What a great time I had at Wileys Well! It is not only a great place for rockhounds, it is just generally a beautiful area (if you love deserts like I do) and there is a lot of interesting things around. I had prepared for this trip to such an extent that I was able to drive right to all the places I wanted to go without getting lost. That made it nice and allowed me to maximize my days. In fact, I was so efficient at my rockhounding plans that I found I was able to take time each afternoon and just wander around exploring. Theres always some fun in that.
Although I camped alone out in the desert I did spend some time each evening just before sunset visiting with the guys at Coon Hollow campground. These are the people who go out and spend the winters there every year. Each evening at 5 they have what they call 'happy hour' where they gather at a central point in the campground and BS for an hour or two. They are a wealth of knowledge about the area and are just a fun bunch of guys who love rocks. They are not shy about sharing info about the area also, especially after I spent some time with them. They know where all the good material is being pulled from each year, and they are full of stories about the area (some of which had me in stitches). Befriending them was the best thing that came out of the week. I exchanged info and will stay in touch, and no doubt will see them back there in winters to come.
And then theres the rocks. My first day down I hounded around the manganese mines down Milpitas wash. I wanted to find some psilomelane. I did find some nice pieces and I hope they slab up nicely. I've heard all the stories about how messy this stuff is, but I love the finished product so I'll give it a shot. But of course my main reason to go to Wileys Well was geodes. I learned a lot about geodes and digging for them this week. First thing I learned is that a guy has to be prepared to dig a big ass hole and get absolutely nothing from it! I spent 3 hours of back-breaking labor in one spot at the Potato Patch and never saw a single geode. Also got skunked at the Cinnamon beds that day before collecting some small ones from the Straw Beds. The next day I managed to dig a few out of a hole at the Black Agate beds, but got skunked again on a hole in the Hidden Saddle beds. My last full day there I had almost given up digging more holes when I decided to give it one more go at the Southern end of the Hauser beds. There I pulled out two 5 gallon buckets full of nice geodes, and probably could have filled 2 more with broken pieces and small stuff. I was really glad I hadn't given up on digging that last hole. And that was the second thing I learned about digging geodes, you can do all the research and know as much about them as anyone and there is still a little bit of luck involved in finding them. Persistence is the key.
So anyway the camping was great, the rocks were great, and the new friends were great. All in all it was a slam dunk. And I barely scratched the surface of what there is to see and do there. I will be back many times in years to come, no doubt about it.
Lets get to some pictures!
Here is the view from the Black Label mine looking NE towards the Opal Hill mine.
The ocotillos were in bloom. They can be kinda ugly at other times of the year, but are gorgeous in the spring.
Didn't see much wildlife. Not one snake, which surprised me. I heard lots of coyotes every night but couldn't see them in the dark. And other than the birds (lots of vultures, some crows and hawks, and various small birds) the most interesting thing I saw was lizards. Did come across one lazy horned lizard who was sunning on a rock. He barely opened his eyes to look at me even when I stroked his back.
Here was the very first geode I found. Had to document it! lol
The well that gives the area its name.
Desert sunsets are always fantastic. The first night there was even a sun pillar at sunset.
But the sunset my last night was spectacular! Such an angry looking sky, and so bright that it was even nice facing away from the sunset (second picture).
I eat like a king when I go camping. I do believe some of the best meals I've ever eaten were cooked in a campfire and consumed while standing at the tailgate of my truck.
I was so focused on preparing for rockhounding this trip that I neglected to check on something that I usually do....astronomical events. I knew there was a full moon on Fri night/Sat morn but that was all. I woke up Sat morning, looked at my watch and saw it was a little after 5 AM. I looked to the East to see if there was any twilight yet and no, it was dark on the horizon. I glanced up at the stars and was astounded at how bright they seemed. Then I thought "wait, its too dark out and there is supposed to be a full moon?" So I rolled to the West and there was the Moon almost fully eclipsed! I didn't even know there was going to be a lunar eclipse but I woke up just in time to see it at its full glory! I lay there for a while marvelling at this beautiful blood red moon before I finally told myself I'd better crawl out of bed and get the camera or I'd be pissed at myself later. Took a few pictures of it as the morning went on. It was still partially eclipsed as it slipped below the horizon right before sunrise.
One of the most interesting finds of the week was not rock related at all. Driving down a dirt road I saw a small white box in the road. Stopped to pick it up and realized it had a long string attached to it with an antenna-looking deal at the other end laying in the desert. Also, a remnant of a balloon was clipped to the wire. I think I'll start another thread on it, but here is a picture of it for now.
Here was the hole I dug in at the South Hauser beds. This hole produced many geodes of all sizes. I chose to dig here because I saw someone had been digging recently. There was a small hole about 12-18 inches deep and a couple feet in diameter. When I stopped to look at it I noticed that there were some nice looking broken pieces laying next to the hole. I thought "if they threw these pieces aside they must have found something here". By the time I walked away the hole was about 6 feet around and over 4 feet deep.
So here was the geodes I brought home. Most of them came from that Hauser hole, but the small group of different colored (more red) ones in the upper right area came from the Black Agate beds.
These broken ones showed off the possibilities that lay inside.
So I decided to cut my first ones open yesterday afternoon. Here is the first geode I cut.
And while I was waiting for that one to finish on the slab saw I grabbed a tiny little nodule and zipped it in half on the trim saw just for kicks. This thing was only about an inch in diameter, but still amazingly beautiful inside.
So anyway, thats a quick look at some of my time at Wileys Well. Hope you enjoyed!
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Topic: Wiley's Well trip...updated, trip report. (Read 7037 times)