Fieldtrip report:
Fluorescent Collecting Trip,
Annual MAGMA trip,
Western North Carolina,
October 23rd, 2004____________________
Hello members, we had another great get together for our annual pre-halloween fluorescent collecting trip in the mountains of WNC. Every year our club meets and visits a couple of mines in the area noted for their fantastic specimens of fluorescent minerals. This year we started at the Ray Mica Mine, due to the recent flooding a lot of new material was washed up and ready for the picking, I noticed a lot more hyalite opal this year than in the past, the hyalite at the Ray is not near the quality of other sites but there was a lot to be seen, most sought after were the large specimens of apatite that can hide in the daylight and be hard to see, some have a greenish color and are easy to spot, we found some that had been smashed on a rock creating fluorescent apatite dust. I arrived at the Ray Mine around 1:00 to get in a few hours of collecting before the fluorescent trip began. Thomas and Danya Davis were already at the site along with Richard Ray and Bill Conklin, Richard and Bill have both been in the club for around a year but this was the first trip they had been on, it was great meeting them both. Bill had traveled from Raleigh, N.C. and we were joined later by two more of our Raleigh members Shirley Greene and her Husband Richard, Steve Davis also arrived later. Our member Richard Ray is one of the last Rays in the area related to the Rays who operated the Ray Mines, it was interesting to see a descendant of the original Rays working the mine sixty years after it was closed. Later Tim Barton joined the group for a few hours of pre-fluorescent collecting:
Tim Barton.
Tim and his giant feldspar crystal.
Thomas and Danya Davis.
This looks like a very nice beryl crystal, it is actually a very nice amazonite crystal that Thomas found!
Another nice amazonite Thomas found.
I found this neat little beryl xl with a columbite crystal growing in it.
Tim was cheating, he found this nice size apatite in matrix before the night hunt, the crystal measures about 6" x 4".
Tims apatite under shortwave UV, it was still partially daylight out when I took this pic.
Shirley and Richard.
Bill Conklin.
Commentary by Bill Conklin: First off I owe thanks to Rick for his unflagging enthusiasm, even thought he was suffering from a sore back- he insisted the show go on despite his obvious discomfort..which made my griping about a lumpy motel bed fade away straight off. Second, even though I personally spent more time patrolling the slopes of the Ray to try to figure out which way was up ( or, sometimes ...DOWN- ouch ! ) , the other folks there found some neat stuff.
After dark I discovered the merits of a strong U/V light- my Versalume was great close up but one couldn't search standing up with it. PRO: light, compact, uses small 'AA' batteries. CON: you will wear out your knees getting close enough to flourescent minerals to see them. PRO: If you fall and break it you are only out like 70 bucks. CON: Its made of cheap plastic, so when it does break you will probably call it a piece of merde.
We scanned the stream bed at RAY for about an hour or so picking out some apatite bit and pieces and then descended to the parking lot for a breather and inventorying what we found. After a quick Little Debbie creme filled cupcake or two we set off for Piney Flats in a drizzly sort of foggy evening.
Upon arrival at the mine we trooped off into the nothingness. Well- at least some folks had been there before but theres nothing to raise the hackles a bit like entering a quarry you've never been to at 10pm in fog and light rain. I think Tim had his eye on a spot he had scoped out before and led us mostly merry men straight to it- awesome Hyalite Opal was coating a lot of the larger boulders higher up on a rubble-strewn section of the mine.
The trick was to find chunks that a mere mortal could stick into a bucket or pack and successfully carry back down the side of the mine. I stopped at about 40 pounds of rocks with Hyalite Opal - I could have grabbed more but was feeling a bit stupid when I realized I had no clue how to get back down. I suppose if I had been better at trimming on the spot I could have nabbed more- but as it is, I managed to leave my Estwing Hammer up on the cliff. Luckily, one of the guys found it and I promise to paint it flourescent orange next time- and I owe someone a malt beveridge.
Oddly enough my only injury was when I was standing on the flat bottom of the quarry and tripped over the only rock within 100 square feet- the rock won out over my shin, I tell you what.
Thanks to Rick and the gang...
Tim on the hunt at the Ray.
After about an hour of stumbling up and down the creekbed in the dark, we headed to Piney Flats to try our luck with the hyalite opal, autunite, etc.
Hyalite opal, 4' x 4'
Hyalite opal, 5' x 5'.
Crystalized hyalite opal on boulder, the boulder is about 6 feet by 4 feet.
Boulder of hyalite 6' x 4'.
Unusual star formation near the top of the mountain, lit with UV lights. It is about eight feet tall.
