There was a lot of interest though just 8 members were up early on Saturday to meet Linda and I at the Safeway in Williams, the gateway to Perkinsville, and a good place for snacks and rest room stop before heading out for a 40 mile trip to the collecting site, weather was perfect, clear skies, temperatures in the 70’s and a slight breeze made for a very comfortable day in the hills.

The Perkinsvill Agate location has always been a productive source of nice agate with interesting inclusions and color. Our May field trip proved to be just as fruitful, with some surface collecting and digging out larger buried specimens for future cutting and cabbing.

-Martin & Linda Dougherty

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]]> https://flagstaffmineralandrock.org/2024/10/13/perkinsville-agate-field-trip-report-2/feed/ 0 https://flagstaffmineralandrock.org/2024/10/13/st-pattys-day-field-trip-to-dobell-ranch-2/ https://flagstaffmineralandrock.org/2024/10/13/st-pattys-day-field-trip-to-dobell-ranch-2/#respond Sun, 13 Oct 2024 00:12:47 +0000 http://CoteS Read More

From the McDonalds in Cordews we jumped onto I-17 heading south to exit 259.  Driving down the long, winding, dusty, washboard road we followed the Bradleys to our collecting site, a couple miles west of Cleator.

This site is known for collecting Schorl, the most common type of Tourmaline.  The massive Schorl is in a matrix of white Quartz, with the finer specimens in Rutile form, embedded in the quartz, which is mostly found in float.  Brad worked an outcrop inside a wash that was productive and several of us went to a site with tailings of malachite and chrysocolla, across the road from the Schorl site.  That site was pretty well picked over, but we all managed to find something of interest.

We also ran into three rockhounds from Minnesota, who came by to see what we were doing and they offered us advice on some interesting Minnesota sites for us to visit.

Our next scheduled field trip is to Perkinsville, May 19th, following our monthly Friday club meeting. We’ll be collecting Perkinsville agate there.

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We followed several dirt tracks just to see where they went and found plenty of the rocks we were looking for – including a few specimens of Petrified Wood sporting delightful druzy crystals.  The Jasper was plentiful in a couple of spots just off the main road into the BLM area we were collecting in.

As several of us hadn’t followed the main road all the way out to the Little Colorado river before, we took that drive, which is well worth it if you enjoy amazing sandstone sculptures.

For the seventh year in a row Linda and Marty attended the annual roadside Clean up in Quartzsite, Arizona sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management and American Lands Access Association. There were club members of other American Federations, Northwest, California, Mid-west and Rocky Mountain, which the Coconino Club is a member.

Twelve of them plus the cameraman drove 10 miles East of Quartzsite to the Gold Nugget Rd.  turn-off and spent a couple hours collecting discarded trash which is apparent in the attached photograph. Not sure how much this years weighed, but in previous years in this area we collected a couple tons of trash, some being really gross!!!!

A new friend from the Prescott club was to meet us Saturday afternoon  in Alpine to lead us to Reserve , New Mexico to collect Agate on Sunday October 27^th.

Thirteen members arrived in Alpine, Arizona around noon at the motel and from there we headed east on the 180 towards Luna N.M. We made several stops south of Luna at mile marker 10 and then at mile marker 4. 

Good material was collected at MM4  in the road cuts, some Luna Blue was found and Druzy. Not a real productive site but still a good start for what awaited in Reserve on Sunday.

After breakfast Sunday morning we followed Allen Valley to Reserve N.M. where Allen had made arrangements to cross over private property onto State Land which was about a 3 mile drive uphill on uneven dirt road through three closed gates to a plateau in a forested setting. A vast expanse of forest land was covered in Banded Agate with Druzy. It was an overwhelming amount of material. It was hard not to pick it all up, but we had to be selective when we realized how much there actually was.

We spent the day there trying several locations and coming away very happy. 

Sunday evening at dinner Allen made arrangements with a local from Alpine to lead us back into N.M. to several locations that turned out to be not so productive. It is my feeling our local guide did not want to take us to any secret spots thinking we would come back at some point and clean them out, can’t blame her for that, but she shouldn’t have offered to waste a whole day driving around. Beautiful country but we wanted rocks too. All in all this was a successful trip.

Members that attended :

Lowen & Cheryl

Sandy & Wendy

John & Beth

Andrea & Linda A

Clint & Erica 

Alan Cartwright 

Marty & Linda

Being a Saturday there were many dirt bikes traveling the road as well as weekend campers to keep us busy. Most of the group canvased the wash area for Jasper and a few of us brought out the 15 pound sledge hammer and steel chisels to assist breaking apart  rocks suspected to be hiding  good cutting material. I saw members carrying 5 gallon buckets of Red Jasper back to their vehicles so I assume we all found a little something to work with.

Next time when we return I would prefer a weekday trip as there are three locations to collect material and we only saw the first site because of the off-road vehicle traffic.

 Attending Members:

Alan & Linda

Clint & Erica

John & Beth

Rob & Sue

Alan Cartwright

Kathy S

Marty & Linda

Linda and I arrived on the 17^th as did John and Beth Duggan. Our rock collecting spree began at Desert Gardens, where just about every rock, mineral and gem can be found, for a price. From slabs to cabs to large medium and small rock, Brazilian amethyst cathedrals and large quartz crystal formations. Next stop was the Q.I.A Pow-Wow where more rock and minerals plus jewelry, tools and rock cutting machinery can be had. More slabs and cabs. Indoor display cases were setup, some from dealers showing their wares and some for competition to be judged.

We four made a day of it, with a final stop at Tyson Wells, a huge flee market type fair. Clothing, garden art, tools, household items, beautiful rugs, walking sticks and essential oils, and this list barely begins to cover what is available. As well as the food courts and lots of people perusing the wares.

On Saturday we met at T-Rocks, in order for any members that made the trip from Flagstaff to meet us, sadly none showed up. Maybe next year, with a little more planning and information about where to find accommodations, we’ll have a better turnout.

All in all it was a fun trip, seeing lots of friends from California and Linda and I helping with the American Lands Access Assoc. desert cleanup on Sunday morning. Then, home. It was an fun and exhausting time, but I’m sure we will be back again next year!

Martin & Linda Dougherty

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Our host, Rhonda Dobell and grandchildren, helped by pointing out some of the better material. It was as if we were shopping in a candy store with so many potential specimens to choose from, you ended up having to be very selective as to what you were bringing home. I think we all found what we wanted and then some. We all would like to have the tree trunks decorating our yards, but decided to be reasonable!

Lunch was prepared for all of us and we had fun with the younger grandkids. Then, when everyone was leaving, there were hugs for all around from the kids.

A very successful field trip that I’m sure we will make a repeat visit to, early next year.

Martin & Linda Dougherty

The object that excavated the crater was a nickel-ironmeteorite about 50 meters, (160feet), across. The speed of the impact has been a subject of some debate. Modeling initially suggested that the meteorite struck at up to 20 kilometers per second, (12 miles per second), but more recent research suggests the impact was substantially slower, at 12.8 kilometers per second, (8.0 miles per second). It is believed that about half of the impactor’s bulk was vaporized during its descent through the atmosphere.

For additional information click on this link to wikipedia.

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