Field Trip Report
Gold Rock Ranch/Indian Pass Road
February 17-19, 2007

It has been a couple of years since we last visited the Gold Rock Ranch area and it is still pretty much unchanged from the way I remember it. The weather couldn't have been better, 80º F during the day and 60º F during the night. We enjoyed potluck on Saturday and cheery campfires each of the 3 nights we were there (you know a field trip isn't complete without a campfire.)

Members of 3 clubs participated in this outing. Art & Ginger Ragazzi and Hobo (WGMS) camped in a large tent, Jay Valle (WGMS/NOC) had a tent trailer, Don Ogden slept in a 1-man pup tent, Pat Mogan came with a motorhome and a boat (another story), Don & Kathy Eschbach and Don & Ofelia Warthen (NOC) stayed in cabins at Gold Rock Ranch, and Frank & Francine (PLS) had their motorhome. You may have noticed a lot of Dons in the group from North Orange County. They are known as "The Don's of NOC" and all 3 came out on the field trip (my middle name is Don so I am an honorary Don - jv.)

The Indian Pass location is famous for a blue gemstone named dumortierite, also known as California Lapis because better pieces look very much like Afghanistan Lapis Lazuli. We visited several dumortierite sites and explored a few back roads. Blue and purple stuff was found by all.

The other regular stop for this location was the Bluebird Mine for kyanite. Kyanite is a sky-blue mineral which is relatively soft but can be cut to produce interesting cabs, bookends, etc. Frank (PLS club) is an artist who carves 40lb or larger stones to produce abstract and representational carvings so he was looking for large, solid chunks. This location provides boulders in sizes up to several thousand pounds. Frank finally selected a piece weighing in at about 100 lbs which we helped put in his SUV.

During the weekend we visited 2 of Mitchell's Southern California Gem Trails locations which I had not tried before. The first was the Midway Wells geode location. Geodes were found, both on the surface and by digging in the soft ash. Not having split any yet, I can't give you a quality assessment but some of the broken ones were very nice. Ginger Ragazzi found a small geode, about 2" across, which popped open, revealing a rosette of spectacular quartz crystals ranging about 1/4" to 1/2" long. Digging geodes is dirty work but lots of fun.

The other new-to-us location which we found and collected at was the Winterhaven Geode site, also in Mitchell's guide book. These nodules appeared to be sedimentary in nature, some containing druzy quartz, others with fossils. They were collected here, as well as sand spikes and sand concretions. Some agate and jasper was found, though not a lot.

Monday morning we had planned a visit to the Opal Hill Fire Agate Mine but the forecasted rain arrived and we hurriedly tore down camp and headed for home instead.

Well, that about wraps it up. The nights were warm and we enjoyed crystal clear skies, suitable for star gazing (Ginger Ragazzi and Pat Mogan had long discussions about the true location of the little dipper and several other remembered constellations.) It was good company around the evening campfires and we solved many of the world's problems each night (did I mention that a campout is just not complete without a campfire.) I had a good time and I believe my fellow hounders had fun too.

To paraphrase, the worst day of camping/rock hounding is better than the best day of work.