Re: The Panoche Field Trip and the Weather ...

    We will definitely be going on this trip, rain or shine! We have folks coming from all over the state and it's one of those sandy, flat land sites that yields material the moment you open your car door. (Well, ok ... you might have to walk 10 yards ... )

Go ahead and zoom the Google Map for the site in all of the way, and you'll get a street level view of the site. It's one of that rare breed, a truly productive surface site that has been completely overlooked, as far as we can tell.

When you reach the correct offramp (Shields Ave. / J-1 / Little Panoche Road ) you'll see a 4 foot sign that says "Rocks!" with an arrow pointing the way.

If you're in need of a place to RV camp, or a good motel, or food, or a market or ...
Well, CIVILIZATION... be sure to check out my Tumey Hills/ Panoche Road Google Map.
It's only about 1/2 hour south of the Little Panoche collecting site.

So, bring along your rain ponchos, and if you have one, a folding picnic shelter. Remember your folding camp chairs, too. The weather forecast is for partly cloudy, and the site is lush & green, and dust free!
It's truly the best time of year to visit, the wildflowers are lovely!

We look forward to meeting you, and seeing what you bring to swap!

Be Well!
              Kris
 P.S: If you're attending and need my phone number for "just in case," feel free to drop me an email at
lapidary.specialties@gmail.com         

Rockhounding Adventures of the 4th Kind: Digging Halite

Yes, this is that rich a color when it's in your hand!

I've been a rockhound since I could walk, but my adult "career" began 30 years ago. It's been a long, strange trip.
However, over the decades of digging, collecting and working with rocks & stones, no experience has been so strange, so compelling, so STINKY as "digging" at Searles Lake.

Located in the "heart" of downtown Trona, California just a little over 30 minutes drive from Ridgecrest on Hwy 178, Searles Lake is the home of Searles Valley Minerals, a world leader in the production of industrial saline & borate chemicals.
Trona is a fairly typical, quiet desert town 51 weekends out of the year. But on the 52nd, watch out!


View Larger Map

Every year, the second weekend of October sees rockhounds, mineral enthusiasts, the geologically conscious and just plain "seekers of the unusual" invade this remote outpost of miners dreams for the Searles Valley Gem & Mineral Society "Gem-o-Rama." They come from EVERYWHERE in search of minerals pedestrian & rare. This panoply of humanity includes peoples of an amazing variety, all hosted at a truly great Club Show.
We've met Americans from many states, and folks from as far away as Japan & Germany at Searles Lake. I've had the strange experience of washing hanksite in stinging, stinking brine between a high school kid from South Central L.A. and a Japanese tourist, both grinning ear-to-ear, as small kids tried in vain to dig their own way between my legs to the brine trough.

In addition to the lovely aroma of Searles Lake, Trona is one of the gateways to Death Valley. The nearby destinations for rockhounds include Ballarat and the Darwin District, with the lonely peaks of the Panamint Range as an arid background.

The desert is a familiar friend and yet a formidable challenge when preparing for any collecting excursion. The extreme conditions of collecting at Searles Lake require tools & accessories that might seem strange to an idle onlooker.

One of our 2008 halite on nahcolite plates

Among the unexpected items are, for the "prissy" collector, elbow length rubber gloves. Yes, my friend, in the desert! But these will almost always be discarded, as you simply can't feel anything through the rubber, and they soon get teensy weensy little holes from the sharp edges of the nahcolite "matrix" that hosts most of the lovely halite crystals. And what's the point in wearing holey rubber gloves?

Yes, the brine will affect your hands, but Bubba, you're tougher than that, aren't you? In the afterglow of collecting that lovely halite, you'll sit staring at your bounty, and be glad for the God given gift of exfoliant soap!
Trust me, if you're one of those guys or gals who itch for "rock softener" (dynamite) when confronted with an agate seam, the several weeks of itching and peeling and inevitably, a few small cuts from those aforementioned sharp edges will be a fond reminder of the strangest 3.5 hours of collecting of your year.

One of our lovely 2009 halite specimens

The next item of apparel to be discussed brings up one key point: Never, ever wear clothes on Searles Lake that you aren't ready to "sacrifice." The "Goddess of the Salt" will claim any non-rubber item of clothing, turning a pair of jeans, once dried, into a standing sculpture. They'll literally "stand in the corner."
I recommend a sturdy but well worn pair of jeans, though I've found the least affected pants to be a pair of khaki's (Cherokee brand) from Target.
The shirt should allow you to apply copious amounts of SPF 50 on any exposed portion of your body, and a wide brimmed hat will keep your friends from calling you a "redneck" for several weeks.

One of my favorites from 2009

The most important item of clothing is footwear. It needs to be comfortable, yet disposable, unless rubberized.
Personally, I've a pair of rugged slip-on Oxfords from WalMart, the "no-skid" kind. I wear these only on Searles Lake. Next year, I hope to have a pair of "hip waders."
If your feet get wet, and they likely will, it's better to have a pair of permeable shoes, rather than a pair of insufficiently tall boots.

A lovely clear cubic halite on nahcolite from 2009

As noted before, the "dig" takes place on a saline lake bed. Now, this isn't your average Mojave desert playa ... Naaaaaahhhhh, that's wayyyyyyy too easy. No, this is a real "got water" type of lake. And, where there's water, there's almost always life ... of some kind.

