Our June 17th Field Trip was to Little Naches for Thunder Eggs, LilyPad Jasper, and Leaf Fossils. There was rain and heavy morning fog leading up to and going over Chinook Pass, but once over the pass we had beautiful blue skies. Temps were in the 60s and by afternoon in the low 70s. Our meeting spot was on NF-19 by the Little Naches Campground. We had 18 people, 3 dogs, and 11 vehicles on this trip. Very pleasant conditions for digging. We spent 2 1/2 hours at the Thunder Egg site. I have to admit to some trouble finding the Lily Pad site. I took the first main right which went up into the Jungle Creek burn area. I did find a couple pieces of jasper up there and Randy found a nice chunk (6-8 pounder?) of petrified wood. We didn’t take much time to search up there, but because of the disturbed soil from machinery and fire, it could be worth prospecting. There is some logging going on, trying to reclaim the burned timber. After another miscue that took us down a dead end road, the 3rd time was a charm and we loaded up on Lily Pad material. After that we stopped at the mud stone formation for leaf fossils. WA State geology maps peg this as a 35 million year old mudstone. So the carbon imprints and leaf outlines we find embedded in that stone, are that old. I even found a tiny fossilized leaf that had crumbled out of a layer. A few nice specimens were found. Certainly a fun day.
List of attendees: Julie & Gina M., Becky P., Phillip T., Chris V. and new members Dave & Jessica N., Annie S., Gina & Michael L., new member Randy P., new member Marion R., Chris W. and son, guests Martha & Sandy & Avis, and of course me.
Next field trip is on July 15th to Greenwater area for black agate, jasper, and opal.
Submitted by Roger Danneman Field Trip Guide (roger.danneman@gmail.com)
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