Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Feb 25, 2014 23:05:55 GMT -5
I'm flying to Idaho Sunday March 9th. Packing up and should be leaving on the 10th or 11th.
We're moving my mother from Star to Salem, and she and I are planning a 1.5 to 2 week rockhounding trip on the way. We have a few stops planned, from Idaho all through Oregon, including the sunstone mines, Glass Buttes, Hampton Butte, and anything else that seems promising or fun.
Looking for advice or info, maps, whatever, for places to go, and looking for anyone that might want to meet up with us along our trip and do some hunting together. It would be awesome to meet some new rockhounds and have some new experiences!
If anyone is interested, or has advice or info to share, or both, shoot me a message and I'll give you my email or cell number so I can keep everyone updated of our trip.
Pretty much, if it's between Boise and Salem, and if it's below Washington and above California, it's a possibility. We need to stretch our 8 hour drive into 2 weeks! :-)
-Mike
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 3:57:03 GMT -5
Once you get up in elevation, it is still a bit early to get out on dirt roads, some of which turn into muddy traps this time of year. Be sure to get local conditions before venturing too far off the beaten path. There is no cell phone coverage for much of the area between the Idaho border and Bend (and also not much from Sisters over the Cascades until you get close to Salem). I got stuck at the sunstone area once, and it is a far trek (20 miles) to get help when the digs are closed. Many of the higher elevation digs will be closed until May or June, as snow is still a possibility. Call the local BLM and USFS stations for road conditions and other collecting information (collecting limits, new finds, nearby camping/accommodations, and just to let someone know where you are going and when you will be coming out). If a road has standing water, I suggest turning back and going on to the next stop. Make sure your spare tire is in good shape, be prepared for cold and wintery weather (it can be springlike, but nights on the high desert can drop to below freezing even in July), and bring food and water.
The sunstone area is great (even the public dig area) as long as the roads in/out are dry. If you are in the vicinity of the sunstone area and Christmas Valley (good pizza), definitely visit Fort Rock: no collecting, but a really interesting stop that explains the geology of the south-central part of Oregon. Glass Buttes and Hampton Butte may be passable with 4x4, depending on the conditions. If you go through Prineville, there are good agates to be found along the shores of the reservoir just east of town (the lower the water, the better) and that should be accessible in any weather. The rock shop at Richardson's north of Madras is open weekdays, although digging may or may not be open during March, depending on how wet it has been (the shop is worth the visit, regardless). If you get a feel for the area, you may want to come back at the end of June for the Prineville and Madras Rock Pow-Wows, when a lot of the old digs on private land open up for a day or two. Nearer to Salem, you could go out to the Sweet Home area to look for petrified wood, carnelian and metals (the road to Quartzville east of town by Green Peter reservoir is the starting place, though stick to the public areas, since there are claims all over, especially the farther you get up the road (by the time you get to the former site of Quartzville, it is all claimed up). You can also find nice agate and carnelian along the Willamette north and south of Salem, though this time of year the water is going to be high and the pickings slim.
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Feb 27, 2014 15:22:41 GMT -5
Awesome! I'll pass this info along to my mother and see what she thinks. We'll be driving her Ford Explorer sport trac 4x4 so most roads shouldn't be too much of a problem. Not a Ford guy and don't like the short bed, but that truck is amazing in 4x4!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2014 15:32:33 GMT -5
Last word is that the reservoirs around Prineville have extremely low water levels right now, due to the drought. So I would definitely put that on your list of stops. There has been some very fine agate pulled out of there when the water levels are low. The lower down you can get along the shores, the better chances you have to get to an area that hasn't been picked over. Nice campground there, too, and it is close to town if you want to stay in a motel. Be safe!
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Feb 27, 2014 15:33:57 GMT -5
Awesome!
