I had been home from Oregon for a couple of weeks, and was feeling a little out of sorts. ?I decided that a rockhounding trip was what I needed, and was trying to figure out what day to go when Greg called. ? He said that Kara wanted to go on a trip to the woods and was I interested in a rock hunting expedition. ?Needless to say I jumped at the chance, and so 8:00am arrived this morning with me waiting for Greg, Kara, and Zoe to show up. ?We headed down to the Toutle area, and quickly loaded our gear into Greg’s rock buggy.
Ready and willing.
It didn’t take long for us to hike to the dig site and, ?an even shorter time for us to start finding some nice carnelian, petrified wood, and garbage jasper. ?I decided to start digging in a spot I had worked before, and Greg chose a spot just down hill from me. ?Kara and Zoe roamed the edges of the creek and picked up agates and petrified wood that was left from previous trips.
It took me about an hour to dig down to the agate layer but when I did I started pulling out some nice smaller pieces of agate and pertrified wood.
The start of a good hole.
Greg continued to work on his spot, but was not finding enough material to make the effort seem worth it. ?I then talked him into moving up hill from me and starting another hole. ?He filled in his original hole and after a short time digging in the new spot started finding material.
It takes effort to dig through the clay to the agate layer.
We both continue to dig, while Kara and Zoe spent the time cleaning rocks, picking up cleaned pieces from the stream, or just relaxing and enjoying the peace of a quiet woods.
Cleaning the mud off of a nice piece of petrified wood Greg found.
I was starting to get a little tired, after digging for 4 hours and so I took a short break for lunch and realized that it was getting time to start filling in the large hole I dug. ?It took Greg and I about a half an hour to fill in the two holes and we started for the rock buggy. ?Loading our rocks and equipment in the buggy we headed back to the car.
It is a lot easier to carry heavy rocks when you use wheels.
We finally made it back to the car and changing into cleaner clothes, we were ready to head home. ?Here is some of the best finds of the day.
My finds of agate and petrified wood.
Greg's petrified wood and a couple of agates I gave to Zoe.
Thanks for joining us.
chasfire
Richard,
Looks like the “Broken Shovel” spot! Glad to see you have a replacement digging tool!
Dean
Dean: It is the same area. I think there is still a lot to be gotten there.
chasfire
You’re reports are great. I’ve been having fun poking around in the same general area about once a month and usually find something cool to bring home. Nice to see conscientious rockhounds having a good time. Looking forward to the next report.
Bill: It is fun in that area of the state. Hopefully, it will remain open for recreational rockhounding.
chasfire