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[lithicbeads]

Today was a brutal amount of driving for very little rock. That much is indisputable but on the return trip I got to thinking that some of the rough we found might be excellent carving rough so I guess I have to go back eventually.Our usual mo is to meet in the last town below the mountains we collect in. It is a two hour drive from different directions for each of us. I always drive after that because I am very experienced on crap mountain roads and have the perfect vehicle for the task. Today was a bit different as packlitic went along so I could just look and not have to deal with an unwieldy pack full of rocks while on crutches. I have really missed her on these trips.
 After the three of us shoehorned into the truck cab off we went. After about 35 miles we hit forest service dirt roads. We bounced and dodged potholes for 14 more miles until I decided to drive down a logging spur that felt right . Amazingly the road went to the river with no hike involved. A bunch of people were living at the end of the road but hey it's public so packlithic strapped on the iron  and she and Keith put on their packs and off we went.I was curious why  the road was closed at a bridge so I started poking around in the brush and was amazed at what I found.

[lithicbeads]

 The first picture is a peekabo view of Mt. Baker volcano on the way in . We were eventually collecting near the base of the mountain.The summit is about 7,000 feet above us but with nothing to show the scale it is hard to visualize that .
 The second picture is the bridge abutment which was destroyed in a flood. There were no mature alders in the bottom lands next to the river so I imagine they were all ripped from the forest and piled up against the bridge in a massive flood. I have seen a number of these highway style bridges blown away by water over the years. A rise of thirty feet happens in these streams about every decade and the most extreme event I know of ripped  a steel railroad bridge off it's moorings in a gorge. Two remarkable things about that one . First is that the bridge was 90 feet above the normal high water mark and the bridge was never found. Water is just plain scary.The rebar in this bridge was twisted like a pretzel and it was studly rebar.

[lithicbeads]

The river itself was very low. Fishing was closed by emergency measure a few days ago on this stream due to low water. I had expected to find  a certain mix of rocks from the geo reports I read on the area but was shocked to find  one type of rock dominating the mix, peridotites and especially dunite . A mountain range of peridotite lies just above but the river cuts some famous rock types between the peridotites and Mt. Baker but those rocks were very sparse. About 5 % of the rock was Yellow Aster Butte gneiss the oldest rock in Washington at about 1.3 billion years old. This rock type is here and there in the north west part of the state but never in the amounts I saw today. It is anomalous continental crust . Where it came from is a total mystery but it is very old.We collected some and I will take pictures of the pieces that I decide to cut.The Bells Pass melange should have been the dominant rock here, oceanic cherts , limestnes and conglomerates from undersea landslides and I did find some but not enough.

[lithicbeads]

In the last picture the ridge top is peridotite which weathers orange and it has extremely sparse vegetation as peridotite derived soils are very poisonous to virtually all plants due to the magnesium and aluminum contents.
 I was hoping to find poppy jasper in small amounts which in this area requires Shuksan greenscist next to Darrington phyllie. I found one boulder of each . I found the answer to the lack of phyllite when  we found the striated mud in the next picture.This is classic phyllite derived clay which I have seen before in other drainages. This small patch had a flock of crossbills eating it as we approached. That makes sense when you think that the phyllites were deep ocean muds before being metamorphosed. The salt content must still be high. This mud area abounded with elf tracks and elk lick marks as the elk were also using this as a salt lick.I warned packlithic to be on the lookout as an elk herd nearby during calving season means cougars and bears as elk calves are favorite food of both.

[lithicbeads]

These pictures round out this portion of the trip and I will continue with the afternoon portion tomorrow.

[Itsandbits]

Thanks Frank; it's nice to know someone else was out and enjoying what nature has to offer :) Good to see you out without the sticks :) Makes my little outing seem like too much work.

[Helene Fielder]

Seems the drive was worth it, as long as you had plenty of coffee and low calorie health snacks.
I was looking up east North Carolina, since my sister lives there.  She lives at the base of the Smoky Mountains.  Most rock collecting in the state is done within a 100 mile radius of her home.  With more research and knowledge going collecting would be fun.  Lots of bears and wild animals too, safety would be an issue. 

[Enchantra]

Now that looks like a fun day!  I haven't walked a creek bed now - since high school.  I really need to do it again if I ever get up that direction. 
Keep the pictures coming Frank, they are amazing!   

[lithicbeads]

In the afternoon we went around the volcano from south to east . We had to drive across the dam at the lower end of Baker lake then drive ten miles on ever deteriorating roads to the Watson lake trailhead. From there the views of Shuksan peak and Mt. Baker are superb . The last half mile is extremely washboarded and at a 30 degree angle but there were many cars in the parking lot as the trail is one of the favorites in the state.

[ToTheSummit]

I love my deserts, and always will, but there is no denying the beauty of the Cascades!  The year I lived in Seattle I spent hiking in awe around the volcanoes.  And your abundance of rocks (and vast knowledge of them) is envious.  Thanks for sharing yet another wonderful adventure.

[Enchantra]

I could eat that view with a spoon!   
I have mountains on two sides of me here in the desert, but they just are not the snow capped beauties of Washington.  Thanks for sharing Frank!   

[Asianfire]

Wonderful pictures coupled with an abundance of knowledge. What a tread for us to enjoy. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

[Kaljaia]

Ah, there still a bit of snow up there! Stunning pictures, and great account of the trip, finds and local geology! I think I could follow you around taking notes and learn so much!

[Bentiron]

Thanks for the field trip, very enjoyable!

[lithicbeads]

Rock picture time. The rock in the hand in the above post is a pink and green andesite porphyry.The first picture below is   a heavily metamorphosed Yellow Aster Butte gneiss. The one after that is a very distorted schist from the same source. The Yellow Aster Butte rocks are 1.5 billion years old , Washington's oldest rock.
  This piece of rodigite , the third picture,  was found in the stream but  unfortunately no jade. Down stream a bit there are blocks of similarly colored rodingite that are as much as a few dozen tons in size. These are the largest rodingites in Washington by far and are probably associated with a huge jade deposit. A new trail is being built into the area , the Pacific Northwest Trail  ,and it will give access to the jade deposits which have not been visited by rockhounds in about 20 years. The last two pictures are of the most common rock in the stream after the orange weathering dunite. It is a peridotite that is shiny blue black in the interior but weathers to the interesting rind pictured. The best rock of the trip , an unknown rock of wild silver chatoyantcy will have to be cut to get a good picture. Different mix for me in a nice area.