RockhoundingVideos.com - From The-Vug.com

For our Maine & New Hampshire stints Tom (Tom Klinepeter, starkhillgem) was going to be our guide, however on our first day he was busy, and unable to take us out collecting. Tom lives in Fryeburg, Maine, only a short distance from the New Hampshire border. So our first order of business was to get some breakfast in neighboring Conway.

Afterward we headed over to North Conway to visit Dondero’s Rock Shop check it out.

We chatted with owner Mitch Dondero and browsed his selection of local minerals.

Through out journies, we have been to quite a few rockshops, and we were pleased to see many cases of actual mineral specimens for sale.

Before we left a group of kids came into the shop, and mitch gave them a little lesson rocks and minerals.

It was just about that time that our buddy Dylan Stolowitz (Green Mountain Minerals) called us. After speaking awhile he suggested that we call his brother Nick in Vermont about visiting Eden Mills in Vermont, only 3 hours away. We decided to meet at his house which was only a short drive away from the quarry.

The Eden Mills Mine was an asbestos mine that was shut down after the demand diminished. This local is famous for its super gemmy grossular garnets, but we were excited to collect all the chrysotile and serpentine asbestosform minerals. Nick showed us the best one that he had found there.

We parked along a wooded area, and then took the short hike through the woods to the quarry.

While we didn’t find any garnets as good as Nick’s, we did find some pretty nice small ones.

And plenty of asbestos samples.

Nick also found some green crystals that we figure are either Vesuvianite or Diopside.

After spending a couple hours putzing around, it was time to drive back to Tom’s house in Maine.
On the way home we passed an interesting bowling ball pyramid in front of someone’s house.

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.

The Bush farm was our first filming location of the day. Our goal was white tremolite, and possibly dravites. Just like Bowers Farm the day before, it is open to the public as long as you talk to the farmer first. Justin called Mr. Bush and got permission for us to go to the location and film, so we were off to trapse through a dairy cow pasture

There was supposed to be a path leading to the collecting spot, but we found that it was long since gone. So we just walked back to the hedge-row, across the field.

Once we got to the trees, we saw an opening, and decided that it had to be it.

It turned to be the right spot. Right away we saw an outcropping in the middle of the overgrowth.

The tremolite was very plentiful,

and we even found some dravit too.

Then it was back across the pasture…

Driving around, we found investigated some other spots we read about in some guide books, but they turned out to be closed to collecting. On the way to Scott’s house, we saw a rockcut with an exposed vein of calcite. Justin had read about this location in an old copy of Matrix magazine, so we decided to drive back to it and give it a look.

It was posted as private property, so we decided that we would go and talk to the owner.

The land belonged to a lady named Cindy who lived in a farm house down the road. She told us that she had been dooped and lied to by a collector before, and therefore didn’t let anyone collect at the site anymore. However she suggested that we meet her friend Robert Paul Rice that lived down the road. She said that she would show us where he lived if we follwed her in our car. We said ok, and were off on what would turn out to be a fun adventure.

Paul Rice is a member of the St. Lawrence County Rock & Mineral Club, and has been collecting in the surrounding area for over 40 years. He showed us some of the minerals he had collected from nearby Pine Hill Rd., and then offered to give us a little tour. Here is Paul with a plaque the club presented him with for his excellent lapidary skills.

So we all piled in the car, and drove out to Paul’s Brown Tourmaline dig. We follwed as he quickly lead the way.

This location is actually Paul’s claim, but he allows people to collect from his tailing piles with prior permission.

Next it was off to a gravel quarry to collect fossils in round glacier washed stones.

Paul explained the geology of the area to us while he showed us around.

After taking us to the “Lost Fluorite” Location, he then directed us to where he likes to dig for quartz. He showed us his best find from the spot, so we were excited to check it out for ourselves. So we bid Paul good-bye, and thanked him for all his help.

The quartz location was marked by a pile of quartz gravel spilling down a hill at a pull off.

We walked up the hill, and followed the trail back untill we came to some outcroppings.

We were not dissapointed, and collected some pretty good pieces in a matter of minutes.

By this time we were tired and ready to head back to Scott’s house for diner. We drove through the town of Gouvernour on the way back.

I had seen the giant pack of LifeSavers in the town center before, but didn’t have time to stop. This time we made sure to.

Local resident Edward John Nobel was the owner and origanater of the LifeSaver, and the first flavor was peppermint.