Fieldtrip report:
Buck Creek cleanup and collecting trip,
Clay County, N.C.
May, 29th, 2004_____________________
We had a great trip today for the cleanup at the campsite across from the Big Shaft mine on Buck Creek. Many members came from far and near to help with the project, thanks to: John Deney, Brian Taylor, who drove up from Florida, Jerry and Tina Fortenberry, RJ, Travis, Maitri, Dave, and Roseanna. We met at the Silver Armadillo and proceeded to the site where we joined with John D., and Roseanna. Our first priority was to remove a large amount of roofing shingles that were dumped at the camp by locals, this camp is across from the Big Shaft Mine and many rockhounds collect in the creek below the mine for corundum, along with the shingles were several bags of trash and broken bottles that we removed.
John, Dave and Brian after we loaded the trailer.
We used my utility trailer to load the trash and I will be hauling it to the landfill later. Unfortunately my trailer was not large enough to get the whole load, we loaded around 1500 pounds of shingles and trash but could not get the rest on the trailer.
RJ and Travis with the shingles that were left.
You can see that there was quite a pile, this is a 6 x 10' trailer with 3' sides.
After loading the trailer we had a nice cookout for lunch hosted by Jerry and Tina, thanks for the great food guys and especially the cake Tina 8^). After eating we climbed the hill to visit the Big Shaft, this is not a safe mine to collect in but it makes a great photo op.
Inside the Big Shaft Mine.
Jerry in the entrance.
Me outside the entrance.
After we ate and checked out the Big Shaft some of us went to the Herbert Mine to collect corundum while others checked out a lesser known corundum spot in the area, this other location has basically the same material as the Herbert, a nice creek to screen in etc.
Mine area.
Flowers.
It is sad that people can be so trashy and ruin sites out in the wild. I want to thank our club and it's members who devote at least part of their time and money to helping keep these sites clean, many rockhounds will not even try to help improve the condition of a site, they are only concerned with themselves and what they can find for their collection, our club is different, we are the truly dedicated rockhounds that look at the whole picture not just the collecting end of things. We will have to plan another trip back to this site to finish cleaning the area, I would like to think that other clubs in the area who frequent this site would be willing to help, it will be interesteing to see if there are any volunteers from the other clubs. It may seem like a waste of time to some and that the Forest Service should take care of problems like this, the fact is the Forest Service does not have the manpower to monitor and cleanup all these sites, and some of these sites have been set aside for US to rockhunt, as with many other places if we do not keep the areas maintained, they will eventually be closed, I see a lot of talk on the internet about what should be done , but we are the only ones doing anything about these problems, so to all those who have a lot of negative things to say about our work and what we do, I suggest you get out and do your part before passing judgement on us.
