my first meetup trip - Thunder69 & Wyobrian, Central Wyoming
Jul 28, 2013 22:15:54 GMT -5
rockpickerforever likes this
Post by herchenx on Jul 28, 2013 22:15:54 GMT -5
Well the day has come. I managed to meet up with 2 members and rockhound.
The only other person from here I've met face-to-face was John (of JSGems) when I went to the Denver Gem and Mineral Show and got to meet him and his wife in his booth.
I'll start by saying I had a lot of fun, and the the idea that RTH has the best folks in the world extends from the virtual into the physical - these are great guys, the nicest kind of folks you could hope to meet.
I had intended to take Friday off and go do some scouting in an area I drew in for deer this fall, but work jammed last week and that did not happen.
I finally managed to get on the road about 6pm Friday night.
As I crossed the state line from Colorado into Wyoming, the rainclouds were piling up to the west. Just south of Laramie, WY
Leaving Laramie
The sun was really red, my phone couldn't pick up the color
After an hour or so I headed off the highway to a place I've been meaning to check out. By the time I got there it was dark, but this was the last light
I had mapped the area I wanted to go ahead of time and knew how far to drive, but the roads after that last photo were all 2 track and I got into some hairy loose gravel hillsides that needed 4wd.
I stopped at 10 and got out and walked around with my flashlight for a couple hours and collected some nice wood
I had agreed to meet Brian (Wyobrian) and John (Thunder69) at the turn off to Muddy Gap the next morning. By the time I stopped collecting it was after midnight, and I was a little concerned about a tire that looked low, so I decided to go ahead and make the 3 hour drive from where I was to Muddy Gap right then rather than wait. I managed to climb back out in the pitch black, with a little help from the half-moon that came up while I was deliberating.
I arrived at Muddy Gap sooner than expected, right around 2 am and wanted to get gas in the only available place, which was $4.61 a gallon (OUCH!)
From there I thought I'd just pull off into BLM land to sleep a couple hours. I ended up driving around for an hour because all the roads marked on my map had a ranch sign emblazoned on them. I may have been OK but the last thing I wanted was a Sheriff tapping my window for trespassing. I finally found a pullout that some people stop in to sleep. My plan had been to recline my passenger-side seat all the way back and rest, but when I moved the cooler I had there I found that the plug was open and ice water had soaked the seat. I ended up curling up across the front bench seat. I'm too long to stretch out but I was tired enough I was able to doze off curled up on my side.
A short 3 hours later I woke up and headed back to the gas station to get coffee and wait for John and Brian.
Split Rock, Wyoming
Right on schedule, a red GMC pulled up and stopped beside me. I quickly introduced myself and said we could meet and greet at Agate Flats, so we headed out.
Notice the little white sticker in the center of Brian's rear window, that's an RTH sticker!
We got to Agate Flats 45 minutes or so later and I got to meet John and Brian. John quickly tossed me a tshirt emblazoned with the RTH logo, which was great because I failed to pack extra tshirts (all I had was long-sleeve shirts)!
I didn't get a pic of the intro, but here is John with his nephews Randall and Wyatt
A panorama of the flats
I saw a lot of these guys
Here is John and Brian, and Brian's boys Randall and Wyatt (I told Wyatt "no gang signs")
I found some old boots, the steel toes were nearby and I gave them to the boys for their steel-toed boot collection
After a couple hours of looking I had a nice batch of Sweetwater Agates. I should have taken a better photo, these little guys are really nice.
We stopped for lunch at the north end of Agate Flats. I had a couple guns and Brian had a few so we shot up some old metal scrap that was lying along the rim. I didn't get pics of the shooting, but we had fun making noise and kicking up dust with the kids.
Here's my truck sitting on the rim
After we'd eaten and shot a little, some weather was moving in. I head a funny buzzing noise and snooped around, it was coming from Brian's truck. Wyatt yelled "It's the antenna!" and sure enough there was enough static in the air it was buzzing on the top of the antenna. We decided to skedaddle before we got struck by lightning. The rest of the day, on and off, was rain.
From the Sweetwater site, we decided to head to Cedar Rim to see if we could find any opal. We didn't find opal but the views on the drive over were outstanding.