The kind of life in this lake is pretty much singular, unless you call a "salt duck" life. What, you ask, is a salt duck? Well, to put it simply, when waterfowl land on this lake, they quickly become saturated with the heavy saline brine, preventing any future takeoff. They're soon, quite literally, mummified.

The "top" is lovely, but ...

The bottom is lush!

Now that you've experienced a "King Tut" moment, let's get on to the real wildlife of the lake,
which is also the agent that imparts vivid colors to the halite and others minerals.
This is a type of bacteria, in different shades of red & green, classified as halophyllic. This term quite literally means "salt loving." The red colors are much more common in halite than the green, which more often imparts it's color to hanksite.

This unusual "rope" specimen ended up as a part of a Harvard Museum of Natural History "hands-on" learning exhibit ...

This one, too!

Aside from its vivid colors, the most notable characteristic of the bacteria is the incredible STENCH it generates. This is caused by one of the byproducts of the digestive cycle of that lovely bacteria.
Just as we generate methane, scented by compounds called ketones & terpenes, these bacteria generate a deadly (in larger concentration) gas called hydrogen sulfide. It smells like rotten eggs, or as I like to say, "Satan's Undershorts."

Now, some say this would be a deal breaker, but just like a dairy rancher, you quickly get used to even this pungent aroma. Heck, some people (including a small 6 year old girl of my acquaintance) even claim to enjoy the smell!
Truth be told, I guess I'd have to count myself among them.

This one has such varied colors, with clear cubic crystals throughout

The next item to be attentive of is tools. Never take anything you aren't willing to "sacrifice." I've lost a favorite masonry hammer, and found hammer and screwdrivers. Paint every handle a bright color, "emergency orange" is best.
Be aware, if you don't clean every tool you use quite thoroughly, the salt will literally eat it. (I'll post some pics of my "less than loved" tools.)
I generally hit the Hardware Store and pick up a short handled shovel ("pack shovel"), garden tool set with 3-tined weeder & trowel, and pry bar. I also take a pick/mattock & long handled shovel, my most used tool. Screwdrivers and wooden tools that won't mar the specimens are good. I always bring a couple of pairs of bamboo chopsticks, too.

Now to the fun ... DIGGING! And yes, it is to be considered digging. I'll tell you all (well, most) of my digging secrets.

There are lots of different ways of finding halite on Searles Lake. All of them include getting wet with brine and quite smelly.
The best way to come home with halite is to dig. Now, I know it seems silly to say that, but it's somewhat daunting, at first. You're surrounded by acres of crusted white salt, with heaved up cracks, and the crust is crunchy & feels unstable.
Be of good cheer! No matter how hard you might try, even if you break through completely, you can't sink. It's a saline brine, so you will float if you land "in the drink."

I prize all of the various forms of halite from Searles Lake, and they're all found in different ways. Some can be found by prying into "cracks," then turning over the loosened surface crust.
This yields the strange "skeletal" and hoppered halite crystals, in snowy white to "angel" pink colors. But these are only the first of the many forms.

Under the stark white surface, you may find a pond. I usually walk about awhile, testing the surface, and looking for "ponds." These ponds are my favorite halite collecting holes, and yield the bulk of my favorite specimens. Some years, our best halite will be found in the covered ponds. This was the case in 2008. In 2009, it was a totally different story.

Another classic 2008 plate

In 2008, the prevalent form of halite that we collected was in fairly flat "plates" of pink to ruby red cubic crystals, on wafer thin khaki to green nahcolite. These were found mainly in ponds we broke open through the surface.
This year we found many more 3-dimensional halite on nahcolite (baking soda) matrix. The nahcolite forms in botryoidal to vermiform massive form. even in the wafer thin plates, it's TOUGH! I have yet to break even the thinnest plate, and if you chose to try and chisel the thicker formations, GOOD LUCK! Hammers and chisels simply bounce off the rubber-like material.



Your best bet, if you must try to break the nahcolite, is to crack it with a pry bar or gad point.
But, that takes time, time you don't have.

So, what works the best? Get into the pond, and feel about in the brine. Brush the formations with your hands, lightly at first. Feel the shapes, and look for "ledges."
When you find a ledge, try and feel under it. Most of the time, any cracks and voids will be loosely filled with granular halite & nahcolite, with the occasional halite "floater" crystal. Brush and dig away at that material with your fingers, wooden "chop sticks" and garden tools.
As you dig away the material, test the newly exposed formations to see if they wiggle. Any movement may signal a "plate," or crystal cluster on matrix.
When you find one, work it loose with one of your garden tools, shovels or small pry bars, but always be careful to avoid scratching the surface or moving the tool beyond the outer edge of the piece. This will help to avoid scarring or breakage.

If you're lucky and "hit the jackpot," you'll find the "perfect pond." For me, this is like the one that yielded so many little "hillock" specimens. These are, as they sound, hand-sized hills of nahcolite covered with "gardens" of multi-colored crystals. These are generally cubic in form, ranging from micro-crystals to over 9mm, but will vary widely in form.

This years perfect pond was literally filled with over 100 separate specimens, which had formed in the brine as a loose formation. After finding this with my hands, I took my long handled shovel and gingerly searched for "pry points." When I found one, I slipped the tip of the shovel carefully into it and levered upwards to loosen the formation. When loosened, I'd slide the shovel under the freed pieces, then slowly lift them out of the brine. We were able to collect many flats by this method

That "peach" pink specimen

The most unusual crystals I found this year were peach colored, "hoppered" to cubic on a tan botryoidal nahcolite matrix. This small cabinet sized specimen is currently available on our eBay Store.

