May 23, 2009.  Well its been a while since I've been back to the Crabtree and my emerald collection is meager at best.  So Joe and I took advantage of the three day Memorial day weekend and headed straight for the mountains of North Carolina.
It was a weekend filled with clouds.  We were fortunate not to get the hard rain until later in the evenings after we had worn ourselves ragged. 
We had a few visitors arrive during the weekend.  The gentleman in the center on the pile found a nice piece of beryl on the very first rock he picked up!!!
This is a close up of the tailings material that our eyes were glued to the entire weekend.  The work can become monotonous and discouraging when you havn't found anything for an hour or more.  But all it takes is one piece of green and the infinite source of energy that makes us rock hounds go wells up inside.  This process repeated with me again and again the entire weekend. 
Here's a view of one of the tailing piles where an abondoned truck is all that is left to remind us of this once active mine.
This truck is a monument and sentimental landmark at the Crabtree for all who are familiar with this place.
Saturday night we set up the tarps and listened to the rain come down.  The arduous work of the first day caught up with us all at once.  The soothing white noise of the rain coupled with our exhausted bodies sent us barreling toward dream land.
This was the find of the weekend.  Joe found this on Monday about one hour before we packed up to leave.  This is the kind of stuff we're looking for at the Crabtree.  
Here is most all of the green or beryl I found this weekend.  
This was my mystery piece.  These inclusions look like they are six sided yet deformed or melted.  When viewed through a loop there is a light green rind around the edges of many of these inclusions.    
We left that weekend tired yet satiated.  The rain seemed to always be in front of us and toward the east as we drove back home.  This was one of about 6 or more rainbows we counted on the way back.