Post by Good Earth on May 29, 2014 23:35:41 GMT -5
Made it back home with 3495 miles on the odometer. Trip was not long enough by half, since I had to spend 5 days replacing a transmission in the middle of the travels. Since I had to do that, I truncated my rock hounding locations quite a bit. Still got to enjoy the desert, and I'm already trying to find a way back.
Started by doing a drop in on Davis Creek for Rainbow Obsidian. I pulled into the area after 10 hours on the road, planning to stay a couple of hours and then move on to a prospecting location near Cedarville, CA. When I pulled up there were some folks working a commercial pit, and I thought that stopping to BS looked like much more fun than starting a virgin hole. Considering the fact that you have to move about 5 feet of overburden, I think I made the right choice. After 15 minutes of telling lies to each other, I volunteered my and my trip mate's services moving muck for Quinn in the Volcanic Treasures claim. The guy was so cool, that the entire time I was there working, he spent grading out sweet rocks for me to take home. I guess I hauled a couple of hundred pounds of killer rainbow in exchange for some pick, shovel and wheelbarrow work.
My trip-mate Andrew staring at the rough ob pile:
After Davis, we rolled into Cedarville at sunset and camped. Woke up to a beautiful morning the next day and went looking for this lost agate location. Found the road, but it was 4wd only, so we headed up on foot, through a gate. No luck sussing out the agate, and when we got back, there was a huge bull hanging out, rubbing his butt on my little truck. I decided to sit back and enjoy the view through the fence until he left, about an hour.
Left Cedarville, and headed towards Gerlach, NV. Saw some guy walking through the desert with his head down and a squirt bottle in his hand, so I flipped a U-turn and hopped out to meet a new friend. Picked up some black obsidian and a couple of nice colored common opals, before heading into Gerlach for the traditional bloody mary at Brunau's Country Club. After that, I went to my favorite spot on the Black Rock Desert for some needed hot springs time.
Frog Pond:
This is me and my buddy Jason (I'm the small one) in the middle of the Black Rock Playa. Not a rock or insect or plant for 30 miles:
Couple of random shots from the back side of the Black Rock:
Again, not having 4wd shot me in the foot, so I couldn't get anywhere near the Black Rock Thundereggs. Lost in the desert for 4 hours and viola! I drive up to a guy digging in the dirt. I got out of the truck, thinking I was bound to find a good rock with that wasted day. I'm now the proud owner of about 5lbs of pure sulfur. Woot. I can hardly contain myself.
Drove like hell for 3 hours on dirt to my brandy new, never been dug, top secret petrified wood location. Arrived a half hour before sunset, just in time to battle the turkey mosquitoes. Nice black & tan opalized wood:
Made it into Fernley about midnight, and crashed with my friend Jason. I had planned to take the next day off and visit some friends in Reno before heading back out on the road. Rush Hour in Reno, and my truck stops shifting (manual transmission). I had known it was on it's way out for awhile, and I had lost 4th during the drive down. That was cool, but I'm hanging out on surface streets, with the truck locked in 2nd gear, and my passenger brake caliper locks up. So now, I'm trailing smoke, limping in traffic, and the brake fluid heats up until the only working brake is the one that frozen on. After 30 minutes of limping across town, I pull into my friends house, and help myself to many barley pops.
<insert boring 5 days of driving to junkyards and working in the sand>
Back on the road, I went up to a place called Fairview peak that was listed in the rockhounding Nevada book. The access from the book was closed years ago, because of the navy bombing range, but there is a sweet back way in. I dug about 30 pounds of 3" agates here, mostly clear, but the good ones will be dark with white banding, tight like a botswana. Wonderstone Mountain happened in there somewhere as well.
Time was short here, so I headed to my blue agate locale, which I call Blue Fairy since it's far enough from the MT. Airy claims to deserve a new name. Camped at Spencer Hot springs the night before, where there is a 12' diameter pond that's about 108degrees. Plenty hot for a 10 minute dip and a nice wooden deck to cool off on. Woke up the next morning to hardcore rain and hail. There was about 2" of snow up at the blue agate locale. Another wasted day, sitting in my tent and running back and forth to the hot pond just to get warm.
The next day was my last day out hounding and I worked it for all it was worth. Found some nice blues, including the nicest one I've ever seen from out there. Had to bail late in the evening to make it to LA to trade/sell some rocks and made tracks up the coast like a madman for the next three days.
Sorry about the few photos... I got kind of disgusted with the trip after the transmission and left the camera in the car mostly. I'll be cutting slabs like a maniac the next few weeks to hopefully recoup some of the costs of the trip.
Some random wild flower shots:
Shoe Tree!