We did manage to find some cool botryoidal agate on some rocks along the road and collected a good amount of some dentritic agate/opalite that was along Cedar Rim Road. Again, sorry I didn't get pics of that. I'm hoping John can add some photos in when he gets home later this week, I saw him taking pics with his nice camera.
We hopped a little further up the road just to see the Wind River Basin overlook. It was overcast, but the view was outstanding. Here's all the guys.
A panorama of the Wind River Basin from the overlook
From there we thought we'd check out a jade site, which ended up being a total bust. About the only thing interesting I saw there:
As the day drew to a close we tossed around some ideas for where to go, we decided to check out an area near Green Mountain. We were under pretty overcast skies but right at 9pm the sun dropped below the clouds to light up the last part of our drive for the day.
That night we hounded by flashlight and found some nice wood. The boys tuckered out sometime late, and with some rain dripping on us, Brian and John sat on my tailgate and we talked for an hour or so. This part really made the day for me. Not really a great photo-op given it was pitch black out, but nice conversation and we had a chance to end the day well and get to know each other a little better. These are good guys.
I slept like a log last night, after a previous night of little sleep and a very active day.
This morning I woke up to bright sunshine. I looked out my window and Brian's truck was no where to be seen. I was still groggy but for about 5 minutes I was trying to figure out if they had left me or I was confused about what was going on. It was then I saw Brian's truck about 200 yards away in the shadow of the hill. The guys headed back to my truck and we took a few minutes to oggle what Brian had found, which I won't spoil here.
I had a fun couple of hours looking around Green Mountain with them, I did find some nice wood, but again failed to get pics until we left.
I chased more than a few antelope around, here's a nice buck high-tailing it.
As was the case everywhere else the scenery was great heading back to Rawlins
I wish I'd taken more pics of the rocks and the guys, but it was a really fun, fast-paced weekend.
I should add that Brian's boys are 2 of the most well-mannered, well-behaved and respectful boys I've ever met. It was great how they hung right with "Uncle John" all weekend.
I wish I would have brought my 2 boys along, they would have had a lot of fun with Brian's kids. I didn't know Brian was bringing his kids and I wasn't sure about bringing mine along without asking. I was kicking myself all weekend for not having checked to see. Oh well, next time!
I'll always remember my first "meetup" with RTH folks, it was really a great time and I can't say enough about how great these guys are.
Thanks for reading. I'll update this once John posts some of his photos.
The only other person from here I've met face-to-face was John (of JSGems) when I went to the Denver Gem and Mineral Show and got to meet him and his wife in his booth.
I'll start by saying I had a lot of fun, and the the idea that RTH has the best folks in the world extends from the virtual into the physical - these are great guys, the nicest kind of folks you could hope to meet.
I had intended to take Friday off and go do some scouting in an area I drew in for deer this fall, but work jammed last week and that did not happen.
I finally managed to get on the road about 6pm Friday night.
As I crossed the state line from Colorado into Wyoming, the rainclouds were piling up to the west. Just south of Laramie, WY
Leaving Laramie
The sun was really red, my phone couldn't pick up the color
After an hour or so I headed off the highway to a place I've been meaning to check out. By the time I got there it was dark, but this was the last light
I had mapped the area I wanted to go ahead of time and knew how far to drive, but the roads after that last photo were all 2 track and I got into some hairy loose gravel hillsides that needed 4wd.
I stopped at 10 and got out and walked around with my flashlight for a couple hours and collected some nice wood
I had agreed to meet Brian (Wyobrian) and John (Thunder69) at the turn off to Muddy Gap the next morning. By the time I stopped collecting it was after midnight, and I was a little concerned about a tire that looked low, so I decided to go ahead and make the 3 hour drive from where I was to Muddy Gap right then rather than wait. I managed to climb back out in the pitch black, with a little help from the half-moon that came up while I was deliberating.
I arrived at Muddy Gap sooner than expected, right around 2 am and wanted to get gas in the only available place, which was $4.61 a gallon (OUCH!)
From there I thought I'd just pull off into BLM land to sleep a couple hours. I ended up driving around for an hour because all the roads marked on my map had a ranch sign emblazoned on them. I may have been OK but the last thing I wanted was a Sheriff tapping my window for trespassing. I finally found a pullout that some people stop in to sleep. My plan had been to recline my passenger-side seat all the way back and rest, but when I moved the cooler I had there I found that the plug was open and ice water had soaked the seat. I ended up curling up across the front bench seat. I'm too long to stretch out but I was tired enough I was able to doze off curled up on my side.
