Annual Lake Superior Camping Trip
Jun 25, 2016 10:28:54 GMT -5
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Post by Jugglerguy on Jun 25, 2016 10:28:54 GMT -5
For the third year in a row, I've gone camping on the shores of Lake Superior for the sole purpose of spending as much time searching for agates as I can. This year, I got a late start on Wednesday and didn't get to my campsite until around 5:00. I left the area on Friday at about 3:30. In that time, I managed to get 20 hours on the beach. On Thursday alone, I spent 11 hours walking with my head mostly down. I found a few agates, but if that's all I was after, I'd be much, much better off buying them from eBay. It wasn't just about agates though. There are lots of other rocks, great scenery, and some wildlife to see.
Last year I almost froze to death up there. On the lakeshore, it is much colder than inland. This year was warmer, but still only in the sixties. It was still really cold at night, but not as bad as last year. I didn't wear my Stormy Kromer to bed or even bring it with me. When I was driving into Grand Marais, I was a little worried that it had snowed, but it was just a lot of daisies in bloom.
My first camping spot was near Grand Marais at a primitive campground right on the lake. Here's the view from my campsite that evening.
The morning was pretty nice too.
I hunted this area on Wednesday night and again the next morning, then I headed off to the mouth of the Two Hearted River. The river here runs parallel to the lake for at least a quarter mile before it finally decides to dump into the lake. It's a long walk through the woods to get to the actual beach. There's a bridge over the river to get to the beach on the other side which is much closer, but I usually try to hunt beaches that are harder to get to. I figure that a lot of people are lazy and won't walk as many miles as I will to find an agate. In this case, the best rocks I found were on the easy side. Go figure. Here's the actual mouth of the river:
Here's a view from farther down the beach that might be more interesting to this audience.
They're more colorful in the water.
The lake really sorts the rocks well. As you go up the beach, or into the water, the rocks are sorted by size and also by color. There will be tiny rocks in long rows parallel to the water's edge, and then there will be medium sized rocks, and then larger rocks. They're not always in the same order though. Then there's often a band of black basalt. You can see it in this picture.
I met a very knowledgeable guy on the beach last year who taught me a lot about what to look for. He said that he only hunts the beach, not the water and he looks in the white rocks, not the black. I had more luck in the water on this beach, but much more luck in the dry rocks on the beach the next day. In the dry rocks, the agates sometimes glow if the light is right. They also look waxy rather than dry. In the water, they all look shiny, but the agates are sometimes just way brighter colors. The water is way more fun to look in even if I don't find as many agates. I tend to pick up more non-agate rocks in the water, so my new rule is that I'm only allowed to look in the water on the way back. That way I don't fill my bucket and have to carry it in both directions.
I saw an eagle on my way down this beach, but it flew before I could get close enough for a picture. This is probably the same eagle on the way back. This time I got pretty close.
I'm not sure what this flower is. I don't remember seeing them before. Maybe a member of the pea family?
The next day, I headed to Vermillion Point. I met a guy on the beach who introduced himself as the "piping plover monitor". He was heading back on the two mile walk from checking on the nest of an endangered little bird. He said that there are only 140 of them left. Last year they had four nesting pairs here, but this year there is only one. They don't know what happened to the others. When I got near the nest, they were very aggressive with their "I'm injured, come eat me!" act. They act exactly like a killdeer. They look similar too. Maybe they're not as skilled at getting away after the act.
I'm not as close as it looks in the picture. I zoomed and then cropped. They built a cage around the nest to protect it, and the whole area is roped off. These little guys came pretty close to draw me away from their nest, even though I tried to stay away.
Now onto the rocks. Don't get too excited about the agates. I could hold all of them in one hand and some of those might not have even been agates. I'm only showing pictures of the best ones.
Here is the biggest. It looks much better in the pictures than in person. It's probably 2.5 inches across, but the agate is only on the top and bottom. I think the whole middle is quartz.
Other side:
I'm not sure if this is agate or jasper in the host rock, but I thought it looked like an olive.
This one is pretty wild.
Other side:
I met a lady on the beach who seemed quite knowledgeable about agates. She called this one a blue agate and said that it was fairly rare. The "blue" part looks more like white to me.
Another view:
Still the same rock:
I saved my favorite for last. I think this is my favorite out of all the agates I have ever found (which isn't all that many).
My sister found something called pebble art on Pinterest and sent a link to my daughter. They want to try making their own. There is a lot of flat basalt on the beaches and when I ran across a pile of tiny pieces I thought of them and picked some up. I sure hope they want it. I lugged about two quarts of this stuff about a mile.
Not an agate, but pretty.
