box filled with heavy plastic dolls when she spied silvery colored lattice work. Carefully digging further, she realized that covered by these ugly worthless dolls were solid sterling silver lattice house replicas. She began to pull out whimsical little silver houses, one after the other, many with weird pointy roofs, for a total of nine pieces including a palm tree and and an ox pulling a cart. The wheels even turn on the cart! Trying to maintain her composure, my mother asked the woman having the garage sale, as casually as she could, "How much for the little houses?" <br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7yB218v46zM/TWH1NpzdwtI/AAAAAAAAAD0/nFkn5S4GH-o/s1600/DSCN0054.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7yB218v46zM/TWH1NpzdwtI/AAAAAAAAAD0/nFkn5S4GH-o/s320/DSCN0054.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576007428570202834" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
"Three bucks!" the woman said! <br />
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My mother was so surprised that she quickly gave the woman three bills, bundled up the silver houses, and drove off immediately before anyone else would notice what she had! There in the top photo, you can see my hand holding one of the medium sized houses, which is as big as my hand. Unfortunately, when I took the photo, I accidentally left off the top little point of the roof. A week later, the same woman had another garage sale and my mother returned to ask where the little houses had come from, but the lady did not remember. And there was nothing similar or valuable anywhere else in that sale. And you can bet my Mother looked hard!<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8uxjd7gQ0L8/TWIAitIDD4I/AAAAAAAAAEM/LunNasNpaMY/s1600/DSCN0066.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8uxjd7gQ0L8/TWIAitIDD4I/AAAAAAAAAEM/LunNasNpaMY/s320/DSCN0066.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576019884866998146" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
However, some clues were to be had about the houses' origins because on the back of the largest house was written in silver, "KT Gedang Perak 925." 925 universally means silver, so that was the easiest part. The rest took some serious work on Google, but I finally deciphered it. 'Perak' means 'silver' in Malaysian. KT stands for 'Kuala Terenggano,' a large city in Malaysia. And 'Gedang' is likely a different spelling for 'Gadang' as in 'Rumah Gadang.'<br />
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What, you say you don't know what a 'Rumah Gadang' is? Well that's good because neither did I! Luckily, Wikipedia knows and has a fascinating article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumah_Gadang . In case I ever had any doubt of the authenticity of these cute little houses, once I saw this photo below of the real thing (taken from the Wiki article), I realized these little silver houses were not constructed from whimsy at all but in fact were careful replicas of the real thing, even down to the little points on the rooftops. Wow, these places make my home like a shack! <br />
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I guess it's not surprising, then, with all this effort into the decor, that these are the traditional homes of a Sumatran clan called the Minangkabau whose cultural structure is matrilineal. That means the women own and run the property in this clan and these houses are passed from mother to daughter. Take note all you men! ;-P But the religious and political affairs are typically left to the men, so I guess they aren't completely left out. However, what is even more interesting is that these people have kept their traditional matrilineal culture, even though their culture is also strongly Islamic.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vAeMUExJN00/TWIK36BjCuI/AAAAAAAAAEU/5VNgj3ym6ps/s1600/Rumah_Gadang%255B1%255D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vAeMUExJN00/TWIK36BjCuI/AAAAAAAAAEU/5VNgj3ym6ps/s400/Rumah_Gadang%255B1%255D.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576031244222925538" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 300px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Although the clan is from Sumatra, many have settled in Malaysia and one can only surmise there is or was probably one of these houses in Kuala Terenggano somewhere, which is why 'KT' was written on the back of the silver replicas. All this from a garage sale, I swear you just can't make this stuff up!<br />
