Update 3/9/23
The trip is still on. I’ll be there on Sunday morning, will bring my rain jacket just in case. The forecast predicts a low 20% chance of showers. Also, rain on Friday, not snow, so no snow shoes will be necessary. Dress in layers, it will be cold early, then the sun will start baking. Also please remember the clocks move forward 1 hour on Sunday 2 AM! If you get there late find us on the dumps over the hills to the north.
Hi, fieldtrip friends!
The January fieldtrip was a chilly start to this year’s collecting, but everybody warmed up while picking up beautiful jaspers in different colors and patterns. Since then, the weather has not been cooperating much, but the forecast shows a potential break in the clouds for Sunday in 2 weeks.
This trip will be much closer, only 44 miles from Pasadena. Let’s meet on Sunday at 9:00 AM, so the air will have a chance to warm up above 40F. The meeting place will be a parking spot on Davenport Rd at the following GPS coordinates: 34.479064, -118.364327. No 4×4 cars will be necessary. The Google Maps link is here: https://goo.gl/maps/2X17YQ1ZKYqyPru68.
I’d like to request everybody planning to attend to refresh their MSSC membership status beforehand, so we don’t have to waste time on paperwork on the spot. Our website is an excellent spot to do that.
For this trip, I was inspired by great material from an old collection of William Reifel. The area used to be a site of a borate fever around the 1910s. Now the land around the canyon is used for housing development. Many people have heard about or seen howlite nodules from the area already, but the mine dumps also are a source of other borates like ulexite, probertite, datolite var. bakerite, colemanite, and gemmy calcite. It is also a type locality for a rare strontium borate, veatchite. The volcanic outcrops just north of there are a rich source of good zeolites, like natrolite, analcime, heulandite, and mordenite. Some of the material is UV fluorescent as well.
Be prepared for cold weather, mud, wet bushes, and dumps moist and very steep in some areas. Bring a hammer to break up rocks to find fresher minerals.
The weather forecast shows a 20% chance of precipitation, but if that rain gets here late, I’ll have to reschedule for a week later, Saturday the 18th.
Hope to see you all there!
MarekC
