realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,027
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Post by realrockhound on Sept 8, 2023 16:35:01 GMT -5
Could just delete the smaller thread. I’m sure OP won’t mind.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 8, 2023 17:49:51 GMT -5
Tommy the "bob" you linked hasn't posted a thread since 2005
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 8, 2023 17:53:32 GMT -5
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,872
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Post by Tommy on Sept 8, 2023 21:33:23 GMT -5
Tommy the "bob" you linked hasn't posted a thread since 2005 Dang... the system got me haha I'm usually very careful to check if I'm tagging someone correctly. Thanks Lee
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Post by Bob on Sept 11, 2023 8:51:37 GMT -5
Not entirely sure what is going on but I'm okay with anything proposed.
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Post by Bob on Sept 11, 2023 9:24:31 GMT -5
For anyone reading this thread that wonders what in the heck happened, here you go.
On the evening before the BBQ I guess it was, or maybe the same day, I was rapidly walking through the outlying parts of Desert Gardens obsessed with at least passing by it all, which is quite a project given how huge the place is. Two young guys were behind a large table of lots of interesting rocks, and I spied that lime green prehnite color that I'm found of. As I was examining their stuff, we were talking a bit. One was from some country in central or South America I had been to--maybe Guatemala--and he was surprised to hear of that. Suddenly I caught the smell of marijuana in the air and noticed they had lit up. Didn't bother me and I wasn't familiar with Arizona laws and whether this was good or bad, but it was after the closing time of the place so who cares. The odor started bringing back a lot of memories from the 1970s, and they saw me smiling and asked why. So I started telling them stories about marijuana, the Vietnam protests, Jesus freaks, my hippie days, and how even police would sometimes be seen here in Oklahoma with it in their cars taking a drag. They wanted to hear more and more and had not heard of this, and they begged me to take some drags on theirs. Nope, I'm not going back there I told them with conviction and they eventually gave up. As I was paying them and taking my stuff, there was cloud around me and I realized I had been in it a while, but felt nothing going on.
As I made my way back to the parking area to meet up with Walter, some people were staring at me and I wondered why and looked at my clothes and feet wondering what was going on. Suddenly I realized I had been walking with a huge smile on my face--a really big one--was very relaxed and knew then I was smiling like a fool and knew why! Upon realizing this, it made me smile even more and then laugh out loud a little bit too which didn't help with the stares. But, it also felt good because I was living in the moment in a fun place. It's a fond memory for me.
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Post by Bob on Sept 20, 2023 15:55:02 GMT -5
Since we have to fly there, I was a bit surprised that there are a lot more airports to choose from than I realized, all within 2 to 3.5 hrs drive. Phoenix, Las Vegas, LA, Long Beach, Palm Springs, Burbank, Santa Ana, San Diego. Some of those take on on a different path to and from Quartzite and give us a chance to try different places in the desert for collecting. Last time we used Phoenix which was handy but not much in field collecting sites I could find between there and Quartzite. With Mark we went to the Brenda agate/jasper area which was sort of E and then a bit N of the hwy between Phoenix and Quartzite.
This time we are using Las Vegas. If any one has any suggestions on places to collect good tumbling material between there and Quartzite, I would sure love to hear about it. More or less we will have about 3 days extra to do field work. We are not into collecting crystals or specimens but just good stuff to tumble like jaspers and agates. I have previously explored some places found in geology field guides. On the south side of the Mohave, have explored some around Barstow, Lavic and over to Ludlow, Amboy and to the east as far as a line that would go through Chambless, but have not explored east of that general area yet. On the N side of the Mohave, I've gone only a bit east of Baker.
I'm especially interested in finding some pure psilomelane. I have found some in that area, but only as coatings on some lava like rocks and only about 1/4" thick at most.
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,236
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Post by quartzilla on Sept 20, 2023 16:37:54 GMT -5
Wiley Wells has psilomelane, this is in the general area of the geode beds but would be out of your way; the turn off on I-10 is a few miles east of Blythe.
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Post by Bob on Sept 20, 2023 18:01:10 GMT -5
Wiley Wells has psilomelane, this is in the general area of the geode beds but would be out of your way; the turn off on I-10 is a few miles east of Blythe. Isn't this area southwest of Blythe?
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Post by Bob on Sept 22, 2023 11:13:36 GMT -5
Last year, Walter and I drove past Wiley's Well and got out and walked around a little bit, maybe 20 mins, and the ground was so barren we quickly left. I realize that if we continue on various vehicle tracks a ways from it, or walked further, we may have started to see material, but our main objective was getting to a known site a few miles W of there on the low slopes of the Little Chuckwalla Mts. We had very poor luck there finding almost nothing but the few pieces we did find were nice pieces of jasper.
Have you seen the psilomelane at Wiley's Well? Is it just a coating on other rocks or is there better material than that?
