Best three finds of the day

And here's the entire haul of the day, including a not-so-blue piece of quartz.  I'm hoping the two nicest pieces of unakite won't have too much chalky rind.  They are certainly no rotten like the first one I tossed.  Hey this posting is way too tedious and slow, so I gotta go home before I miss the monthly meeting of the Northern Virginia Mineral Club.  I'll post some more close-ups later.

Whoooeeee! Great report there, Tim!
Thanks so much for sharing!
I gotta tell you, being so close to the source of the unakite,
people are always giving me the stuff, in trade and whatever,
that it has never really made it onto my list of places and
rocks to go collect. But now after seeing your report, and
seeing all the other different materials that look completely
interesting and suitable for slabbing and cabbing, it looks
like that might be a very pleasant and rewarding walk!
That one piece of the blue quartz is beautiful! Great color!

I NEVER get up into that area, so thanks again for sharing
and I look forward to more posts from the Rose River.
And when you figure out how to carry your saw along
let me know.
Joe

Yes, Joe, I'm tickled pink over that blue.  And as I will elaborate tomorrow, the Rose River can't be the only place to find good color and patterns in this general area.  I may need some library time to find the map of the report I quoted.  But hey North Carolina is supposed to have good unakite too somewhere along the Blue Ridge. And did you see my post on locality updates regarding Nethers Farm (Flint Ridge)?

Thanks for sharing. I have been picking up pieces of unakite lately. Mainly because it is something different than all the limestone. My camera stopped working, but I need to post a pic of a strange rock that is similar to unakite, but different (with different colors).   

Tim4d I believe I have been in the same creek, in 2010, have found rocks similar to your pictures. I found the spot using an article from the Smithsonian. I entered from the main road in Marksville. I would love to go back to there in 2014 to validate my find. http://books.google.com/books?id=1cYWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA306&lpg=PA306&dq=unakite+luray&source=bl&ots=yjuGBFnMGv&sig=W1MibEVaNSLMNSI4ySoCv4uXMO8&hl=en&ei=AWO4TLH9CsP_lgfHs8WJDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CC0Q6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=unakite%20luray&f=false. Cara jr. roundhound

thanks for your great directions and photos! We rode out there this evening to check out the spot. Hopefully, if it doesn't rain on Friday, we will return and spend some time there. I picked up a few rocks but I have no idea what they are, LOL. It's been awhile since I've been out collecting and I'm not familar with this area.

The red and green rock is called "Unakite", named for the Unaka Mountains in Tennessee, where the highest quality samples are found, and where it was first noticed.  The 3 main localities in the east are the Rose River in Virginia, A spot on the mountainside above Salem, Virginia, and the aforementioned Unicoi County, Tennessee locales.  This is a rock, not a mineral, and is composed of green epidote, red feldspar, and usually some quartz, often clearish and not readily noticeable.  The best pieces make attractive slabs, cabochons, and other lapidary items, including carvings, and the brightest pieces make attractive display specimens in their raw form.  Hope this helps a little.  The term "rotten rock" is another way of saying saprolite.  Saprolite is in situ rock that is so weathered that it will crumble in your hands, or is otherwise very soft, yet it still displays the layering, schistocity, and other features of the original bedrock before weathering.  Many Piedmont, North Carolina quartz crystals are dug from stringer veins in saprolite.