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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 20, 2011 17:56:51 GMT -5
This weekend we had the opportunity to "baby" sit for some friends of ours from church. "Baby" sit, in this case, is a pretty loosely used term as our friends boys are 10 and 7  . At their request, I had promised to take the gang out rock hounding Saturday, weather permitting. Fortunately, we only had a small amount of rain down here in SoCal, nothing amazing, although enough to make me change locations and take the boys to Field Siding (i.e. a location without a wash). Since this would have been our friends first trip out to the Mojave area for rock hounding, I was also banking on the fact that we had enough rain the previous weeks to reveal some newer materials for the guys at the Field Siding location. It's also a very "family friendly" area - pull over, walk around, and find stuff. Minimal effort required to get the kids interested and keep their attention. We loaded up the Pilot around 8:00 AM with snacks, portable DVD players, DSi's and buckets and were off. After a quick stop in Barstow for lunch, we landed at the siding. The day was bright, clear, breezy and COLD. I don't think the temperature broke 65 although it felt quite a bit cooler than that. Here's me trying to explain to Andrew and Nathaniel's buddy's what to look for - you know "This is an agate ... this is jasper ... this is common quartz ... no, that's a piece of broken glass ... "   The recent rains had made it easy pickin's and we spent about an hour at the site. My wife came along for this trip, mostly to help me with crowd control. She's not into this hobby although she's got a quick eye and found some interesting chalcedony(?) pieces.    Here's Andrew, Nathaniel, and their friends at the site:   Nathaniel with the shovel:  Andrew and I and a BNSF train:  Nathaniel and I:  We've got the rest of the finds soaking in a five gallon bucket of soapy water. Will post more photos later today. Thanks for looking! Paul |
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
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Post by LarryS on Nov 21, 2011 9:36:01 GMT -5
Great pics Paul. The kids see more rocks than you do because of their height. Plus they have you beat at bending over and picking them up. Advil works good for me! Looking forward to seeing your finished tumbled stones. I found one of those green rocks too. It was about 2" in diameter and I cut it into slabs. Ended up having too many cracks & pits for cabs. Wished I left it whole and tumbled it. Would have been a cool looking stone then. I've never seen green rocks in that whole area.
LarryS
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 21, 2011 9:46:25 GMT -5
Seems like there is some green stuff up the gully at Green Ash Hills. Maybe it migrated to Field. I'll be there today and will have a look.
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
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Post by LarryS on Nov 21, 2011 10:09:50 GMT -5
John,
After the rain we had last night, it will be a great day to go hounding. All this stuff is walking distance from your house! Tell us how it went.
LarryS
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adrian65
Cave Dweller 
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,790
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Post by adrian65 on Nov 21, 2011 10:41:21 GMT -5
Kids searching for rocks and thrilled about them... great! The picture of Nathaniel holding the shovel is priceless!
Adrian
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 21, 2011 10:46:55 GMT -5
I'm meeting Woody and his wife and friends this morning for the day. Rained last night so hoping for good hunting. Every time I drive Mule Canyon it looks completely different to me so hard to find some locations but I'm guessing it will be a fun day.
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Post by BuiltonRock on Nov 21, 2011 21:29:57 GMT -5
Looks like you guys are passing on the right stuff!
John
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 21, 2011 23:20:48 GMT -5
John (johnsjgems) - let us know how the trip goes. I'm taking Andrew up to the Calico Early Man Site (I think Mitchell's book calls it Yermo). Will be interested to know what you guys find. Nathaniel's pre-school, unfortunately, is on a slightly different schedule this week. Andrew get's the whole week off for teacher conferences. Nathaniel get's the short end of the stick but get's a consolation prize - Wednesday we're all going to Disneyland.
Larry - you aren't kidding about the advil - LOL - I'm still sore today! It's like doing squats and "windmills" over and over and over ... all while lugging around a five gallon bucket of rocks! A friend of mine who's an ex-Marine commented that all that pain is simply weakness leaving the body. Smart ass! LOL
Adrian - thanks for the compliments. Nathaniel had a great time with the shovel. Basically he too the approach that the larger the rock, the more interesting. I had to quietly remove them from the bucket as he loaded them up. I did inspect them though, as he managed to find a pair of large (4" diameter) agates. Or at least they appear to be. Will slab them over the weekend and check.
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 21, 2011 23:23:07 GMT -5
John - thanks, Sir! The kids are only kids for so long and are Gifts from Above. My time with them will be short so I try and spend it with them (and my wife). Paul Looks like you guys are passing on the right stuff! John |
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 21, 2011 23:29:33 GMT -5
Let me know if any of you might be able meet up out there. It'd be great to meet you! I'm just not certain what time we'll be there. We're stopping off at Covington Engineering on the way up to pick up some parts for the combo unit. I'll conservatively estimate that we'll be there around 11:00 AM or so. So, if you see some guy in the distance who's repeatedly massaging his lower back with a little boy who seems to have an unlimited power source - that's us! |
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Post by johnjsgems on Nov 22, 2011 10:52:54 GMT -5
Follow the guide to the Green Ash Hills location. It is off the road that turns left at the Early Man Site/ closed land fill. Go back about a mile to the green ash covered hills. You will see a camp are to the right. Pull in and park. The hills there are covered with jasp agate, bog, occasional piece of palm. We got there too late and the prime hillsides were shaded. You need sunshine to show agates. Just past that road is a very steep road that goes up and around the hill. I've seen nice palm up there. It is steep enough to attract jeep clubs and off roaders so good rock gets exposed on the road. If you follow that road down into a dip there is a small mound with tiny fossil twigs. If you have a screen it can be fun for kids of all ages. The road out of the dip is fairly steep so if you don't have a rugged vehicle you might want to hike in and evaluate it.
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 23, 2011 2:26:26 GMT -5
Hey, John - thanks for the pointers! Unfortunately, we never made it that far in. There was so much materials we stopped about 3/10ths of a mile in, after the "Y" in the road. Just posted another thread on today's trip.
Paul
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Post by paulshiroma on Nov 24, 2011 0:16:04 GMT -5
Larry - just doubled up on the Advil again as we just returned from Disneyland where most of the time, I was carrying Nathaniel. I ketp telling myself that an additional 45lbs. on my back or shoulders would help me lose some weight ... So, in the last five days - two rock hounding trips and a walk around Disneyland...My middle-aged legs and back are reminding me (very loudly, I might add) that I'm not a high schooler any more! |
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. At their request, I had promised to take the gang out rock hounding Saturday, weather permitting. Fortunately, we only had a small amount of rain down here in SoCal, nothing amazing, although enough to make me change locations and take the boys to Field Siding (i.e. a location without a wash). Since this would have been our friends first trip out to the Mojave area for rock hounding, I was also banking on the fact that we had enough rain the previous weeks to reveal some newer materials for the guys at the Field Siding location. It's also a very "family friendly" area - pull over, walk around, and find stuff. Minimal effort required to get the kids interested and keep their attention.
