Post by paulshiroma on Jan 20, 2012 0:44:32 GMT -5
During the Christmas week, I gave the boys an opportunity to pick some activities that they each wanted to do.
Nathaniel wanted to head out to Disneyland so we ended up at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday. They decorate the place beautifully for the holidays! Nathaniel likes the train and the Monorail so we end up spending a lot of time riding around the park.
Andrew selected rockhounding. After reviewing several sites in the various books, he selected Gem Hill up in Rosamond, CA and, time permitting, Last Chance Canyon in the El Paso Mountains, just north of Mojave, CA. The latter is the location that LarryS and Christopher1234 have been hitting up recently and Andrew as pretty impressed at the finds. So he and I headed out on Wednesday, 12/21.
We got up to Gem Hill around mid-morning and hiked up into the hills. Side note - this was not the correct location to park. The dirt roads in the area are easy to traverse (my wife's Pilot is 2WD and had no problems) and I should have continued on another half mile or so as the road would have led up to a small valley/saddle in the ridgeline. It would have saved Andrew and I about a mile's worth of walking. That's not bad on the inbound hike but when you're carrying a full bucket and backpack, that's a pain. Lesson learned!
Along the way, we found small samples of chalcedony, agate and common green opal in float.
We worked our way to the top and had a beautiful view of the surrounding locations.
As we worked our way higher up, we began to notice the type of agate change from small clear to yellow-ish pieces to larger chunks of a blue-purple (almost black) variety. Andrew noticed that we came to spot where the chunks sort of littered the area.
Then he exclaimed, "Daddy, you're standing on it!"
"Yeah, I know, Pal. It's all over," I replied.
"No, look, it's right there!"
"I can see that, Andrew," I said, repeating myself.
"No, no, Daddy! Look!" Whereupon he pointed to the agate seam I was standing on.
Interestingly, what was once probably an agate seam buried in the top of the hill had weathered through and was now more of an agate "cap" that covered a 40 square foot or so area. Astute rock hound that I am, I was standing on it and didn't notice. I think LarryS had mentioned that kids are better at this as they're closer to the ground! Well, Andrew certainly proved that right!
We spent a few hours there and came away with a backpack full of stuff. Mostly tumbling/collecting grade materials, probably nothing worth cutting or cabbing although I haven't had time to wash it, pick through it and get photos.
Andrew wasn't satisfied with just hitting one location and requested that we try Last Chance Canyon with the few hours of remaining daylight. So, off we went! Unfortunately, by the time we got up there, it was pushing 3:00 PM and the shadows were getting long. We made it only part way up the road near the wash about a mile north of the canyon "entrance" and had to stop as we were losing daylight quickly. We spent 30 minutes or so picking through the wash and came away with a few pieces ... nothing close to what others have found there.
So, we headed home with another pile of rocks for the garage! Thanks for checking out the thread.
Paul
Nathaniel wanted to head out to Disneyland so we ended up at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday. They decorate the place beautifully for the holidays! Nathaniel likes the train and the Monorail so we end up spending a lot of time riding around the park.
Andrew selected rockhounding. After reviewing several sites in the various books, he selected Gem Hill up in Rosamond, CA and, time permitting, Last Chance Canyon in the El Paso Mountains, just north of Mojave, CA. The latter is the location that LarryS and Christopher1234 have been hitting up recently and Andrew as pretty impressed at the finds. So he and I headed out on Wednesday, 12/21.
We got up to Gem Hill around mid-morning and hiked up into the hills. Side note - this was not the correct location to park. The dirt roads in the area are easy to traverse (my wife's Pilot is 2WD and had no problems) and I should have continued on another half mile or so as the road would have led up to a small valley/saddle in the ridgeline. It would have saved Andrew and I about a mile's worth of walking. That's not bad on the inbound hike but when you're carrying a full bucket and backpack, that's a pain. Lesson learned!
Along the way, we found small samples of chalcedony, agate and common green opal in float.
We worked our way to the top and had a beautiful view of the surrounding locations.
As we worked our way higher up, we began to notice the type of agate change from small clear to yellow-ish pieces to larger chunks of a blue-purple (almost black) variety. Andrew noticed that we came to spot where the chunks sort of littered the area.
Then he exclaimed, "Daddy, you're standing on it!"
"Yeah, I know, Pal. It's all over," I replied.
"No, look, it's right there!"
"I can see that, Andrew," I said, repeating myself.
"No, no, Daddy! Look!" Whereupon he pointed to the agate seam I was standing on.
Interestingly, what was once probably an agate seam buried in the top of the hill had weathered through and was now more of an agate "cap" that covered a 40 square foot or so area. Astute rock hound that I am, I was standing on it and didn't notice. I think LarryS had mentioned that kids are better at this as they're closer to the ground! Well, Andrew certainly proved that right!
We spent a few hours there and came away with a backpack full of stuff. Mostly tumbling/collecting grade materials, probably nothing worth cutting or cabbing although I haven't had time to wash it, pick through it and get photos.
Andrew wasn't satisfied with just hitting one location and requested that we try Last Chance Canyon with the few hours of remaining daylight. So, off we went! Unfortunately, by the time we got up there, it was pushing 3:00 PM and the shadows were getting long. We made it only part way up the road near the wash about a mile north of the canyon "entrance" and had to stop as we were losing daylight quickly. We spent 30 minutes or so picking through the wash and came away with a few pieces ... nothing close to what others have found there.
So, we headed home with another pile of rocks for the garage! Thanks for checking out the thread.
Paul