Post by carloscinco on Jun 12, 2010 22:00:49 GMT -5
I made a solo trip to Zapata. I could not locate any fee sites. I asked at a couple of Motels that mentioned rock collecting as one of the attractions in the area but the clerks had no knowledge of where people might go to collect.
I did go to my friends family ranch. The ranch butts up to Falcon Lake. It's a working ranch with cattle, wells, and gravel and caliche mining. You can see the layers of caliche and river gravel in the slopes along road and on ravines. Gravel, gravel, and more gravel. What a beautiful sight.
That's Mexico in the background
I was able to hunt for rocks for about six hours. The morning was overcast and ambient temp was 83-87. The wind was coming off the lake at about 15-20 mph. Kind of breezy which was very welcome.
I took a break about every 30-40 minutes where I drank some cold water, sat in the truck with the AC running and had a small snack. Even though the ambient temp seemed mild the radiant heat was not to be ignored. That sun felt hot enough to skip spit off of.
I wore snake leggings, a hat, and carried a forked hoe.
There are many cranky critters in the brush and I wanted to make sure they knew I was coming. I did like Cool Hand Luke and shook the bush with that hoe as I snaked along the gullies and ravines. I also found some agates along the road where it had been bladed.
My friend asked me to keep an eye out for arrowheads since he collects them but I did not find any. I was able to collect just over 5 gallons of agates in about 5 hours. I'll post them in the specimens section.
I did go to my friends family ranch. The ranch butts up to Falcon Lake. It's a working ranch with cattle, wells, and gravel and caliche mining. You can see the layers of caliche and river gravel in the slopes along road and on ravines. Gravel, gravel, and more gravel. What a beautiful sight.
That's Mexico in the background
I was able to hunt for rocks for about six hours. The morning was overcast and ambient temp was 83-87. The wind was coming off the lake at about 15-20 mph. Kind of breezy which was very welcome.
I took a break about every 30-40 minutes where I drank some cold water, sat in the truck with the AC running and had a small snack. Even though the ambient temp seemed mild the radiant heat was not to be ignored. That sun felt hot enough to skip spit off of.
I wore snake leggings, a hat, and carried a forked hoe.
There are many cranky critters in the brush and I wanted to make sure they knew I was coming. I did like Cool Hand Luke and shook the bush with that hoe as I snaked along the gullies and ravines. I also found some agates along the road where it had been bladed.
My friend asked me to keep an eye out for arrowheads since he collects them but I did not find any. I was able to collect just over 5 gallons of agates in about 5 hours. I'll post them in the specimens section.
Great pics of beautiful views of the ranch, thanks for taking us along. Glad you were the one who was snaking Carlos, and not one of those cranky critters. Hope you got a tumbler big enough for that big boulder, LOL. ;D Jo
