Fieldtrips
Many field trips are on the docket this spring, summer and fall, with exciting destinations for both day trips and weekends away. What better way to outsmart the virus than to spend your time hunting treasures in the great outdoors?
How To Enroll. Field trip fees are $10 per person and your online payment below will enroll you on the trip.
Refunds & Cancellations. If you find you can't go, you may give away or sell your spot to someone else, but refunds are not issued unless the Club cancels the trip.
How to Get There. All participants are responsible for their own travel to the destination. Before the trip you will receive a trip planner by email with details about the destination, travel directions, road conditions, what to bring, and nearby camping areas.
Membership Requirement. You may attend one Club function (one field trip, open shop, or demo etc.) to find out if you like what the Club has to offer. Thereafter membership is required to participate. If you see more than one trip on this list you want to attend, or would like to later cut, polish, tumble or set the stones you found, then please Join the Club. Annual membership prices are very reasonable.
How To Enroll. Field trip fees are $10 per person and your online payment below will enroll you on the trip.
Refunds & Cancellations. If you find you can't go, you may give away or sell your spot to someone else, but refunds are not issued unless the Club cancels the trip.
How to Get There. All participants are responsible for their own travel to the destination. Before the trip you will receive a trip planner by email with details about the destination, travel directions, road conditions, what to bring, and nearby camping areas.
Membership Requirement. You may attend one Club function (one field trip, open shop, or demo etc.) to find out if you like what the Club has to offer. Thereafter membership is required to participate. If you see more than one trip on this list you want to attend, or would like to later cut, polish, tumble or set the stones you found, then please Join the Club. Annual membership prices are very reasonable.
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San Juan River Agates
Saturday April 10 Trip Leader Jama Crawford This day trip to the San Juan River in New Mexico produces mostly white agates, but red, gold and other hues can be found by those with sharp eyes. These stones washed out of the 30 million year old caldera walls which we call Wolf Creek Pass today ... and were naturally tumbled by river action on their way to New Mexico. There are dozens of sites to search, and once your eyes are trained for the proper terrain, you will have new collection sites to explore in the future. After the agate hunt, those who wish may continue to Hummingbird Canyon for a one hour hike. This canyon is one of hundreds of archaeological sites in the area, and is noted for its colorful rock art ... and its well hidden hummingbird. |
San Juan River Agates
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Yellow Cat Flat and Floy Wash
Friday, Saturday and Sunday April 30, May 1 & 2 Trip Leaders Randy Ferris and Shari Miller Ferris This camping trip is to a beautiful back roads area north of Arches National Park in Utah. Here you will find jasper, chert, agate and chalcedony, as well as mine shafts from the region's uranium mining past that plunge through slickrock. Drive to the area Friday afternoon to set up camp. On Saturday morning Randy and Shari will lead us on rock hunts in the surrounding desert and washes. You can leave after Saturday's hunt or spend the weekend exploring. |
Agate, Chalcedony, Yellow Cat
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Placer Gold Hunt on the La Plata River
Sunday May 9 Trip Leader Brooks Bartlett We planned this trip last year but due to a dry summer, the stream at our preferred site did not carry water and was unsuitable for panning or sluicing. This year's day trip we will head out early in the season, after the stream thaws but before runoff. Trip Leader Brooks studies Geology at Fort Lewis College and did his research project on placer gold in the La Plata River. Some gold pans are provided, but if you have one, bring your own. For this trip, please meet at the Hesperus Store at the intersection of Hwy 160 and Hwy 140 at 10 am on Sunday May 9. This intersection is 12 miles west of Durango. The collection site is on private property with livestock so no dogs are allowed. Dress to get wet and bring a small jar or vial with lid to carry home your finds. |
Placer gold
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 Abiquiu Agate
Nacimiento Mine, Abiquiu Dam and Pedernal Peak
Friday, Saturday and Sunday May 21, 22, and 23 Trip Leader Becky Walkden This destination is near Cuba, New Mexico, where we will visit the Nacimiento Mine on Saturday morning to hunt for copper bearing minerals such as "azurite blueberries," malachite, chrysocolla and copper as a mineral replacement in petrified wood. On Saturday afternoon we will head to Pedernal Peak to hunt small to large agates, some of which will be suitable for slabbing. Pedernal means "flint" in Spanish and this area was mined by Native people to make arrowheads and spearheads. Several campgrounds as well as free camping on BLM land, can be found in the area. |
