So on Saturday
aDave and I met up in Lenwood bright and early for a trip to Lavic.
We initially planned on hitting several different areas around Lavic, but we were finding such good stuff at the first spot that we stayed all day. And I mean literally all day - we were picking up rocks from 7:30 to 4pm! Boy were we TIRED by the end of the day!
It was such a great day though! I was drunk on rocks for a good part of it. My goal was to find some different types of Lavic jasper from the types I already have, as well as better examples of some of the ones I already have, and I think I succeeded on both counts.
Dave was looking for tumbling rocks, both smalls and gold ball sized, as well as a few bigger ones he could smash up. He even found several VERY nice larger rocks he plans to face polish whenever he joins his local club.
Our critter count was kind of slim, as usual: I saw 1 tiny lizard, 1 bug, and 2 ravens.
Toward the end of the day,
socalagatehound Craig met us out there with his friend Frank, and we spent some time searching together.
Fun was had by all!
One thing that was really cool was, I had a specific goal: to get enough primo pieces to make a link bracelet from pieces from this trip. So I needed enough for about 7 smallish cabs. I think I definitely did it! It was very freeing to allow myself to pick up any size or shape rock.
My technique evolution this time was to find a likely spot, sit down on my butt or kneel (knee pads!), get my face about 10" from the ground, and look at every single rock in situ, squirting a lot of them before even touching them. Just get my eyeballs right up there and look at each one in turn. I found a lot that didn't jump out at me otherwise. I can see a lot more detail that way than from further away with my glasses on. (I'm nearsighted).
The desert was very green around Barstow, but the area we were at looked about the same as usual.
It always surprises me again all over again every time, and it surprised Dave on his first time, the variety of really nice rocks just laying around right there on top of the ground! The only digging implement I used was another rock to pry a couple of these up. Most are loose on top.
Ok here you go, a couple of "virtual rock hounding" discoveries:
What was showing:
After spraying (I went through 4 large spray bottles of water):
In hand:
In the ground:
Sprayed:
At home:
In place:
Looking better wet (this is the classed Lavic red moss with a neato pocket of tubes or something on the left):
My haul (picked up way more than I intended to):
I was so excited after cleaning them Sunday morning that I decided to spend all afternoon at the club facing some of them. It was that or do my taxes! Wheeee! Some great discoveries in there!
The white stuff is what clear interstitial chalcedony looks like when it oxides on the outside of a Lavic jasper.
other side:
I have high hopes for this one:
Moss and Brekker together:
Love the yellow line:
Mossy moss moss:
This one is my favorite so far:
Side 1:
Side 2:
Cut:
A big orange moss:
Little orange and yellow moss:
Red moss: (Can you tell my eyes are still seeking out moss?)
Finally a brekker! This is OLD SKOOL.
This one is another favorite:
Moss explosion:
I cut that face on the end:
Classic Brekker (brecciated jasper):
Some slices of ones I didn't photograph whole:
Kinda dark but still pretty:
This one is special:
The next slice on its rock (I didn't have time to cut it yet though, waah):
Some other slices were disappointing, of course, as usual. A fair amount of Lavic is not "fully baked" or fully silicated.
And sometimes you find that out after cutting it, which is annoying. But you just have to expect that.
Thanks for looking. Hope Dave chimes in with some pics of his haul.