jamesp favorites-Rio Grande #2

[jamesp]

panamark, never thought about the root stock being more likely to preserve but considering a lava flow it makes perfect sense.

Yes, that center piece in the photo should be rotated CW 90 to get it as growing best I can tell.
The red colored wood surprised me after sawing it. It was naturally windowed and showed zero grain. It came from an imported piece of mahogany furniture .

Having rock hunters visit and having someone serving as a guide and the property lease manager would likely be an easy-to-do.
All that private range land without government controls would make rock hunting desirable there. Hunt leases big biz, guessing rock lease invited.
Could stand on one high spot and see a long way, and those ranches went for mies between entrances.
Probably requires at least 10 acres/cow. So cows are low hassle open rangers in low densities.

[jamesp]

Nov 15, 2016 16:55:10 GMT -5 Sabre52 said:

I'm sure some of the wood from West Texas is from volcanic ash beds but a lot of the South Texas wood was probably laid down in sediments and then replaced by silica from overlaying marine sediments, just like the chert and "flint". The silica in that case would be from organic sources like radiolarian and diatom skeletons and sponge spicules.

All the chert is of course from marine sedimentary deposits ( limestone) but the agates, except for the limb casts of which there are lots, heck those come from all over the west and are probably from gas pockets in basalt, andesite and rhyolite.

Dandy bullseye in that chert by the way!..Mel

Darn hard silicifications with no cracks seemed like the chert formation method. (seems like dissolved diatomic silica makes great chert and replacements, Florida coral for instance)

The old fellow at the end of the soil road gave me that bullseye rock. He said he had had it at least 20 years. I felt in his debt.
He would stop me on the way out some evenings and talk. Poor guy was morning the death of his wife of 76- 21 = 55 years.
Mel, that is actually a piece of the common black wood. Has a bullseye on both sides.
Not going to saw that one as it is memento status. Must show that fellow that rock next trip. A kind soul that one.

[Deleted]

Nov 15, 2016 14:49:35 GMT -5 captbob said:

I carried a carwashing bucket (thick rope "handle") with me at all times with a few inches of water in it. Easy to carry - just not fun when full of rocks! - and I could just dip rocks in water to see 'em wet. Figured it was easier than also carrying a spray bottle and having to spritz rocks. Dipping was fast.

Looked like I was on an Easter egg hunt walking around with that silly red bucket!
But it worked for me.

Always parked as close to area to be hunted as possible, but sometimes that was still pretty far from rocks.
Bucket full of rocks was darn heavy.

ETA: sometimes area to be hunted was one to two hundred yards from vehicle. Often less than that. Up hill, down hill - usually hills! Could walk a couple miles just working an area the size of a football field or two.

Interesting. I had considered the water in a bucket idea. To me I'd need 2 buckets. One for water and one for rocks. But the hammer can reside in one of them. I like the rope handle.

Most of California hunting is farther afield than that. Texas is unique in being 97% private lands. So the stones have had protection. Here in Cali 'tragedy of the commons' rules the collecting spots...

Thanks Bob!

[jamesp]

captbob, @shotgunner This spot has a shop angle road outlining a sharp angled point in the lake.
You can see the rancher graded the road with a minimum of rocks in the piles on each side of his grade path.
However the grassy areas are washed out of several feet of caliche long removed by wave action at high water line.
Found this spot last two days and did not have enough time to pick it over at all. Easy access.

Note car door and direction of car for net photo. looking east



Looking south east, car filling up with rocks too fast. No worries Bob, should have it cleaned out by week ending.
Don't know about captbob, but it hurts to look at those rocks. Dang I wish to be back there.



This is the spot I found both palms and 3 artifacts. Artifacts telling that I may have been on early Texas strata that yielded palm, who knows.
This exposure further from river than above exposure.



same view in poorly spliced panorama photo. Point in back ground is where you were the last few days Bob. Turned right at two phone poles instead of left.
Palms found in 100 foot circle to right about 300 feet past car.

[Deleted]

Love that last pic. Ghost car!

Thanks gentlemen.

Jim, see my post above regarding access.

[jamesp]

I used a heavy double knit net sack used by iron workers to carry nuts and bolts. It could be set on your shoulder and has the ability to drape and stay put.
After throwing it down many times on rocks it was about shot due to holes in the bottom.
9 inch round opening and 24 inches deep. When full it was heavy and time to unload.
Will pursue like replacement.

[jamesp]

Nov 15, 2016 18:48:16 GMT -5 @shotgunner said:

Love that last pic. Ghost car!

Thanks gentlemen.

Jim, see my post above regarding access.

Mega acres here with no collecting access. Point well made. And very few collectors in this area of our country.
George West different, dozen people out after every rain from what I hear.

[captbob]

I'm ready slacker! Weather ain't gonna hold forever.

Leave in the am, have 9 days on location and be home in time for Thanksgiving/anniversary.

[HankRocks]

I usually carry two 5-gallon buckets going on the theory that two half-full buckets are easier to carry than one full bucket. Also include a plastic spray bottle with water, a super long screwdriver or short digger bar for prying loose any well embedded finds, and the chisel edge Eastwing hammer.

Of course carrying two full buckets is a show stopper. If collecting is that good(not that often), I will make a return trip. There is about 30 or so pounds of good agate somewhere in west Texas near Lajitas that I never went back for.