Copper minerals, Nacimiento Mine
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 Royalite, La Plata Mountains
Copper Hill Glory Hole
Saturday June 12 Trip Leader Dave Gonzales This day trip is for people who enjoy hiking at elevation ... while carrying rocks! We will learn about the geology of the La Plata Mountains and explore an interesting zone of copper mineralization at the Copper Hill Glory Hole. This area has fascinating geologic and mining history. The mine operated from 1902 to 1940 and produced significant copper along with minor silver, gold, and platinum-palladium. You will be able to collect samples with visible chalcopyrite, pyrite, and magnetite. Many of the surfaces in the mine have a patina of malachite. At the end of the hike we will hunt for pieces of “royalite” in the river gravels of Bedrock Creek. This stone comes from veins composed mostly of quartz and fluorite which range from light lavender to dark violet in color. Dave is a professor of the Department of Earth Sciences at Fort Lewis College. PS - if you enroll after June 9, 2021, we will not be able to send you a trip planner. Therefore meet the group at 9:40 am on County Road 124 (also known as La Plata Canyon Road). This meeting spot is a large pullout on the left, 5 miles north of Kennebec Cafe in Hesperus, CO, where the paved road ends and dirt begins. |
Chalcopyrite (Smithsonian image)
Copper Hill Glory Hole Copper Minerals
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Quartz Crystals
Canceled due to ongoing road closure Unfortunately this trip is cancelled this year due to an ongoing closure of the road to our destination. Everyone will be refunded. Saturday August 21 with Jama Crawford Sunday August 29 with Lea Novak Due to popular demand (and another story too long to tell), this trip is now offered twice this summer. It is an abundant site and both trips will produce plenty of great finds to bring home. We will visit a mine just beyond Silverton to find quartz crystals, some as clear as ice. This involves a short hike from the road ... but it is a steep hike at elevation. A 4WD or AWD vehicle with good tire tread is required - the road is in good condition but fairly steep. If you don't have this sort of vehicle we will move passengers at the bottom of the hill so everyone has a ride up. The region is an old caldera, with considerable mineralization. There is free and fee based camping in the area if you wish to make a weekend of it. |
Saturday August 21
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Quartz Cluster
Sunday August 29
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Creede Gem Show, Last Chance & Equity Mines
Saturday Aug 7 Trip Leader Susie Fisher We can't go often enough to Creede, to visit its famous underground Gem Show (which will have many more outdoor booths this year as Covid subsides), Jack's Last Chance Mine (last year's participants found sowbelly amethyst, quartz, pyrite and even a rare piece of turquoise) and an active silver/gold mine called the Equity Mine. While you can make a day trip to Creede, there is so much to explore in this area that we recommend camping. Free camping is abundant, especially about 30 miles beyond Creede in the vicinity of North Clear Creek Falls where the creek plunges over a sheer caldera's edge. |
Last Chance Mine Sowbelly Amethyst
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 Mt. Antero finds by Ralph Eyler, Jr., Columbine Gem and Mineral Society, CO
NEW SPACES
Mount Antero Friday August 20 and Saturday August 21 Trip Leader Robin Henry Mount Antero, near Salida CO, is famous for aquamarine, smoky quartz, topaz, feldspar and other beryls. It is also famous for reality TV, winds that chill you to the bone, folks who get altitude sickness, folks who come home emptyhanded ... and folks who find treasure. Mount Antero is our version of "extreme rock hounding." If you are in good physical shape, conditioned to hike at altitude (the site is 13,000 ft), and willing to endure some physical discomfort to hunt for valuable gemstones, this trip is a rare and exciting opportunity. Access is challenging. You will need a short-length (less than or equal to 17.5 feet) 4WD vehicle (for example a short jeep or a 4-wheeler). If you don't have an appropriate vehicle then you will need to get a ride with one of our other Club members (there are presently a few seats available), hitchhike (it is a busy 4-wheeler road) or leave your longer 4WD vehicle at tree line and hike the last mile and a half to the mine (a 30 minute jeep ride and 2 to 4 hour hike). Unless you have a very short vehicle, expect to make multiple 3 point turns. Finally the collection permit is $75 per person payable directly to the owner at the site. The owner reserves certain rights if a very productive vein is found. Aquamarine sells for over $600 a carat (about the size of a pea) and this explains why a cache of valuable stones will be shared with the owner. Camping is advised on Friday night, so you can have an early start up the mountain Saturday morning. Free camping is available in the Forest Service lands nearby. |
