Run Report for Rock Hound Run 4-14 thru 4-18-2011
Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 8:41 am
Run Report for Rock Hound Run 4-14 thru 4-18-2011
Ron and I arrived at Coon Hollow camp ground at 12:15am Thursday morning, Dan and Carol were already there. It was chilly and windy, so we started a fire, the moon was out and bright. Greg pulled into camp around 1:00am, we got acquainted stood around the fire and talked until about 2:30 then went to bed. The sun came up early, cooked some breakfast then left camp around 11:10 for the Opal Hill Mine, no one was there so we just looked around, there has been quite a bit of activity there since the last time I visited. On the way back to camp we stopped to look for Chalcedony, everyone found some nice pieces. Then back to camp for dinner and another camp fire and stories around the fire. Friday was a bit warmer, still very pleasant with a slight wind, left camp around 10:15 for the Straw Beds looking for Geodes, I had heard that a fella had started a new dig and had pulled out some nice softball size geodes so we looked for that hole. We did not find it but still found a few geodes, everyone found out how much work it is, digging for Geodes. We got back to camp around 2 had some lunch, then went looking for a new place to pick up Chalcedony and found a couple of new places with lots of material laying on the ground, stayed there a couple hours then back to camp. Dinner a few beers a camp fire and more stories. Saturday we headed for Palo Verde for some gas and ice, stopped at Kenny’s Rock shop for a visit and then headed back towards Coon Hollow on the way we stopped at Pebble Terrace, it was quite hot, there was cell service there so called home to check in, after about an hour we went back to camp. At camp we set up the shower, in the vault toilet. The shower is a Zodi single burner, which works really well, after showers we cooked dinner sat around the camp fire and told more stories. The next day we went east on the Bradshaw trail to the Roosevelt mine on the way we saw a very large hawk in a nest up on one of the high tension power poles, also ran into a group from TDS that were running the Bradshaw trail from west to east. After the Hawks photos we went to another mine, Turquoise is what it was, climbed up a very steep hill/trail that was washed out about ¾ of the way. I did find a few pieces for specimens not worth the climb! Back to camp to cool off as it was hot, after sitting around and talking we went looking for a part of the old Niland/ Palo Verde Rd. we did find it went a few miles up it to a spot to look for more rocks, parked and hiked around a bit I found a couple pieces of nice Quartz Crystals, then on the way back we met some guys that were launching rockets and flying model Helicopters. Back to camp and a few beers and dinner, burned the remainder of the fire wood. The last day Ron and I packed up, left camp around 8:00am for San Diego. It was a good rock hounding trip, I posted photos here; http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580070815gSuqLn
And Ron’s http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580077953WPHvTc
Dick
ka7ayt
Ron and I arrived at Coon Hollow camp ground at 12:15am Thursday morning, Dan and Carol were already there. It was chilly and windy, so we started a fire, the moon was out and bright. Greg pulled into camp around 1:00am, we got acquainted stood around the fire and talked until about 2:30 then went to bed. The sun came up early, cooked some breakfast then left camp around 11:10 for the Opal Hill Mine, no one was there so we just looked around, there has been quite a bit of activity there since the last time I visited. On the way back to camp we stopped to look for Chalcedony, everyone found some nice pieces. Then back to camp for dinner and another camp fire and stories around the fire. Friday was a bit warmer, still very pleasant with a slight wind, left camp around 10:15 for the Straw Beds looking for Geodes, I had heard that a fella had started a new dig and had pulled out some nice softball size geodes so we looked for that hole. We did not find it but still found a few geodes, everyone found out how much work it is, digging for Geodes. We got back to camp around 2 had some lunch, then went looking for a new place to pick up Chalcedony and found a couple of new places with lots of material laying on the ground, stayed there a couple hours then back to camp. Dinner a few beers a camp fire and more stories. Saturday we headed for Palo Verde for some gas and ice, stopped at Kenny’s Rock shop for a visit and then headed back towards Coon Hollow on the way we stopped at Pebble Terrace, it was quite hot, there was cell service there so called home to check in, after about an hour we went back to camp. At camp we set up the shower, in the vault toilet. The shower is a Zodi single burner, which works really well, after showers we cooked dinner sat around the camp fire and told more stories. The next day we went east on the Bradshaw trail to the Roosevelt mine on the way we saw a very large hawk in a nest up on one of the high tension power poles, also ran into a group from TDS that were running the Bradshaw trail from west to east. After the Hawks photos we went to another mine, Turquoise is what it was, climbed up a very steep hill/trail that was washed out about ¾ of the way. I did find a few pieces for specimens not worth the climb! Back to camp to cool off as it was hot, after sitting around and talking we went looking for a part of the old Niland/ Palo Verde Rd. we did find it went a few miles up it to a spot to look for more rocks, parked and hiked around a bit I found a couple pieces of nice Quartz Crystals, then on the way back we met some guys that were launching rockets and flying model Helicopters. Back to camp and a few beers and dinner, burned the remainder of the fire wood. The last day Ron and I packed up, left camp around 8:00am for San Diego. It was a good rock hounding trip, I posted photos here; http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580070815gSuqLn
And Ron’s http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/580077953WPHvTc
Dick
ka7ayt
