I am back and whooped bad. The guy I went with is 70 and has been collecting for over 40 years. He took me to four of his "secret" sites for collecting and I have stone I have never seen before and lots of some of it. We came back with way over a ton of stone and I got to keep about 1,000 pounds of it. About 500 pounds is a mix from the collection pile we stated at and a lot of it I and he could not identify so if I use any of it I will list it as from the Battle Mountain collection.
It will take at least a year to cut and sort though this stone. I have a 50 pound piece on my big saw now of Paiute Jasper from Nevada and it is nothing like any I have been able to find with a Google search - what I have is a whole lot better!
This thread will probably go on for a year or longer and I will try to remember to take the camera out to the shop tomorrow and take a picture of a slab from the beast of a piece I am cutting on the 24 inch saw.
The Cripple Creek Jasper and Blue Mountain came from the Battle Mountain collection but were identifed by Dennis who collected them with his now deceased partner. Both are the best I have ever seen but there was only a couple of small pices left in the pile so I did not get enough to really add for long term inventory.
The secret sites I am being shown are for:
Blue Agate Hill Jasper
Prineville Amethystine
Buck Mountain Jasper
Paiute Jasper
McDermitt Purple Jasper
I got no maps so I need to spend a few nights trying to see If I can Mapquest something to help me remember where they are. All are miles down dirt or gravel roads and I need to do this while I can remember the details - fence lines, creeks, washes, bridges, gravel pits ect - and about how far I hiked up them.
Did I mention they are all in the deserts and so dry I had to use my chapstick inside my nose and I am still blowing out blood.
Try carrying two five gallon buckets of rocks back up to a mile from the sites to get an idea of the fun I was having and it was in the high 90's and the grades of the sites were very steep for some of the collection sites. I don't think any of the sites he showed me have had anyone on them in years. He said the holes we did find were dug by him as long back as 20 years!
He walked to each location and showed me what to pick up and then he made a pile or two and then he went back to the rig to sit and wait.
The brush on one site was so thick I lost two 5 gallon buckets full of top grade stone and I spent probably 30 minutes to find them. I couldn't see them from 30 feet away! I then used my bright orange hunting hat to mark the spot but then I had to walk and search without a hat. Next time I am sticking a roll of bright orange marking surveying tape........
While I was out hauling rock back to the rig at one site he found what is probably a 800 pound rock of what we were searching for and we had no sledge hammers or pry bars with us as this did not start out as a pass the baton stone hunting trip.... I do not want to even mention which site or stone as we buried it and intend to make a trip back to break it up and haul it out. He can break it up he say's and I have to haul it out. Did I mention I have no maps of where the sites are so we plan to go back before Thanksgiving.
I know this sounds more like some weird sort of torture ritual but I was having one of the best times of my rock hunting life! I have not been out in the desert hunting stone for over 40 years and never with a old timer with so much "hidden" information.
Wow am I tired so if this looks too rambled I may edit it tomorrow.
