got to tell this country about Utah, ’cause nobody seems to know
Thursday we drove into Utah after spending the night at Justin’s brother’s house in Lake Havasu (AZ). The first region that we are filming in the “Beehive State” is the Topaz Montain/Delta region. This area has countless locations that are all within a short distance of one another.
Pretty much anyone that is into rocks and minerals comes to Topaz Mountain to collect at some point or another.
After a week and half in Los Angeles, the blue skys of Utah were a welcome change.
So we drove around to do a little recon, and then got our bags ready to find some rocks.
Of course, as luck would have it, our first location of the day was an agate/jasper/calcedoney collecting spot. Although at first, I wasn’t too keen on collecting more crypto-silicon quartz, I was actually quite pleased with the color and quality of the material that we found
Next it was on to a purple fluorite location.
Though not the highest quality, it was plentiful and brightly colored.
As we were driving down the road between locations, we spotted a herd of antelope drinking from a puddle in the middle of the road. They darted out into the scrub, to far away for my camera to get a good shot, so Justin took a few with his camera.
The old Pony Express Route ran right through these mountains back in the day. Justin suggested that we take a moment to stop and look at the monument. Too bad vandals had defaced it.
But it was still nice enough for a lizard to sun itself on.
Lizards and other wildlife were certainly not in short supply.
This little guy was right beside the truck, so I picked him up and put him out further in the scrub so that he wouldn’t get squashed.
We also found another skeleton, this time of an antelope.
After collecting apache tears, we decided to finish up the day by heading out to the Dugway Geode Beds.
On the way there, passed some old mine stuff…
…and a rattesnake just laying on a rock pile on the side of the road. After taking a photo (from the safety of the car), we quickly headed on our way.
This was the first time that either Justin or I had ever seen a rattlesnake in the wild.
When we got there, we saw lot’s holes already dug.
So we investigated those first.
However soon Justin was ready to start his own hole.
As the sun sank behind the mountains, we headed to our camp site in Topaz Cove.
posted in Roadside Attractions, Collecting Locations, Filming | 1 Comment