We had a group of 13 vehicles and about 30 people from CMS and the Puyallup Valley Club for this trip on June 9th. Weather was a mix of clouds, light rain and sunbreaks. Nice temperatures for digging.
Stop 1 – ~11 miles from Hwy410 on FR70 – Just a quick stop to look for agate nodules.
Stop 2 – Quick stop to show the earth tone jasper site. These have been tumbled through the first stage.
Stop 3 – End of FR70 toward Government Meadows but road branches and we took lower road to dig sites. There are holes/pits that people have previously dug with opal pieces laying all around them. You can start in any hole or can find another suitable spot and just dig a new pit. Lots of common opal here, some with nice color variations. Petrified wood is present, but considerably more difficult to find.
Stop 4 – We drove back down the mountain (about 2/3 of the way back to Hwy410) and turned left onto FR72 which we then drove up about a mile to a large rock slide. Here we looked for agate and crystal and jasper material. After about 20 minutes here, the heavy rain started, about 3:15-3:30. Some material found here that day, still in the rough.
I need to start getting in the habit of taking pictures during the trip of what others have found. Probably cooler than my stuff. Thanks to Merriann Fu for her FB posts and pictures. Hers are beautifully staged on the green leaves. Others are welcome to also post on the FB Group page what they’ve found. That FB page is reserved for CMS members.
Submitted by Roger Danneman CMS Trip Leader