Be sure to take a look at our store, and don't hesitate to contact me if you're looking for a really special halite specimen. I have some stunning multi-pound decorator specimens that will be posted for sale soon!

In conclusion, if you're looking for the ultimate collecting story, it's hard to beat Searles Lake!
It's UNIQUE!

Trona Trek: Year 2

We've just returned from our 2nd annual Trona Trek, and was it a doozy!

Our new field trip and rockhounding partners,
Mark, Sarah & one of their twins.

First, a big shout out to our new Field Trip Partners! Mark, Sarah and their twins came to us through the magic of Craigslist, and serendipitous synchronicity. Mark put up a post looking for Rockhounding partners, and 3 hours later, I "just happened" to act on the same impulse, going to Craigslist to post the same message. I answered his post, and after getting to know them, they accompanied us on this trip. They made it our best trip ever, and we look forward to a long, and profitable association.



View Fresno to Barstow in a larger map

View Directions to Lavic, California in a larger map

Now, for the trip! After driving down to Barstow and catching a few hours sleep at Motel 6 & breakfast at Bun Boy, we made our first stop at Lavic siding near the Pisgah Crater. Actually, it was a ways west of Lavic, in a wash created by a Railroad abutment. I'd never stopped that far west of the actual collecting area, but figured it would be educational.

Pisgah Crater, from the east side.
The black is a huge lava flow, with sand drifts throughout.

Well, wouldn't you know, Mark ended up finding the "Rock of The Day" and "Trip Rock!" at our first stop! We all piled out, everyone looked around and said "Well, what do we look for here?"
I looked at 'em all and said, "Don't know yet ... lets look!"
My partner Laura, Sarah & the twins followed my lead and headed down the wash, while Mark took care of a few loose ends and got a bucket for the twins. We began our finds with some creamy white opalite with moss & iron stains, and continued down the wash. Cutting grade lilac rhyolite followed, in modest amounts and tumbler sizes.

Mark started after us, and proved my assertion on why it's best to Rockhound in numbers.
Where we'd started out looking for fist sized material, Mark was out to find a BOULDER! And a boulder he found!
Now known as the "Gray Ghost" and at least 150+ pounds, it's gray-blue agate, translucent, and from external appearance, shot through with red, gold & mustard yellow spider webs! It was literally overwhelming!
Whether or not it will prove to be great sculptors material is yet to be seen, but it's a most impressive and lovely find. We're raring to get it on the 18" slab saw.

Lavic Siding, circa 2009 - Solar power is no problem here!

From there, we proceeded to Lavic siding and collected some of the great Rainbow Jasp-Agate the area is famous for, as well as "bubbly" chalcedony and magnetite with jasperoid veining.
With a total area of over 6 square miles, this area begs cliches like "uncountable tonnage" and "the rocks jump into your bucket!"
My first piece was, as usual, found literally right outside the car door. It was heavy for its small size and I thought that it was hematite in jasper, until I checked it with a magnet. It was strongly magnetic, indicating magnetite with jasperoid. I'll try cutting most anything, so this'll hit the wheel and I'll show some pics soon.

This is the desert pavement right outside the car door ...
and yes, it gets better & better! Large piece is 2.5" x 3.5" x .75"

Everyone spread out across the desert next to the siding, and as the ladies walked slowly further through the scrubby brush, we fellows started up the adjacent hill. We soon found the hills to be nothing but porous basalt, and went after the ladies.
Sarah & Laura had started with tiny tumble and cab sized material, and found that the sizes quickly expanded as they walked further from the train tracks. Mark and I headed out further, since the ladies needed to keep an eye on the twins. They were actually pretty angelic, for 6 year old girls, and quite into the play of the hunt.
As always happens, we were calling each other across the sands to "look at this!" and, "Yo, come see!" The true difference at Lavic is that no one was exaggerating in the slightest! If you haven't been there, GO! Senator Feinstein and the Enviro-Hypocrites are trying to make the entire desert off limits to Rockhounding, and we need your support and enthusiasm to fight their conniving ways.

Looking westward from Lavic Siding, you can see I-40.
Thankfully, you can't hear the cars from the collecting area!

Lavic Rainbow Jasp-Agate is some of the most unusual jasper you're likely to see. It comes in nearly every color, with nearly every possible color combination in rainbow stripes, blotches and swirls.Add frequent lines of blue to clear chalcedony, veins & blobs of hematite, and the very frequent "WHOA!" piece, and you have a premier collecting site.
One of the best parts is that it's what we call "fast-food" collecting, with little need for digging. It's reasonably close to civilization, motels and all the amenities. Add to that the friendly folks of Barstow, and reasonable prices on everything you'll need or could want, and it's a must-do for a Mojave trip.
There are tons of other sites nearby, and I'll write of them later.

The parking area at Lavic Siding.
If you can't find enough cutting material here, you'll need another hobby!

As the sun passed it's zenith and we started to become jaded in our choices, we decided to move on to lunch, then westward to Aerial Acres and the Sierra Pelona Travertine Claim.


View Directions to Aerial Acres, California in a larger map

Silence surrounds us ... and we travel these lonely roads.

Some of the digs at the Sierra Pelona Travertine claim.

