micellular
has rocks in the head
Rock fever is curable with more rocks.
Member since September 2015
Posts: 640
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Post by micellular on Oct 13, 2015 15:24:19 GMT -5
I'll be at Lake McClure this weekend for a hang gliding event. Does anyone know of any places I should check out around there for rock hounding? Last spring I went to the dry lake bed and picked up some neat opaque white crystalline material, but I have no idea what it is.
I hear there's poppy out there...
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 13, 2015 20:08:29 GMT -5
I used to own a ranch in Hunters Valley south of the lake. Jasper all over the place in the hills to the south of the lake between the lake and the end of Hunters Valley Rd. Near jasper point, there is a monolith of red brecciated jasper bigger than my house. Has single hunks weathered off it that weigh hundreds of pounds. It's on BLM lands but there are some gold claims in the area and Robin Trumbell has a poppy claim in there too kind of north of Detweiller Rd. Could very well be huge hunks of poppy in the lake gravels but I've never hunted from a boat. Rough country to hike and my nemesis was all the poison oak in the area. Carry a gun too as the area is full of mountain lions and bears. The white crystalline material could be either what the gold miners call bull quartz ( macrocrystalline/massive quartz) but there is also lots of quartzite in the local gravels....Mel
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delo
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since February 2014
Posts: 134
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Post by delo on Oct 14, 2015 8:42:34 GMT -5
I'll second what Sabre52 said. I grew up in Merced and did a lot of fishing out at Lake McClure and McSwain in the day. I remember picking up a lot a bull quartz and sometime orange/brown stained quarts chunks that sometimes had small terminated crystals on them. With the lake so low, who know's what you'll find!
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micellular
has rocks in the head
Rock fever is curable with more rocks.
Member since September 2015
Posts: 640
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Post by micellular on Oct 14, 2015 12:16:42 GMT -5
Yep, saw some pictures and bull quartz looks exactly like what I found. Along with some opaque, spinach-green and somewhat porous rock. The hang gliding site is at the very northern wing of the lake, near Horseshoe Bend recreation area. Lakebed there is almost completely dry, so I'm hoping that there might be some poppy gravel that fell in there. Sabre52, do you know if Robin Trumbull is active on his claim? Does he allow any fee digs?
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 14, 2015 13:01:27 GMT -5
Yep, Robin had contact with me not long ago and his claim is still active. And he does allow fee digging. I think he laid claim to the digs my buddy and I found years ago. There should be a post on here somewhere giving his info. There are however, poppy outcrops all over the place out there outside his claim. Our old ranch has a whole hillside full of big boulders full of beautiful poppy nodules ( very difficult to remove as whole boulder needed to be broken up). Watch the gravel out where you are going for Jade and Mariposite too. Beautiful, solid, non included jade comes out of Flyaway Gulch at Bagby and lots of good mariposite between Bear Valley and Bagby.
The spinach green stuff could be epidote. We had a deposit of quartz crystals on our ranch that contained green epidote and maybe chlorite too. The best poppy jasper sites always had associated hematite and epidote.....Mel
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Post by paulshiroma on Oct 15, 2015 7:57:45 GMT -5
Have a good time at the event. Hopefully, you'll have some time to get some rockhounding in as well. Looking forward to seeing pics of your finds.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 20, 2015 7:54:34 GMT -5
Yes,score some nice goodies!! Take your camera.....
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2015 0:05:23 GMT -5
Nice thread Michelle.
Thanks for making it.
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Post by captbob on Oct 30, 2015 1:11:19 GMT -5
Better yet.... what did you find?
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micellular
has rocks in the head
Rock fever is curable with more rocks.