Mt. Antero Smoky Quartz, image by John Betts
Mt. Antero Aquamarine, image by Martin Slama
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 Cashin Mine, image by Frank Karasti
Cashin Mine
Full Saturday September 25 Trip Leader Dave Gonzales This is our second attempt to visit a copper mine near Dolores. Last year's trek was canceled due to COVID restrictions. The destination is worth the wait! The Cashin Mine is a sandstone-hosted copper deposit that contains chalcocite, covellite, pyrite, barite, cuprite, native silver and copper, as well as azurite, malachite, and cuprite among other minerals. The mine is located in a beautiful slot canyon with many of the old mine workings still standing. The site is not only a fun site to explore rocks, but also a fantastic natural setting. The mine may be accessed with a passenger car, but a lot brush lines the sides of the dirt road into the mine that can scratch a vehicle. Or you can hike 1 mile in from the highway. A metal detector is helpful on this trip to locate native silver and copper. This is a long day trip or a camping trip. |
Cashin Mine Copper Minerals
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Blanchard and Kelly Mines
Friday, Saturday and Sunday October 1, 2 and 3 Trip Leader Robert Bradley This camping trip takes us to the Socorro region of New Mexico, with two digs scheduled at Blanchard Mine (Bingham NM) and Kelly Mine (Magdalena NM). The minerals include a prized blue-green mineral called Smithsonite, fluorite, and copper bearing minerals such as malachite, azurite, as well as native copper, galena, and pyrite. Too many minerals to list! These mines have permit fees, therefore you must carry an additional $30 in cash per person to gain access to both sites. Also in the region are the Trinity Site (which hosts an annual open house on Saturday October 1 to discuss the historic significance of our nation's first nuclear bomb testing site), the Valley of Fire (one of the most recent lava flows in the continental U.S.), and the extraordinary exhibits at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology Mineral Museum in Socorro. There are both reasonably priced campgrounds with facilities and free BLM camping in the area. |
Smithsonite, image by Smithsonian
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Split Lip Flats
Saturday October 23 Trip Leader Randy Ferris and Shari Miller Ferris This daytrip to Split Lip Flats near Nageezi NM will be an opportunity to hunt for colorful petrified wood and jasper on public lands, and to see an area so covered with petrified logs that it is known as the "Fossil Forest." This area produced many of the first and finest examples of New Mexican paleontology, including Cretaceous insects, fossil resins, a new fish species, and multiple early mammal species. |
Petrified logs, Split Lip Flats
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On Your Own
The following trip is an on-your-own exploration. No fee is involved.
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area
There are several compelling but rarely visited destinations to explore in northwest New Mexico, including Bisti, De-Na-Zin, and the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Areas. The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area (WSA) discussed here is located in a sparsely inhabited high desert region, characterized by flat arid terrain and sandy washes. Prominent in this otherwise bleak landscape are highly eroded cliffs lining the valley walls, colorful badlands, hoodoos, balanced rocks, and other strange rock formations sculpted by the elements. As with the other Wilderness locations mentioned, petrified wood is abundant here, sometimes found in upright positions, sometimes with roots completely exposed. Bisti Wilderness to the north has many of the same geologic and fossil features.
Collecting is not permitted in this area.
Word of caution – Travel in this area can become treacherous during rain storms; travel is not advised if rain and high wind forecasts are posted. There is no cell phone coverage. Be sure someone knows where you were headed and when you are expected back.
Driving directions - From Bloomfield, NM, travel south on New Mexico State Highway 550 approximately 25-30 miles to the Blanco Trading Post (now closed, 2016). Turn right heading southwest on Road 57; the first 5 miles is paved but full of deep potholes and depressions, drive slow and take care in driving, deep potholes could rip your tires and demolish your suspension. The dirt road thereafter is in better condition, however be cautious after snow melt or rain storms and do not drive through washes if water crosses the road. Road 57 is the old north access route to Chaco Canyon which is now closed at the park boundary. The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area is approximately 13 miles from Highway 550 on the right side of the Road 57. Total driving time from Durango is 2.5 to 3 hours one way.
