Saddle Mountain Trip #2 Paul's StoryThis is a featured page

The Saddle Mountain Saga of April 26, 2008
Here is the official report if you will. Well it is my story and I am sticking to it. lol


Our group left town 18 strong around 8:15 a.m. We buzzed along on our way to Saddle Mtn. With me was Val my wife and of course my son Jeff. Along with 2 of the nicest ladies one could ever meet, Maxine 89 and Sally who is 83. Maxine has been rock hounding most or all of her life and a member of our rock club for more than 50 years and this was Sally's first time out. Well, we pulled into the Lep-re-con grocery right at 9:30 a.m. just to find a bunch of, geez, I don't know how to explain it other than a bunch of “redneck rock hounds” loitering in the parking lot. I am surprised the cops weren't there! lol (just kidding - really!!) They had been patiently waiting for our arrival. Man it was nice to meet everyone. Talltom was there by himself and Dave and Rockpuppy had 2 younger diggers with them, Dave and Kevin. Everyone had a quick pit stop at the store before heading up the Mtn, While the others were pit stopping. of course the rocks came out and we kibitzed about rocks and shared stories. But time was running away and we decided to get to moving up the hill.

After about a 30 minute trip up the Mtn we found the parking lot with the rest of our group and to our surprise 2 other clubs from around the state. To say the least, there were people everywhere it seemed, but there was no shortage in areas to dig and of course tons of wood. We all sort of went our own ways. Dave and Rockpuppy and their crew headed East from the parking lot and the rest of us took off to the West. The funny thing about this, is that Maxine and Sally were the first ones from our group to get out there. Heck the dust barely settled and they were gone. lol


Tom and my group, Val and Jeff, headed out, of course I am the slowest. Tom went to a dig that was sort of started, but not dug very deep and started to work opening the hole up a bit. Val, Jeff and I wondered off a bit and started looking for tumblers and well anything else we could find. We found areas where you could fill up your bucket in a matter of minutes with tumblers just by scratching the top few inches to a maybe foot. Val and I dug there for a while but we were very particular about what we gathered and just threw the stuff we didn't want along side the area we were digging. We got what we wanted and started heading back towards Tom just to find Jeff there as well. Tom had found a beautiful round about a foot long and of course that got Jeff all pumped.


So Jeff started another hole adjacent to Tom and went to town when it came to digging. There were several different layers of material to get down through then you hit the pay level. Both Tom and Jeff were finding petrified limbs and an occasional larger piece. Oh yeah, about the time Jeff started digging Sharon, from a Spokane area Rock club started a another dig just about 10 ft away and she too proved to be a real diggin' fool. But she keep seeing the finds coming out of Tom's and Jeff’s digs which I think help keep her perseverance and determination going. She was going to find something in that dig!!! We did salt her dig a couple of times, but funny she kept throwing them back at us! lol If you were to ask me, she is one determined rock hunter and a true pleasure to get to know and visit with as well.


Dave and Rockpuppy would wonder over every once in a while to see what was going on. They were finding some good stuff where they were at too so didn’t stay real long. (One of the funniest things that happened was Dave and Rockpuppy came wondering over to where Val and I were searching for stuff, this was away from Tom and Jeff at the time. I noticed that they didn't bring along a bucket or bag for their finds. So here comes Dave with his shirt full of tumblers bulging in front of him. It was a hoot! So you all remember, be sure to take a container of some sorts when you go for a walk. (And Val didn't get a picture of him!!! She was into finding rocks I guess which is cool and she had the camera too. When all was said and done at the end of the day and actually today when I uploaded all of the pics she took to the computer that there was not 1 picture of Dave and Rockpuppy!!! I Want to apologize to Dave and Rockpuppy and the rest of you all that there are no pictures with their smiling happy faces. I am truly sorry. Man I feel bad!!!)


Yikes where was I. Anyway Tom had inadvertently stumbled onto a fragmented log we think. And with Jeff’s help the 2 of them dug nearly to china, but the deeper they went the larger the pieces got. They found the direction the log was laying and dug and dug and kept coming up with nice finds. Soon Tom and Jeff had plenty of material. Well you know when someone is hitting big, it seems to draw a bit if a crowd. So Tom and Jeff would open up the hole a bit more until they hit another piece and then would invite someone in to finish getting it out.


First was Catherine. She was a guest of some of the other members of our club. You'll see some pics of her and her finds. I think this must have been her first dig, But once she took out her first piece which was huge she went bonkers. Talk about a digging and picking kid, dust was a flyin'. There is a pic of a metal bucket full and a bunch of larger material next too it. And she dug all that in probably 30 minutes or so of work with the help of Jeff and Tom. We could tell Tom was a getting tuckered out as he was getting into the hole less and less. I mean he did dang good for a guy with 15 grandchildren and from the COAST! hehe. But considering he worked swing shift and got home around 1:00 a.m., didn't sleep as he had to leave at 4:00 a.m. to get to Mattawa in time then dig hard for a better part of a day, he was flat burned out and I could understand that for sure.


