Lake Creek Garnets!!

[Basketweaverz]

Hello Everyone!! We went on a really neat field trip on Saturday. It was about a mile and a half up the Heather Lake Trail and a quarter of a mile north to Lake Creek (cross-country). All needed was a shovel and a screen to screen the garnets out of the gravel. Best screen full we found had 247 garnets in one screen!!! It is a really neat kids trip and we had 20 kids and 32 adults on this one!! Weather could have been better, I prefer this trip with temps as high as possible and it actually rained on us Saturday!! Fall has already come to Western Washington!!! And after such a hot summer it is nice to lessen the fire danger. Elevation of the garnet dig is 6500 feet so water is extremely cold!!! Of course, best screenings are out in the deep water where a big rock makes an eddy or a swirl in the creek...no way to stay dry and no fun to stay dry either!!

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Basket

[41dave]

Basket,

I'll actually be out in Washington this wknd. I'm going to some concerts at the Gorge which is along the Columbia River. We'll be camping 10 mins or so from the Ginkgo Pet. Forest, I'm hoping to be able to go to the park. Last time we were out there we camped at what is know to be called "The Feathers". Its mostly a rock climbing haven. I found some common opal out on the cliffs....you happen to know of any collecting sites around that area? Post here or feel free to email me

[e-mail]

Thanks

Dave

[Basketweaverz]

Rick, they are garnet crystals with well-defined faces ranging in size from pea to small chicken egg. I use a 1/4 inch screen and the little ones fall through. I'll look at a mineral book later and see if there is a scientific name for you.

According to Peterson Field Guide, looks like they are almandine. It says they grow in mica schist and that is the matrix they come from in Lake Creek. Everything just sparkles with the mica.

Basket

[Riviera]

Hi Basketweaverz, Denny here , sound like you all had a very good time. Iam not one for cutting materal but wanted to ask if they had any areas that you can cut. Arms working fair now and will be going to Denver Co. at the end of sept. to give it a try. Hope to see you again some time. Riviera

[Basketweaverz]

Hi, Denny!! So glad to hear your shoulder has improved. I am not sure if I am understanding your question. Are you asking if the garnets can be cut? If so, I have never heard of anyone doing it but they do facet the ones that are solid. Of course, many have fractures after tumbling down a stream!!

Have a great time in Colorado. DH and I are leaving 9-9 for Utah. We will be going to Topaz Mtn, Dugway Geode Beds, Antelope Springs for trilobites, Rock Corral for smokey quartz scepters, and maybe Casto Canyon for agate and maybe a private mine for septarian nodules. I am packing already and am really excited about out trip. It has to be better than last time we were down in the Canyonlands.....9-11 happened. It is really unsettling to be that far away from home during a crisis but what safer place could we have been than the deserts of Utah??!!??

Ask me again if I didn't answer your question right.

Basket

[Tom]

Sounds like a great trip, BW! Those are all places I've wanted to visit (from here in Denver) but I have too many "responsibilities" (two, 12 and 16!) for a rock vacation this time in my life. Last year about this time I took a long weekend for collecting around Salida and it was paradise! I'll try to get a weekday off to collect with Riveria. Good luck, and post a report when you're back. -Tom

[treasureseeker]

Basketweaverz.
I am wondering if the place you describe as the garnet bed is toward the creek from the log bridge, toward the creek from the real decked and railed bridge or somewhere else. I was in the vicinity last weekend but didn't have a Gps to check mileage.