Most places I have been to would make any wheeled carrier a no-go. In my younger days I did carry back about a 80-90 pound piece of wood and kiled back over a mile over ankle wrecking terrain. Strapped it to a backpack frame and had my buddy help hoist it up. Those days are are a distant memory.

H

[HankRocks]

I am glad you mentioned that the last picture was spliced, at first glance the vehicle appears to be disappearing in to some sort of worm-hole or time warp!!

Let me guess, the really good material came from an alternative universe!!

[jamesp]

Nov 15, 2016 18:55:33 GMT -5 captbob said:

I'm ready slacker! Weather ain't gonna hold forever.

Leave in the am, have 9 days on location and be home in time for Thanksgiving/anniversary.

That last spot was the last open range, fence stopped further up lake travel. Used Google earth on phone and it told the story.
Also had to drive past 4 shooting houses to get to that large area. Friday, two of the four were freshly baited with deer corn.
Opening day of gun season was the Saturday I left. Deer season thru Jan 31. Bad time to rock hunt. Not for fear of being shot, but angering land owners.

[captbob]

Just told wife unit what I had posted and she said "Don't rush home on my account!"


*sigh*

[jamesp]

Nov 15, 2016 19:00:00 GMT -5 HankRocks said:

I usually carry two 5-gallon buckets going on the theory that two half-full buckets are easier to carry than one full bucket. Also include a plastic spray bottle with water, a super long screwdriver or short digger bar for prying loose any well embedded finds, and the chisel edge Eastwing hammer.

Of course carrying two full buckets is a show stopper. If collecting is that good(not that often), I will make a return trip. There is about 30 or so pounds of good agate somewhere in west Texas near Lajitas that I never went back for.

Most places I have been to would make any wheeled carrier a no-go. In my younger days I did carry back about a 80-90 pound piece of wood and kiled back over a mile over ankle wrecking terrain. Strapped it to a backpack frame and had my buddy help hoist it up. Those days are are a distant memory.

H

No spring hens here, 90 pounds of gold would have to sit and wait for a carrier of some sort.

Screw driver was mandatory due to imbedded caliche treasures.
Next time a cheap 6 pack, kept losing them.

The spray bottle is a good tool. A tool belt may be a good idea for these items.

Cars with no front tires, well, can't be of much use.

[jamesp]

Nov 15, 2016 19:30:34 GMT -5 captbob said:

Just told wife unit what I had posted and she said "Don't rush home on my account!"


*sigh*

Ha, her 9 days of ecstasy Oct 19-28. May the truth set you free !!

[panamark]

>Screw driver was mandatory due to imbedded caliche treasures.
Next time a cheap 6 pack, kept losing them.

Ha, people laugh at my hunter's orange painted rock hammer, but since I did that I haven't lost it.

[jamesp]

Nov 15, 2016 20:01:28 GMT -5 panamark said:

>Screw driver was mandatory due to imbedded caliche treasures.
Next time a cheap 6 pack, kept losing them.

Ha, people laugh at my hunter's orange painted rock hammer, but since I did that I haven't lost it.

Small 8 ounce hammers. The orange handled ones are used in the field, wood ones on a river/boat trip.
Orange mandatory. Brilliant minds.

[panamark]

Nov 15, 2016 16:55:10 GMT -5 Sabre52 said:

I'm sure some of the wood from West Texas is from volcanic ash beds but a lot of the South Texas wood was probably laid down in sediments and then replaced by silica from overlaying marine sediments, just like the chert and "flint". The silica in that case would be from organic sources like radiolarian and diatom skeletons and sponge spicules.

This is interesting to me Mel. I am not familiar with the geology of Texas, just of my western US (and Panama). How did the South Texas wood get protected from decomposition for the long time necessary for mineralization? Were there cataclysmic floods and mudslides that covered the wood? Or rapid changes in water levels of swamps/lakes, or toxins in the water. From my understanding the oceans never rose fast enough to cause anaerobic conditions for petrification to take place. Maybe I am wrong on this though.

The method of preservation is another interesting aspect of petwood. For example The history of the Blue Forest as I understand it is that trees fell into the swamps and lakes and somehow the algae encased some of it well enough to prevent decomposition.

[jamesp]

Dang captbob, I can't sort thru all this gravel at north Zapata. Some of the mornings below 60F, knew it was too cold for ya.



closer in

[jamesp]

Classic Rio challenge. Getting to a rock exposed naked spot without getting your hide removed by mesquite using GE/cell phone.

See road right. See naked spot left. See width of road, judge distance by width of tire tracks to be ~8 feet.
Judge distance to naked spot 300 feet, a football field.
Image date Dec. 27 2015 so 11 months ago.
Consider wet season and growth change of mesquite.
Pick route with least friction(thorns).
Often the last 50-100 feet will be too thick to pass thru, give up and go back to car.
Or go during winter and wear heavy canvas Carhartt armor and a football/motorcycle helmut.

Texas is covered up with these open areas blocked off by thorny blockades.
captbob, I almost did not make it back to the car from this spot yesterday, was blinded by the bright pink plume agates.

PS. Avoid the cactus patches(lower left hand corner). No form of armor will protect you from those Opuntia's.

[jamesp]

Went to Rio area Oct 2011 for 12 days. Fernando's ranch freshly plowed on right. Slaughtered them cursed mesquites !! Shame I did not know about wood then.
Only brought back a few. Tumbled these from that trip later. Lots of wood there thinking back. All grown over in grass now.



Tumbled wood from that trip(last 6 rocks probably not wood).

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