Member since September 2015
Posts: 640
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Post by micellular on Nov 2, 2015 19:02:06 GMT -5
captbob, unfortunately I had to leave early and didn't have any time for rockhounding, except for a few greenish pebbles of probable-epidote I scrounged from the campground. It was a memorable event, though, since it was my first time flying on a real mountain. Fledgling leaving the training hills, and all that. Here's a video of my first morning flight. I'm aiming for the dry lake bed landing, which is the horizontal strip towards the back of the video on the left. Lakebed looks like this from the ground. The normal landing zone is in the mid-ground, with a road visible on the left. It's a much trickier landing - the terrain is uneven, it's bordered by trees and bushes, and the wind is more prone to switches and gusts. I found this out to my detriment later! LZ from the ground, with my instructor in the air on his landing approach. My last flight of the day was pretty awesome while I was in the air! I worked a little bit of lift from the rocky slope in middle, so I got about ten minutes of soaring in. However, when I came in to land, I got cut off by another pilot and used up all my brainpower on a few evasive maneuvers to avoid landing in trees or bushes. I managed to come into the landing nice and straight, but at the very last moment I got popped by a gust and ended up crashing. Better the downtube than my arms, though. For my troubles, I won the biannual "WHACK" award for the most spectacular non-injurious landing. Wonder if I can use on it rocks... Inscribed on the back are the names of the former winners. Guess who won two years ago? None other than my instructor! Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh? Anyways, thanks for reading about my (mis)adventures. Here's a bonus dog, that my boyfriend is helping foster. Kaylee is a sweet rescue husky with a mild, if aloof temperament. The only problem is that she absolutely loves to escape, and the house is absolutely not escape-proof. At least we have a GPS collar.
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Post by captbob on Nov 2, 2015 22:42:35 GMT -5
Well that was pretty darn cool. Looks like a lot of fun and I reckon that you actually have a pretty reasonable explanation for not having time for any hounding. Glad you made it back safe and sound!
Good looking bonus dog too!
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Nov 3, 2015 0:14:29 GMT -5
Fun video [too short] and great pics. and writeup. Carol and I enjoyed it a bunch, thanks.
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 4, 2015 8:57:44 GMT -5
Totally awesome. My son wants to hang glide so I'll show him this later. Great pics.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,159
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Post by jamesp on Nov 4, 2015 13:53:50 GMT -5
That video gave me things in my stomach. My you are a brave child.
A little town in Florida(Pierson) grows cut flowers/foliage. They have used airplanes for years to deliver them quickly. They have a lot of gliders that they pull w/their powerful airplanes. Done it several times; it's a trip flying without a motor. They have some acrobatic sailplanes that will sure give you a rush. But all of them are provided w/experienced pilot(Miss Brave).
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Post by Pat on Nov 4, 2015 14:25:06 GMT -5
Looks like fun! Been in hot air balloons, but never hang gliding. Thanks for the show!
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 4, 2015 20:02:17 GMT -5
Way cool! Another rockhounding pilot. I've been flying paragliders since 1990 and was even air crazy enough to have worked for 10+ years in the industry as an instructor, tandem pilot and manufacturer/designer/consultant. Flying took me all over Brazil and eventually reignited my love of gemstones. There are certainly aspects of the lifestyle I miss. With all the gem shows, traveling, etc. I don't get to fly quite as much as before. Here's a short vid from last winter.
I'm flying the black/white/blue glider.
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micellular
has rocks in the head
Rock fever is curable with more rocks.
Member since September 2015
Posts: 640
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Post by micellular on Nov 5, 2015 18:34:21 GMT -5
Wow! Sounds like you've got some amazing stories, RocknCritter! I would love to visit Brazil...for flying, gemstones, or just the freaking Amazon. What a great video, too. Did you hike to the top? I love the videos of European speed riding, like this one. See ya in Tuscon! - Michelle
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RocknCritter
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2008
Posts: 489
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Post by RocknCritter on Nov 6, 2015 17:32:59 GMT -5
I've watched that video - Alchime - many, many times. I wish we had flying conditions like that in Colorado.
We have lift access at the ski area so it's pretty easy to fly multiple times in a day if the conditions aren't on. CBMR is one of the few in the state that allows paraglidng and hang gliding and it's certainly a beautiful place to fly. It only took me 15 years(!) to negotiate winter access. We normally catch lift and bench back to the peak. However, the drone had a limited range for filming so we stayed close to launch for the videographer.
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