April 16th, 2023, Saddle Mountain Field Trip Report

Field trip reports

On Sun. April 16th we had our annual trip to Saddle Mtn. It’s estimated that the petrified wood there is at least 14-15 million years old. A very bumpy trip, the road up to the collecting sites just doesn’t get any better from one year to the next. We met at 9:45 in Mattawa and at 10:00 slowly made our way up into the hills. The weather started out great, but after a couple of hours the cold wind set in with a few raindrops. Still, with so many pits up there, it’s easy to collect a bucket worth of nice tumbling material and a few cutters in 2-3 hours time. If you want logs or log portions, then you have to do more work and dig for them. However, the tumbler material is nicely agatized and rivals some of the nicest agates in the state.
We had 9 people in 8 vehicles for this trip.
Joining me were Scott H., Colin O., Arlie W. & guest Tonya, Ananda C., Steve F. (new member – welcome Steve), Loren M., and Bill B.

Submitted by Roger Danneman Field Trip Guide (roger.danneman@gmail.com)
425-757-3506 cell and texts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated: April 21, 2023 — 9:15 pm

Presidents Message

  • Digging It!  I hope you’ve all had a chance to get out and look for rocks during the lovely weather we enjoyed in July – it’s been mostly perfect rockhounding weather. And for those of you who were able to come on the field trips led by our fearless wagon master Roger Danneman, I hope you found some good material. Big thanks to Roger for getting us all out there and helping us find beautiful rocks! August is a bit of a break from the usual club meeting cadence – instead of having our club meeting on the second Thursday …

Meeting Announcements

  • Our August meeting will not be happening at the American Legion – instead, this month’s meeting is our annual club potluck and picnic on Saturday, August 15. Join us from 12-4 at Gene Coulon Park, South Shelter 2 – setup begins at 10:30am. Bring something you want to share and/or donate to the club auction, also happening during the picnic. 

  • September’s program is coming soon. We will update this page as soon as we know more.

  • Noelle Barnes will present Using Gaia for Rockhounding, an overview of the features and tricks associated with the app Gaia and how you can use it for GPS, saving waypoints, navigation, photo tagging, trail recording and more. Show and Tell: Bring the rock(s) that have the best “story” – and tell everyone how you found them and where!

  • Club board member Paul Ahnberg will talk to us about the impact of wildfires on our lives – from protecting your home to staying safe while out rockhounding – and what we can do today to help mitigate our risk. Paul will combine his knowledge gained from learning at both the WSU Green School (Master Gardener) and WSU Climate Steward programs. Show and Tell: Bring something you found, from a place that you know has since been impacted by floods or wildfires – or was impacted shortly before you arrived. Tell your story!

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