April 20th, 2019 Saddle Mtn Field Trip Report

Field trip reports

Turned out to be a beautiful day up on the Saddle Mountains for this trip. We had 16 vehicles in combination with Puyallup club. About half from CMS. Really nice tumbler material. Some of it just laying around on top of the ground. Much of it just under the surface. Logs are deeper if one wants to put in the effort. The material on top of the ground looked nice and clean, as if it was just washed by a spring rain, so was easy to spot.  After we collected for a few hours, we went to the diatom pits for common opal. Pictures 4 and 6 are from some of the opal I collected. The last pic one would think is a nice piece of petrified wood. But opal from these pits are formed on the bottoms of ancient freshwater lakes from the cell walls/shells of microscopic single celled diatoms, which are alga or plankton like in nature.
Submitted by Roger Danneman CMS Field Trip Guide.

 

Updated: May 21, 2019 — 11:10 am

Presidents Message

  • From the Top of the Rock Pile Our annual club picnic went off great. The grass and Arboretum area was not wet or muddy, plus it didn’t rain while we were there. We had the usual club members attend, plus a few new faces. I forgot to count how many people attended, but I estimate around 40. Thank you, Angie and Brian, for shopping for the food and setting everything up. Thumbler’s Tumblers donated a tumbler for our picnic auction and another one for our holiday auction in December. The new double-barreled 15# tumbler sold for $120, approximately one-third the …

Meeting Announcements

  • Our wagonmaster, Roger, will go over the field trips he has planned for this year, including samples of what you can find at each location.   Show and Tell: Your Best Rock Find Of Last Year.

  • We’re still developing the 2026 calendar of events, but we know one thing for sure – our March general meeting will happen on the 12th at 7pm. We hope to see you there! Show and Tell: also coming soon!

  • Come one, come all and play ROCK BINGO! With schools out for many local school districts, we invite members, guests, and especially families and kids to come and enjoy one of our most fun nights of the year. Everyone is guaranteed to win at this FREE event! All you have to do is bring three wrapped presents – presents can be rocks, gems, minerals, crystals, fossils, cabochons, slabs, jewelry, tumbled stones – anything you think might be a nice gift for a rock enthusiast. 

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