A short 3 hours later I woke up and headed back to the gas station to get coffee and wait for John and Brian.
Split Rock, Wyoming
Right on schedule, a red GMC pulled up and stopped beside me. I quickly introduced myself and said we could meet and greet at Agate Flats, so we headed out.
Notice the little white sticker in the center of Brian's rear window, that's an RTH sticker!
We got to Agate Flats 45 minutes or so later and I got to meet John and Brian. John quickly tossed me a tshirt emblazoned with the RTH logo, which was great because I failed to pack extra tshirts (all I had was long-sleeve shirts)!
I didn't get a pic of the intro, but here is John with his nephews Randall and Wyatt
A panorama of the flats
I saw a lot of these guys
Here is John and Brian, and Brian's boys Randall and Wyatt (I told Wyatt "no gang signs")
I found some old boots, the steel toes were nearby and I gave them to the boys for their steel-toed boot collection
After a couple hours of looking I had a nice batch of Sweetwater Agates. I should have taken a better photo, these little guys are really nice.
We stopped for lunch at the north end of Agate Flats. I had a couple guns and Brian had a few so we shot up some old metal scrap that was lying along the rim. I didn't get pics of the shooting, but we had fun making noise and kicking up dust with the kids.
Here's my truck sitting on the rim
After we'd eaten and shot a little, some weather was moving in. I head a funny buzzing noise and snooped around, it was coming from Brian's truck. Wyatt yelled "It's the antenna!" and sure enough there was enough static in the air it was buzzing on the top of the antenna. We decided to skedaddle before we got struck by lightning. The rest of the day, on and off, was rain.
From the Sweetwater site, we decided to head to Cedar Rim to see if we could find any opal. We didn't find opal but the views on the drive over were outstanding.
We did manage to find some cool botryoidal agate on some rocks along the road and collected a good amount of some dentritic agate/opalite that was along Cedar Rim Road. Again, sorry I didn't get pics of that. I'm hoping John can add some photos in when he gets home later this week, I saw him taking pics with his nice camera.
We hopped a little further up the road just to see the Wind River Basin overlook. It was overcast, but the view was outstanding. Here's all the guys.
A panorama of the Wind River Basin from the overlook
From there we thought we'd check out a jade site, which ended up being a total bust. About the only thing interesting I saw there:
As the day drew to a close we tossed around some ideas for where to go, we decided to check out an area near Green Mountain. We were under pretty overcast skies but right at 9pm the sun dropped below the clouds to light up the last part of our drive for the day.
That night we hounded by flashlight and found some nice wood. The boys tuckered out sometime late, and with some rain dripping on us, Brian and John sat on my tailgate and we talked for an hour or so. This part really made the day for me. Not really a great photo-op given it was pitch black out, but nice conversation and we had a chance to end the day well and get to know each other a little better. These are good guys.
I slept like a log last night, after a previous night of little sleep and a very active day.
This morning I woke up to bright sunshine. I looked out my window and Brian's truck was no where to be seen. I was still groggy but for about 5 minutes I was trying to figure out if they had left me or I was confused about what was going on. It was then I saw Brian's truck about 200 yards away in the shadow of the hill. The guys headed back to my truck and we took a few minutes to oggle what Brian had found, which I won't spoil here.
I had a fun couple of hours looking around Green Mountain with them, I did find some nice wood, but again failed to get pics until we left.
I chased more than a few antelope around, here's a nice buck high-tailing it.
As was the case everywhere else the scenery was great heading back to Rawlins
I wish I'd taken more pics of the rocks and the guys, but it was a really fun, fast-paced weekend.
I should add that Brian's boys are 2 of the most well-mannered, well-behaved and respectful boys I've ever met. It was great how they hung right with "Uncle John" all weekend.
I wish I would have brought my 2 boys along, they would have had a lot of fun with Brian's kids. I didn't know Brian was bringing his kids and I wasn't sure about bringing mine along without asking. I was kicking myself all weekend for not having checked to see. Oh well, next time!
I'll always remember my first "meetup" with RTH folks, it was really a great time and I can't say enough about how great these guys are.
Thanks for reading. I'll update this once John posts some of his photos.