Well I found myself with some free time this past weekend and nothing to do…oh I guess if I had to, I could have gone out and bought a new lawnmower and mowed my grass or added some mulch to my flowerbeds, or done some tree trimming..but gee, I couldn`t think of anything better to do in a few hours then go to the secret spot and see if anything had changed and see if I could find some more poker chips and druse…I mean, really, is there anything better to do with one`s time than some rockhounding ???

So Missy and I loaded up the truck with water and tools and gloves and took off for parts south.

…a noticeable difference in size reduction for sure…but as it turned out, there was actually alot to still look around in and on when I drove up on it closer. I started walking around and soon had found a few smaller crystals and then walked up on a double and a triple within a couple of feet of each other….

and closer up…

and the one turned out to be a triple….

and after that, I walked up on this guy, trying to be coy and blending in, but the sunlight hit it just right and made it look like a bright neon sign…

And after filling a half a bag of singles like this, I was moving along out in front of the pile in the parking lot, when I looked up on the ledge and I know my mouth dropped open, cause a very big WOW came out of my mouth…there shining in bright sunlight about ten feet in front of me, just laying in the rocks within inches of each other, were four of the prettiest crystals in a beautiful honey brown color that we have never seen at this location before….I was stunned for at least a minute or two from the sheer beauty of them….

…a rare color to find at this place…..

..but some very beautiful colors…

and this one appeared to be a double or triple, three including this one were smaller and then there was a nice large single crystal with the same coloring as well as a medium sized one…

I couldn`t believe they were just laying there and not connected to something so I began looking around to see where they may have originated from…they were close to an area where Docia spotted one sticking up out of the rocks and gravel a few weeks ago and dug out…so I was thinking that was possible too…then near them, I spotted this set of crystals, with the one on the right appearing to be still partially embedded in the gravel and dirt…

and boy was it….I started digging down and pretty soon I discovered a nice pocket and it appeared to be chock full of poker chip crystals…

Well needless to say, I couldn`t believe what I was seeing nor finding, but definitely liked what I was seeing and finding. I was able to remove quite a few singles and one or two small plates of druse and poker chips attached, from this pocket, some real pretty stuff….

I started exploring to the left of the first pocket as soon as I was able to get out of it what I could easily remove. I discovered that there were more pockets to the left of the first pocket….

As I dug to the left and down through the top layer of dirt and rocks, I started finding small plates of druse with poker chips attached again. this is what I found at pocket two, which was about a foot to the left of the first pocket…

and the third pocket was even nicer, with a couple of bigger plates with poker chips attached, the honey brown poker chips that is….

the area on the far left is pocket three, and pocket two is where that little depression is out in front of the wall and between one and three…pocket three is where I pulled the following plates from…

When I spotted these guys and pulled them out, I stopped and went to get some wrapping material and two more bags…deciding I wasn`t going to take any chances with all of the beautiful pieces I was pulling out of the pockets…I also grabbed and drank a bottle of water in case I was hallucinating or dreaming of what I was finding…I just couldn`t believe my luck, and I stopped and took a minute to thank God for what I was finding and the beauty he had created as well….and then practically ran back to the spot as fast as I could for fear that it would be a great dream and I would wake up and have it disappear on me.

I returned with the wrapping material and extra bags, and started seeing single crystals laying around the new pockets all over the place. I filled one bag completely with single crystals from the two newer pockets alone. Once I had cleaned out this pocket, I decided to move farther along this shelf of rock to the left, and lo and behold, I found two more pockets of crystals and plates hanging upside down inside the pockets….

Again, I removed what I could easily remove and then explored a bit to the left and not finding anything, decided to move to the right side of the first pocket and see what could be found…..

 

By now its getting late in the day and I decided to see if I could liberate a few of the interior plates and crystals that I was seeing inside some of the pockets. The stone that was encasing and surrounding the crystals and plates was very hard and wasn`t giving it easily at all and I decided that I was not well prepared to chip away with the small hammer that I had with me. I decided I needed a bigger hammer and a good chisel, like I have seen others use, guys like Mike Streeter and Virgil Richards use on big boulders and rock ledges to free up nice crystals from pockets. So I loaded up my goodies and decided to come back the next day and see if I could liberate a few more plates and crystals.

Stay tuned for the next day….