field trip - Kramer Junction, CA

Over the Memorial Day Weekend the lapidary group had a trip out to the Kramer Junction area between Mojave and Barstow. On the collecting list were dendritic agate, opalite, bits of petrified bog, onyx, and more agates like last time. In the middle of the day we stopped to view petroglyphs in a little canyon in I don't even know where - the last town we passed through before hitting back country was Hinkley, and hours and hours of driving up and down boulder-covered hills, dry lake beds and dusty, scrubby desert made me lose all sense of time and urgency.

Our first stop was Opal Mountain, to look for common opal in a range of milky-white to amber, to a dark honey color. Here I got to get extensive use out of my rock hammer for the first time, and I had a lot of fun looking for veins of opal and smashing at the surrounding rhyolite to free my finds. But after a while I slowed down to explore the rest of my surroundings. I noticed gem-like hues of lichen coating small rock/dirt outcroppings and regarded them as vast, microscopic alien worlds. I saw a cute little fishhook cactus with a bunch of pups and got pricked a few times admiring the bunch! I got lazy about taking pictures for most of this trip... When your center of balance is always slightly compromised by a rock bag/camera bag on pebbly surfaces that essentially act like a ball bearings-strewn landscape you really just want to be careful while having fun exploring, and then the camera kind of gets pushed to the side...!

 

We hit another agate field, viewed petroglyphs, and made the long dusty trek back to camp, where I parted ways with the other members and floored it back to LA, to see a good old friend I haven't seen in about a year and a half. The drive home was beautiful - there's a spot on the I-15 S that cuts through some mountains, and as the sun goes down, the mountains are dark and silhouetted; as you turn the curve and breeze downhill you get blasted with light, and I get this strange feeling of contentment at having had a full day of adventure that is then backed with an immediate desire to drive off and go on to the next adventure. I think of Bilbo Baggins saying "I want to see mountains again, mountains, Gandalf!" and I feel the same way, but I want to see mountains, forests, canyons, and other cities!

 
My haul this time was modest, but no complaints. Above, you see big chunks of agate that I would like to throw into the rock tumbler the next time I have a chance, as well as a few chips of honey opal. I found two dendritic agates, nothing impressive, but was happy to find more greenish specimens of agate, striped, translucent, milky and all. I only made it for 1/3 of the trip, but it was a great way to start the long weekend.

field trip - hunting for rocks!

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.