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(And in case anyone feels the urge to mention there are only eight structures in the photo instead of nine, I'll let you know now that the 9th structure was another ox and cart but the cart got squished by the heavy ugly dolls that were on top of it and my Mother is trying to carefully repair it, so it did not make it into the photo.)<br />
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[Updated 4/2014 Well looks like my sleuthing was not as accurate as one would like, I was informed by a kind observer of the following: These are not from Kuala Terengganu in Malaysia but from Kota Gadang in
Sumatra. KT is short for Koto. Pieces like this were made for sale to
visitors way back - they may be from the 1920s or so.] Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-60842020702029020512011-03-12T21:59:00.000-08:002011-03-12T21:55:53.824-08:00One Bad Dog and Two Water Falls<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GD8vcj-zUWY/TXxVLYucNmI/AAAAAAAAAJM/4y33AD6d9pY/s1600/DSCN0538.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GD8vcj-zUWY/TXxVLYucNmI/AAAAAAAAAJM/4y33AD6d9pY/s320/DSCN0538.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583431292136732258" /></a><br />We went out searching for rocks again this Saturday, right after open rock shop hours were over at 1PM. Our goal was to scout for areas around town that might contain fossils. The problem is that recent road and house construction has resulted in most offroad access now being blocked off by many very irritating gates with locks on them. We drove along looking for any dirt road to travel upon, but time after time, we found nothing. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WJPZu7fmv6o/TXxWbJbqpyI/AAAAAAAAAJU/jWVHcGvEeJ0/s1600/DSCN0525A.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 173px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WJPZu7fmv6o/TXxWbJbqpyI/AAAAAAAAAJU/jWVHcGvEeJ0/s200/DSCN0525A.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583432662420989730" /></a><br />Finally, we left the truck in a parking lot near a river and started walking up stream, picking through large boulders as we went. The landscape was surreal because for a large swath of the river, the surrounding boulders had actually been cemented in place to prevent erosion. The day also started off in a less than savory way because Sesame Pooch found an old dead fish on the bank and decided to roll on top of it. Dogs have the worst taste in perfume! You can see Sesame in the first photo looking smug and happy with herself as usual. But I got my revenge by dunking her into the river a few times to get the smell off. Stinky river smell is still much better than stinky fish smell!<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sODMfhcldok/TXxXvhDLyZI/AAAAAAAAAJc/z410GTIit-M/s1600/DSCN0567.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sODMfhcldok/TXxXvhDLyZI/AAAAAAAAAJc/z410GTIit-M/s400/DSCN0567.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583434111869766034" /></a><br />Next we hiked along an old dirt path next to the river and scrambled up a steep hill to investigate the rocks, which were mostly granite plus some basalt. On top of the hill, on a large dead branch, sat a native finch bird. As I trained my camera on him, Sesame Pooch ran up the hill and startled him, and I snapped the picture just as he extended his wings. Score one very nice photo 2!<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ldxqUYGgrPk/TXxZAr6rwLI/AAAAAAAAAJk/N4Dc63eJvrM/s1600/DSCN0545.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ldxqUYGgrPk/TXxZAr6rwLI/AAAAAAAAAJk/N4Dc63eJvrM/s320/DSCN0545.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583435506356306098" /></a><br />Going back down the hill, we continued along the river and soon heard a roaring sound, which was surprising. San Diego is supposed to have only one decent water fall in the entire area. This is an often quoted fact amongst local hikers and one that I have always been suspicious of. And sure enough, after hopscotching back and forth over the river on boulders, and clambering through riparian shrubs, we began to hear the telltale roaring sound and shortly found another, apparently not well known, water fall far along some animal paths. It took us some time to find a path across that would not involving wading, but eventually Dave was able to make his way to the top of the falls. That's him on top of the left side fall.