This is another "fast food" trip, though somewhat more remote from the highway. It offers Travertine (Calcite) Onyx, with highly contrasting colors. Some of the material is what we call "Banded CalSilica," with quartz replacing the calcite. It can also feature faintly blue tube opal, and is found in sizes from chips to boulders of many pounds. We collected mostly golf ball to fist sized chunks on this trip.
The travertine is bedded in volcanic ash, which is from the surface to several feet below. It can range from screw driver and shovel work to "darn near impossible" digging, though there's usually plenty of surface material available. The toughest part of digging this material is the fact that it's coated in ash, muting colors and patterns, and makes a spray bottle of slightly soapy water a must have.
We had nowhere near as much time at this site as we wanted, so I'm certain that Mark and I will be returning to this claim sometime soon.

The sun setting, the breeze rustling silently through the brush ...

A great day of collecting ends.

With the sun setting, we mounted up in our Iron Horses, and headed off to Ridgecrest for Motel 6 and the hearty dinner bastion of the perennially weary digger ... Taco Bell, where they got my order wrong (again). Still, it was a filling dinner, but not as filling as our signal day of collecting.

Bright and far too early Sunday morning, we set out for Trona, picking up a little bit of breakfast at Mickey D's. The drive to Trona was as lovely as last year, and flew by too fast. Perhaps we simply needed more sleep!
We drove into Trona, and noticed that the aroma of the lake seemed tamer than we'd remembered it to be. Ah, we were back in halite country! As we pulled into the Show area, it's bustle was familiar, and we smiled and waved at familiar faces from last year. There he was, the "Wagon Master," making sure that everyone went the right direction and obeyed the Boy Scout traffic "cops."

Just a few of the hundreds of cars lined up for the halite dig!

After buying our field trip tickets, we took a quick turn around the Searles Valley Gem & Mineral Society show, checking in with Internet friends Karl Zelner of Ridgecrest, and Scott Blair of Scott's Rocks in Oregon, then made our way out to the vehicle parking area to await the starting gun.
We'd parked on the north side of the lot this year, and took the longer way into the pink halite area. This is perhaps the largest organized Club Field Trip in the Western U.S., and it's an amazing site to see hundreds of earnest and potentially happy diggers making their way onto the stark white of the salt lake.

In all of the field collecting I've enjoyed in nearly 30 years of rockhounding, there is nothing that comes anywhere close to Searles Lake. The white glare of the salt lake, the tang of salt that enters your mouth as soon as you open your car door, the amazing colors and stench of the salt ponds ... and that's before you get started digging!

This is the place! Yep, looks like halite is here!

Digging Searles is a truly different experience. Imagine ... Well, there's no way you can imagine it. You look for open brine ponds, and when you find one that "looks good" (whatever that means!) you kneel down and begin remembering how to do this kind of digging. It's not easy to remember, since it's totally different, and you only get to do it for about 3 hours a year.

A great big "decorator" piece of halite!

I remembered that you wanted to find "ledges and floaters" of halite, and halite on nahcolite. Nahcolite is literally Baking Soda, which is colored a number of distinctive colors, including an amazing cranberry purple.
Mark seemed somewhat skeptical of his chances, but I assured him that we'd go home with plenty of great specimens, if we worked with diligent patience and kept our eyes open.

This is the third layer in this tote!

It wasn't too long before we were all in the swing of the hunt, and the twins proved to be quite able to look past the weird smell. Mark truly enjoyed chopping away at the crusted surface, and the inevitable splashing evinced protests from the ladies, and a grin from me. Seeing my grin, Mark redoubled his splashing, knowing I was right there with him.

Yes, those are my digging gloves ... and this is a medium sized piece.

Suddenly, Laura called from far across the salt ... Oh, at least 100 yards. Trust me,, strolling down the mall, that isn't far, but on the salt, it's a haul! She motioned us to look at what a young couple had gotten part way toward us, perched on their 'lil red wagon.
The "specimen," if one could call the gargantuan alkaline boulder that they were slowly inching across the salt a mere specimen, was several HUNDRED pounds of nahcolite and halite, of the most distinctive fuschia color I'd ever imagined, much less touched with my own hands. Imagine a purple cauliflower head nearly 3 feet across and at least a foot deep, with the loveliest hoppered & cubic halite crystals in the world ... and you'd still fall short of this magnificent giant.

One of our lovely halite specimens.
The large single crystal is 9+mm, the other side is encrusted in "Cranberry" crystals ...

Just like this specimen!

"They need help getting it across the salt and to their SUV!" Laura cried out. we hurried to get nearer to this wonder, promising that we'd be glad to help if they told us which pond it had come out from. The young newlywed diggers pointed out the pond, and Laura hurried to stake out the now abandoned hole.
We marveled over the boulder for several moments, then set out steadying it while Mark pulled the wagon toward the waiting mini-4 wheeler.
As we approached the 8 foot climb to the road, a gentleman approached and solved our biiggest problem ... no one seemed to want to help finish the job. I was chagrined, since I had always touted the generosity of Rockhounds, and felt dismay at the selfishness I was witnessing. Bless that gentleman and his ingenious answer:
Pick up the entire wagon and carry it up the short, yet VERY rough path to the awaiting vehicle.

A lovely hand/small cabinet "Ghost" Pink halite, featuring skeletal crystal form.

