Betty and I arrived at the campsite just off the Wiley Well road at the Riverside/Imperial County late on Saturday morning after a stop in Blythe for last minute groceries, gas, dump our holding tanks and fill up with fresh water. It was a sunny warm day, the nicest we had had in over a week at Quartzsite. We parked our trailer and prepared for the arrival of the over 80 people that had signed up for this trip. And they started to arrive early in the afternoon. By Saturday night we had 11 early birds, but most people came in on Sunday. A total of 110 people camped with us during the 5 days of field trips. And several others stayed at the nearby Coon Hollow campground or in Blythe. Our field trippers were from 38 clubs, mostly from California, and also, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and Idaho.

    Although we didn't have as big of a group as we had in 2000 for the dedication of this area as a Rochound Educational and Recreational Area, we still had a good size group: close to 90 people for the Monday and Tuesday collecting trips and close to 60 people for the Wednesday trip to the Straw Beds. We had over 100 people for the first potluck dinner on Monday evening, but we had smaller turnouts for the other dinners. Our "Soup Potluck" on Thursday evening was fun. Every one who participated brought a can of soup, vegetables, beans, stew, chili, tomatoes or broth. Based on the contributions this year we got a cream soup-chowder and a hearty vegetable-meat soup. A BIG THANK YOU to our cooks Mary Mc Broome and Betty Pankey.

    I announced this trip last fall as "Wiley Well District Field Trip - Take 2". As it turns out there were similarities and differences. There were a lot of people who were on the 2000 trip, and many who were here for the first time. We collected at the Hauser Beds, Cornfield, Potato Patch, the Big Windy, Straw Beds and psilomelane area. (See report in the April 2000 CFMS Newsletter for details.) And this year we added collecting trips to Indian Pass Road, the Lost Agate Claim, the Hidden Saddle and a new (rediscovered) geode bed. We had great potluck dinners and happy hours each afternoon and campfires at night, except on Wednesday, which was very windy.

    Via LA-ROCKS I learned of a gentleman, Delmer Ross, who is very knowledgeable of the Wiley Well District and camps at Coon Hollow campground during the winter months. Delmer posted directions on LA-ROCKS for the Lost Agate Claim. I met Delmer on Saturday afternoon at Coon Hollow. He gave me more information about the Lost Agate Claim and told me about the "new/rediscovered" geode site out near Hidden Saddle. On Sunday morning as we were getting ready to leave on my scouting trip, Katie Taylor and Bob Gritz from San Diego stopped at camp. They had met Delmer and were on the way to the new geode site. They had dug there several times already and had hauled home several large (20 plus inches) geodes. They showed me the site and while we were there they dug out another large geode. We added this site to our Friday collecting trip. Delmer and his wife joined us for happy hour on Friday and he gave us a short history of the Wiley Well District and answered questions.

    On the way back from the Straw Bed on Wednesday, Joan Macomber led the group to the Lost Agate Claim that Delmer had told us about. This site is only about 4 miles from camp. It is located southwest of the hills that are south of camp. The road in is a little rough with a couple of deep washes, so high clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles are recommended. The material here is multi-colored, massive agate. The material is plentiful, but most pieces on the surface tend to be fractured. The collecting was easy and most people loaded up quickly and still made it back for happy hour.

    On Thursday we headed down to the Indian Pass area that is about 50 miles from camp. We met Jim Strain and several more far "south" rockhounds at Ogilby Rd. and Indian Pass Rd. Jim led us in the last 6 miles to the collecting area for dumortierite, petrified palm, agate, jasper, hematite, kyanite and more. When we arrived Jim set up an old card table where he displayed samples of the material to be found in the rough form, as well as, polished cabs and pieces. He told us a little about the history of the area and about the gold mine that might be developed here. This is a large collecting area of low hills and washes, roughly 10 by 15 miles. Our band of 44 rockhounds didn't cover it all. But we did have a good, productive day of collecting. A special THANKS to Jim Strain for leading us to this area.

    By Friday our group had dwindled in size to only 20 people for the trip to the Hidden Saddle geode site. This is an old site with a lot of broken geodes strewn over the hillside below the digs. We weren't expecting much and weren't disappointed either. Some people managed to find a few small geodes. The highlight of our day was at the new site that is less than a third of a mile from the Hidden Saddle parking. We headed back down the road and turned at the first road, more like a track, to the left. Proceed about 200 yards and park at the edge of the wash. You can see an old dig on the hillside to the north, but that isn't the spot. The geode digs are over the hill on the northside and near the top. The group headed off with picks, shovels and great expectations. There were three good size, "active" pits that produced several medium to large geodes and many small ones. One couple picked a "good looking" new spot and dug a 4 foot deep 6 foot diameter hole and were well rewarded for their efforts. They got 12 to 15 football size geodes and a number of smaller one. When they had had enough, they turned their hole over to 2 women who each got 2 nice, football size geodes.

    When we weren't collecting rocks, we collected trash. As part of the Memorandum of Understanding that established the Hauser Geode Beds Educational and Recreational Area we agreed to conduct cleanups of the collecting areas, roads and campsites. Each morning I passed out garbage bags and each evening the collected trash was piled up next to our trailer. We ended up with a big pile of full trash bags, sheet metal, old tires, a gas grill, muffler steel barrel, and a bunch of miscellaneous pieces. (See pictures on the CFMS Web Page.) Everyone who brought in trash each day got to put their name on a piece of paper for a nightly prize drawing. Jim Strain donated 20 cabbed and faceted stones for prizes.

    A Big Thank You to all who pitched in and helped make this such a great field trip - helping with the potluck dinners, with the campfires, and helping first timers. And a Big Thank You to all the friendly rockhounds who attended and made this such an enjoyable trip.