Eric, Daniell, Garry and I spent the day in the Greenwater area.? We were scouting out locations for future field trips and hoping to find some nice material.

Getting ready to head out.

We met up in Tacoma and headed up to the first site we wanted to check out.? It was?a slide area that contained opalized wood.? The location is easily accessed but not a place to take a lot of people, because of the danger of falling rocks.

A steep slide that needed care in working.

We didn’t spend to much time at this spot, but did find some of the petrified wood pieces.

Our next site was noted for it’s abundance of Black Agate.? We drove up the forest roads until we were stopped by snow and downed trees.? I think we were within 1/2 mile of the site, but decided to wait for another day to access it.

We then headed for a spot that contained seam agate.

The road cut was productive, but the material was clear agate in thin seams.

This site had been worked by others, so we didn’t spend too much time here.? We did find samples of what was available, and the site was easily accessible.

On to the next spot where we found some nice red jasper/agate material.? The digging was pretty easy, and the accessibility was good.

Our last stop for the day was a spot that would require hard rock mining equipment.? Garry had been there 15 years ago, but was still able to lead us directly to the site.

Garry using?his paleo pick?to remove rock.

We spent the remainder of the day at this spot and didn’t find very much.? I located a small seam of green and red jasper, but it was almost impossible to get it out of the host rock in very big pieces.? The spot was also at the top of a cliff, and pretty dangerous to work.? Not recommended for most folks.

We didn’t come home with a lot of material, but it was still a great day to be out enjoying the weather and company.

Thanks for joining us.

chasfire