Salmon Creek Agates and Carnelian

Because my beloved Greenwater is under snow at this time of year, I have been looking for alternate places to hunt for good rocks.

I have been reading quite a bit about agates, petrified wood, jasper and carnelian being found in the Salmon Creek area, so when we finally had a decent day and time off, we headed down there.

Needless to say, we got our usual late start. Then we discovered that we couldn't find our makeshift probe (a fireplace poker), so we had to make do with a flimsy probe I made for locating old outhouse holes (yeah I know, weird huh?).

We headed out towards Salmon Creek around 12:00pm with about 75 miles to travel. Since it was I-5 most of the way, we made good time and arrived around 1:30pm.

With about 2 1/2 hours to look (we had to be in Tacoma by 6:00pm for a family dinner),  we packed up and headed out from the end of Salmon Creek Rd. near Toledo according to an older map I had. With the deep ruts placed across the road to block four wheelers, we decided to leave our trusty wagon behind. I figured the area would be fairly well picked over, but we decided to check out every stream we passed on our trek through the woods.

http://www.gametrails.com/Maps/salmon%20creek.pdf

At the very first stream we came to, near an old dilapidated bridge, (Cougar Creek) we headed down to the gravel bars and immediately began to find agates. I was shocked! The water was fairly low and we could see the rocks really well. Of course the sun coming out and highlighting the clear stones certainly helped.

Cougar Creek Bridge

While I hunted near the bridge, Michael went upstream a ways. He seems to be particularly drawn to black rocks for some reason. He kept finding what he thought looked like obsidian. Maybe black agate?

Michael Looking

Every few steps I took, I'd find something else worth keeping. There were lots of small chips of carnelian, which I left behind. With the water being so clear, it was easy pickings.

Nice Gravel Bars

We saw quite a bit of red jasper, which we also left behind. I've got lots of that from Greenwater.

It looks like I missed some.

After we had halfway filled our handy Home Depot aprons, we decided to head further down the trail. Somewhere along the way we zigged instead of zagged and ended up at the top of a fairly large waterfall and a dead end. I tried to get a picture from standing above the falls but with really muddy banks to the sides, I decided not to risk falling. 

Looking around the area, we noticed quite a few chips of carnelian laying around, but we didn't really feel like digging, so we turned around and headed back to Cougar Creek and looked below the bridge for a while. We found a few more keepers and decided to head back to the car. I did find one really interesting piece of petrified wood that has red and black coloring with crystals along the sides.

All in all it was a great day. We will definitely be back to this area in the near future. With my Alaska sister coming to visit next month, we now have a place to take her that isn't under snow. I have also found further information on better (and less well known) spots along Salmon Creek to check out.

A Few of Our Great Finds

For further trip reports on this area, view the links below.

http://www.brianpen.com/Journal/Journal_2009February.asp
http://home.comcast.net/~wams1939/trips/Salmon_Creek.htm
http://mcrocks.com/ftr06/RichardPrice-February06.html
http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/?p=270

Greenwater Agates

OK, so I know I have been rather remiss in my postings. I have been out rockhunting, but just haven't had the time to post anything lately.

Back in July of 2012, my family all gathered here in Washington for a family reunion. What is a good reunion without a rockhunting trip. Since Greenwater is close by we took a couple trips up there to try our luck.

We headed up FS Rd 70 and decided to try a well known site with about a 1/2 mile walk to a BIG landslide. Most everyone advises to only go here after a good rain or early in the season, but we have always found lots of pretty stuff here and it didn't fail us this time.

The trip in was beautiful. It was a great day for getting out and enjoying the woods. My Dad had a great time, but boy did we wear him out.

Dad On The Trail

When we got to the rockslide, there was plenty to find and everyone found something. The landslide is full of agates, jasper and even wanna-be petrified wood, which Michael proudly brought home as his prize. It's partially rock, partially wood. Kind of neat.

Almost Petrified Wood

There is a giant agate there, waiting for someone with a miracle to take home.

Big Agate

Everyone was looking all over the area and finding lots of different stuff. Did anyone see this one?

Another Big Agate

Even the kids were looking and finding.

Lots of good rocks

We found lots of agate and jasper. Even some pretty green colored jasper.

Green Jasper

All in all, it was a great trip and as usual, we came home with more than we left with.

Our Agates and Jasper Finds

For other blog posts about this area, check out these links: 

http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/?p=354
http://www.gametrails.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Greenwater.pdf

Check out our rare purple/green Greenwater agate slab for sale at out Etsy Shop.

Rare Blue/Green/Purple Greenwater Jasper