Once there, I was left to decide how to fit this too big boulder into a too small SUV. By now, curiosity had overcome selfish impulse and jealousy, and we had a large group surrounding our project. Mark & I looked it over, and the young groom found cushioning clothes to prop it up in the cargo area. We 3 lifted it carefully into the trunk and gingerly propped it with a minimum of damage. Success!

Marveling at the rock, and our acheivement, we bade the young folks good fortune, and ehaded back to digging. Mark continued with his pond, which had produced a few decent specimens. I moved over to the pond the boulder had emerged from, probing it with my shovel, but it was too deep to penetrate the bottom. Looking around, we decided to try probing the surrounding ponds, which had been ignored by others.

This lovely "Raspberry' halite sparkles with every motion of the onlooker!

I found the two closest ponds to hard with massive nahcolite, but the third and forth were a bonanza of lovely deep cranberry to port wine crystals, mostly cubic, but with some lovely hoppered crystals, too! I hollered to Mark that I'd found "the Mother Lode!" which brought him quickly across the salt.

Soon, Sarah, Laura and the twins were helping us to pull out shovel after shovel full of lovely halite. We'd fallen into the spell of the "Goddess of the Salt," and she seemed well pleased with our sincere efforts, and our thankful attitude.

Here's a wholesale flat of 2 to 3+inch mixed color halite specimens, with crystals up to 8mm

Sweat dripped, our hands grew salt-rimed and sore, yet the pull of the crystals was irresisitible to us all. All too soon, we knew we must begin packing our bounty, and grudgingly gave up our digging, slogging back across the salt to retrieve our totes and buckets. Carefully packed away, our bounty proved worth all of the sweat and toil.

Yep, this one is about the size of a Turkey platter ...

With treasures packed carefully into our Camry & Mark's Frontier (mostly the pickup, which we were supremely thankful for) we set off for the nearby Gas Station, and cold beverages. In our impatience, we missed connections with our new partners, and so had to wait to bid them farewell by cellphone.

Returning to the Show, we spent awhile cleaning up a bit, talking with dealers and club members, and having a "Pepper Belly" & Pulled Pork sandwich lunch. I was able to give Karl a couple of flats of satin spar for the Indian Wells Gem & Mineral members, who'd been gracious enough to promise us access to the fabled "Rainbow Ledge" the following day.

Mid-afternoon, we reluctantly but wearily left Trona, and headed back toward Ridgecrest. Laura asked if there were any collecting areas along Hwy 178 on the way back, but I declined. I was exhausted, covered with salt, and constantly thirsty!
We got to the motel, and as we repacked the car and halite specimens, chatted with curious guests, exchanging collecting stories. We were glad to see that the selfish attitudes had been left behind us, and our specimens were objects of delight!

Showers, naps & dinner at Kristie's took the rest of our day, and sleep took us away, back to the salt in our dreams.

Monday dawned cooler, with variable clouds and higher winds. Mickey D's was again our haven for breakfast, a more leisurely affair this morning. After 2 hard days collecting, we really needed the great coffee that Motel 6 gave us before leaving. We were early for our collecting trip to Rainbow Ledge.

David, of From Mother Earth and the Indian Wells G&MS had been an occasional Internet correspondent, and had volunteered to lead us when we'd inquired about accessing Rainbow Ledge. I'd long read of this famed site in the El Paso Mountains east of Red Rock and Last Chance Canyons, but had never gotten there. This proved to be a rich icing to our multi-layered collecting cake!

The ride wasn't too long, though Laura did have some worries about the Camry, all unfounded. Her trepidation turned immediately to delight, as she found neat material even when we stopped part way for a "break." We soon arrived, and found a steep yet rich collecting area, with agates, jaspers and chalcedony of all possible descriptions. We recommend it to all who can arrange to attend the Indian Wells Show in November, or any other time, for that matter.
The material there occurred as large nodules in volcanic ash, and there is curently little reason for the average collector to bash away in the rare times that the Rainbow is open to those who aren't Club members. If you do decide to bash, bring heavy sledges, and be aware that this rock create splinters that will cut the careless. I'd recommend a full face shield for any serious bash master.

I'm currently puzzling over the deposition stages of this material, which varies, sometimes within a single boulder, between opal, jasper, agate, and drusy quartz, with spots, lace & fortifications, moss of different colors, and a true rainbow of colors. It fractures like obsidion, and often seems to be a cross between obsidian & crypto-crystalline quartz. I have pieces that have an island of bright color in a black ground mass. Wild stuff indeed!

All too soon, and with much less material from this location than we wished we could carry, we headed on homeward. We send our everlasting thanks to David and our fellow diggers for a day that will last a very long time in our memories. We look forward to joining them for more field trips very, very soon!

The trip home was uneventful, other than the usual insane drivers along Hwy 99. We prayed and drove, drove and prayed, and soon were home with our cats, dog and Laura's dear daughter.

We look back on this weekend with fond memories, and as Laura said with teary eyes on Subday evening "Call Mark & Sarah, and tell them to come back! I miss them!" I missed them too, and longed for the close camaraderie of those kindred souls. I assured her that, while they had to return home, we would soon be smiling, laughing and enjoying each others company and all of the treasures that we'd gathered on our Trona Trek.

We can't wait for next year, and the next Trona Trek! Wanna come along?

The first of the Hanksite ...

Well, I finally got around to unlocking our file boxes of Hanksite and associated minerals, collected at the annual Searles Lake Gem-O-Rama. Yes, I know that was all the way back in October, but it's been a bit of an exposition ( sigh! ), and the time finally became right.

