Today I decided to head back down to the Toutle area and dig some more in the slide mentioned in the Field Trip Report “Gravel Pit Blues!!”.? I had a theory that there would be more agate in the dirt at the edge of the slide.
I first stopped at a gravel pit near Salmon Creek to check out a rumor that there was petrified wood located in the pit.? I did find some petrified wood, but it was not very good quality.? I also saw a small herd of elk browsing in the clear cut.
My next stop was the parking area for the slide site.? I got my gear ready and headed up the road.? It seemed that today was my day to see wildlife.? There were two deer feeding in the clear cut on my way in.
I finally parked my bike and started the climb to the slide.
I decided to hike to the slide from a different direction today so I could check out some more of the slope.? It was a pretty day and a nice hike.? The slide is in the middle before the large cliff.? It’s the first dirt you can see.
I finally arrived at the slide and started digging.? It didn’t take me long to start finding agate.? There was a lot of agate here.? I ended up carrying 83 pounds out and leaving another 20 pounds there.
This is a shot of the biggest piece.
The shifting ground broke all this agate into smaller pieces.? The largest I found was 10 pounds, but I did find quite a few softball sized pieces that went into my pack.? I was also able to find a few more opal encased agate nodules.
Roy had hiked in after me and we hollered back and forth across the gulley.? It was nice yelling with him, and talking after we both made it back to the trucks.
I quit digging at 1:00pm and made it back to the truck at 2:20pm.? I don’t think I would have hauled all the agate out, if I had realized it was going to be so heavy.
I did find one really nice softball sized agate with black dendrites in it.? That just added icing to the trip.
Thanks for joining me.
chasfire