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[lithicbeads]

After driving down from Seattle and hounding about 30 miles back into Washington from the hotel, we took these two pictures of the Columbia River from our hotel on the Oregon side, the town of Cascade Locks.  The river was very shallow and rocky here, so they built a ditch, concrete lined, that was blasted through the basalt so that steamboats could proceed safely upstream through the rapids.  The toll on the bridge was $1 and the ride was worth more because the bridge is just a little scary, getting very old, like most of the bridges in Washington.

[lithicbeads]

The show itself was a bit of a dud for me as the slabs were very overpriced, in my estimation.  Richardson's Recreational Ranch was a place I haven't been in over 20 years and I made it there twice on this trip.  It was extraordinary, as was meeting the forum members on the show grounds.

[lithicbeads]

These jaspers were quite extraordinary and if I were still selling, I would have definitely bought more rough.  The selection was great and the colors very saturated with beautiful swirling patterns. 

[lithicbeads]

This unused core originally meant to be for spheres but not up to standard was knee high in height. 

[lithicbeads]

This shot shows about 1/5 of the ranch's rock yard. 

[lithicbeads]

This piece of polka dot-like agate is almost 6 feet tall.

[lithicbeads]

Some shots from around the rock yard, not of their best rough, but of the cores which I found very interesting.  The final shot is of me selecting tiger eye, a stone I have never liked until I found the selection of wildly diverse and very high quality tiger eye at Richardson's.

[lithicbeads]

We left in the middle of the night to try to avoid some of the tourist driving over the double yellow because they don't know how to turn the steering wheel.  As we got closer to dawn, we got some great views of Mt Hood.

[lithicbeads]

The first shot is of Mt Adams across the Columbia River in Washington.  And the second shot is Mt Hood from the same spot.

[lithicbeads]

Driving out of the gorge on the Washington side, we went through many hundreds of wind turbines before we got to the oak-covered hills a little higher, and then finally the mixed ponderosa pine-doug fir forest that leads to central Washington.  One of the goals of this trip was to find some of the rare golden chinquipin trees on the Washington bank of the Columbia River.  We did find some, but they were all on private property so I won't be able to collect the burs with the seeds in them this fall.  If anybody has them in their neighborhood, I would like to buy some burs after they are ripe this fall.  A very nice trip, but to be honest, rock shows are getting to be too much alike.  They don't have the diversity that I was used to years ago. 

[bobby1]

I guess I just missed seeing you on Friday evening. I, too found the show rather uninteresting and pricey. There were a lot of high priced polished slabs there that didn't appeal to me. It seems that the variety and quality  of rough material has diminished significantly over the past few years. Next year we are going to the Prineville show instead. We have never been there before and we have been hearing that it is a better show than Madras. I was looking for milky chalcedony material because I'm going to be teaching students how to make cabochons with carving features in the cabs. I'm going to be teaching lapidary at the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies annual Earth Sciences Studies program in Camp Paradise. The event is held in a church camp in Clipper Mills, CA. You will definitely have to go to a map to find where Clipper Mills is.
Bob

[Stonemon]

The Prineville show was good in my opinion. Most of the folks I talk to say it is a better show for hounds than the Madras show.
I had planned on going to both but had a scheduling conflict so I cannot give an accurate comparison.
Great pictures Lithic...
Bill

[Back]

 

Trying not to envy

Where I live in Southern Indiana there is only 1 show per year under 100 miles. Can you imagine the lack of quality and the price

Heck I would be willing to take some of your "trash" and pay postage if u are in the US

Bless
Shawn

[ToTheSummit]

Looks like you guys had a great trip.  Lovely scenery.  Much different from my deserts.  If I ever get back up that way it looks like Richardsons Ranch is a must see.

[socalagatehound]

I sooooooo wanted to make the trip this year, but couldn't quite get it done. Next year for sure!!!

Thanks for sharing the experience with us.

Craig