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It was getting Hot and I was in no mood to screen so we gave up that area and went back to camp for our main meal. For the afternoon we decided to drive, not hike, and found ourselves on a beautiful quartz lined dirt road I could tell it was hauled in and dumped and kept saying to Rick, we've GOT to find out where the quarry is!!! We'd seen the road to the historical town of Warren too and it takes off as all white crushed quartz washboard! We live outside a historical goldrush mining town (6 mi from Sumpter Oregon) with mining museum stuff and tailings galore so did Not make that trip like most tourists would . I even own an authentic ore cart that sits in our yard(everyone else where we live has wagons). Anyway, after picking to get some very pretty pieces of quartz we felt better; after all we had ROCKS and so quit for the day. Our solar shower never felt so good! Being clean with the smell of soap and shampoo the insects weren ' t so excited over us and we enjoyed the fading light and camp atmosphere. And I looked at my #9 again.

Day 3

It got Cold each night at this elevation and the preparation we didn't think we'd need was used after all (extra wool blankets added to our aerobed bedding). Walking back to camp from the camp outhouse on our second morning I stopped to chat with a motorhome traveler next space over. Lo and behold! The mystery road right at the base of Jeanette Campground, the unmarked fork, was THE road to a big quartz quarry AND Crystal Mountain! There were no signs at all for this local landmark(topos have it ocourse) but the mystery of pretty white quartz being Everywhere was solved. We Still had to redo the Real Ruby Meadows though. The ¾ mile walk in seemed simple taking the correct and not uphill steep trail, but our hearts were elsewhere. The lure of a whole mountain of quartz was upon us. We walked the inner edges of the bowl of the Meadows and went seeking for sapphires in the eroded slopes and gullies but all the gravel looked the same to me. The glare on all that pale shiney rock was hard on the old eyes! Even there I ended up with a big quartz cobble I fancied. We left early.

After our midday meal it was Crystal Mountain time! The bumpy rutted road up was akin to our usual half washed out desert roads and so no big deal to us and our old truck.Just nice and Slow goin. The shady green pines and firs floor was littered with huge beautiful solid white quartz boulders that fairly glowed! Before long we drove into a huge pure quartz parking lot, a quarry with a couple of levels and a great view of the mountain top.

We walked and picked and highgraded and had a lot of fun! There were no signs whatsoever forbidding Anything. Knowing most quarries and highway gravel piles (and all that) are taboo we really looked for no-no warnings. An FS person I asked later said no one cared AT ALL if we picked up quartz Anywhere in the area (she seemed amused I asked!). On one road an FS truck passed us and the driver laughed good naturedly at our bulging bags, sweating brows, and bent over postures!. We ended up with over a 5 gal bucket of quartz each with beautiful clear areas or pastel colors of yellow and pink. It was Saturday and many ATVs passed us to go up closer to the top of Crystal Mountain. We felt our truck had had enough since the road looked worse than the first leg up. No other trucks or cars showed up at all while we were there. Also, right in the crushed quartz on the level where we parked I picked up 10 ozs of random crud-puppy pebbles.

        

I'm talkin'bout rusted looking heavy little rocks that at first I thought were the worst possible grade of garnet. However,at home when polished, they come out looking like dark low grade hematite instead. They don't attract a magnet though. The surfaces all look natural and its some mineral I'd never encountered as an agate/wood hunter so I Liked it anyway! Back at camp was my last chance to screen our creek so I played for an hour but only got a couple of optical quartz itty bitties. What a GREAT day!

Day 4

Nothing left but to pack up and get home. I kinda looked at you-know-what a lot. We got to McCall hoping for a breakfast but it was after 11 am and we were out of luck. It was no fun looking for food in a crowded resort and tourist town while pulling a trailer either! The cafes were tiny and on the streets with galleries and boutiques. We finally passed ONE hamburger place on the outskirts with a big parking lot and came back to it. What a mess of civilization that place is on a summer weekend! We ate and watched the little planes landing in the airport and felt like all that hustle and bustle was like watching a movie to us. Not our reality anymore. As a young artist I could have thrived there but no more! MANY buildings we passed had an amazing amount of rockwork of several styles too. Beautiful! There's some business that does mighty fine rock work nearby!

We drove home and 25 miles away as we entered into Baker City JUST off the Freeway we heard a mighty rattling from the front end of our truck. Guess What!?! A lug broke, 2 more bolts were bending and the wheel was trying to wobble off! Good Grief! That was a near Disaster! What is it with rockhounds being accident prone this year!?! Our guardian angels are working Overtime! Rick had the wheels rotated just last month and hadn't even checked the lug nuts (just our oil and all that sorta stuff).What a shock! My poor man is gonna be all over those rims and nuts for years to come although ALL are Brand New now !

We got home and washed our rocks. Rick found a cool looking emerging crystal in one of his quartz chunks and was delighted! He also thick slabbed a big chunk and look at that yellow in the body combined with translucent smoky. Really nice stuff.

Next time we'll camp at Upper Payette Lake so I can fish though! It's a little farther but we can still rockhound from there! ;)

Thanks for sharing our adventure. We really liked the area and my first #9 was much more than I dared to hope for.

      

KOR!!!

Rhonda and Rick (and Mason and Kodi )

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