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Mar 1, 2014 14:07:41 GMT -5
Ok, looks like we're heading down the 95 from star, hitting a few places, then to mcdermitt, then reno, back up to mcdermitt, then what looks like El rancho, or, then malheur lake, stinking water creek, burns, hart mountain, hampton butte, then on toward prineville, then lowell, or, then molalla, or, then finally arriving in lyons where she's moving to.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Mar 11, 2014 13:42:48 GMT -5
We got back from the sunstone area yesterday, it's very dry there, and this is the time of year to hunt the public area. We came out on a freshly graded and rolled road w/13 1/2 pounds of sunstones; up to 44ct. in weight. Weather was a little rough, cold and windy, but mostly dry. If you go to Hampton, go a couple miles past Price-Twelvemile road and the ranch, then explore the area around the two little roads to the left. We haven't been up there yet, but have seen some really nice jaspers that have been collected off Lizard Creek Rd. between Hampton and Harmon Rd. Harmon intersects w/ Van Lake rd.
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Mar 12, 2014 0:20:13 GMT -5
Awesome, thanks! We just finished mcdermitt, nv areas, experienced a bust at the unionville ammonite location, and made it to Reno. On our way tomorrow to the malachite location and some selenite. Did you guys go by the spectrum sunstone mine? Talked to them and they said we could get a cabin for a night or two for a donation, with the couple that are looking after the place for the off season. :-)
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Mar 12, 2014 11:45:34 GMT -5
The people at the Spectrum mine are who we went to visit, the kids. If you go there, the little cabins are pretty decent, bring your bedding, and an air mattress is good. If you walk the adjacent public area [to the north], watch the color of the ground, the redder it is, the less you will find. Lots to be found surfacing this time of year. Pay attention to the maze of little roads in the public area, they haven't been pounded to dust yet, Carol picked a 43.5ct. and a couple 20+ stones out of a road. The last 14 miles going in is BLM road, graded and rolled last week. When we went in, it was a bone jarring washboard, coming out a breeze. Thanks to those folks. Larry
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,019
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 12, 2014 12:47:40 GMT -5
Carol picked a 43.5ct. and a couple 20+ stones out of a road. Hi Larry, what kind of colors were you finding? Any nice reds, oranges or bicolors?
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Mar 12, 2014 19:40:41 GMT -5
We found mostly clears [yellowish], some pinks and a small handful of schillers. To find a red or bi-color on the surface is EXTREMELY rare, has been done though. Our best relaxation and satisfaction was walking the surface for our stuff, the mind just sort of goes blank [easy for me, not much there anyway] and just walking around looking at stuff/for stuff is great. When helping the kids out, we [four of us total] found a few reds down a couple feet below the surface in a pit, pretty small but nice ones. The really special colored and big ones generally come from several feet down under the cap rock of lava, in a green clay layer.
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gemfeller
Cave Dweller
Member since June 2011
Posts: 4,019
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Post by gemfeller on Mar 12, 2014 20:07:31 GMT -5
Yes, I've heard the best stuff requires hard labor. That leaves me out -- my back totally quit on me 7-8 years ago. I'm glad you got a few nice ones anyhow. The yellow labradorite cuts some very nice faceted stones that are unusually bright considering the optical properties of the material. Some are really neat because they have subtle schiller and tints of pink and green.
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Mar 12, 2014 21:47:53 GMT -5
Sounds awesome. We'll be bringing a small shovel and (if we can hopefully find one before then) a trailer to tow so we can move some of the rocks we already found around a bit. Running out of room! ;-)
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Mar 12, 2014 22:16:53 GMT -5
Running out of room is one of the constants when rocking. You won't there, stuff isn't that big, but real pretty and lots of fun. Good luck and give us a report. Larry
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Mar 15, 2014 22:47:45 GMT -5
We're in Burns, OR now. Went to stinking water creek to look for petrified wood. Bust. No wood anywhere. Remembered an opal site outside Buchanan, OR on our way back and stopped there with a half hour of daylight left. Got a couple pieces of solid stuff. Gonna head back tomorrow, then do some laundry, then head on to Hart mountain on monday.
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,352
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Post by quartz on Mar 16, 2014 22:16:50 GMT -5
We went into Stinkingwater several years ago, same result. All we found was cow residue, so we now call it "Stinkingcow".
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Mike Menzie
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since October 2012
Posts: 96
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Post by Mike Menzie on Mar 16, 2014 22:49:06 GMT -5
Heh. Yup. We were really excited about that location too. Oh well. My mom found a cow skull, so it wasn't a complete bust i guess.
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