Winter Beaches

Banded Jasper or...?

The beach below my house is primarily sand, esp. during the quiet months of summer, when the surf is at a minimum. But in winter, storming winds and tides throw rocks up onto the beaches, and right now there is a thick layer of pebbles at the tideline. This is perfect for sampling the extraordinary diversity of rocks that characterizes this ancient glacial landscape.

This good-sized cobble attracted my attention today. It was heavy and glass-smooth,  typically a sign of a hard rock like agate or jasper, but with some lovely green and brown banding.  I haven't seen anything like it here before - but that is almost always the case here : rocks deposited on my beach are likely remnants of boulders dropped by glaciers here 10, 000 years ago.

In any case, I popped it into the tumbler - and in a week or so, I'll be able to get a clear look at it. Then it will either go into polishing - or get tossed back onto the beach.

Alki Beach,  New Year's Eve Eve, 2013

Back to the Variolites

Variolites, Olympic Peninsula, WA

I was back on the Elwha River again yesterday, documenting the amazing restoration project underway there after the removal of two old, salmon-proof dams.

(To learn more, go to:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elwha_Ecosystem_Restoration)

In the meantime, however, I always had an eye out for one of my favorite rocks - the Variolite, a rare altered basalt associated with the Crescent Formation.

This is not a lapidary stone - it does not take a good polish, but it is rare and unusual enough, that I collect them whenever I see them. In France, they are considered medicinal and just quite possibly spiritual. Who knew?

Peacock Rock

Peacock Rock, Puget Sound

The water along the shores of Puget Sound was almost dead calm today, and the sun was shining: both relatively rare events here in Seattle.  It seemed a perfect day to prowl the shoreline looking for rocks, esp. where the rising tide washed over the beach, revealing the stones' true colors and patterns.

Along the shore of Lincoln Park is a favorite spot since the strong currents make for good-sized rocks, mostly free of barnacles and other marine life (I prefer to avoid killing things that live on the rocks, and for that reason avoid low tides).

I walked for half a mile along the beach, and my best find was this multi-colored, thinly layered cobble. I brought it home and cut through it.  It has a handsome patterning and wonderful, subtle colors. I haven't tested it for hardness yet, but I'm hoping its hard enough to take a polish. Either way, it's not like anything I've ever seen here before.

I'm Back...with a Mystery

Mysterious Rock, Puget Sound

I have not posted for quite sometime, not having had much time - or weather - for rockhounding. But every chance I get to walk on the beaches below my house, I typically find something. In this case, a few weeks ago, I spotted this interesting cobble (about 2" long) and threw it in the tumbler. The polish revealed a fascinating pattern which I can't identify or explain.  Any ideas? A kind of agate?

(Click on photo to see a little bigger)

First Creek Jasper

Jasper, First Creek

There is a well-known location for agate and geodes in First Creek canyon, on the Blewitt Pass highway north of Ellensburg.  (see:  http://happyrockhound.blogspot.com/2011/05/first-creek.html)  I have passed by there several times on my way other places, but have never really explored the upper parts of the watershed. However, earlier this year, I did poke around the lower creek a bit, on the assumption that rocks wash downhill...

One of my finds was a weathered brownish lump that revealed just a hint of patterning inside. On a hunch, I tossed it in the bag and brought it home for the polisher.  This is what it looks like now,  after the final polish, a rather graceful stone of brown, orange and a streak of blue-gray. In other words, quite unlike anything I have ever seen come out of First Creek.

Maybe it's a glacial remnant from somewhere else, or part of a filled cavity somewhere in the local basalt. Either way, it's my "rock of the day."

Skokomish Jasper

Skokomish River Gravel Bars

I set out this morning on the trail of poppy/orbicular jasper on the South fork of the Skokomish River.  It is only about a two-hour drive for me, and an easy day out. I used to go salmon fishing on the Skoko many years ago, and not been back in several decades. I was tempted this time by posts made by a fellow NW Rockhound Charley Price on his blog : Compass Mentus.  Charley recently posted about finding orbicular jasper on the Skoko, so I thought I would give it a try.

I hiked in about 1.5 miles on the Skokomish River Trail which begins at Brown Creek Campground, some 16 miles upriver (mostly paved).  It is a steep up and down (and VERY steep at the end with whatever you have collected on your back!) but eventually you get access to the river, which runs very clear, and has lots of interesting rock to look through. I kept my eye out for really bright orange-red rocks which is usually a tip-off for jasper.