<br /><br />Some of the granite boulders there in the river had strange hoof shaped imprints of half grown black tourmaline. (photo 4) And we found some old pipes, perhaps once used for harvesting water from the river, but little else of interest. (Gratuitous picture of Sesame looking cute on the river, last photo to the right) <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i0KW79KyMYk/TXxZwguVqAI/AAAAAAAAAJs/IT4wF3v1K94/s1600/DSCN0523.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i0KW79KyMYk/TXxZwguVqAI/AAAAAAAAAJs/IT4wF3v1K94/s400/DSCN0523.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583436327985457154" /></a><br />As usual, Dave was ready to stay well past the dropping of the sun behind the mountain, and I finally had to prod him to leave before it became too dark to see the rocks in front of our feet. I moved quickly back toward the main road and then searched for Sesame Pooch's leash, only to realize that I must have left it on a rock somewhere. Too late to go back! I cast around for bits of stray rope or string, to no avail, until I finally figured out that the end of a rockhammer stuck under her collar worked well enough as a sort of makeshift leash. Following the river back under the main road, I wanted to make sure she stayed near me and far away from the traffic. The rest of the trip back to the truck was without incident and we now know of one more place in San Diego that does not have fossils!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-91648072193400374612011-03-09T10:11:00.000-08:002011-03-09T20:10:04.180-08:00More Photos From the Nuevo Silica Mine<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FjZ4WTrjwHc/TXfIpKCVkaI/AAAAAAAAAIk/qUQguadhfuM/s1600/DSCN0412.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FjZ4WTrjwHc/TXfIpKCVkaI/AAAAAAAAAIk/qUQguadhfuM/s200/DSCN0412.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582150872543367586" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BFY51ZQE0gU/TXfHwqkyY6I/AAAAAAAAAIc/JyRH5DBN_5A/s1600/DSCN0408.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BFY51ZQE0gU/TXfHwqkyY6I/AAAAAAAAAIc/JyRH5DBN_5A/s320/DSCN0408.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582149902025253794" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here are a few more photos from the Nuevo Silica Quarry that I couldn't quite fit into the original articles but I think are worth posting anyway. One of the most striking things about the mine was the huge tourmaline sprays, but their true size was difficult to properly capture on film. The camera likes to make things look smaller than they really are. In the top photos, you can see several more of the interesting fan shaped patterns that some of the tourmalines formed in the host rock. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lj2lBLi1P60/TXfJu6o8uyI/AAAAAAAAAIs/ofLTY-b1yDk/s1600/DSCN0414.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lj2lBLi1P60/TXfJu6o8uyI/AAAAAAAAAIs/ofLTY-b1yDk/s320/DSCN0414.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582152071001193250" /></a><br />The photo to the right captures Sesame Pooch observing one of the areas were the tourmalines looked like splattered and dribbled black paint. The bottom left photo shows some of the water clear quartz and black tourmaline pieces that I took home with me (click the photo for a larger view). <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EN5zoLhXPXs/TXfKrN045jI/AAAAAAAAAI0/ShtcAWryRc8/s1600/DSCN0521.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EN5zoLhXPXs/TXfKrN045jI/AAAAAAAAAI0/ShtcAWryRc8/s200/DSCN0521.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582153106943698482" /></a><br />There was also one nice piece of smokey quartz, but I actually didn't spend much time collecting as I was so busy exploring and taking pictures.<br /><br />The first part of the story, In Search of the Nuevo Silica Mine, is <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/02/nuevo-silica-mine.html">here.</a> The second part of the story, Finding the Nuevo Silica Mine, is <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/finding-nuevo-silica-mine.html">here.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-36930812383492760412011-03-06T21:56:00.000-08:002011-03-07T07:37:17.145-08:00Eldon's Secret Purple Agate<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P8f2AnE3GuE/TXHYlrI5sfI/AAAAAAAAAHk/t4p9nVAHCZQ/s1600/DSCN0262.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-P8f2AnE3GuE/TXHYlrI5sfI/AAAAAAAAAHk/t4p9nVAHCZQ/s320/DSCN0262.