Lake Erie Labradorite, Saybrook, OH

I have really wanted to find some labradorite. It’s a very pretty rock. I had made a visit to a local lake where there was supposedly labradorite to be found, but there was very little access to the lake, and where we could get to, we found nothing but shale. And technically, taking rocks was forbidden anyway.
I had read there is labradorite in areas of the Adirondack Mountains, but we haven’t had a chance to go explore those areas yet. But I had also read that one guy had found labradorite on the beaches of Lake Erie near Saybrook, Ohio (Ashtabula County). He had even posted pictures of the rocks both raw and polished. I contacted him, and found that he had collected the rocks on private beaches. The labradorite is glacial till deposit. I searched Google Maps and found several parks in the area. The largest was Geneva State Park. I searched the park’s website and found nothing saying we couldn’t collect rocks.
We arrived Sunday morning, and were actually lucky that it was raining. It wasn’t a hard rain, but a light rain that was off and on. With the stones being wet, it actually made it easier to see their color and patterns. It would have been much harder if they had been dry.
We pulled into the Breakwater Beach parking lot and started walking along the beach. There were smaller rocks and pebbles near the water line, and my wife walked there. I walked a little higher up on the beach where there were fewer, but larger stones. I found a greenish blackish mottled rock fairly quickly that I was pretty sure was labradorite. It looked like pictures I had seen. We kept walking, picking up not only rocks we thought were labradorite, but rocks with interesting colors and patterns.
We walked the beach for maybe an hour and collected a bunch of rocks. Some, I am pretty sure are labradorite, and others might be. We will polish then and see what they look like. I have read the labradorite found here is not high grade. But it should still be fun to play with. I might try cutting a few of the larger pieces into slabs and polishing those.
I am not sure of the range that the labradorite extends. I am wondering if we explore the Lake Erie beaches in New York, if we would find labradorite. We might have to take a camping trip some rainy weekend. We are planning to take a trip to the Adirondacks later this summer to look for rocks, including labradorite.

Geneva State Park Beach

Lake Erie Beach Rocks, Saybrook, OH

Lake Erie Beach Labradorite, Saybrook, OH

Posted by Rob in Rockhounding on April 25th, 2011 | No Comments

Ray Mica Mine, Burnsville, NC trip report

My wife and I were visiting North Carolina to do some rock hunting. We had spent some time at Emerald Hollow Mine which is basically a tourist trap with a salted creek. I wanted to look for some native stuff. I had read about various places in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are many mines there. Some charge, some are free. We decided to try Ray Mica Mine. It was free and from pictures I found online, had some interesting looking rocks. We park at the end of the Ray Mine Road (GPS coordinates: N 35 53.240 W 82 16.732). We grabbed a couple rock hammers and started walking up the trail. The trail crosses the creek. I left my wife to explore the creek. She was probably not in shape to climb up the hill. Digging is not allowed in the creek anymore, but I was told you are allowed to search for rocks already exposed.
I saw a guy up in the hill digging. I climbed up. The trail continues around and up the hill, but I took the direct route. There were two guys up there digging under tree roots. The one guy suggested digging down and in. I didn’t feel like going back to the car for a shovel just yet. I headed up the hill a little ways and started digging under a tree root with my rock hammer. The dirt was loose and easy to dig. I found lots of rocks, but no beryl. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for. I had seen pictures though. I heard a whoop from down below and I made my way down to see what they had. The one guy had found a rock with a two, or three beryl crystals in it. The other guy showed me a nice beryl crystal that was free from any rock. I got some pictures of their beryl. They said I want to look for rocks with quartz and feldspar in them. If they had just one or the other, they won’t have beryl in them.
So I went back up to my spot and dug some more. After a while I was getting hungry and wondering how my wife was doing. I went back down to the creek. My wife had walked the creek as far as she could go and not found any beryl either. I said I was going to go down to the car to get a sandwich and something to drink. I was planning on grabbing the shovel. But my wife was tired and wasn’t up for anymore here. So we made our way back to the car and left.
I would have loved to have had more time here. Knowing what I know now, I would have brought a shovel, and a bucket filled with water from the creek to rinse off rocks. I would have planned to spend more time there. The two guys I spoke too had found beryl, but they said they had also had days where they dug all day, and found nothing. So be aware, it is not guaranteed you will find beryl here. I did find some interesting specimens of mica.

Ray Mica Mine Hill

Ray Mica Mine Bank

Ray Mica Mine Beryl

Posted by Rob in Rockhounding on April 23rd, 2011 | No Comments

Emerald Hollow Mine, Hiddenite, NC (second visit)

We had been to Emerald Hollow Mine three years ago. We had seen the show Cash And Treasures and were intrigued. We had no luck digging, but found lots of rocks in the creek. We saw how the one little field where school children dig was salted with stones. We learned later that the creek was salted too. But we had fun. We were planning another trip and decided to visit Emerald Hollow Mine again.

We arrived on Wednesday morning. We paid for creeking permits which were only $8 each, and then screened our complimentary buckets. Then we headed down to the creek and start digging and screening. There were A LOT of school kids, but they were mostly at the upper end of the creek.. We found a bunch of cool rocks. Unfortunately my mp3 fell off my belt into the water and died. After five hours, we called it a day.

We came back the next day, first thing in the morning. My wife stayed and screened the buckets, and I headed right to the creek. I could tell the creek had been freshly salted with new rocks. There was only one other couple working the creek. I just walked down the creek looking through the water, and picking up the mostly easy to see stones. When I reached the bottom of the creek, I tuned around and walked back up. I had filled a gallon sized bag with rocks and was started on another bag. When I hit the top of the creek, I took the rocks to the car. Then I got my polarized sunglasses and headed back down to the creek. The polarized sunglasses made it much easier to see through the water. I made another pass to the bottom of the creek and back and found more rocks. At this point we had a lot of rocks. Among the rocks we found or think we found in the creek were quartz, rose quartz, smoky quartz, amethyst, sodalite, jasper, red jasper, moonstone, appetite, aventurine, unakite, amazonite, agate, citrine, tourmalated quartz, rutilated quartz, and who knows what else. But I was pretty much done with this place. It was fun like and easter egg hunt, but after a while it got old just picking up rocks that someone had thrown into the creek. We probably won’t come back here again.

If you do go the Emerald Hollow Mine, get there first thing in the morning before all the people are there. Then just walk the length of the creek looking for rocks lying on the bottom. Look for rocks that stand out. The red and green rocks are pretty easy to see. The agates look white of the bottom. The blue rocks sometimes look black under water. Just for rocks where the color looks out of place. If you still want more, dog and screen rocks from the sand on the bottom. You will find lots.