Saturday the 18th, at 7:42. It's still a bit nippy and the skies are overcast with tiny patches of blue poking through. My cocoa is cooking. My hands hurt and I wish I had a day off, but no rest for the wicked I guess... walking across the hill... beautiful flowers... everyone capped by a butterfly... (the) rain and the wind are both on the increase. I had a wonderful surprise here a bit ago when trimming a large pocket out of its boulder-like matrix (when ) I opened another even more spectacular pocket in what I'd just discovered was a more or less hollow rock. Outstanding!... It's another perfect evening. The shadows are finally covering me and the area I'm working in and after a bit more fun, at 8:47, I finally headed down to camp.
Sunday the 19th, I was up the hill and working before 7:30 and it's already hot out. It's going to be a baker today. Noticing that I could not escape the heat... (I ripped my) pit tarp and shredded it to make a smaller tarp which I've used to cover my work area, it's now 8:14... what an idyllic day... and I'm hard at it, the tarp working like a charm... and then the wind hit like a fist... ripped (it) to shreds... what a sandblaster! It's like a full on assault, there's no place really to escape to, that is if I want to keep working and thus I endure. The experience is so intense that I found that when I did finally say enough and walked to the truck, I climbed in all but breathless... 7:23 and things are finally better, the sun has set enough to cast shadows... that beautiful twilight glow. I'm going to hang out up here, it's just too nice of an evening... I've got Jimi Hendrix (playing) and no doubt about it, the place is rockin! It's now 9:36 and I've stayed working but finally decided to haul up some cold beers. I've been breaking apart the big rock... a killer 1/2 pocket. It has 3/8 to 1/2 inch light pink heulandite crystals with a terrific 2 inch yellow calcite nestled in sweetly among them; nice combo! The mosquitoes are out, but it's just too nice, too beautiful to let them bother me too much... a wonderland is spread all about me. The birds are still singing.
Monday the 20th, and it's 7:23 and I've been up for about an hour, long enough to cut up the old tarp... and hang (my new smaller one). The temperature is up... no clouds. HOT, HOT, HOT! 12:06 and the tarp just came down as the wind just came up... big time!... It's pretty watching the wind race towards the ridge top (whipping the grass as it goes) where it explodes out into open space and disappears. I've just finished lunch a bit ago, the 3 "C's"; chicken, coke and carrots, it's now 1:53... I've been moving specimens from the outer slope into the pit. It may only be a move, but psychologically, it's nice to have everything moving forward. I've got a nice pile of bigger specimens to trim up tonight... the sweat is just rolling off of me in streams... I went below and cooked up a Cup O Noodles and grabbed a couple beers and brought everything up here to enjoy... and am about to jump back into my trimming... It's now 9:02 and Jimi and I are both rockin' away. Magically, I've just watched a nearly full moon rise up over the mountains, it was so very pretty (and still is). Things like this make it all worthwhile. As the colors subtly change, this is the time I wish I could share with Gloria and everyone else, it's just so (like a skipping record) very beautiful out... 9:56 and the birds are still singing; my blue birds of happiness! Jimi is still jamming away, but me, I'm getting tired and am going to call it quits pretty soon. I moved the last of the boulder/pockets to my work area and tomorrow I'll finish breaking them down. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the last of my evening and bat at a few more mosquitoes before finally once and for all calling it quits and heading to bed.
Tuesday the 21st, and I'm up at 7:37. I've a town run to do. My hands hurt so much they need a break... shopping then afterwards, I'll wrap and pack... It's now 6:55 and I'm back in camp and the sun is blazing... (then) the sky opened up and just dumped rain accompanied by lighting and thunder... What a fury!... I had some post storm clean up, but it sure could have been worse. Afterwards I unpacked my groceries and as I write now, sweat is rolling down my face and neck and I'm getting ready to head back up to the cut. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do as I'd hoped to begin wrapping, but with everything wet, I'll just have to see what's what and go from there... I became aware of the huge black wall of storm... marching towards me. The lightning and thunder flashed and boomed and the rain came down, but fortunately the main force of the storm passed me by to the west. A neat unfolding drama right before me playing out and then, no kidding(!), a seemingly miles wide rainbow appears over the mountains. I'd love to have gotten a picture, but the rain is slamming and the truck is rocking back and forth in the gusting wind... the tail end of the storm passed me by pulling rainbows behind it. And behind the rainbow, soft puffy white clouds and blue sky; awesome! 10:04 and Lordy what a storm! One minute I'm in the cut writing about how beautiful everything is and the next, the storm sneaks up behind me from the west and WHAM! Oh, it started innocently enough with a few stray seeming winds and then as I worked I noticed a wind out of the west hammering down the grasses. The next second later, in the cut, I hear my tarp from down below at camp... I'm off as fast as I can because I know if I can hear it, it's all but gone, and likely camp with it! I jumped in the truck and hauled butt down the hill and backed into "camp" to try and block the wind as much as possible. Half of camp was already gone. I jumped out of the truck dressed with a hastily drawn on coat and was immediately assaulted by the wind and rain of the worst storm I've yet endured on the hill... Half the tarp had ripped free and was flapping so violently that everything was trying to disintegrate. Staked lines were being ripped free, poles were being torn down and the chair was gone, the kitchen supplies were spilled out, and the noise, the rending, flapping roar of it all was incredible. Without thinking, all I could see to do was to gain control of the tarp before camp was completely destroyed and so I raced over and tried to catch the tarp as it flapped and ripped in twelve foot rising and falling assaults. I slipped in the wet clay like soil and was pummeled mercilessly, but finally managed to grab (the tarp) and twisted it around my arm and hung onto it and the ice chest for dear life. The wind shrieked and the rain pelted, drenching me as I held onto that tarp, snapping and whipping and knowing were I to let it go to head into the truck to avoid this whole mess, that everything, everything would be gone. What was I to do? I hung on! The rain and wind were intense, but the snapping tarp was worst of all. As it'd rise in the wind it would next slam snapping down upon my back, neck and head. It was scary and had definitely enough force to break my neck were it to hit me right... It was very intense. And then eventually a kind of calm seemed to descend and I was able to take in the extent of the damage and begin a hasty reconstruction. I was about 3/4's of the way through this when the storm hit again, though thankfully not as intensely as before. Again I hung on. Afterwards, exhausted and relieved, I'd survived. And again the reconstruction begins. With things more or less reclaimed, I set up the stove again and heated up some water for a Cup O Noodles and here we are. Lightning is still flashing to the southwest and my fingers are crossed I avoid anymore fun tonight. I'll watch the light show for awhile and then with luck, I'll crawl into bed for a quiet night's sleep, I'm exhausted.