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580479555035574770" /></a><br />Eldon, one of the newer members of our rock club, recently moved into town. Eldon has extensive experience with rockhounding, silversmithing, casting, stone cutting, etc and always finds time to help the rest of us with any sticky lapidary problems. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bM1RJsk8ncI/TXHZSdaH9VI/AAAAAAAAAHs/Sfv7JyU3JDE/s1600/DSCN0244.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bM1RJsk8ncI/TXHZSdaH9VI/AAAAAAAAAHs/Sfv7JyU3JDE/s200/DSCN0244.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580480324443829586" /></a><br />Recently, sitting around the table chatting at the rock shop, he told me the story of how one time long ago when he was working up in Northern Arizona, he ran into a man who had found a secret cache of beautiful purple agates up in the mountains. Eldon, of course, was immediately interested in the location of this agate, but the man would not immediately tell him. He wanted to keep it a secret, but he did give Eldon a very general vague description of the approximate location, such that Eldon would know where to start looking. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lakic1OojMM/TXHarPQK5tI/AAAAAAAAAH0/L5M6GiwHRPY/s1600/DSCN0268.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lakic1OojMM/TXHarPQK5tI/AAAAAAAAAH0/L5M6GiwHRPY/s320/DSCN0268.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580481849652340434" /></a><br />However, the description was so vague and the area was so vast that Eldon could not find it after many tries. Time after time, he went out searching, and each time, he came back to the man and told him where he had gone looking. Each time, as Eldon related his tale, the man would laugh gently when Eldon reached the point in his description where he had turned the wrong way. So each time, Eldon was given a new clue as to the location. And so he would try again. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M9YuNbOlHU4/TXHbOiItMMI/AAAAAAAAAH8/CMy5fjss3VA/s1600/DSCN0247.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M9YuNbOlHU4/TXHbOiItMMI/AAAAAAAAAH8/CMy5fjss3VA/s200/DSCN0247.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580482456016728258" /></a><br />Two years later, Eldon finally found his purple agate. The collecting area was not large, but many nodules of banded purple agate were to be found and each rock had to be packed out many miles through rough terrain before it reached civilization. <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1rtZx7WayU/TXT7Wnep9XI/AAAAAAAAAIM/WTSaNZbzmHs/s1600/DSCN0255.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e1rtZx7WayU/TXT7Wnep9XI/AAAAAAAAAIM/WTSaNZbzmHs/s200/DSCN0255.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581362204192142706" /></a><br />Some of the rocks had large spot patterns similar to ocean jasper. Others had many well delineated bands of color. Some just had gentle shadings of purple. All were beautiful and to this day, as far as we know, only Eldon and that one other man know of this secret agate location. Neither has ever told a single soul.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--YQLvOyRaxQ/TXHcOVxubcI/AAAAAAAAAIE/pEyzctnyJh0/s1600/DSCN0254.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--YQLvOyRaxQ/TXHcOVxubcI/AAAAAAAAAIE/pEyzctnyJh0/s400/DSCN0254.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580483552210742722" /></a><br />Here are some of the slabs and artworks that Eldon has created from his secret purple agate nodules. The butterfly body is cast in silver. The bracelet was a gift to his wife. These are not for sale, but they sure are nice to look at!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-54632669237580900092011-03-03T20:24:00.000-08:002011-03-09T20:12:18.763-08:00Finding the Nuevo Silica Mine<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cP0hIwz6qSk/TW802reyNtI/AAAAAAAAAGU/x_8w_fCEwmA/s1600/DSCN0378.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cP0hIwz6qSk/TW802reyNtI/AAAAAAAAAGU/x_8w_fCEwmA/s320/DSCN0378.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579736577324758738" /></a><br />The next day dawned cool and crystal clear, the lingering rains now swept away by a perfect day. We started well before lunch with Dave sporting more research on the location and a much better photo from Google Earth. His plan? He wanted to try coming at the mine from a whole 'nother direction, this time further North. He had seen the mine on Google Earth and felt we had been close to it the day before, but that there looked to be better roads coming in from the other side. So we drove along another paved road for a long time and then by chance, spotted an offroad vehicle turning off the main road in front of us. In a split second, Dave decided to veer and follow. We had no idea where this dirt road would lead but it was going in the right general direction. <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUd3aenGnIs/TXgR6s5kSuI/AAAAAAAAAI8/8M0pkZifGuw/s1600/DSCN0488.