Turned out to be a pretty nice outing at Swift Creek / Baker Lake on Sat. It rained on the drive there and rained slush on my drive out at 3:30, but the 4+ hours we were collecting only had a few sprinkles. The hills in the area were covered with new snow above about 1500 feet. The creek is at 800 foot elevation. We had 16 people in 9 vehicles on this trip. A pair of large down trees challenged our access to the downstream part of the river, but we all managed to either climb over them or go around them through the brush. There was a lot of storm and winter damage in the area judging by the trees and branches that were down. The stream has had some high flow turbulent activity that has stirred up the gravel this winter and quite a few nice large agates were found by the group from just surface collecting. I only have pictures of the material I collected, but it’s typical of what the group found. I had never heard the term Baker Blues before, but a couple of members asked if the agates were Baker Blues. If there is such a thing, then the found agates are them.
Our next trip is to Saddle Mtn on Sat April 23rd for petrified wood with a bonus trip the next day to an area by the Columbia River near Pasco for Carnelian agate. The Pasco site is surface collecting and not a dig. I’ve booked myself a hotel room at the Baymont in Kennewick, but I’m letting everyone that wants to make it an overnight trip take care of their own accommodations. I’ll set a time and rendezvous point near the site for us to meet.
Submitted by Roger Danneman Field Trip Guide (roger.danneman@gmail.com)
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