I got real excited after buying some nice looking psilomelane from a guy that was really into it on the east side of the Pow Wow right against the fence. He said he had been selling rocks for years, but only recently had "really gotten into" psilomelane and was kind of obsessed with it. He said he could talk for an hour if I wanted about what is really is and how it's formed and what it's all about. I almost said to go for it.
When I asked if it was brittle, because it felt a little lighter in weight than it should although it looked solid, he admitted to me that if I dropped a piece if would shatter all over the place. Later I saw a lone piece for sale at another table that was very heavy for its size, a bit smaller than a lemon, and the guy wanted $100 for it and I tried to deal with him down a bit and he didn't budge and I didn't buy it. In retrospect, I wish that I had bought that one very solid heavy piece, instead of spending almost that much for 10x the total volume from the other guy. Those pieces just keep coming apart in the tumbler and are real touchy. I have to start in 200 grit and make sure everything about them is well cushioned and even then it doesn't go very well and I have to shift to 600 grit and over months gradually wear away the cracks and dings. Maybe 10% at most have some out okay in the end and almost no piece is larger than a thumbnail. Most of it has just disappeared.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 22, 2023 15:06:36 GMT -5
Bob how much travel time are you giving yourself? There are quite a few places to collect various copper ore related materials in S Nevada and on into Kingman. A pretty major side trip east on I40 can get you to Dobells or the other AZ wood ranch, and the monument. There is also a fee dig agate claim somewhere out in the vicinity of Camp Verde, off I17 that I want to visit, they are AZ rockhound expeditions on YouTube. If you go south through Kingman you can also jump over to US93 south and hit Burro Creek for jaspers, agates, and allegedly palm fossil, Date creek for crystals, then catch US60 west in Wickenburg. The Vulture mine is a neat bit of mining history there, and somewhere back in there are collection sites for many materials. US95 should have a few spots, perhaps vwfence can help with that, I haven't had time over there yet.
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,027
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Post by realrockhound on Sept 23, 2023 19:35:03 GMT -5
I was supposed to go last year but had recently started a job and didn't want to take time off so soon. Gf wants to go somewhere warm this winter, so thinking this will be the time.
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Tommy
Administrator
Member since January 2013
Posts: 12,872
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Post by Tommy on Sept 24, 2023 8:42:47 GMT -5
*bump* In case anyone is wondering wth is going on, I merged the two Qz threads and made this one the "official" thread and stickied it.
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realrockhound
Cave Dweller
Chucking leaverite at tweekers
Member since June 2020
Posts: 4,027
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Post by realrockhound on Sept 24, 2023 13:46:43 GMT -5
What are the official dates? More importantly when is the BBQ? If I make it down, i'd like it to be when most members will be around.
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Post by Bob on Sept 25, 2023 9:43:52 GMT -5
Bob how much travel time are you giving yourself? There are quite a few places to collect various copper ore related materials in S Nevada and on into Kingman. A pretty major side trip east on I40 can get you to Dobells or the other AZ wood ranch, and the monument. There is also a fee dig agate claim somewhere out in the vicinity of Camp Verde, off I17 that I want to visit, they are AZ rockhound expeditions on YouTube. If you go south through Kingman you can also jump over to US93 south and hit Burro Creek for jaspers, agates, and allegedly palm fossil, Date creek for crystals, then catch US60 west in Wickenburg. The Vulture mine is a neat bit of mining history there, and somewhere back in there are collection sites for many materials. US95 should have a few spots, perhaps vwfence can help with that, I haven't had time over there yet. Thanks for all those tips. I was just reading bout the Dobells place last night, not because of anything to do with Quartzite, but merely it came up when I typed in "sources of pretty Arizona petrified wood". It's a long ways from Quartzite though. We have 3 days more or less in the field. All day Thurs, and Fri until the BBQ, then Sat, and then fly out of Las Vegas on Sun morning early. So I do expect to be able to get around quite a bit. I have always had good luck in the desert just parking, taking enough snacks and water for the day, and taking off on foot in some direction. Then of course there are the multiple trips back laden with rocks! But my friend Walter has one leg prosthesis below one knee, so I can't do any distance things when he is with me, nor steep slopes. We just got back from doing quartz crystals in Arkansas. It was on his bucket list and we had fun even though paying this guy $300 to open a pocket for us wasn't so great.
