Garry and I decided to head up to our claim today. ?The weather was supposed to be perfect, and after a week of rain we needed renewing. ?We met up at the parking site and quickly headed out for the claim.
The trail is always a challenge and this time was no different, except for us “old duffers” moving a little slower.
This part of the trail wasn’t quite as steep as some areas.
We had a short discussion on where to dig, and the site of last weeks trip with Dean won. ?It took us about an hour to get there and then set up for digging. ?I started in the spot Dean located and Garry worked the seam to my east. ?We started finding material fairly quickly, but most of it was tumbler size or smaller.
A small pile of tumbler Tahoma Agate.
After digging for a while we both started pulling out larger pieces.Some of them had some really nice patterns and salmon colored areas.
Garry’s salmon colored pieces.
The one I found shows off the pattern.
This one has some nice colors and patterns.
Around noon I decided to move and work in an area Dean explored last week. ?At first I was only finding a few pieces, but they were pretty nice. ?I finally located the seam and started pulling out some nice banded material. ?The bands ran parallel to the seam so there wasn’t any plumes, but the colors were really nice. ?Meanwhile Garry was really getting into digging. ?He said that the seam he was working was between two large boulders and so narrow that he could only get his rock hammer in to pull out the material. ?This made for some slow digging, but he got some good material this way.
Preparing to move some dirt.
We dug until we both had enough material, which ended up being 24lbs for Garry and 34lbs for me. ?Hiking out with that much weight went slow, but we both made it without any broken bones or torn muscles. ?This piece would have been left behind, but I rally liked the pattern.
This piece was one of the last ones I found. To bad is has some fractures through the it.
We finally left the parking area after 5:00pm. ?Tired, a little sore, but satisfied.
Thanks for joining us.
chasfire
Garry looks pretty low on hydration, but the material from this spot is pretty good. Hope that vein gets wider for you.
Woody
Woody: It wasn’t very hot so I don’t think that Garry needed much hydration. The material from this dig is pretty nice, but we are not sure how much more there is there.
chasfire
I love that I can Google Tahoma Agates and look at these beauties all dressed up. Folks seem to be loving something new and wonderful. This area is my old childhood stomping ground. What a wonderful place.
tblom58: Thanks for the comments. I agree that this place is a wonderful area to be stomping in.
chasfire
It was definitely a beautiful day. How come those hills seem to be steeper every time we go up there? People can’t tell it from the pictures, but we were digging right at the top of what I would call a cliff – you wouldn’t want a misstep there. This would be a very dangerous place to take a family because every once in a while a rock breaks loose and it is GONE – somebody digging below would definitely be killed. I was digging in this same area a few years ago and a rock from somewhere above me decided to let go and just come zipping by my head about 2 feet away. That’s why I like to get behind an old burnt out stump or similar when I dig at this site.
P.S. Woody, I drank more water that day than I ever have that day (7 bottles of the 16.9 fl. oz), so I doubt if I was low on hydration.
Garry: You are right about the steepness of the area. There are even places I refuse to go.:) I hadn’t realized you drank so much water. I must have been too busy digging to notice.
chasfire
Hi, My friend and I are looking to hound greenwater today, dont know any spots. gemtrails doesnt provide much, some sort of black agate that im not much interested in. know of any public areas that have been known to produce tahoma? maybe a very treacherous area unclaimed?
-Sean
Sean: I apologize for being late with this reply. Summer is a busy time of year. If you know where our claim is then check areas outside of the claim. We have pretty much covered our claim with signs. The signs are pretty noticeable and are on all the major access points.
chasfire