The water tight file boxes were a stroke of genius on my partner Laura's part and proved my assertion that, if kept at a constant humidity, salinity and temperature after washing in brine at the Mud Piles, the still dirty hanksite should be a-ok! In fact, it was far better than just ok, it has turned out just right!

As you can see, this impressive 8 lb, 15 oz. hanksite cluster is composed almost entirely of lovely mud included crystals. I'm fighting myself over whether this one goes in the Cabinet, or onto eBay!

Why do I say, "Just right!"? Well, if you've never been to the Gem-O-Rama, you should go! It's one of the best, and certainly the largest scale collecting field trip I've ever experienced! The "Mud Pile" and "Blow Pipe" trips had at least 700 participants each! It creates an indelible memory, standing 3 sizes of humans deep over a 20 foot long tub of saline brine, freshly pumped from 70 feet below, scrubbing away at a 3 or 4 or 10 pound glob of "something"!

Why indelible? Well, the people were frenetic, the crystals HUGE, and the stench nearly indescribable! My best description is "Beelzebub's B.V.D's"! "Satan's Undershorts" says it pretty well, too! Hydrogen sulfide and turpines, keytones and other big-time olfactory agents were present in world class quantities. Now, I'm a country bred boy, and have traveled the lower 47 (missed North Dakota) and Canada, and I've worked in the cleaning and automotive fields, so I'm not generally staggered by smells.

These fascinating globs appear to be the mineral trona and ?
Is it thenardite, burkeite, or ?
If you can identify the minerals, please email me, and I'll give you credit.
They do appear to be somewhat psuedomorphous.

However, the smell presented from the moment we approached Trona became the most remarkable STENCH as we dove into the "Mud Piles." Apparently, the mud is full of microorganisms that produce this chemical warfare cocktail!

Thankfully, the several month wait for cleaning had hastened the demise of all but the hardiest of these stinky critters, and rendered the once nearly impossible to remove mud to a greyish sandy material, except in the deepest of cracks. so, rather than the chore it was onsite, cleaning the crystals is turning out to be a very pleasant experience.

So far, I've quite a few notably sized single crystals and clusters, and still have more than a filebox full of untouched material. The largest single crystals exceed 3" x 3", and are pyrimidal and pinacoid, with another "tabular" habit, though I have some doubt whether this is hanksite. If it is, it has the delightful quality of included crystals of the same material, except with a much deeper color, from mud inclusions.

Another view of the 8lb, 15 oz hanksite cluster.

Delightfully enough, this material has proven my assertion that I find a new passion with every new collecting experience. It's also provided the opportunity to begin business as a collectors mineral suppler through eBay, and something great to write about and research.

Below are several more photos of hanksite singles and clusters. You can see our eBay auctions every weekend at: Lapidary Specialties : About Us

As soon as the weather dries up again, I'll have more time to clean hanksite. In the meantime, I'll be posting more pics, and preparing these great specimens for auction. See something you like? Don't hesitate to check our eBay page and drop me a note.

Be Well!
Kris

Our Searles Lake Adventures, and comments ...

Wow! I didn't realize it would be so long before I got to post again, so my apologies to any readers who've petrified while I've been having a life!

As promised, here are some more pictures from my capacious collection of Searles Lake Halite. I'm still working on my photo techniques, so please be patient if they don't look like the Van Pelts, or Tony Petersons pictures. After all, it'll give me yet another thing to aspire to!

As any mineral collector, or for that matter, any collector of ANYTHING knows, the hardest thing to do is sell one of your collectibles.

For an aspiring gem, lapidary and mineral dealer such as myself, it's doubly difficult, since I get to sit down with the loveliest of my hard wrested earth treasures and pick the best of them, the ones that mean the most to me. Then, I get to turn around and put them up for sale!


This little lovely is one such piece. On the salt of the lake bed, it looked so modest that I almost left it sitting next to the path we'd blazed. But it called to me.

It was only after I'd examined it much more closely that I noticed the secrets it held. Not only did it sport water clear crystals that would make the Mortons salt girl's mouth water (which makes sense, being salt, eh?), the largest and best of the sparse crystals was zoned ( or phantomed, I'm unsure of which is proper nomenclature,) and from up close looked like a water clear flourite. The sparseness of the crystals made each one just a little more special.

Here it is from another direction. and a bit closer. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that I'd best offer this one for sale, since my cabinet would only hold so much halite. As well, as many top dealers have written, you can't keep all of the best stuff for yourself. You have to make sure that your customers have the opportunity to own the best, too.

In the world of mineral collecting, these may be modest and everyday specimens, but I'm sure that some other collector will find them as entrancing and amazing as I do, and reward us for our dilligent collecting and preservation efforts.

The next photos show how much of a difference lighting makes in a specimens color show. I took photos of this specimen in both natural and halogen generated artificial light. Guess which is which?



Being the photo expert you are, I'm sure that you knew the upper photo was taken in indirect natural light. The bottom one was taken using a halogen desk lamp, donated by my partner Laura's youngest daughter. It provided great lighting for the halite, and I have hopes for it with many minerals. Still, I have to wonder whether it will make a difference in photographing my opals. As anyone who's done it knows, opals are most vexing. sometimes, it can be nearly impossible to coax the fire onto the photo!


