by Dion Stewart
Never trust the weatherman; he predicted a sunny day with a high of 75 degrees and we got overcast, rainy, and a high of 60 degrees. Regardless, all 21 people showed up at the meeting locality in the rain, and everyone found plenty of material for cabbing and jewelry making
At the first stop was an abundance of oolite in banded white to gray chert, and a few banded jasper pieces.
After an hour we went to the second hillside only a half mile away and collected banded jasper (in green, brown, and rarely yellow to reddish orange) for three more hours. Some new outcrops were discovered, one had a translucent matrix around red spotted jasper pieces, and the other was a stream bed that was littered in a carpet of bright yellow (ochre) and deep red solid-colored jasper pieces as well as some specimens showing banding in other colors.
There is sufficient material present at this private site for many more years of collecting in late spring (… prior to hunting season), so watch for this trip next year and sign up early … it always fills and has a waiting list.
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