Post by Tonyterner on Jan 28, 2014 20:06:15 GMT -5
Last Friday several of us RTHers got together with a few other folk and visited Planet Mine northeast of Blythe AZ. I took over 130 pictures so it was tough to whittle it down to a manageable number to post. Both the wife and I had a great time but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Here's a map to the collecting site. Its either 8 or 25 miles of dirt/rock road depending on which way you choose to go. We went one way and back the other and didn't have any troubles with our 2WD rental Jeep.
Aerial view of the area.
We were 4th in the line of cars and at some points in the drive from Blouse there was so much dust in the air it was nearly impossible to see. Of course we were led by Catmandew who was driving about 87 mph. lol Tony said this road was much nicer than the ones back in Idaho.
At the first main crossroad along the dirt road we came upon some signs that gave out good information about the area.
Second main crossroad actually had a street sign and stop sign. The stop sign cracked me up as its so remote its probably never had 2 cars at that intersection at the same time.
The drive down Planet Ranch Road went through some very picturesque areas.
Made it to the gate. If your into history, or politics, look up the recent ownership of this property. Good news is they plan on turning over some of the land to the BLM so it will open up to the public.
Our parking area from inside the ruins of the church.
Views from the parking area. Time to play count the mine holes. lol There were innumerable prospects in the area.
Well disguised resident. There were a covey of these hanging around. We scared up a cottontail rabbit as well.
As usual I headed up the tallest hill that I could climb and was awarded with this view. The Bill Williams River must flow most of the year as there were aspens and cottonwoods down on the ranch.
Climbing the hill I followed a path of blue chips to find this. Unfortunately it was all surface color but I kicked it out of the hill and carried it to the car. Tony took it home.
Lots of holes in the area. The old ones fenced off but there were scattered new holes too.
Found this pile of serpentine which led me to an open prospect.
Went in partway but the ceiling was fairly fractured so I wasn't too brave. Didn't find any blue.
Beyond this was the dry wash that Christopher told us had azurite balls. I'm not sure what he meant but there was a lot of color there. Some of the blue we collected was veins in hematite so I'm hoping it'll be slabable.
Tony went off in the other direction and found something very interesting in this hill.
This is what he found, a giant boulder with chrysocolla and hematite veins running through it.
Here's some folks checking it out.
Lots of blue further up the hill, all surface though.
Right above where we parked was a the largest, and only vertical hole we found. Notice the blue in the bottom?
By the looks of this cribbing the hole has been here a long time.
Foundation for the bucket. I've been doing some reading on this area and they said a couple of holes go over 1000' into the hills.
Here are my best finds. Both pulled out of the dry wash where Christopher told us to look.
Here's most of the gang. We were never all at the same spot to get one picture of everyone.
Hope you enjoy the pics but I'm sure it won't be as much as we enjoyed the trip. I have more photos if there is interest is seeing them.
Here's a map to the collecting site. Its either 8 or 25 miles of dirt/rock road depending on which way you choose to go. We went one way and back the other and didn't have any troubles with our 2WD rental Jeep.
Aerial view of the area.
We were 4th in the line of cars and at some points in the drive from Blouse there was so much dust in the air it was nearly impossible to see. Of course we were led by Catmandew who was driving about 87 mph. lol Tony said this road was much nicer than the ones back in Idaho.
At the first main crossroad along the dirt road we came upon some signs that gave out good information about the area.
Second main crossroad actually had a street sign and stop sign. The stop sign cracked me up as its so remote its probably never had 2 cars at that intersection at the same time.
The drive down Planet Ranch Road went through some very picturesque areas.
Made it to the gate. If your into history, or politics, look up the recent ownership of this property. Good news is they plan on turning over some of the land to the BLM so it will open up to the public.
Our parking area from inside the ruins of the church.
Views from the parking area. Time to play count the mine holes. lol There were innumerable prospects in the area.
Well disguised resident. There were a covey of these hanging around. We scared up a cottontail rabbit as well.
As usual I headed up the tallest hill that I could climb and was awarded with this view. The Bill Williams River must flow most of the year as there were aspens and cottonwoods down on the ranch.
Climbing the hill I followed a path of blue chips to find this. Unfortunately it was all surface color but I kicked it out of the hill and carried it to the car. Tony took it home.
Lots of holes in the area. The old ones fenced off but there were scattered new holes too.
Found this pile of serpentine which led me to an open prospect.
Went in partway but the ceiling was fairly fractured so I wasn't too brave. Didn't find any blue.
Beyond this was the dry wash that Christopher told us had azurite balls. I'm not sure what he meant but there was a lot of color there. Some of the blue we collected was veins in hematite so I'm hoping it'll be slabable.
Tony went off in the other direction and found something very interesting in this hill.
This is what he found, a giant boulder with chrysocolla and hematite veins running through it.
Here's some folks checking it out.
Lots of blue further up the hill, all surface though.
Right above where we parked was a the largest, and only vertical hole we found. Notice the blue in the bottom?
By the looks of this cribbing the hole has been here a long time.
Foundation for the bucket. I've been doing some reading on this area and they said a couple of holes go over 1000' into the hills.
Here are my best finds. Both pulled out of the dry wash where Christopher told us to look.
Here's most of the gang. We were never all at the same spot to get one picture of everyone.
Hope you enjoy the pics but I'm sure it won't be as much as we enjoyed the trip. I have more photos if there is interest is seeing them.