Last weekend I serendipitously joined a Lapidary Society when I stumbled upon their annual rocks & minerals/gem show and, after speaking with several senior members, signed up and was excited to learn there would be a collecting field trip the next weekend out to the Lavic area in the Mojave Desert!
I got up at 4:30 AM on Saturday morning so that I could leave by 5 and get to the first meeting point 30 minutes outside of Barstow at 8:30. I met some modern-day prospectors on the National Trails Highway, who were heading out to spend the day mining/panning for gold and platinum. By 9 AM I had met new and longstanding members from the Pasadena, Whittier, and Glendora clubs, and we started a caravan west out to the first collecting site. This first site had an endless bounty of jasper as far as the eye could see, and there were SO many beautiful specimens it was hard not to pick up everything in sight. I took pictures of what I saw but didn't take, but collecting pretty much took precedence over documentation...! From the jasper/agate site we moved on to look for thulite (a green and pink marble), and an impromptu side trip to hunt for chalcedony roses right before heading back on I-40.
Of course a trip out to the desert ensures fine cactus encounters. Here I spotted what I think is Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris at the thulite site, and Echinocactus polycephalus when we were searching for chalcedony roses. I saw some teddy bear/jumping cholla too and made sure to keep some distance from them, but not before checking out their furry, toothpick-like spines.
It was pretty incredible to be in the company of extremely passionate and adventurous people all in the pursuit of awesome rocks and being outdoors in the desert. The average age of the people there was 60, and pros that they were had their collecting jackets/vests, hats, rock hammers/scoops, and walking/hiking sticks to facilitate efficient collecting. Many of them would call a newer member over to show a chalcedony growth atop some rhyolite, or a particularly gorgeous example of thulite with deep pink rivers swirling on a lush green sea, point out a piece of brecciated jasper, or, towards the end of the trip excitedly examine a fossilized clamshell that a new member had sharply eyed and picked up! I feel amazingly charged and alive when I interact with people who have retained a sense of wonder for their surroundings, and who seem impervious to weird modern perils and jaded points of view.
Sunday morning I could not sleep in, so after a bit of toast I filled up a bucket with warm water and went to work lightly cleaning the jasper, agate, and thulite I lugged home. I also found some little chalcedonies and druzys that I laid out on a paper towel layer on the kitchen table, but damn was I way more interested in handling and examining every piece than photographing it all! My sister stepped out and watched me for a bit before asking "What are you going to do with all of these?" and I just looked at her, my hands full of gleaming wet rocks and I exclaimed "I don't know!" I realize I will need to have a good-sized house, excellent cleaning/purging habits, a ton of willpower, and a whole lot of nothing to start with (haha), in order to keep my collecting tendencies in check. I'm looking forward to more field trips, because this hands-down beats picking around an excavated construction site all the way, in every way.
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