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oUd3aenGnIs/TXgR6s5kSuI/AAAAAAAAAI8/8M0pkZifGuw/s320/DSCN0488.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582231438308428514" /></a><br />The area turned out to be an offroad mecca, with substantial moguls and side roads built up in many places. We crawled along for some time, attempting to head towards the power lines ahead, which Dave knew from Google Earth were near the mine. At one location, gold colored mica was so thick on top of the road that the road literally looked clad in gold. I tried to take a picture of it but unfortunately, the camera could not properly process the gold color and the picture only appeared to show a shiny wet road. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TXbYTCyYkqA/TW82W_H66-I/AAAAAAAAAGk/TJfphsyRJrY/s1600/DSCN0386.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TXbYTCyYkqA/TW82W_H66-I/AAAAAAAAAGk/TJfphsyRJrY/s320/DSCN0386.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579738231865011170" /></a><br />At several places, recent heavy rains had substantially eroded the road, and at one point, just inches from high centering, we had to stop and fill in some of the ruts before moving on. In the first photo, you can see Dave, who was supposed to be filling in the last part of the rut, as he gets distracted by a pretty rock and has stopped to inspect it. I guess you just can't keep a rockhound away from the rocks! Just before that, I had been collecting large rocks to throw into the ruts, when I unknowingly grabbed a rock that was covered in fire ants underneath. Cluelessly carrying it along, it was not until I reached the ruts that all the ants collected on my hand simultaneously bit me. How they can synchronize like that is beyond me! The lesson for me is to pay more attention to my environment. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_RicKsQJSxQ/TW83Zv7QE4I/AAAAAAAAAGs/beHaEmzug3Q/s1600/DSCN0405.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_RicKsQJSxQ/TW83Zv7QE4I/AAAAAAAAAGs/beHaEmzug3Q/s320/DSCN0405.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579739378836575106" /></a><br />Eventually, we were on our way again only to stop again shortly to follow a long skinny strip of pegmatite banding. Again, we saw white quartz with pinkish feldspar. I walked for at least a half hour, following the white lines, but not finding anything quite worthy enough to become excited about. But I couldn't quite get myself to stop following those amazingly straight lines in the ground! Any minute, the pegmatite might improve and I might find some garnet or tourmaline! Or so I kept telling myself as I walked until finally running out of white lines and returning to the truck. While I was gone, Dave had spent some time digging into the dyke closer to the truck, but he also had founding nothing of interest, just some tiny ends of what he called 'red tourmaline' but what I thought were probably tiny dark red garnets squished into the host rock. [Edited to add: Looks like these may in fact really be zircon] We continued on, choosing roads, and then sometimes backtracking and unchoosing those same roads, but always mostly heading towards the power lines. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ltOiCwUFEX4/TW848TNBxTI/AAAAAAAAAG0/PlDFB95L--w/s1600/DSCN0401.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ltOiCwUFEX4/TW848TNBxTI/AAAAAAAAAG0/PlDFB95L--w/s320/DSCN0401.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579741071933556018" /></a><br />Until finally up ahead, we saw chunks of broken ice lining the road. Or was that actually quartz!?! (see 2nd photo closeup) I was so eager, I jumped out of the truck before Dave even had time to park. I could see hoards of white and clear quartz and even the occasional black tourmaline interspersed between. We knew we had to be near to something because where had all these broken chunks of rock come from? They were clearly tailings, and just up ahead, Dave saw the entrance to the quarry (3rd photo), well hidden until you were right on top of it, a cut out area beyond which was a short but steep trail into the open mine pit below. We had found Nuevo Silica mine!