After a week of perusing the rock show, RV show, and swap meet everyone is ready for some quiet activity. A rockhounding adventure sounds good to everyone. Those of you who know John understand the the kind of adventures he gets us into. Sue and Phil, not so much.
We found 2 spots that sounded like they might be fun, one had marble and the other red, white and blue agate.
The first collection site had us 8 miles back a dirt road, through desert land and some rough terrain. I was too busy holding on and trying to stay in the jeep to get many pictures.
We didn’t collect much, but the moderately challenging jeep ride made up for the lack of good finds. After checking our TOPO map we found a shortcut, on some pleasant roads, to the main highway. Hmm. It is easier to find your way home from a rockhounding site than to one sometimes.
We had a bit of trouble finding the red, white and blue agate collection area. Okay, so much trouble we never did find the right spot. As we were driving along a road that went from bad, to worse, to “oooo this could be fun!!” we came across a woman in a Jeep Grand Cherokee parked off to the side. She said that they tried to go up this road, but it got narrow and rocky and they ended up backing down. Her husband was walking the trail.
Really?
Rather than stop John or make him think twice about continuing, he put the Rubi in 4-wheel drive and off we went. We eventually come across her husband, Kevin. The trail ahead looked….well it didn’t look like much, just a faint path on a mountain of loose rock. Kevin wished us luck as John decided we could make it. Oh boy.
In 4-wheel-low we crept up the hill, loose rock causing the tires to slip and sending small avalanches down the side of the mountain. Next it was Phil and Sue’s turn. We were not sure Phil was even going to try it, but he did. On the way up, their dog Jackson kept knocking the Jeep out of gear. He was NOT a happy puppy.
At the top we all took a deep breath, had a drink and snack before heading out to see what we could find.
The view from the top was okay, we have seen better.
The challenging Jeep ride more than made up for lack of scenery.
There goes John. He has to see where the road doesn’t lead.
We hiked around for a bit, but didn’t really find anything. Everyone was ready to go home.
It has been a long day for all.
