May 11th & 19th, 2024 First Creek Field Trip Reports

Field trip reports

On Saturday May 11th we had a field trip to the DNR property known as First Creek. It was a clear day with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s. Kind of getting a bit hot for me, but a nice westerly breeze made it tolerable. We ended up with a small group for one reason or another. Maybe the previous night’s Aurora Borealis contributed to that. A spectacular late-night light show that I missed. Anyway, we hiked to the 2-mile ravine and went up on the east side first. The pit where we’ve taken out so many waterline agate nodules and crystal plates is all caved in now and not yielding much. I moved over to the large rockslide and collected some seam agate. The rockslide is very difficult to walk in due to steepness and loose rock. After a couple of hours I went up on the western side of the ravine to some pits near the top. I did get a few nice chunks but the yellow jackets and bees were getting more aggressive there. It was about 4:00 when I decided to head down. I didn’t see any wood ticks on me throughout the day, but on Sunday morning I found a wood tick on my shorts where I had left them in the garage. He was patiently waiting for the former occupant to reoccupy those shorts. After a ceremonial flush I bade him farewell and good riddance.
Michelle M., Jarrod D., Loren M., Phillip T., and Barbara M. (new member) joined me on this trip. We pretty much stayed spread out so I didn’t see what others collected.
On Sunday May 19th Loren Merriman lead another trip into First Creek. It was a cooler day with temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s. Seemingly perfect for the hike and digging, but at some point a storm cell moved in and dumped hail and up to 2.5 inches of rain. Just a small localized system. Joining Loren on this trip were Hannah G., Heather M., James R., Michael , Josh D and sons.
In June we have 2 outings scheduled. The first one on June 8th to Little Naches for thundereggs, Lily Pad jasper, and leaf fossils. The second one on June 15th to Redtop for agate, jasper, and crystal.
Pictures seen here are from the May 11th trip.

Submitted by Roger Danneman Field Trip Guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated: May 23, 2024 — 9:00 pm

Presidents Message

  • Digging It!  Thanks to everyone who came to the club camp out at Teanaway campground near Cle Elum last month. After a brief spell of rain the first night, we were blessed with sun, clear skies, and rockhounding the rest of the weekend. And a big thanks to Roger Danneman for doing all of the trip organizing, and keeping us all warm and well fed during the weekend. This month I’ll be giving a talk at our club meeting about how to use Gaia for rockhounding. If you have specific questions, please bring them along or feel free to email …

Meeting Announcements

  • Noelle Barnes will present Using Gaia for Rockhounding, an overview of the features and tricks associated with the app Gaia and how you can use it for GPS, saving waypoints, navigation, photo tagging, trail recording and more. Show and Tell: Bring the rock(s) that have the best “story” – and tell everyone how you found them and where!

  • Club board member Paul Ahnberg will talk to us about the impact of wildfires on our lives – from protecting your home to staying safe while out rockhounding – and what we can do today to help mitigate our risk. Paul will combine his knowledge gained from learning at both the WSU Green School (Master Gardener) and WSU Climate Steward programs. Show and Tell: Bring something you found, from a place that you know has since been impacted by floods or wildfires – or was impacted shortly before you arrived. Tell your story!

  • December’s date and time is coming soon. We will update this page as soon as we know more.

Current News