What to take - Camera, hat, wind breaker or rain jacket, lots of water and snacks, sun block.
The following trip is an on-your-own exploration. No fee is involved.
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area
There are several compelling but rarely visited destinations to explore in northwest New Mexico, including Bisti, De-Na-Zin, and the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Areas. The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area (WSA) discussed here is located in a sparsely inhabited high desert region, characterized by flat arid terrain and sandy washes. Prominent in this otherwise bleak landscape are highly eroded cliffs lining the valley walls, colorful badlands, hoodoos, balanced rocks, and other strange rock formations sculpted by the elements. As with the other Wilderness locations mentioned, petrified wood is abundant here, sometimes found in upright positions, sometimes with roots completely exposed. Bisti Wilderness to the north has many of the same geologic and fossil features.
Collecting is not permitted in this area.
Word of caution – Travel in this area can become treacherous during rain storms; travel is not advised if rain and high wind forecasts are posted. There is no cell phone coverage. Be sure someone knows where you were headed and when you are expected back.
Driving directions - From Bloomfield, NM, travel south on New Mexico State Highway 550 approximately 25-30 miles to the Blanco Trading Post (now closed, 2016). Turn right heading southwest on Road 57; the first 5 miles is paved but full of deep potholes and depressions, drive slow and take care in driving, deep potholes could rip your tires and demolish your suspension. The dirt road thereafter is in better condition, however be cautious after snow melt or rain storms and do not drive through washes if water crosses the road. Road 57 is the old north access route to Chaco Canyon which is now closed at the park boundary. The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area is approximately 13 miles from Highway 550 on the right side of the Road 57. Total driving time from Durango is 2.5 to 3 hours one way.
What to take - Camera, hat, wind breaker or rain jacket, lots of water and snacks, sun block.
Fossils/Rocks to Be Seen
These sandstone, mudstone, and shale layers from the Fruitland Formation are very colorful, from the brown-ochre tones of the badlands to yellow-orange rock formations and hoodoos, as well as light gray mud hills, charcoal colored badlands and occasional coal seams. Fossils include petrified wood and many animal fossils, including dinosaur bones and early mammals. Again, no collecting is allowed. During the Cretaceous Period, the San Juan Basin is believed to have been a beach/marsh complex resembling coastlines such as modern Louisiana or the Carolinas today, with land to the west and inland sea to the east. Palm wood is common throughout the San Juan Basin as are dinosaur fossils of both herbivore and carnivore species.
References
BLM Website - http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/wilderness_and_wsas/wilderness_study_areas/wilderness_study_areas/Ah_shi_sle_pah_WSA.html (retrieved Sept 2016)
American Southwest Website - http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/ah-shi-sle-pah/ (retrieved Sept 2016)
Chaco Canyon 1:100,000 scale topo map
Google Earth 36 deg 10 min 29.33 sec North 107 deg 52 min 42.12 sec
Submitted by Tom Strain, Sept 2016
These sandstone, mudstone, and shale layers from the Fruitland Formation are very colorful, from the brown-ochre tones of the badlands to yellow-orange rock formations and hoodoos, as well as light gray mud hills, charcoal colored badlands and occasional coal seams. Fossils include petrified wood and many animal fossils, including dinosaur bones and early mammals. Again, no collecting is allowed. During the Cretaceous Period, the San Juan Basin is believed to have been a beach/marsh complex resembling coastlines such as modern Louisiana or the Carolinas today, with land to the west and inland sea to the east. Palm wood is common throughout the San Juan Basin as are dinosaur fossils of both herbivore and carnivore species.
References
BLM Website - http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/wilderness_and_wsas/wilderness_study_areas/wilderness_study_areas/Ah_shi_sle_pah_WSA.html (retrieved Sept 2016)
American Southwest Website - http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/ah-shi-sle-pah/ (retrieved Sept 2016)
Chaco Canyon 1:100,000 scale topo map
Google Earth 36 deg 10 min 29.33 sec North 107 deg 52 min 42.12 sec
Submitted by Tom Strain, Sept 2016