Post by Michael John on Apr 13, 2009 14:42:16 GMT -5
I went hounding a few days ago, to restock my purple jasper. People here have liked it, so I usually keep it on-hand. It's works pretty nicely, it's hard, and it takes a nice shine. Pretty plain though ... light purple with either darker purple spots or muted banding.
Driving down the road to "the spot", I decided to have a good look at the local mountains with my binoculars. I saw a thin purple band which I hadn't seen/noticed before, and figured that was the source for the purple jasper. Well, rather than just collect, I decided to climb up there to take a look at the actual vein.
This purple vein is in a mountain relatively close to The Blue Mule, but it's much higher, and the vein is WAY up there ... considerably higher than The Blue Mule. The climb was also much more difficult, as this mountain is much more steep and treacherous. I gave serious thought to turning around several times during the ascent, but I'm stubborn, and sometimes not real bright, so I kept going.
Once I got up there and saw the way the vein changed along it's length, I discovered that the stuff that falls into the wash where I've been collecting is the plain stuff (from the more plain part of the vein), and that the nicer stuff falls into a different wash (from a different part of the vein), where I'd never been yet! The wash where this better stuff has fallen is much harder to get-to, requiring more (and more difficult) hiking with a full pack, but I think it's worth it.
The difference is that this material has reds and pinks in it and/or quartz running through it and/or much more pronounced banding. It's much prettier, with pronounced textures and contrasts. I REALLY like it, and I think most of you will, too. I've never seen anything else like it.
I was starved when I got home that night, so i ate dinner and for dessert I had a yogurt ... Yoplait Boysenberry Yogurt. I'd never had it before, and I loved it ... while eating it, it dawned on me that it reminded me a lot of the jasper I'd found earlier! So ... that's what I named my new find ... Boysenberry Jasper.
I snapped a few pics ... what do you think?
Driving down the road to "the spot", I decided to have a good look at the local mountains with my binoculars. I saw a thin purple band which I hadn't seen/noticed before, and figured that was the source for the purple jasper. Well, rather than just collect, I decided to climb up there to take a look at the actual vein.
This purple vein is in a mountain relatively close to The Blue Mule, but it's much higher, and the vein is WAY up there ... considerably higher than The Blue Mule. The climb was also much more difficult, as this mountain is much more steep and treacherous. I gave serious thought to turning around several times during the ascent, but I'm stubborn, and sometimes not real bright, so I kept going.
Once I got up there and saw the way the vein changed along it's length, I discovered that the stuff that falls into the wash where I've been collecting is the plain stuff (from the more plain part of the vein), and that the nicer stuff falls into a different wash (from a different part of the vein), where I'd never been yet! The wash where this better stuff has fallen is much harder to get-to, requiring more (and more difficult) hiking with a full pack, but I think it's worth it.
The difference is that this material has reds and pinks in it and/or quartz running through it and/or much more pronounced banding. It's much prettier, with pronounced textures and contrasts. I REALLY like it, and I think most of you will, too. I've never seen anything else like it.
I was starved when I got home that night, so i ate dinner and for dessert I had a yogurt ... Yoplait Boysenberry Yogurt. I'd never had it before, and I loved it ... while eating it, it dawned on me that it reminded me a lot of the jasper I'd found earlier! So ... that's what I named my new find ... Boysenberry Jasper.
I snapped a few pics ... what do you think?