Horse canyon

[Deleted]

Sabre52

Hi Mel,

While considering my scouting run to horse cyn tomorrow I ran across this image.



Are there mossy nodules too? I thought the green moss was in big seams..... is this a one off?

Please advise.

And thank you in advance.

[Sabre52]

Scott, Horse Canyon is very much like Woodward Ranch. When I went there I was shocked how similar the geology is. The agates there occur as seams and nodules of all sorts. Many of the nodules, unless found as float, are very hard to extract from the host rock. The caretaker at the place we stayed had a huge collection and almost every type of agate you can imagine was represented. Moss in mainly red, white and green, plume in black, green, white, gold and red, tube agate of all sorts ( one plume type very similar to Graveyard Point) fortification agates, water line agate, fine sagenite, nice polka dot, and even huge shelves of low grade palm root and bog. Clear agate nodules with faint banding or opal inclusions were the most common find. Area was very well hunted, even as far back in as we went and the old potholed digs in the canyon bottom were pretty much exhausted. We had best luck in the real high country up along the ridges. If things have not changed, you'll not be able to get even a little close to the agate locations. To the east, much has been absorbed into park land and all the beds we went to were behind numerous locked gates as the whole canyon was being subdivided. Sad, probably one of Commiefornia's best agate locations and absolutely beautiful high country. I hiked too hard my first day there and really had a bad case of altitude headache that took me all night to get over. I do believe that's the highest agate location I've ever hounded out west and going there from sea level was a real change....Mel

[gemfeller]

Shotgunner, below is an article on Horse Canyon written by an acquaintance, Steve Ivie. According to this info the site is currently closed to collecting but it'll be interesting to see what your planned trip results in. Steve was able to gain access because he was a windmill designer and used his contacts at the Tehachapi wind farm. The maps may be useful to you. Contacting Steve might be even more helpful.

www.rockhoundingusa.com/videolocations/horsecanyon/about/index.html

[Deleted]

Thanks gentlemen. gemfeller Sabre52

I wont be going today. My workday went from lite to blown up, simply by waking up!

Maybe thursday. The maps dont look super high altitude, that bit surprised me.

[Deleted]

Rick, i got your pm about sunday. I tried replying and couldnt...

You friends article is awesome!

His snake knowledge is lacking and his heory of the mojave green rattlesnake (a species native to the area) being imported by military transport is rather humorous! Lol

gemfeller

[gemfeller]

Dec 6, 2016 14:30:46 GMT -5 @shotgunner said:

Rick, i got your pm about sunday. I tried replying and couldnt...

You friends article is awesome!

His snake knowledge is lacking and his heory of the mojave green rattlesnake (a species native to the area) being imported by military transport is rather humorous! Lol

gemfeller

@shotgunner , I figured you'd have an opinion on the snake issue. I claim neutrality because I know very little about snakes except I've come very close to being bitten a couple of times and don't like rattlers much.

I can't imagine why you couldn't PM me. Let's try for a Sunday in Jan. after the 1st.

[Deleted]

Pm to you kept breaking my keyboard on the phone. Can't figure it out

[Deleted]

Sabre52

Maps show the agate beds at 4000ft. Did you climb from there to locate more materials?

[gemfeller]

One thing came through, a comma! So I figured you'd received my message.

[Deleted]

Dec 6, 2016 15:30:44 GMT -5 gemfeller said:

One thing came through, a comma! So I figured you'd received my message.

Secret code!!

[Sabre52]

Scott, I think the old beds in the canyon bottom were about 4600-5000 feet. Could be wrong. We weren't having luck there and preferred hiking to digging so hiked way up canyon and then to the west on the ridges. Not sure how high that was, maybe 5000+ feet but as a flatlander at the time, man I got a Hell of a headache the first day. May have dehydrated too as we were sweating buckets. Those are some super steep jagged hills we were hunting in. Real easy to break a leg if you were not careful. The three of us all got separated too and it was a wonder we all found our way back to the trucks as those canyons were like a maze.....Mel

[Deleted]

Dehydration sucks the life out of you.

I'll be fine at 5000' even old and fat as I am. Lol

[Sabre52]

I'll be interested to hear what the access is like now. My old collecting buddy back in California and an AG biologist friend of mine and his got us invited to a fantastic resort where we stayed while at Horse Canyon. Access involved combination locks on gates and someone in the larger club group that weekend gave out the combination. Bit later some jokers used the combinations to get through the first gates and cut the fences to get into the actual collecting area. Got caught at rifle point and immediately after, access to the whole area was closed. Happens all the time and really sucks. The guys who got the club access worked really hard to get it done and had it all ruined by some aholes.....Mel

[orrum]

Green mojave, I saw a copperish red one. It volunteered to become a future English long bow backing. Are there red ones?

[gemfeller]

Snakes seem to adapt to the best camouflage colors through natural selection. I remember on a hike through the Escalante area in southern Utah the rattlers were reddish and blended perfectly with the red sandstones. One that nearly bit me years ago in Idaho was black and it blended in with the black lava rock where it lived. I've seen green rattlers too, and not in CA. They were well camouflaged in the tall sagebrush where they hid out not too far from the Graveyard Point area in ID.

[Sabre52]

I've seen Mojave Rattlers in some of the darnedest places. All colors from pink to red to green and almost black. Most the dang things never even rattled either. Most upland rattler I've seen on the Commiefornia deserts too. Stoddard Ridge, Grandview Gold Mine, and Lucerne Valley, Old Woman Mtns area was lousy with them and we were doing rodent traplines at night. Would almost step on the dang things with no warning at all. Not uncommon to have them crawl into camp where we were sleeping too. I love snakes but those were not my favorite type of surprise. Never saw a one at Horse canyon though...Mel

[Deleted]

Dec 6, 2016 17:48:14 GMT -5 orrum said:

Green mojave, I saw a copperish red one. It volunteered to become a future English long bow backing. Are there red ones?

Arizona has a different variety. In the actual mojave they are green and have cobra like venom.in aridzona and mexico the venom is very different.

[mike9000]

Dec 5, 2016 23:11:12 GMT -5 Sabre52 said:

 The caretaker at the place we stayed had a huge collection and almost every type of agate you can imagine was represented. Moss in mainly red, white and green, plume in black, green, white, gold and red, tube agate of all sorts ( one plume type very similar to Graveyard Point) fortification agates, water line agate, fine sagenite, nice polka dot, and even huge shelves of low grade palm root and bog. 

I am writing an article about horse canyon agate beds! Would you happen to have the name or info of the caretaker of the place you stayed at in Horse Canyon with all the agate specimens? I know it was probably a long time ago but just wanted to ask?

[khara]

mike9000 Haven’t seen Sabre52 here in a little while. Hope he’s doing well and back soon. He gives great info and is quite knowledgeable.