President’s Message – March 2026

Presidents Message

Digging It! 

Thanks to everyone who came out for our February club meeting – it was a fun one, with our own Roger Danneman presenting the highlights of our field trips to come for 2026. Several club members brought their impressive best finds from 2025 for show and tell.
Speaking of field trips – our first field trip of the year is in the books, with a mildly snowy day at the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River up by Ol’ One Lane Bridge outside of Acme, Washington. The variety of rocks this year was excellent, thanks in part to the winter floods – the river was low, so there were plenty of pieces of dunite, jasper, and colorful quartz for everyone, plus some smaller pieces of jade.
I hope to see you at our next meeting this month, March 12, when former Burke Museum curator Maureen Carlisle will present A Day on a Dig – this will be a great one for big and little kids like. And of course we have our next club field trip March 21 – odds are we’ll be going to Swift Creek for Baker Blues, but if the water is too high we’ll switch gears and head over to Saddle Mountain for petrified wood.
Happy hunting!

Noelle Barnes, President

Updated: March 12, 2026 — 5:26 pm

Presidents Message

  • Digging It!  May is finally here, and with the snow clearing, the flowers blooming, and the rains letting up a bit (hopefully), that rock fever is hitting us all pretty hard. I hope you all had a great time at the Rock Bingo night last month! The Big Show is Coming! We are now less than two months away from our Cascade Gem, Mineral & Jewelry Show, which will be held June 27–28 at Kent Commons. This is our biggest event of the year, and as I mentioned when I started my term, the people are what make this club …

Meeting Announcements

  • Our own Mike Blanton will bring his expertise to this club meeting program – he will share the tools, tips and tricks he has developed to drill holes in stones and minerals so you can do more with the rocks you find. Show and Tell: bring a rock you’d like to make into something else.

  • Club Wagonmaster and rock shop creator Roger Danneman will present an overview of the new club shop – including equipment, scheduling, stewards, and what you can expect from this exciting new resource.  Show and Tell: bring a rock you want to polish or make into a cabochon (or something you’ve already polished or made)

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