I'm not sure what this rock is. It's sort of ugly, but really colorful. I'm sure not going to be tumbling this one smooth.
Other side:
The next three pictures are of the same rocks in the bottom of a five gallon bucket. I stirred them up between pictures.
I made an effort to not bring home so much unakite this year. This is a one gallon bucket and it's only half full! I did good.
Omars:
Last year I almost froze to death up there. On the lakeshore, it is much colder than inland. This year was warmer, but still only in the sixties. It was still really cold at night, but not as bad as last year. I didn't wear my Stormy Kromer to bed or even bring it with me. When I was driving into Grand Marais, I was a little worried that it had snowed, but it was just a lot of daisies in bloom.
My first camping spot was near Grand Marais at a primitive campground right on the lake. Here's the view from my campsite that evening.
The morning was pretty nice too.
I hunted this area on Wednesday night and again the next morning, then I headed off to the mouth of the Two Hearted River. The river here runs parallel to the lake for at least a quarter mile before it finally decides to dump into the lake. It's a long walk through the woods to get to the actual beach. There's a bridge over the river to get to the beach on the other side which is much closer, but I usually try to hunt beaches that are harder to get to. I figure that a lot of people are lazy and won't walk as many miles as I will to find an agate. In this case, the best rocks I found were on the easy side. Go figure. Here's the actual mouth of the river:
Here's a view from farther down the beach that might be more interesting to this audience.
They're more colorful in the water.
The lake really sorts the rocks well. As you go up the beach, or into the water, the rocks are sorted by size and also by color. There will be tiny rocks in long rows parallel to the water's edge, and then there will be medium sized rocks, and then larger rocks. They're not always in the same order though. Then there's often a band of black basalt. You can see it in this picture.
I met a very knowledgeable guy on the beach last year who taught me a lot about what to look for. He said that he only hunts the beach, not the water and he looks in the white rocks, not the black. I had more luck in the water on this beach, but much more luck in the dry rocks on the beach the next day. In the dry rocks, the agates sometimes glow if the light is right. They also look waxy rather than dry. In the water, they all look shiny, but the agates are sometimes just way brighter colors. The water is way more fun to look in even if I don't find as many agates. I tend to pick up more non-agate rocks in the water, so my new rule is that I'm only allowed to look in the water on the way back. That way I don't fill my bucket and have to carry it in both directions.
I saw an eagle on my way down this beach, but it flew before I could get close enough for a picture. This is probably the same eagle on the way back. This time I got pretty close.
I'm not sure what this flower is. I don't remember seeing them before. Maybe a member of the pea family?
The next day, I headed to Vermillion Point. I met a guy on the beach who introduced himself as the "piping plover monitor". He was heading back on the two mile walk from checking on the nest of an endangered little bird. He said that there are only 140 of them left. Last year they had four nesting pairs here, but this year there is only one. They don't know what happened to the others. When I got near the nest, they were very aggressive with their "I'm injured, come eat me!" act. They act exactly like a killdeer. They look similar too. Maybe they're not as skilled at getting away after the act.
I'm not as close as it looks in the picture. I zoomed and then cropped. They built a cage around the nest to protect it, and the whole area is roped off. These little guys came pretty close to draw me away from their nest, even though I tried to stay away.
Now onto the rocks. Don't get too excited about the agates. I could hold all of them in one hand and some of those might not have even been agates. I'm only showing pictures of the best ones.
Here is the biggest. It looks much better in the pictures than in person. It's probably 2.5 inches across, but the agate is only on the top and bottom. I think the whole middle is quartz.
Other side:
I'm not sure if this is agate or jasper in the host rock, but I thought it looked like an olive.
This one is pretty wild.
Other side:
I met a lady on the beach who seemed quite knowledgeable about agates. She called this one a blue agate and said that it was fairly rare. The "blue" part looks more like white to me.
Another view:
Still the same rock:
I saved my favorite for last. I think this is my favorite out of all the agates I have ever found (which isn't all that many).
My sister found something called pebble art on Pinterest and sent a link to my daughter. They want to try making their own. There is a lot of flat basalt on the beaches and when I ran across a pile of tiny pieces I thought of them and picked some up. I sure hope they want it. I lugged about two quarts of this stuff about a mile.
Not an agate, but pretty.
I'm not sure what this rock is. It's sort of ugly, but really colorful. I'm sure not going to be tumbling this one smooth.
Other side:
The next three pictures are of the same rocks in the bottom of a five gallon bucket. I stirred them up between pictures.
I made an effort to not bring home so much unakite this year. This is a one gallon bucket and it's only half full! I did good.
Omars: