Hello Everyone

     Just returned from a great three day field trip to the Gold Rock Ranch area located about 20 miles west of Yuma, Arizona on the California side. We had a great turnout for this field trip with rockhounds from Canada, Washington State, Phoenix, Arizona, and from all over California.

     I left Beaumont at 7:00 a.m. Friday (it was raining and had been raining for three days), drove to Indio (no rain), and met up with a group and caravan on down Hwy 86 along the West side of the Salton Sea to Interstate 8. We went east on 8 for about 50 miles and left on Ogilby Road (S-34). Twelve more miles and we were at the ranch. It was a three & half hour trip and a total of 195 miles.

     The weather was in the 70's (nice) when we arrived. I checked in with the management and everything was going as planned for our group. My Friday afternoon plan was to check out the two areas we would be collecting on Saturday and Sunday.   We first went to the Kyanite area where everything was OK for Saturdays trip. From there we went to the Indian Pass area to check it out for Sundays field trip where we would be collecting Dumortierite and Palm Wood. A small group went with me so they had a chance to do some early collecting.

     Day two, Saturday at 8:00 a.m. Arizona time, we met at the chuckwagon for breakfast and signed up for the trip. Bobbie, the manager of the ranch entertained us with some of the history of the area; we all enjoyed hearing about it.   At 9:00 a.m. we were off to the Kyanite area for some great collecting. The Kyanite crystals are quite plentiful, they occur with quartz and real small black tourmaline. Kyanite comes in a few colors like blue, green, yellow or red.

The first thing I did when we arrived was to take time to show everyone what to look for. The weather was great, not cold or hot, just nice. Everyone collected some nice specimens. After a break for lunch I showed everyone were they could collect Pyritohedron Goethite Crystals, they are Pseudomorphs (Goethite after Pyrite.) We all had a good time collecting them. The best find of the day was one Heliodor Beryl Crystal, one inch by 3/4 inch (Golden Beryl).

     Day three, Sunday, we all met again at the ranch for breakfast, signed up for the field trip and heard more about the history of the area from Bobbie. It was great!   I want to say a special "Thanks" to the owner and management of the ranch for treating all of us so nice. I asked if we could come and do it again next year and they said, "Yes, please do."

At 9:00 a.m. we were off to Indian Pass for another fun day of rockhounding. After arriving at the collecting site, I explained what we were looking for and how to find it. The Dumortierite is getting harder to find, it highly sought after but it still out there if you look hard enough for it. Dumortierite color runs from near black-blue to real lite blue. The real gemmy looks almost like Lapis Lazuli without pyrite in it. The Palm Wood is easy to find but the good kind that has color or eyes is more difficult.   Everyone found some of each kind as the day went on. Some did better them others. Kenny from Palm Springs did the best--two boulders around hundred pounds each plus fifty pounds of smaller ones. This young man worked real hard and walked a long way to collect everything he found.

Bob Fitzpatrick
CFMS Field Trip Chair - South