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Post by HankRocks on Sept 25, 2023 11:09:35 GMT -5
Bob how much travel time are you giving yourself? There are quite a few places to collect various copper ore related materials in S Nevada and on into Kingman. A pretty major side trip east on I40 can get you to Dobells or the other AZ wood ranch, and the monument. There is also a fee dig agate claim somewhere out in the vicinity of Camp Verde, off I17 that I want to visit, they are AZ rockhound expeditions on YouTube. If you go south through Kingman you can also jump over to US93 south and hit Burro Creek for jaspers, agates, and allegedly palm fossil, Date creek for crystals, then catch US60 west in Wickenburg. The Vulture mine is a neat bit of mining history there, and somewhere back in there are collection sites for many materials. US95 should have a few spots, perhaps vwfence can help with that, I haven't had time over there yet. Thanks for all those tips. I was just reading bout the Dobells place last night, not because of anything to do with Quartzite, but merely it came up when I typed in "sources of pretty Arizona petrified wood". It's a long ways from Quartzite though. We have 3 days more or less in the field. All day Thurs, and Fri until the BBQ, then Sat, and then fly out of Las Vegas on Sun morning early. So I do expect to be able to get around quite a bit. I have always had good luck in the desert just parking, taking enough snacks and water for the day, and taking off on foot in some direction. Then of course there are the multiple trips back laden with rocks! But my friend Walter has one leg prosthesis below one knee, so I can't do any distance things when he is with me, nor steep slopes. We just got back from doing quartz crystals in Arkansas. It was on his bucket list and we had fun even though paying this guy $300 to open a pocket for us wasn't so great. Bob, which mine did you dig the pocket at? Our one experience at a paid for pocket dig was not very rewarding and I have not heard anything from anyone to change that assessment contrary to what the usual suspects on the Youtube videos say. We are hoping to get together this Fall and dig some crystals, it's getting more difficult, but not impossible to find decent crystals.
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Post by Bob on Sept 25, 2023 13:26:27 GMT -5
HankRocks, this was my 3rd one at Twin Creek. My first time, maybe in 2011 or 2012 I would guess, my family of 4 paid the $25/person flat fee and came back with 400lbs of quartz, including some almost flawless crystals, some in clusters, a bit over .5" in diameter. Much came from a vein on the ground that I worked. Then maybe 4 or so years ago, did it again with my 92 year old mom mainly as she always wanted to do it. Mostly just wandered around helping her pick things up, but got a box full about size of computer CPU. I had heard the pockets were really something. They have $300, $500, $700, and $1,000 pockets. We got the $300. All it was was a rock face with a few veins partially exposed--no pockets. I had lots of tools and hit things pretty hard all day from 9 to 4. Hardly got anything. The veins were only 1 to 2.5" wide. I mentioned our disappointment to the proprietor whom I had gotten to know some and his only remark was "I tried to warn you that you got the smallest one with the smallest crystals." I wish we had just done the $25 dig. But Walter had a good time and enjoyed the whole thing. It was quite hot because it was oriented from the sun. Some ladies beside us had driven all the way from Michigan. They had even less luck and were extremely disappointed.
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quartzilla
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2020
Posts: 1,236
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Post by quartzilla on Oct 5, 2023 22:24:32 GMT -5
Wiley Wells has psilomelane, this is in the general area of the geode beds but would be out of your way; the turn off on I-10 is a few miles east of Blythe. Isn't this area southwest of Blythe? . Bob the Wiley Wells Psilomelane area is due south on Wiley Wells road past the prison and starts a little past the imperial county line marker. There is a GPS Collector Guide To The Wiley Wells Area book that has the best information on these deposits I’ve ever seen. It also covers the various geode beds and agate locations, most of which are reached from Wiley Wells Rd, and yes, this area is all southwest of Blythe. There is also the Arlington Mine northwest of Blythe which is supposed to have the best psilomelane in the area, the bubbly stuff and the velvety stuff. Arlington Mine is listed in most older CA gem hunting guides but I don’t know what the current status is there for collecting; I wanna say I remember seeing something about it being off limits now but I’m not positive. Google Arlington Mine Collecting, their may be something there. And the Wiley Wells GPS book should be available online, I think the authors name is Delbert Ross. I don’t have the book where I’m at right now, if your interested I can look for it when I’m home this weekend and send you the correct info.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,733
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Post by Mark K on Oct 5, 2023 23:44:23 GMT -5
I have that book.
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Post by Bob on Oct 6, 2023 15:11:09 GMT -5
Isn't this area southwest of Blythe? . Bob the Wiley Wells Psilomelane area is due south on Wiley Wells road past the prison and starts a little past the imperial county line marker. There is a GPS Collector Guide To The Wiley Wells Area book that has the best information on these deposits I’ve ever seen. It also covers the various geode beds and agate locations, most of which are reached from Wiley Wells Rd, and yes, this area is all southwest of Blythe. There is also the Arlington Mine northwest of Blythe which is supposed to have the best psilomelane in the area, the bubbly stuff and the velvety stuff. Arlington Mine is listed in most older CA gem hunting guides but I don’t know what the current status is there for collecting; I wanna say I remember seeing something about it being off limits now but I’m not positive. Google Arlington Mine Collecting, their may be something there. And the Wiley Wells GPS book should be available online, I think the authors name is Delbert Ross. I don’t have the book where I’m at right now, if your interested I can look for it when I’m home this weekend and send you the correct info. Thx so much for this info!
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