<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YB-o-NyY9aI/TW86SBsFb9I/AAAAAAAAAG8/yOxWj_-MPOo/s1600/DSCN0438.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YB-o-NyY9aI/TW86SBsFb9I/AAAAAAAAAG8/yOxWj_-MPOo/s320/DSCN0438.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579742544700731346" /></a><br />At the top of the quarry, long black veins of compressed mica ran along the walls. But the most striking part were the huge black tourmalines embedded lower down in the mine, directly in the rock walls, many of them as big as my arms (4th photo, note the rockhammer for perspective, and 5th photo). More pressure lower in the mine had grown tourmalines instead of mica veins. The tourmalines made a variety of shapes in the walls including parallel lines, fans, bullet like blobs formed from an end on view, and even in some places, meandering lines as if black paint had been splashed against the walls. The walls were steep and in many places, deep pockets had been dug into the walls, but Sesame Pooch easily danced up the sides using tiny footholds that only a dog could find. In a corner of the mine, Sesame also found a small 'short cut' tunnel that also led out of the mine (6th photo just above) We spent considerable time investigating and collecting bits of black tourmaline, until Dave found another hole in the ground further away. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VK4LfvO3x1A/TW87fV_pRnI/AAAAAAAAAHE/LIzSnfaYEKk/s1600/DSCN0467.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VK4LfvO3x1A/TW87fV_pRnI/AAAAAAAAAHE/LIzSnfaYEKk/s320/DSCN0467.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579743873001408114" /></a><br />This time, the hole was a horizontal tunnel instead of an open pit. Sesame was the first to inspect the mine entrance in the 7th photo (to the right). We speculated the goal of this mine may have been gold instead of silica. The tunnel disappeared far into the Earth, but water dripped from the ceiling, the floor of the tunnel was heavily flooded and even the entrance was incredibly slippery. (8th photo just below/left) <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FZra9Kb7y7k/TW88572O9JI/AAAAAAAAAHM/fWi-9HlvVTY/s1600/DSCN0481.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FZra9Kb7y7k/TW88572O9JI/AAAAAAAAAHM/fWi-9HlvVTY/s320/DSCN0481.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579745429350708370" /></a><br />We contemplated wading further in, as the water did not appear high, but on thinking about it, we realized the murky grey water could have hidden a vertical shaft or any matter of other hazards, making for a potentially dangerous situation. Besides that, neither of us had brought an extra pair of shoes! So we decided sometimes discretion is the better part of valor and moved on. Perhaps later in the spring, when the water table drops. this shaft may become more easily accessible. However, near the entrance to this tunnel, in its tailings, we did find the most clear of all the quartz pieces we found that day, many of them, although not large, were water clear and suitable for faceting.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9xlZf8fd-GE/TW8_VfRuUuI/AAAAAAAAAHU/nngAoJRNing/s1600/DSCN0511.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9xlZf8fd-GE/TW8_VfRuUuI/AAAAAAAAAHU/nngAoJRNing/s320/DSCN0511.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579748101740974818" /></a><br />After more collecting, we headed out along more off road moguls and bumps back towards the main road. Since we still had a little bit of time before absolute dark, Dave, not wanting to waste any of our time up there, decided to go further down the paved road and looked for additional access points, perhaps some that might be less difficult and bumpy. Eventually, after many dead ends, we did find another road that went through, this one much further East. We followed it up directly to the power lines, the ruts here also being difficult in a few places. At the top, we found a thick pegmatite dyke running right under one of the power line foundations! More pinkish feldspar was there to be found. And on we went, our shadows now very long indeed and then next thing we knew, we were crossing another road, this one a very nice new paved one. Where had this one come from!?! We had not seen any paved roads previously but we were still far from the mine. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dmjUG4vtuxI/TW9AZyG22vI/AAAAAAAAAHc/bYM1C8_LrzQ/s1600/DSCN0512.