On March 21st, 2020, we will be going to the Baker Lake area for agate, jasper, and jade.
Meet 9:45 AM at Sedro Woolley Forest Service Office.
Directions: From I-5, go past Mt. Vernon and take exit 232 Cook Rd to Sedro Woolley. Go through about 3 roundabouts. Forest Service Office is on left side before the Arco Station (810 WA-20, Sedro Woolley).
The group will leave promptly at 10 am.
From Renton it is approximately a 1.5 hour drive (80 miles) to the meeting place. Then another 35 miles to the collection site..
Swift Creek flows into the Baker Lake reservoir and you will need waders (or hip boots) to cross the stream and get to the gravel beds. Usually in March there are still snow banks along the roadway and on the river bank. So access requires climbing over snow berm and walking through some deep snow and down snow covered embankment. Tools – shovel (optional), bucket, and garden pick. Collecting is in the stream bed as well as the gravel beds further downstream, so a pair of PVC gloves would be handy (the water can be pretty cold). The water is 1-2 feet deep in places. Roads are good, with some hard pack snow and ice in places this time of year.
Roger Danneman ( roger.danneman@gmail.com ; 425-228-8781 or 425-757-3506 cell).