RockhoundingVideos.com - From The-Vug.com

Being on the road 24/7 can be tough, especially when you are trying to keep up with your work. We have been traveling now for 22 days, and talked to a bunch of people. The one thing that everyone seems to think is that we are on vacation, but I don’t know about you, but when I am on vacation I don’t sleep in my car, get up on 3 hours of sleep, and hike/climb rocky mountains, and carry hundreds of pounds of rocks, everyday, 2-5 times a day. At this rate I think we just might need a vacation from our “vacation”.

We started Tuesday morning off right, with a 7:30am rock climbing/rugged hiking adventure. I am not a morning person, and I had been up until nearly 3am working on a client’s website, so I was feeling less than chipper. However, Justin was ready to go; our first spot was Gem Hill, outside of Lone Pine, CA.

Gem Hill; we needed to climb up over the visible ridge, down the other side and then over an additional ridge to “hopefully” find some Amazonites and Aquamarines.

So we hiked…

…and hiked…

….and hiked some more,

untill we came to the first out cropping of amazonites.

This spot has obviously been worked by quite a few collectors over the years. You can see many spots where people have been digging, and amazonite cleaves all over the ground; lots of small pieces with light to medium color.

I decided to putz around in one of the holes to see what I could find.

Pretty much more of the same.

We ended up following the vein back through the mountains for awhile, but we had other locations to hit up, so we decided it was time to start our track back.

On the way out we saw a fallen boulder that had a huge blue vein of aquamarine running through it.

So Justin decided to investigate the surrounding cliffs.

Unfortunately there was nothing else to be found except for lizards, lots and lots of lizards.

By the time we go back to the truck it was already 11:30, so we had some lunch and made a be line for location number 2, Crystal Ridge. This location is actually several separate spots that run along a ridge protruding out of the desert. Primarily known for it’s nice quartz points, there is also bulk epidote and unikite to collect if you are into lapidary work.

The area around Lone Pine is really beautiful, just look at those snow-capped peaks.

The green vegetation shows you the path that the melting snow takes down the mountain.

Crystal Ridge is located back a series of dirt roads that run beside a canal.

Unlucky for us this canal is in the process of be rerouted, so we had to take the back way, ie. less maintained and more treacherous.

And then it was time for more hiking.

Unfortunately some of the spots were without of reach due to the rocky terrain and overgrown vegetation.

One the way out we stopped to check out the old mine structure.

Look how dusty the truck got.

And then it was off to Lone Pine for dinner. It’s so cute with all its nostalgic buildings and retro neon.

Ah.. you know what Southern California rockhounding means to me, AGATES. Lots and lots of agates. When we lived down in Koreatown (downtown Los Angeles), and Justin was feild trip leader for the Culver City Club, this is what we collected. It’s no wonder though, there are just so many places to collect agates in SoCal.

On Monday we filmed two agate locations, Castle Butte & Kramer Junction. Both a variable agate orgy.

Not much to really say about it, so I will let the pictures do the talking, Castle Butte.

Kramer Junction

On the way out we passed the Borax Mine where your 20 Mule Team Borax laundry soap comes from, Boron, CA. It’s hard to see in the picture, but it is all that white industrial looking stuff in the distance.

We spent the weekend at the 2007 (Spring) West Coast Gem and Mineral Show in Costa Mesa California. I posted a show report (with pictures) on The-Vug.com.

2007 Spring Costa Mesa Show Report