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dmjUG4vtuxI/TW9AZyG22vI/AAAAAAAAAHc/bYM1C8_LrzQ/s400/DSCN0512.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5579749275026774770" /></a><br />Whatever the case, we followed it and found it was another road that we had looked for fruitlessly the day before. We even saw pegmatite vein running right through the road! (last and 2nd to last photos) This vein also contained some black tourmaline but all the pieces I saw were locked inside the host rock. But eventually we could barely see, it was so dark, so we headed back down hill to find out where this paved road connected to the roads below. At the end, we found this road was actually blocked by a gate, which is why we had not found it the first time. Google Earth didn't tell us about the gate! ;-P The gate would allow people out so we could leave this night, but getting in would have required the password or a clicker code, neither of which we had. Anyway, it was dark now, so the rest of that road and its side roads will have to be an adventure for another time. But we found our mine and we found an heretofore unknown and ungated path to that mine. We found a prodigious supply of black tourmaline and water clear quartz and we avoided getting seriously stuck numerous times, so not bad for a day's work!<br /><br />{You can see part one of this adventure here: <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/02/nuevo-silica-mine.html">Rockchaser: In search of The Nuevo Silica Mine}</a><br />For additional pictures of the mine, click <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-photos-from-nuevo-silica-mine.html">here.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7788401656055494674.post-25454951411077342842011-02-28T21:20:00.000-08:002011-03-09T20:13:48.162-08:00In search of The Nuevo Silica Mine<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L-T9OcSXptw/TWySYdo39sI/AAAAAAAAAGE/tOG_ELuDtc8/s1600/DSCN0294.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L-T9OcSXptw/TWySYdo39sI/AAAAAAAAAGE/tOG_ELuDtc8/s320/DSCN0294.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578994987375785666" /></a><br />We left at 2PM on Saturday, a last minute decision to scout the area around Nuevo to look for the Nuevo Silica quarry. The mine was reportedly located behind a road that had recently been taken over by a church. One thing we needed to ascertain was if<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JCaB_ZTmN5M/TWyTJCsfJmI/AAAAAAAAAGM/HqUtUagNp4Y/s1600/DSCN0288.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JCaB_ZTmN5M/TWyTJCsfJmI/AAAAAAAAAGM/HqUtUagNp4Y/s200/DSCN0288.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578995821956769378" /></a><br />the church was allowing traffic to the mine. Rumor had it that a gate at the church was intermittantly opened and closed, thus causing a constant hazard to access to the mine. One of our numerous goals that day was to find a route that would bypass the church altogether. But doing that without even knowing the exact location of the mine itself would prove to be tricky. <br /><br />First we drove along the base of the mountain, looking for any and all roads that headed in the right direction, but all were blocked off by gates or recently built<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mr4hUCuT05w/TWyOxzzLDUI/AAAAAAAAAF0/j987W6nlBBE/s1600/DSCN0352.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mr4hUCuT05w/TWyOxzzLDUI/AAAAAAAAAF0/j987W6nlBBE/s320/DSCN0352.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578991024774778178" /></a>houses. Eventually, we realized we had little choice but to hazard the church route and were soon back at the road to the church (can't remember if there was a gate there or not!) that gave us access to a meandering dirt road until finally, ahead, we could see some structures and parked cars. Not sure what kind of reception we would get, we decided to take an alternate branch of the road that led into the hills to the left, instead of going directly past the church itself. <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I-0GzePTDjk/TWyLGQmzjBI/AAAAAAAAAFk/BFgdVN0uVd8/s1600/DSCN0300.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I-0GzePTDjk/TWyLGQmzjBI/AAAAAAAAAFk/BFgdVN0uVd8/s320/DSCN0300.