billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Mar 16, 2013 12:15:57 GMT -5
Next weekend my wife and I will be spending Saturday night in Ventura CA. That means gathering material in that area. Mel has talked about the area behind the fairgrounds, that might be our first stop. Any other ideas? And is there a good place for dinner on Saturday night?
Thanks, Bill G.
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Mar 18, 2013 0:07:39 GMT -5
I've been looking at the Gem Trails book and wondered if it was worth making the trip up to
Lake Cachuma? It's just a little further up the 101.
I remember camping there as a kid, but that was long before I caught this rockhounding bug.
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Post by christopherl1234 on Mar 18, 2013 0:49:01 GMT -5
I used to go camping out there too when I was a kid. I never knew there was anything to collect out there. Kanan road agate can be found just up the grade near Thousand Oaks and West Lake. Also there is a little park at the base of the grade that has some collectible stuff...,I just can't remember what. I use to go there as a kid too, I grew up in Oxnard.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 18, 2013 11:42:31 GMT -5
I've seen small pieces of fossil whale bone from right at the beach across from the fairgrounds. Also just up the coast. Can't remember which beach but you walk down by the rail road tressel bridge. I found a knuckle bone there and my dog got ticks walking through the tall weeds on the way down to the beach.
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Post by christopherl1234 on Mar 18, 2013 12:49:56 GMT -5
We used to call that area Hobo Junciton
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 18, 2013 14:44:46 GMT -5
It is outside the state park campgrounds. We parked on the shoulder of the highway and walked down. It was a nice rocky beach. The knuckle bone is the first and only non ocean tumbled whale bone I've ever found. Most are "assumed vertebrae" due to size but rounded of all detail. I've seen some nice pointy vertebrae from Jalama/Point Conception but they hide from me.
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Mar 18, 2013 22:15:45 GMT -5
There used to be a lot of whale bone along the beach at the mouth of the Ventura River, but I know a few people who have hit that spot several times over the last few years. They racked up 100 pounds or more of the whale bone. It's getting harder to find.
Kanan Road is good if you know where to look.
The park just off the grade coming down from Thousand Oaks has some chalcedony, but the best access was gated off as private property 10 years or so ago.
If you are willing to drive out to Santa Barbara and Lake Cachuma, then you might want to head up Figueroa Mountain up to Soapstone Hill at its peak. There is brecciated jasper in the streambed on the other side of the road from the Hill. You can find this site in Mitchell's Gem Trails. You just need to get a pass for the US Forest for the day.
Supposedly there is also agate somewhere up there, but my source is 55 years old and the road info is woefully out of date.
There are also fossil sites spread around Ventura. If you drive the 33 above Ojai 33 or so miles, just before the road turns away from the Sespe River, you can go down into the river bed and collect Oyster fossils, turritella, sand dollars, and occasional marine mammal backbones in the riverbed. But I don't have exact milage.
I have an old magazine that provides milages. I'll see if I can find it for some specific fossil sites.
Lowell
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Mar 19, 2013 15:41:37 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! I'll have to put our plan together by Friday. Pretty sure we will hit the Lake Cachuma site in the Gem Trails book. Then do a beach or two between Santa Barbara and Ventura on Saturday. Sunday do the Ventura beaches and head south on Hwy 1 and stop a few times. Looks like all good roads on this trip.
We got a free night at the Mariott near the beach. I guess if you spend enough, the throw you a bone once in a while. Lowell, is there a good place for dinner near the Fairgrounds?
Thanks!
Bill G
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,077
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Post by elementary on Mar 20, 2013 9:12:43 GMT -5
Bill,
Westminster? You're a stone's throw from my wife's parents. One of the better estate sales I've been to was in Westminster about 6 years ago.
For dining, it depends on how fancy you want to get.
Main Street is a couple/four blocks from the Fairgrounds.
Here you can find the Mission and the Ventura Museum.
On or near Main Street will be about five blocks of eating places and stores of various levels of interest. You can find everything from Italian to Thai to Indian (even a thai/peruvian restaurant). The upper end places would be the Watermark with it's rooftop bar and nice dining atmosphere to a local favorite - Cafe Fiore. It costs $ to park on the street, but there is a free parking structure a block from from the theatre that is still free.
I haven't been out much the past few years beyond family restaurants - (my daughter turns 7 today). Check out the scene on line.
I hope this helps,
Lowell
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Mar 20, 2013 14:52:55 GMT -5
Thanks Lowell, We'll check out Main Street and look for the structure. Cafe Flore sounds interesting. I can and will eat anything, so it will be Tina's choice.
We have been in Westminster going on 20 years. Great freeway access (when it's moving) both 22 and 405.
Thanks again for the info!
Bill G
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