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[lithicbeads]

I have taken an oath not to divulge the location of this place to anyone less than 60 years old and they also have to promise to be nice to the place.
I have rock climbed at the pass half a dozen times over the years.  The picture shows only a very small portion of the cliffs  The various cliffs are very close together but are separated by an earthquake fault just to the left of the picture.  The rock type also varies.  All the rocks in this picture are various metasomatic rocks which in this case include jade and serpentine.  You can’t tell the scale here but some of the talus blocks are as big as small houses and are extremely encrusted with inches thick lichen on most surfaces.  A great place to explore but very dangerous and exhausting.

[lithicbeads]

This roadside rock is close by and is a typical metasomatic rock, in this case it is entirely composed of tremolite-actinolite.  The rock is about 15 feet high and collectors have chipped about 3 tons of it off in the last year.  The whitish shelf was the base of the area chipped off.  All the pieces are gone so I assume the rough was used to make “metaphysical” specimens as it is very chatoyant as well as being insanely full of asbestos.

[lithicbeads]

The other end of the exposure where about a ton is gone.  My partner is well north of 70 so he is safe.  The trees obscuring the fault are largely silver firs.

[lithicbeads]

This is where they stopped chipping out rough.  The tremolite sprays are very evident.

[lithicbeads]

This road is another old man or woman spot that I have driven by for almost 4 decades.  It is a flattish high valley with jade, rare for the Cascade Mountains.  The brush is usually so tight on this road that you push through it scraping the sides of the truck.  Here was a wider spot so we could get out.  In spots the scrub willow is so tight to the road that you cannot see in front of you.  Then you must hike the road to memorize it and determine its safety.  If it is ok, you go back and barge through with the truck and steer by memory.  One day we went about 200 yards through such a spot which I had driven many times but I ran into a huge fallen doug fir. At about one mile an hour no damage was done but I had to back out a curvy, wet, very tilted 200 yards.  As the brush obscured my rear view mirror much less the view from it, my daughter brush-whacked behind the truck and guided me out with hand signals which I could see in the rear view mirror.  Later that year a wealthy collector hired a crew to make the road into something less scary. Very rare rock at the end of the road.

[lithicbeads]

This cedar was just downhill from the truck in the last shot.  Its base was about 40’ below the road surface so it is about 45’ high in the middle of this picture.  At that spot it is at least 6’ in diameter.  Cool tree.

[lithicbeads]

This is an improved stream crossing meant to impede the travel of silt downstream. Silt fills spawning gravel and washed out roads are the largest man-made causes of silt here.  There is a huge amount of concrete in this structure, as it is 15’ tall and about 200 feet long.  The steepness of the concrete sides made it an adventure getting in and out of the stream on crutches.  I had to go so slow and gingerly that I got blisters on my feet from the torque in about 5 minutes.  Since I can’t feel my feet it was no problem until I took my shoes off at home.

[lithicbeads]

The culvert is at least 6 feet high.  Many places I collect have now been retrofitted with 20 foot culverts which are very easy for the fish to migrate through.  The granites in the picture are from at least 40 miles away but their color looks wrong so I think they are from Squamish about 200 miles away.  Extremely rare boulders under this granite boulder but we were just looking, scoping things out for later in the season so I just took the jade lying on the ground and very exciting jade it is.
More later…

[ToTheSummit]

Always enjoy your trips Frank.  Thanks for sharing. 

[Helene Fielder]

Enjoyed the virtual trip with you and look forward to the real deal.  The little rock hunting I've done produced minimal results and discoverd I'm just fine with that.  Its the trip, the nature and the friends To enjoy it with. 

[Bentiron]

Nice travelogue! A lot of the time the hunting is as much fun as the finding, sort of like deer or  elk hunting, after you shoot it then comes the hard work. That is one big cedar tree, WOW!
 

[lithicbeads]

Helene will be an honorary oldster when she comes out. If the fire hazard is not too extreme we will take her to this spot and the many others on this very long mountain . My friend pictured here will also row my McKenzie drift boat while Helene and I fish  on the upper Skagit which should be an awesome day. A number of years ago a old friend asked that I take him and his very old brother from Kansas city on a Skagit drift. He brought a spin cast catfish rod and used it despite my offer of an appropriate rod. I got him hooked up to a big steelhead which almost jumped in the boat before it broke off. He caught some big char and was ecstatic to be able to have a great fish tale for his buddies. A very good day .

[hummingbirdstones]

Nice trip, Frank.  Thanks for sharing it!  Perhaps by the time Vince and I are "oldsters" we will be able to make it out to your neck of the woods.  We've got 3 and 4 years respectively to save up for the trip!   

[Enchantra]

I have twenty more years before I make the age mark.
So I'll just live Vicariously through y'all with these gorgeous pictures!  To be able to stand next to such beauty is an awesome privilege.   
I'd probably spend an hour just admiring the huge Cedar that is 6' wide! 

[Bentiron]

Perhaps Frank would make an exception for you Amanda since you live in such a dry area as Arizona. If you wait until you are old Frank may be dust. As dry as the West Coast is and with all the fires none of anything south and west of the Missouri River may remain standing after this year. All of this dire prediction of weather change maybe shown to be true in drastic fashion.