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Before saying good-bye to New York, and heading up to Maine, Scott (Scott Wallace, Majestic Minerals) wanted to show the claim that he shares with Mike Walter of Geologic Desires. This location is noted for the sweet Diopside, Feldspar, Apatite, and Sphene that has been recovered. After packing the car up, we headed out. Much to our surprise, we found that road up was well maintained because the celluar towers that were errected further up the hill.

Scott’s digging spot, was a short walk into the woods from the side of the road.

This was the first time that Scott had been to the claim this season, however Mike had a pretty big diging operation under way. Unfortunately he wasn’t there when we arrived.

He showed us around the diggings, and told us about the deposit.

We putzed around for a little while.

This is and example of a larger sized specimen that Mike had pulled out earlier.

And a few other pieces scratched from the tailings piles.

Then it was time to bid Scott farewell, and get back on the road. This time it was off to Fryeburg, Maine to camp in our pal Tom Klinepeter’s (eBay seller starkhillgem) backyard.

On the way out of New York we passed an open field housing a sculpture garden. We pulled of the road to go back and check it out.

Turns out it was open to the public, so we took a few photos.

However, we didn’t spend too much time because we had a long way to drive. We did stop at a rest area in Vermont.

They had flowers,

and free coffee.

Finally we arrived in Maine. We were really tired, so after talking breifly with Tom about our game plan for the next day, it was time to get everything together before it dark.

But not before I took some photos of Diane’s (Tom’s Wife) flowers in the back yard.

Upon returning to the States, we immediately headed for Potsdam, New York. There we would be staying with our buddy Scott Wallace (Majestic Minerals) for a couple of days while filming our St. Lawrence County video.

Scott is an avid upstate New York collector, and had quite a few classic locations that wanted to show us. So we planned to check out a couple nearby localities after a good nights sleep.

The first spot that we planned to film was the Uvite deposit on Powers farm. This location is a classic St. Lawrence County collecting spot. Before heading to the collecting sights, we needed to first stop and pay the farmer $5 each to collect for the day.

Powers farm is open to the public, after talking to Mr. Powers of course, however Scott has his very own claim there. He has been working it by hand for a few years, and has pulled out quite a few nice pieces. After parking the car it was only a short walk back through the woods to area.

The trench he dug is right beside the brook, and is quite deep. As you can see from the pictures, he has moved quite a lot of material from the sight.

Here is are a few Uvites that were laying around the tailings piles.

There are also pseudomorphs & quartz too be found.

After walking to the public collecting spot, it was time move on to the Saranak Rd. Tremolite location. So we got in the car and headed down the road.

We walked back into the woods a little way untill we came to the digging location.

The tremolite here was of an excellant quality. We found many terminated single crystals, and really nice medium sized clusters. Back in the day, when this location was first discovered, these crystals were thought to be green tourmaline, but no… they turned out to be Tremolite instead. Sad for them, but happy for us, Justin loves asbestosform minerals!

Several years back, when I was just a teenager, they cut a great big wedge out of the mountain of western Maryland so that the I-68 could pass through.

This road cut is called Sideling Hill, and has become a popular stop to rest and learn a little geology.

Justin, Amber (My Sister), and I stopped and filmed it as an extra feature for the Fossils of West Virginia.

Apparently black bears are some what common in the area, however I have never seen one.

The shale here has fossils, although you can’t collect them.

They built a walkway over the highway so you can get a better veiw.

Big brother is watching you.

After putzing around Sideling Hill, we headed to the Cumberland MD to check out another fossil location. Much like the other fossil locations, this one was also a road cut, back in the country.

We combed through the shale pile to see what we could find.

We were not disappointed.

Everything needed to be carefully wrapped, luckily Amber had lot’s of practice from back in the day when she helped us pack mineral specimen orders.

Justin even uncovered a nice quartz crystal.

However the best part was getting to spend time with my sister.