Jerry, his two friends and I, all met up in Sequim at the McDonald's (I'm seeing a pattern here!) and then headed for the pits. Our first stop, an active quarry, stopped us in our tracks as surprise of surprises, they were working on a Sunday. While I have permission to collect in the quarry, I never do so while workers are on site, not wanting in any way to cause down time for the owner/ operator. Bummed, but what can one do, we retraced our steps and headed over to the other quarry, a couple of miles away. We parked at the gate and headed in. There were some ripe berries of several types on the way to the quarry's upper level and I know I had a few warming my belly before I hit the road for home! This locality is basically an abandoned quarry. Contractors occasionally work the pit, but no real serious work has occurred here in years. In fact, the Excavator onsite and the hole it had dug constituted the most intense activity I've ever seen at this locality throughout all years I've dug here.
And today, that Excavator was literally a buzz with activity... of the bee kind! The Excavator had been idle for some time, there was no way to know this except for the hundreds and hundreds of honey bees that swarmed about the undercarriage pulsing in and out of the open spaces in the metal. It was really something to see and in truth I must admit, I completely forgot the camera hanging over my shoulder. On my way out, I went by to shoot a few pictures but the hive had mellowed and unfortunately was no longer swarming.
The Excavator had dug into the pit floor creating a channel like structure over a hundred feet long by at its best, about twenty feet wide. The rock was piled above the pit and that's where the focus of the day's collecting would occur. In the igneous rock from this level, there are millions of tiny holes which have formed in the rock. These holes, or vesicles, are for the most part devoid of any mineralization beyond a varying coating of clinochlore. But occasionally, calcite comes in and very cool things happen and crystals form. Some of these can be quite beautiful in colors from clear to white to varying shades of yellow. Showing the guys what to look for, it wasn't long before Jerry opened up the first pocket, a nice several inch long and wide pocket coated in minute black appearing balls of clinochlore upon which are scattered beautiful whitish colored rhombs of calcite. It was a site to behold and from this pocket Jerry managed several very nice specimens. From there as I mentioned, the guys were off and running and the sledges were hammering and the rock shards flying.
The guys getting ready for
a crystal collecting good time!
A calcite specimen somewhat
akin to Jerry's first specimens
| |
Gorgeous calcite and stilbite
combination specimen.
Another killer calcite
from the quarry.
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Beautiful yellow calcites with
black clinochlore phantoms
combination specimen.
The oft times illusive
native copper groups
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Soon thereafter I said my good-byes and took off and headed back to the house. Herb and Derryk would soon be by and I didn't want to miss saying good-bye to my friend. I'd not been home twenty minutes when they rolled in and I thanked my lucky stars for the timing! We yakked about the past few days fun over pizza and all too soon, saying his and Derryk's good-byes, Herb was off, beginning their six hour drive back to Salem, Oregon.
And all too soon, it was over. Gloria and I both looked at each other with that wistful look a person gets at times like this and we gave each other a big hug and softly we whispered to each other, "Don't worry, there's always next year, there's always next year!". All the very best everyone and thanks for such a terrific good time. Take care,
John, Gloria and Buddy
In Loving Memory
Norma Erica McConlogue
February 13, 1941 - August 4, 2006
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