I think he enjoyed watching just about as much as being in there getting his own finds. Seeing the excitement in some ones face is just about as rewarding as finding that big one yourself. In the mean time, Sharon, from Idaho, but a member of a Spokane Rock club continued to dig. You will see in the pictures that I am sitting between the 2 digs where I would get the finds and start to clean them by knocking off any dirt and caliche (the white looking rind of the outside of the pieces) that I could I think was driving Sharon nuts inside. lol She continued to mumble I AM going to FIND something in this HOLE! It was interesting to see her dig that short a distance away from Toms and Jeff’s digs was so full of rocks and was pretty tough digging, where just 10 feet away there was a lot more dirt and less hard pan and rocks. I think every time Sharon would see me start cleaning another find she would mumble something about finding something in this hole!! (I know, I know.. I just mentioned this.) She did find a few small pieces and 1 really neat small limb. Though she did find the limb on the surface.


Well Catherine was tuckered from digging and was happy with her finds. Jeff kept digging and kept uncovering material. He had some nice pieces pretty much exposed when they invited Sharon over to do a little diggin'. I tell you she really didn't dilly dally around to get over there and hopped into the T and J’s digs. She worked with a vengeance. She started pulling small pieces out and Jeff handed them to me to start cleaning. But she was on a mission. There was a biggie in there with her name on it and she could see it. With a little help from Jeff to loosen it up just a tad bit, she got that thing to move and finally fall out. I can't remember exactly what she said or screamed but she was excited to say the least. This was by far the largest piece that came out of that hole thus far. Then she went on a bit of a guilt trip, bless her heart, and wanted to trade it for a smaller piece. Well I offered her a piece in trade and she refused. I can't imagine why, I mean it was probably only the size of a silver dollar! But geepers she offered. Well both Jeff and Tom finally convinced her that it was ok that they had plenty of material and to please take it. I think I can safely say Sharon was excited and happy about the whole thing. But I being the kind gentleman that I am, I did offer her a second chance to trade. Funny thing, she went home with the rock.....


But the best find of the day was still to come. Jeff got back into the hole and was just picking up a few small little chunks - I guess scraps Sharon didn't want after her find when Jeff popped up with a set of car keys. He asked Sharon if she wanted her car keys. You could see the look of “OH MY GAWDDDD” go through her face when he asked. Of course I piped up and offered her still another trade for her big find but she still refused me. But Jeff gave her the keys anyway. Da Bum!!!


You know it is amazing whom you will meet out on these digs. Sharon is the nicest person one could ever meet and talk about a determined digger, I know I already mentioned this, she was still going to find something in that hole she was digging if it were the last thing she ever did. lol. I wonder if she ever did. When we were leaving for the day, Sharon was still digging away in that hole she had started many hours before. Oh by the way, a friend of hers has started another hole maybe 20 feet from Sharon's but didn't quite have the determination to dig all day long there. She hadn't found a thing. Another member of her club or maybe a friend asked how she was doing and she told that she was pretty much skunked. Anyway they told her to go to where they were digging as they were finding some good material. While she was leaving, we explained where Val and I had been digging earlier and had been throwing a bunch of stuff off to the side and said there was plenty there too. I don think it was 10 minutes before she came back carrying about as much as she wanted to carry in her 5 gallon bucket on this trip of wood. lol That was neat to see. Don’t know if she found the place we were talking about or where her friends were, but it sure didn’t take long for her to get a lot of wood.

After Sharon’s big find, Jeff was in puttering in the hole and Chuck, another member of our club was watching from above. Jeff came up with a nice large piece that just fell out of the wall in the hole and looked up at Chuck and here you want this?? I think Chuck was taken by surprise, jaw dropped, eyes popped wide open and was quite thankful to say the least.

Everyone had had enough. I think everyone was happy with the material they had and just plum tired. (except Sharon, she was a digging wild woman! lol jk Sharon if you ever read this I hope you had success in that dig of yours and not mind the bit of humor we had at the dig and with you here in this trip report. It would be great to see you again on some dig or outing sometime.) Jeff broke down the sides of the hole and did back fill some of it. We finally got things packed up to ready to go. I think it was around 5:00 p.m. A full day I should say, and those 2 ladies, well all I can say is first of all I just hope I am still around at that age and if I am, that I have close to energy they had. Maxine was out there most of the day. She is a real rock hound However, Sally, who needs a knee replacement finally gave it up mid afternoon or sometime there abouts. She is a trooper to say the least. Unfortunately my photographer was off digging wood and we didn’t get any real good pictures of Maxine and Sally. Bummer!!!! Of course I hate to say I did have a camera too but it was in the truck and I never got it out or took a picture. Frankly, I think Val did a pretty good job taking as many as she did considering we were all rock hunting.


After TallTom took off we visited with Dave and Rockpuppy for quite awhile before we left. Dave brought out some more rocks and gems samples which he let me droll over a bit. He has some extremely nice material and specimens. Some beautiful geodes and some polished jaspers and those pieces of mahogany obsidian where out of site. The emeralds and sapphires really had my mouth watering. lol These folks are absolutely a pleasure to meet and be around. I look forward to having many more rock hunting/treasure-seeking trips with Dave and Rockpuppy, Tom and Andy (of course with my family) and who else can make it in the future. I can truly say is that it was one perfect day! For me the only thing missing was my daughter couldn't make it, that would be the only thing I would change to have made the day any better.

Geez, I get wordy.


This is it, the end, and if you read all this, wake up and I thank you!
Paul
(Plus Val and Jeff)

Oh yeah, we had a BLAST!!

Saddle Mountain Photo Album

Back to the table of contents.



pvjjh
pvjjh 		Latest page update: made by pvjjh , Mar 12 2009, 11:35 PM EDT (about this update About This Update pvjjh Edited by pvjjh

4 words added

view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags: None
More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

There are no threads for this page.  Be the first to start a new thread.