These photos show the pearlescent perfection of halite, with the most delicate shade of pink!
The vermiform massive & crypto-crystaline halite that the exquisite hoppered cubes rest upon provides a tough and extremely stable base. I expect this specimen to be a lovely addition to a proud collectors case for many, many years.

They also demonstrate how different orientations can effect the overall impression of the piece. Which perspective do you prefer?

I hope you've enjoyed these few specimens, and I look forward to hearing from you. Please let me know if you visit, and if you enjoy my wares, and writing. Also, be sure to check for our auctions on eBay, under the seller name lapidary_specialties.

Below is the Searles Lake trip report that I posted to The Rockhounds Elist:

Without a doubt, one of my top 5 "most enjoyable" collecting experiences was this years Searles Valley Mineral Society Gem-O-Rama! Nestled in the arid wilderness, Trona is a dusty, sulfurous oasis between the bustling (yawn!) Metropolis of Ridgecrest (pop. 25,000) and Death Valley.
The home of the Searles Valley Mineral Corp, Trona produces many different evaporate minerals in world class quantities.
For the mineral collector who craves evaporates, Trona is THE place! Most, specifically, it's THE place one weekend out of the year!

For over sixty-five years, rockhounds have come to Trona the second weekend of October to brave the smelly mud, flying crystals and stinking brine that are the trademarks of this great collecting event. 2008 was a great example of just how great collecting can be on Searles Lake.

We (my partner Laura and myself) arrived late in the evening of October 11 at Motel 6 in Ridgecrest. We're both of the belief that, even when in a motel, "roughing it" is an essential part of any collecting trip! So, in the interest of economy, we settled for a queen bed, and cable TV.

Eye rubbingly early the next morning, we lit out for Trona, and hopefully, something to eat. Note to all: Get up early, if you expect to eat before the first field trip.

Arriving in Trona after a 30 minute drive, we found and stood in the appropriate lines. Welllllll ... I stood in line, while my paramour went "in search of" comfort facilities. Let me state right here, the Searles Valley folks do a bang up job, and put on one of the best "small town" shows I've seen. They also have what is the most impressive "clubhouse" I've ever seen! Still, the word for the smart collector is to get there eartly. There are great dealers, great club members who actually KNOW where things are, and to warn those with sensitive noses, an ever present sulfurous stink! Only when a stiff wind blows does the "rotton egg" odor abate.

After standing in line to buy donuts, only to find the last were sold to the folks ahead of me, we were able to get a banana! (Blessings to the lovely club member who gave us her banana! Get there EARLY!) That, Pepsi and cornchips were our breakfast, while we waited for the "Mudpile" field trip to begin.

One of the great pleasures of collecting at Trona is the brief drive from the show grounds. The "dry" lake bed is IN town ... or is it the other way around? Anywho, the organisation of the field trip is flawless, and within 5 minutes we arrived at the most impressive pile of stinking, sticky muck I've ever had the pleasure of getting my shoes stuck in. Found within these mudpiles are rare hanksite crystals, trona crystals, borates and other evaporates. Also to be found were throngs of people who were VERY serious about getting the best and biggest hanksites!

Runnning around, getting stuck like ants in honey, were throngs of children of all ages, some of whom were making their first ever trip away from inner city L.A. The looks on the faces of those kids made me feel as young as they were, as they pulled out and washed off hanksites the size of soda cans and larger!

There were troughs of lake brine for washing these crystals, which easily and quickly melt in any less than a saturate saline soloution. These quickly became elbow to elbow affairs, and I generally had at least one small child under each arm washing away as I smiled down on them. I seemed to be the least serious (or the most amused) collector there, and recieved many scornful looks as I chuckled and cracked jokes with harried parents. Of course, these scornfull looks came from small children, who knew I couldn't possibly appreciate the gravity of the situation!

And, being friendly and marginally knowledgible, I soon had children approaching with the ever present question: "What's THIS one worth?"

Being my first time for hanksite collecting, I made many "educated" guesses, hoping I wasn't too far wrong!
No matter what my opinion was, the young digger would run off in search of "the BIG One!" Many of the smallest kids found crystals that dwarfed mine!

Having filled the plastic file boxes we brought for hanksite (keep your hanksite moist, but not wet, until you can clean it completely) we left with the "last call." The drive back was short, and the food and hospitality at the Clubhouse were great! After a sandwich and soda, we joined the bull session in the field trip parking lot, and waited for the call to mount up!

As always, the bull session was one of the best parts of collecting, and we made new friends from far places.
John hailed from Minnesota, and entertained me with tales of gold propecting in Alaska and sapphires in Montana. A noisome throng appoached, students from the University of Arizona at Prescott. We traded collecting tales, and I showed them my "pet" Shaver Lake amethyst, which always goes propecting with me.

The afternoon trip was the fabled "Blowhole" trip, of which details can be found at the linked "SLG&MS" site. It was truly impresive to watch the video at the clubhouse & see the explosives in use by the Navy Ordnance officers, and the crystals being pumped out of the ground. As luck would have it, the pumping that we'd seen as we passed the site that morning was the only we'd be seeing.
As the drilling rig was working the last hole, the salt crust below gave way, and the whole rig tipped on its side! However, we, the eager collectors, were barely affected. Aside from looking wistfully toward the now "off limits" hole with drill rig waiting for a tow truck, we gave our attention to sorting through the tons of freshly pumped crystals.
Again, as in the morning, the children were happy to have someone who'd give them an identity for their discoveries, and what discoveries they were! My own crystals paled before their glories, and I wished that I were 9 years old again.