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578986978058406930" /></a><br />This side road meandered in endless spirals and cloverleaf patterns, the off roaders had obviously had some fun in that area. As we drove, the rocks slowly changed from rounded off on top to sometimes twisted and tortured shapes of nightmare. The lava here had indeed suffered before dieing but now it was reaching out even after death(2nd photo)! Other granitic rocks had large off colored bumps that looked like plague skin lesions (1st photo). One rock even looked like a weary petrified buzzard (second to last photo). <br /><br />But despite the eery rocks, the area here was indeed beautiful, the artistic rocks interspersed with soft green winter grasses and white flowering bushes. The soft soil and smooth rocks also happen to be Sesame Pooch's favorite kind of environment to run wildly hither and yon, barely able to decide where she should run towards next. She trounces happily in photo 4, until in photo 5, you can see where Sesame Pooch is actually being eaten by a giant killer dog eating head chomping rock! (click on the photo to see a larger view) ;-P <br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c1kp-S_ORQU/TWyGOFAShrI/AAAAAAAAAFM/w9Sgy7pWJgI/s1600/DSCN0334.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c1kp-S_ORQU/TWyGOFAShrI/AAAAAAAAAFM/w9Sgy7pWJgI/s400/DSCN0334.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578981614824883890" /></a><br /><br />As we drove and intermittantly parked and wandered, Dave told me a lot about pegmatite dykes and how they formed, most of which I have now totally forgotten! But he did assure me that the area looked promising and indeed, we did find some streaks of white rock in one area which was a pegmatite dyke running along the ground. Inspecting the white rock, we found a lot of white quartz along with some pinkish feldspar and the occasional black tourmaline. We also found an area where several large rock faces had weird indentations like the fingers of God had been poking and probing at His Playdough creation (3rd photo). <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ4EtfST8EY/TWyMddvSokI/AAAAAAAAAFs/UfpBKClwLC4/s1600/DSCN0501.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ4EtfST8EY/TWyMddvSokI/AAAAAAAAAFs/UfpBKClwLC4/s320/DSCN0501.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578988476232278594" /></a><br />But it was getting late and Dave wanted to try a new way out, down hill instead of back up towards the church. Luckily, we soon found yet another branch of dirt road that lead in the right direction, and as we followed it, it looked more and more commonly used, always a good sign when you are hoping your road will pan out. <br /><br />Soon it was already dark as we continued to pick our way along strange roads, but we knew we were almost back to the main road and eventually we did make it. At one point, we encountered one of the roads we had looked for desparately on the way in but could not find! But at least we now knew of a way into the area without going <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nAixVrf-YFQ/TWyRKsuqwZI/AAAAAAAAAF8/FmijQdl8pDk/s1600/DSCN0324.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nAixVrf-YFQ/TWyRKsuqwZI/AAAAAAAAAF8/FmijQdl8pDk/s200/DSCN0324.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578993651396821394" /></a>through the church. Or did we? First and most important, was that really the route to the Nuevo Silica mine? Since we had not actually found the mine itself, we still could not say for sure. The second question was, even if it was the right route, <br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bc3j6PQVtio/TWyIbyU4rZI/AAAAAAAAAFU/CY7BSx-ez-s/s1600/DSCN0418.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bc3j6PQVtio/TWyIbyU4rZI/AAAAAAAAAFU/CY7BSx-ez-s/s320/DSCN0418.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578984049352420754" /></a>after all that meandering, did we even stand a chance of finding the same route twice? Both questions would soon be answered in spades by the end of day two, which will be the next posting. But as a coming attraction, I give you the bottom photo. Hint: the big black spots are big black tourmalines! (Plus it looks like Sesame Pooch actually survived her encounter with the killer dog eating rock after all!)<br /><br />To see part two, "Finding the Nuevo Silica Mine" click <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/finding-nuevo-silica-mine.html">here.</a> <br />For additional pictures of the mine, click <a href="http://rockchaser.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-photos-from-nuevo-silica-mine.html">here.</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1