The total Haul:
Some wonderstone:
Killer pattern in one of the big wonderstone blocks:
A nice blue agate:
The vug in my best blue agate piece:
The Killer side of my good blue (sorry the light is washed out, I've got to get reacquainted with the clouds in the PNW!):
Started by doing a drop in on Davis Creek for Rainbow Obsidian. I pulled into the area after 10 hours on the road, planning to stay a couple of hours and then move on to a prospecting location near Cedarville, CA. When I pulled up there were some folks working a commercial pit, and I thought that stopping to BS looked like much more fun than starting a virgin hole. Considering the fact that you have to move about 5 feet of overburden, I think I made the right choice. After 15 minutes of telling lies to each other, I volunteered my and my trip mate's services moving muck for Quinn in the Volcanic Treasures claim. The guy was so cool, that the entire time I was there working, he spent grading out sweet rocks for me to take home. I guess I hauled a couple of hundred pounds of killer rainbow in exchange for some pick, shovel and wheelbarrow work.
My trip-mate Andrew staring at the rough ob pile:
After Davis, we rolled into Cedarville at sunset and camped. Woke up to a beautiful morning the next day and went looking for this lost agate location. Found the road, but it was 4wd only, so we headed up on foot, through a gate. No luck sussing out the agate, and when we got back, there was a huge bull hanging out, rubbing his butt on my little truck. I decided to sit back and enjoy the view through the fence until he left, about an hour.
Left Cedarville, and headed towards Gerlach, NV. Saw some guy walking through the desert with his head down and a squirt bottle in his hand, so I flipped a U-turn and hopped out to meet a new friend. Picked up some black obsidian and a couple of nice colored common opals, before heading into Gerlach for the traditional bloody mary at Brunau's Country Club. After that, I went to my favorite spot on the Black Rock Desert for some needed hot springs time.
Frog Pond:
This is me and my buddy Jason (I'm the small one) in the middle of the Black Rock Playa. Not a rock or insect or plant for 30 miles:
Couple of random shots from the back side of the Black Rock:
Again, not having 4wd shot me in the foot, so I couldn't get anywhere near the Black Rock Thundereggs. Lost in the desert for 4 hours and viola! I drive up to a guy digging in the dirt. I got out of the truck, thinking I was bound to find a good rock with that wasted day. I'm now the proud owner of about 5lbs of pure sulfur. Woot. I can hardly contain myself.
Drove like hell for 3 hours on dirt to my brandy new, never been dug, top secret petrified wood location. Arrived a half hour before sunset, just in time to battle the turkey mosquitoes. Nice black & tan opalized wood:
Made it into Fernley about midnight, and crashed with my friend Jason. I had planned to take the next day off and visit some friends in Reno before heading back out on the road. Rush Hour in Reno, and my truck stops shifting (manual transmission). I had known it was on it's way out for awhile, and I had lost 4th during the drive down. That was cool, but I'm hanging out on surface streets, with the truck locked in 2nd gear, and my passenger brake caliper locks up. So now, I'm trailing smoke, limping in traffic, and the brake fluid heats up until the only working brake is the one that frozen on. After 30 minutes of limping across town, I pull into my friends house, and help myself to many barley pops.
<insert boring 5 days of driving to junkyards and working in the sand>
Back on the road, I went up to a place called Fairview peak that was listed in the rockhounding Nevada book. The access from the book was closed years ago, because of the navy bombing range, but there is a sweet back way in. I dug about 30 pounds of 3" agates here, mostly clear, but the good ones will be dark with white banding, tight like a botswana. Wonderstone Mountain happened in there somewhere as well.
Time was short here, so I headed to my blue agate locale, which I call Blue Fairy since it's far enough from the MT. Airy claims to deserve a new name. Camped at Spencer Hot springs the night before, where there is a 12' diameter pond that's about 108degrees. Plenty hot for a 10 minute dip and a nice wooden deck to cool off on. Woke up the next morning to hardcore rain and hail. There was about 2" of snow up at the blue agate locale. Another wasted day, sitting in my tent and running back and forth to the hot pond just to get warm.
The next day was my last day out hounding and I worked it for all it was worth. Found some nice blues, including the nicest one I've ever seen from out there. Had to bail late in the evening to make it to LA to trade/sell some rocks and made tracks up the coast like a madman for the next three days.
Sorry about the few photos... I got kind of disgusted with the trip after the transmission and left the camera in the car mostly. I'll be cutting slabs like a maniac the next few weeks to hopefully recoup some of the costs of the trip.
Some random wild flower shots:
Shoe Tree!
The total Haul:
Some wonderstone:
Killer pattern in one of the big wonderstone blocks:
A nice blue agate:
The vug in my best blue agate piece:
The Killer side of my good blue (sorry the light is washed out, I've got to get reacquainted with the clouds in the PNW!):