Field Trip Report for March 2nd Ole One Lane Bridge – 11 people joined me on this outing for Dunite, Gneiss, and tumbling material. A bit of a wintry mix of weather. This is the earliest in the year I’ve scheduled a trip, but the site here is generally a good starting point for the rockhounding season as long as snow isn’t covering all the rocks. Fortunately that wasn’t the case on this day. We met directly on site. Dunite is a “jade like” green rock comprised mostly of olivine. Gneiss (“nice”) is a metamorphic rock that has been subjected to much heat and pressure from mountain building activity. This area is on the west side of Mt. Baker. Looking at the photos, the yellowish skinned rocks are all Dunite, so you can see it’s not hard to find. Joining me on this outing were members Loren M., Scott H., Michelle M & Gerry P., Brea P. and her two girls, Marion R.,and Douglas W & family from Maplewood club.
When we were done here, Loren and I drove east another 5 miles to the Welcome Bridge and checked out another large expanse of river rock on the North Fork of the Nooksack River. This is a good spot for collecting tumbling material if you’re looking for a spot to go on a nice spring or summer day, although it may all be under water during heavy spring runoff. It’s a small parking area, and you have to walk across the road, down a short but steep embankment, and jump over (or slosh through) a 5′ wide creek. But not too hard for the nimble. My last picture is of rocks from there. On the drive home I came through a snow/hail squall west of Sedro Wooley. Two inches of snow and ice fell rapidly while hail was pinging off of my sunroof. Fortunately not while we were out collecting.
Submitted by Roger Danneman Field Trip Guide (roger.danneman@gmail.com)
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