Russ, nowyo, tried to kill me but in a very good way

[wyrock]

I am writing this from either my death bed or my really sore leg muscles bed and I am happy to say that it is Russ's fault. He did the research, scouting, driving and guiding and all I had to do is play follow the leader to some really kick a$$ rock.

I had been given a couple of large pieces of Spanish Point Dendritic Agate several years ago by the brother of the man that had mined or gathered the stone in the first place but had never gotten the chance to make the offered trip to the area by the nephew of the original owner, son of the giver of the stone. If I would have put a little effort into making that trip Russ would not have had to do all the research but I have a feeling he more than enjoyed the hunt and success.

Without further babble this is where we hiked up then down from.


This is Russ running out ahead to get all the good stuff. Actually, some of the best stones I have were found by Russ, handed to me to look at then he would walk away and say "there's more".


I was trying to take a photo of the area below us and some old man kept jumping into the picture.


Pay dirt/rock. Somewhere in the middle of this Russ yelled at me and I could tell from the sound of it that whatever I was finding it was not as good as what he had just found. What he found was the mother lode with solid unfractured stones all over the place.










Russ headed back up over the hill to the pickup and I started around parallel to the hill so I would not have to hike up. By this time my hips were telling me to not pick up any more rocks. Stupid hips don't know how important rocks are. I found quite a few as I was following a cow path.




Looking back we had been beyond and to the right of the two trees.


Came to a spring and there is a bunch of great stone there. I was full so couldn't take any of theme. Some are so big I don't think the two of us could get them in a cart. May be able to back right up to them with the pickup next time we go.







At the pickup. I was so whipped that Russ could see it and he came down a small drop off to help me with the rocks. I was real close to the point of laying down and offering up my body to the buzzards. I do not remember ever being that whipped. AT NO TIME DID I EVEN THINK ABOUT DUMPING THE ROCKS. Definitely shows that I am certifiable.


The next thirteen photos are along the road home. The creek we cross is Shell Creek and the canyon is Shell Canyon below Shell Falls.














It is now two days later and I can get up and shuffle along but not without pain in my leg muscles. Can't wait to go again.

After talking with my son I found out that a friend of his either owns the land we were on or land very close by. There are fences going several different directions from the area of the spring so we will not know until he talks with his friend. I mentioned that we saw a for sale sign on some land there and his reply was that his friend had put up a small piece of his land for sale. He is stoked up to go there now that he knows the area is full of artifacts which are his passion. When I showed him the stones he pointed out several places that had been worked and what happened with this stone and what happened with this other stone. I knew that with so many chips in one area something other than weathering had gone on but did not know the extent of it.

I am going to let Russ add photos of the stones that got back home with us then if I have anything to add after that I will post some more photos of rocks.
Jim

[fatsistertoo]

 

I can't believe that you can hike out and pick up stuff like that!!!!!  Wow, how fantastic a trip that must have been and what great plans of making more trips for those large ones.   
Thank you for posting those pictures, I had no idea that you could find stuff like that without digging.  WOW!!!!

Virginia
We just have swamp mud down here, no rocks at all!                     I is so Jealous!!!

[asianfire]

Superb trip, beautiful countryside, and enviable bounty. 

Could have gotten some relief sitting in that stream for half an hour and let your legs relax. 

[dickb]

Jim:
You need to take a couple quads next time. Or get a couple Sherpa's.
Nice trip report and great finds. YEA!

Now, go take a hot bath and some liquid muscle relaxer!!!!!!!!

Dickb

[wyrock]

Good job on the rock pics Russ but proud papa wants to show his babies too.

In the sink ready to be scrubbed. Quite a few had fire black on one side.


Smaller then larger pieces.



What it is all about, dendrites. This piece is as hard as all the other pieces so not sure why it stayed white. Fist size with dendrites all the way through.


Less dendrites but I think it is still going to be a good stone.


Random Pieces.






A fist sized piece that my son pointed out is a stone that does not have any more places to knock off an arrowhead blank.


This stone appears to be brecciated and is different than all the others.


These are all the pieces with dendrites. The red with dendrites are fewer and farther between than the yellow and the dendrites are harder to see but way cool none the less.


These are from the original stone that was given to me several years ago. Not sure where the pieces came from in that area but they are fractured so bad it is difficult to get one or two small cabs out of a slab.



Thanks all for taking the time to look and comment. Hope ya'll liked the trip as much as Russ and I did. yea right. lol
Jim

[hulagrub]

Very, very cool!

[itsandbits1]

very nice material old man; LOL glad you made it up and down safe with only a few aches and pains. That's a pretty nice looking area; I bet you're going back some time, I wouldn't be able to resist.

[wyrock]

Already trying to get in touch with the land owner so maybe I can take Frank when he gets here. Long drive over some really rough roads but worth it for sure. We barely touched the surface (pun intended) of the float all over the place.
Jim

[john likes rocks!]

Thanks for all the pictures it's been fun reading about your rock hounding.

[39don]

Thanks for all the photo's Jim!!!!!!!!!!!!     It's almost unbelievable such nice large rock, float, laying around like that even if the photo's picture them........lol..

I would be in "rockhound heaven" and more sore to have been invited on a trip like that. I have never been a digger but will haul out whatever goes into my pack or bag.

May your return trip tends to be soon.

Don

[tkcaz]

Wow.  Wonderful adventure, great finds.  Hope you recover in time for the next one.

[Breccia Guy]

  This is a great post! thanks for posting all the pictures.

[Rockvanwinkle]

Awesome write up, thanks for sharing!

[mrlnavy]

Wow simply beautiful pieces! I hope we can get that lucky someday.  Thank you for sharing!  :-)