I made friends with a 9 year old named Mathew, and his somewhat frayed father, who was quite busy trying to herd 4 kids and still gather a few crystals for himself. Matthew had the sort of luck I can only wish for, showing up with handful after handful of rare top notch hanksite. The toppers were a fist (that is, MY fist!) sized, museum clean "root beer" brown hanksite and a very rare, 1/2" sulfo-halite.
Now, my eyes nearly left my skull when I saw that hanksite, since the usual hanksite is green to amber colored, and clear. This one derived its color from the dreamy, creamy "cumulous cloud" clay inclusions that floated below its surface. When he asked the inevitible "How much?" I overcame temptation, and looked into his eyes. "Matthew," I slowly said, "I can't tell you." His small brow furrowed as I continued,"That crystal is so fine, if I were you, I'd never sell it." His Dad smiled and appreciated the moment. I'm sure that I'll see them again next year. Dad said I would!

We quickly met up with several new friends whom we'd met at lunch, Nancy & Kim, from Illinois. Kim is a GIA Graduate Gemologist, who'd decided to come with her Mom to see what field collecting was all about! They asked sweetly if I'd help them to identify thier finds, and as always (especially for pretty ladies!) I said "Sure!" My darling Laura had invited them to sit with us, and found us 2 new friends!
I was in my own glory, surrounded by young and old collectors, and gave the lions share of my attention to the collectors. Kim told us how she'd been a "nail artist" with a special love for gems, and had recieved her G.G. quite recently. When I said I'd love to do the same, she urged me on. "It's easier than you think!"
We'll see!

I did come away with my own "special" crystal. When they were leaving, Matthew and his Dad came over, and after Dad thanked me for my help, Matthew held out his hand, and gave me a perfect 1/2" twinned hanksite! That crystal now resides in my Favorites cabinet, smelling faintly of sulfur.

After that we packed up, redolent of hydrogen sulfide and feeling salt chapped, with a constant breeze blowing our hair in our faces. While I was packing away our new treasures, Laura, Kim & Nancy wandered over to the edge of the collecting area, and out onto the adjoining salt. After getting the ok to dig in, they pried loose the foamy grey surface salt, and found enchanting "fairy towers" of dew deposited, snowy white salt "frost!" Now, these pieces aren't small or cabinet sized, they're HUGE! We have five, nestled carefully among dessicant packs in our garage, awaiting my attention. They'll soon make lovely additions to someones *very* dry living room! We had quite a time finding tubs to transport the still wet, fragile specimens 250 miles home.

After returning to the motel and cleaning off the accumulated muck, we had a delicious dinner at one of Ridgecrest's fine Chinese buffets, then returned to watch "Stay Alive!" on cable.

Bright and early the next morning, we slept through the alarm! So, instead of a liesurely breakfast, we hurried and made it to Trona in time for the "Brine Pond" collecting trip.
This was the one we'd made the trip for! The world famous "Searles Lake Pink" halite would soon fill our hands, stinging them where blisters had developed in our search for "the Best."
We met up with John at the Lake, and headed out eagerly onto the icy white halite surface crust. The only way to learn where the best halite (a truly subjective task!) lies is to break through that crust, a task which raised the aforementioned blisters.
After finding a delightful array of crystal forms, and very little of the "Prime" Pink halite, we heard a shout, and saw Kim waving for our attention! She'd gotten some help from experienced hands, and had found a deep port wine colored brine pond, with several "shelves" of halite crystals. These varied in form, but all were a lovely pale to cranberry pink!

The time passed too quickly, and our totes filled too fast! I quickly became used to the sting of the brine, and took over from Kim in clearing out the pond. As we'd been told, the halite grew in shelves, and the sharp crystals could definitely cut! Thankfully, the brine tanned my blisters a deep red and kept ANY infection away!
John wanderd off, but Laura kept her focus, looking far and wide for great specimens that would become the delight of friends and customers alike. Meanwhile, Kim & Nancy had consulted with me on transport problems, wondering how they'd possibly get they're unexpectedly rich haul of crystals home safely. As it turns out, we later heard, they ended up adding an extra day to the trip to ship thier bounty home!

Leaving the Lake was truly difficult, especially since we felt like we'd just found out what to look for. Kim & Nancy gave us hugs, and said fond goodbyes. Isn't it amazing how fast collecting friends become? Reluctantly, we carefully packed up for home, and started back across the salt.

With a little foresight, I'd left some room in the totes, and had left a tote at the car. On our way back, we collected from abandoned holes, and had great luck. We filled every possible corner, and carefully packed for the trip home to Fresno.

After slaking our thirst with Pepsi at the gas station conveniently located across from the Lake entrance, we wandered back to the show, where we joined many folks who'd come out for the dealers, and grinned at others who looked as salted and dusty as we. After a filing lunch of Polish Sausage & Frito Boats (the 6th & 7th food groups!) and missing our new friends already, we wandered amongst the now packing dealers, making connections and some shrewd deals, reluctant to call it a weekend.

A tired but uneventful trip back found us planning to return in 2009, and discussing who we'd like to bring with us!


In my next post, I'll detail the details (?) of properly collecting, cleaning, storing and displaying Searles Lake halite.

Ciao!
Kris
lapidary.specialties@gmail.com