Orbicular Jasper (on left) and another type

I came out with a backpack of about 35-40 pounds - most of it without clear orbs, but a few nice pieces.
I would say it's definitely worth another trip sometime and exploring further upstream.  However, I have to say that the cougar warning sign at the trailhead had me looking over my shoulder!  ("Never Hike Alone" it says...)

Another thing Charley tipped me off to was the presence of some truly weird pieces of mudstone, eroding out of a cliff at the water's edge. For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, these pieces are in some pretty wacky shapes, but are hard enough to make it home intact.  Something for the grandchildren at the very least...

Mudstone animal : Platypus?

All in all, a nice day out in bright overcast 75 degree weather. Pretty much perfect!

A Polished Gem

I was photographing birds along the shore this morning (see below) but out of the corner of my eye noticed a shiny, rounded pebble with an unusual pattern. I pulled it out of the sand, and rinsed it off. What was immediately obvious was that it was heavy, hard and already very smooth - as if it had already been through a tumbler (which, I suppose you could say, it had).  I will polish it further but hopefully this striking pattern is not just on the surface and will survive the experience.

Speaking of surviving the experience : here's a gull trying to swallow a starfish on the beach below my house this morning. Amazingly, he finally got it down - but he didn't look altogether happy with the decision.

The Limits of Photography

Biotite on Granite

This is one of my favorite rocks, found - as always - along the shore of Puget Sound. But the reason I love it is not apparent in this photo. The black biotite (mica) crystals that cover the top of this palm sized cobble shimmer with reflected light. It is a layer of crystals, vaguely parallel, but with just enough variation in orientation to catch the light at slightly different angles.

That's a lot of explanation for a simple rock, not well-photographed. I may need to try some other technique to capture the glittering mica crystals. Trust me, it's a beauty....

Home from the East

Opercula

I'm home from Sulawesi, but without any rocks. Most of my time there I was on the coast where everything is limestone and coral rubble. No chance of interesting minerals there. But although I came home without any rocks (and with lighter luggage than usual) I did stumble onto one interesting collectible - the "cat's eye"operculum.  These are the hard "doors" to some species of turban snails and they were common along the shoreline. They are graceful little things and - of course - I brought some home. Probably too soft to polish with stones, but I'll experiment.

Inside the Rock

Ape Cave Lava Tube, Mt. St. Helens

No, I'm not really rockhounding here - I'm exploring this remarkable two-mile-long lava tube on the southern slope of Mt. St. Helens.  Lava tubes are rare here in the Northwest, where the Cascade volcanoes tend to blow up, rather than extrude a lot of liquid lava.  Still, this is one of the finest lava tubes in the US, a near-perfect tunnel that you could nearly drive a bus through.

Very cool.

The Conveyor Belt

Beach Cobbles, Lincoln Park, Seattle

One of the best rockhounding locations in the Pacific Northwest is so close...that I can see it from my house. Seriously, one of my favorite rock-hunting spots is along any of the cobble beaches along the shores of Puget Sound. You can never tell what you might find out there including a variety of jaspers, agates, petrified wood, and just some beautiful stones of unknown origin. In fact, almost all of the rocks are from somewhere else.  Why?  Because almost all are leftovers from the Ice Age, when a glacier 5000 feet thick carved Puget Sound, and, like a gigantic conveyor belt, carried rock from a hundred locations to the north and dumped them here.

I find this fascinating. Some of the rocks I pick up along the beach may have been plucked from an outcrop in British Columbia, or have fallen off a peak in the North Cascades.  There are igneous rocks, metamorphics, and, of course sedimentary rocks as well: to be honest, I have no idea what half of them are!  Here are just a few samples from the beaches here, mostly jaspers, and at least one petrified wood.

All in a Day's collection, Puget Sound

Where are they from?  Who knows? Yes, sometimes it's a little frustrating to find a real stunner on the beach, knowing that you probably won't see another one, and with no clue where it originated. (It is rare, in fact, to see two rocks that appear to have come from the same locality.)

Having said that, most are beautifully rounded, making tumbling a snap. No surprise: they've been getting tumbled in the ocean for 10,000 years!