Wednesday the 22nd, it's 8:46 and I've just pulled into the cut. The sun is shining intensely, giving no indications of last night's storm... My hands are still not 100%, so I'll use the day to wrap and transport (specimens)... As I've worked up here I've often wondered how hot it gets (how fast the wind actually blows), but then again, when I really think of it, I think I'm happier not knowing!... I figure I'll continue wrapping until the rains come, the wind is already here. Want a challenge? Use newspaper to wrap specimens on a bald exposure in gusting high winds; fun! It's 1:05... When I began packing, I started at the far north end of the cut and moved to the south as I went. In the first 75 feet of the trench, I only produced 2 banana and 1 apple box worth of (wrapped) specimens. How's that for depressing! Thankfully, things didn't end on that note!... 8:41... what a perfect day as compared to yesterday. My hands are literally black from all of the transferred newspaper ink and I've gotten a lot accomplished. Final count today, 12 full banana and 7 full apples boxes wrapped and packed.
Thursday the 23rd, it's 8:15 and it'll be another hotty today. My goal is to just break rock, trimming out little pieces from the big ones. My hands have benefited by the rest they've had these last two days, they're still sore, and I'd imagine they'll be more so by the end of the day... It's now 7:53 and I've just returned from another scrumptious dinner of cold chicken and fruit cocktail... I'm going to... work up the last of the big pieces. This is full on sledge work.... in the twilight, the temperature is just right, too bad for the mosquitoes... It's now 9:15 and I've all the big ones whittled into shape... There were several nice stilbites produced in this group and a quartz lined, calcite plate filled, geode-like pocket with up to 5/8 inch analcimes on the quartz (drusy, very fine) and in the interstices between the calcite plates... I'm going to call it quits in a bit, it's been a long day and finally, the end appears to be coming into sight.
Friday the 24th, I'm up and writing at 7:37. I've just made another tarp to cover my trimming area... It's going to be hot again today, no clouds. I've been having some sensitivity issues with a tooth over the last couple weeks and last night one broke and a big chunk came out, thank goodness it doesn't hurt! I'll be mainly trimming today, that and maybe some wrapping too. 2:23 and I've just 100% cleared the outer slope of specimens, hoo-ray!... I need to finish packing (and need more boxes) from the store in town. So off I went, paper from the dump, boxes from the store and my last dinner. I did this and then zipped back up the hill for more packing. And here we are it's 10:20 and I'm calling it quits. I packed 5 more boxes of goodies and will finish the rest in the morning.
Saturday the 25th, I'm up at 5:39 and immediately started packing and wrapping the last specimens. My hands are very sore and writing is painful. The sun's coming up and I'm pulling out... Next I hit camp and ripped it down... (now it was time) for my hard-core packing... It took awhile and I had 6 boxes and my bed roll strapped onto the tailgate, (but) I had it all packed up. Boy, this is one monster load and the truck has quite the backwards rake... at 9:40, I pulled out... (with) another year's collecting literally behind me. On the way home, as much as I was able, I hauled butt, no two ways about it... I'm pulling into Edmonds where I'm soon (to be) loading onto the 8:40 (ferry) crossing. I can't wait to be home. At 10:23 I pulled into the driveway, I was home!
Trim, trim, trim until all that remains are the trimmings. Everything is picked up, packed up
and the truck is running and I'm on my way home!
Back at home. It's early and I'm still half asleep. That poor little ol' S-10 of mine,
bottomed out and with 365,000 + miles on it to boot!
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One of the boxes of fine mordenite and heulandite specimens. Scale is in cm.
An exquisitely beautiful, soft and delicate specimen of mordenite and heulandite.
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Snowballs all in a row, a beautiful group of mordenite.
Blue agate makes up the matrix for this large geode-like pocket additionally mineralized
by white mordenite and soft, soft pink heulandites. Fresh, right from the box.
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A gorgeous calcite combination specimen with mordenite and heulandite.
What it's all about, these sweet, sweet heulandites! What a little charmer fresh from being
unwrapped.
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So, what's a person do with all those dirty rocks?....
You clean them! Here my wife Gloria and I dance the cleaning mambo,
for best effect, use the pressure washer!
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And as the sun sets, we'll leave these two to their cleaning.
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Thank you everyone for coming along on this year's adventure. And a very special
thank you to Mike Streeter at McRocks for allowing me to place this report on his website. This is
truly, very much appreciated!
For further reading, please consider going to greatbasinminerals.com and
clicking on the report Scott posted titled, John Cornish's 2005 Idaho Heulandite Dig Report 06/27.
May your own adventures see you safely home. All the very best everyone,
John Cornish
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