Jerry and I decided that today was the day I would return for the big agate I left behind mentioned in “Stir Crazy”. ?The weather decided to cooperate and we were out the door at 8:00am. ?We arrived in the Salmon Creek area, mounted our trusty steeds and peddled(and walked) our way up the hill to where I left the agate.
Jerry looks pretty pleased next to our "Trusty Steeds"
We decided to hike over the clear cut, and see if there were any more large agates laying around on the surface. ?It didn’t take long before we realized that this was a barren area for agate. ?We finally worked our way around and through logging slash, stumps, second growth timber, and swamps to a spot where there was a gravel layer not too far below the surface. ?We spent a short amount of time digging in this area.
Jerry doing what comes natural.
Then we headed back to the clear cut, where the logging equipment had turned up a lot of rocks. ?There wasn’t a huge amount of agate or petrified wood, but we did manage to locate a few “keepers”.
I didn't do any digging, just walking around picking up the occasional good one.
Jerry found a really nice 20lb piece of petrified wood where a blow down had revealed the rock layer.
Not too bad a piece of Petrified Wood
This side is even better looking!
We checked out all the other blow down root balls and didn’t find anything quite as nice. ?We finally gave up on this area and headed back to the bikes. ?Of course, we had to check out the rest of the logged area on the way back, and Jerry came through again with this nice size piece of agate.
This agate is softball sized and has good color.
I tried my best not to be outdone, and finally located this softball sized agate.
Not quite as colorful as Jerry's, but still a keeper.
We finally arrived back at the bikes and decided to check out the other side of the road. ?I went east and Jerry went west. ?I found a large 14lb agate and some smaller petrified wood and agate pieces, and Jerry found some smaller pieces of keeper material. ?Here is one spot that produced a nice piece of petrified wood and plume carnelian.
Can you find the agate in the mud?
I almost left the agate, because it wasn’t obvious. ?I did check out one of the rocks in the above photo and realized that shape can tell you what color won’t. ?This agate was, as far as I’m concerned, my best find. ?It was small but had beautiful yellow/orange “flames” shooting into the center.
Small but one of the best of the day.
Finally, here is a picture of the BIG one we went after. ?I had broken off a piece to bring out earlier, but it still weighed 18lbs after cleaning up.
This one weighed 22 Pounds after I added the piece I broke off.
We finally rode back to the truck and headed home. ?Tired but happy with our trip.
Thanks for joining us.
chasfire
Richard. Once again, great photos. We did have a very successful day and am I quite pleased with the “20 pounder” along with all the others I found. So many rocks, so little time. Thanks
Thanks Jerry. Always great to go looking with you.
chasfire
All I can say is WOW, and that area sounds like a place you guys should look into more. Wonderful pictures sir, thank you… even though I have not been able to go anywhere to look, you keep fueling the fire inside of me….
Thank you
Gene
Thanks Gene: I too enjoy reading about others adventures.
chasfire
I’m curious as to what the greenwater area is looking like right now. Have you made any attempted trips up there recently, during this winter heat wave? That petrified wood looks like a nice find.
Nate: I haven’t even attempted to get up to the Greenwater area yet. I think that it will still be awhile before it yields up any material.
chasfire
Those are some cool finds. It looks like you and Jerry had clear skies too. Can’t beat that!
Thanks Garry:
The weather was just about perfect. Hopefully it will cooperate on future trips.
chasfire
Once again you two have found some great material. I hope both of you get the big ones cut so we can see what is inside. Jerry’s pet wood sure looks promising.’
As you know, both Garry, and I were down to the Quartszite show, and even got some hounding in, but we were totally out of our element …………..no mud to dig in, no trees, or clouds to shade us from that unrelenting sun either. None the less, we did find find some material.
Woody
Thanks Woody: I have polished a small chip or two from the 22lb one. They polished okay, but had quite a few fractures. Oh Well! I guess that is the breaks. 🙂
chasfire