July 11,
2009. It was a lazy sunny Saturday. Lazy
days aren't
for digging so I grabbed my walking stick, bug spray, and
boots
and
made my way to one of my favorite creeks. Both
quartz
crystals and agate can be found in this creek. This
creek is
wide and shallow making it very easy to navigate
while offering
plenty to look at. This is a peaceful and
therapeutic creek.
In
this section of the creek we have found quartz with what seems like
pyrite negatives.
No such finds today though. A lot of
rain water has come through here since last I visited.
Close inspection finds
this broken smoky crystal on a large gravel bar.
The sound of birds,
water, and leaves, was
sparsely interrupted by a bicyclist racing over the bridge
fdddddddddddrump like a giant washboard -- eye's forward,
racing, and ipod in the ears. God forbid they slow
down, look, and listen.
I was beginning to spot
the first signs of
agate. The color of the agate I have found here is brown,
yellow,
white, orange, and red.
This
creek and all the area around it have been overtaken with kudzu.
It produces some neat lavendar and purple flowers.
(above)
Its
important to know what poison ivy looks like so that you can avoid
coming home with a lot more than you wanted. Urushio is the substance
created by this plant that causes the itching rash nightmare most
people get from touching it.
Notice the berries and the three leaflets.
The vine
that was the source of this tendril was as big as my arm. I
have
never had the poison ivy rash and I hope to keep it that way.
Another piece of agate with the
banded pattern. (above)
I'm interested in the pieces with red because of the aesthetics of
contrasting colors. (below)
Although
vigilance is the best tool for rockhounding I didn't need much of it to
find this one. Its color made it slightly camouflaged but its classic
shape was a dead give away. In the middle of a large gravel
bar
this one lie waiting.
Before picking it up I was
thinking to myself "Is this thing going to be all busted up and broken
on the other side?".
A few dings here, a few dings
there, a few dings there and there, . there and. . . still pretty
enough for me.
