Calapooia Walk

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Wapiti

Joined
Sep 25, 1999
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Got done with my work around the place and decided to take a little walk with my son.


What could this tool on the pack suggest about our sojourn?
IMG_2627 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Aaah, the rock hammer can mean only one thing... geologing! (my word for rock hunting or hounding).
IMG_2628 by ursidae8, on Flickr

We will head down to the Calapooia and see if the water has come down somewhat.

Not much trail work for the BK&T kukri to show, as it was a pretty open walk.

Well the water has come down some,
IMG_2591 by ursidae8, on Flickr

but the main bar we prefer is still under a fair amount of water.
IMG_2589 by ursidae8, on Flickr


Well, let's see what we can see.

Here is a nice one. (Kukri makes a good impromptu pointer.)
IMG_2587 by ursidae8, on Flickr

A little carnelian in there.
IMG_2588 by ursidae8, on Flickr

The more toward the red, the more iron was in the solution that grew the microcrystalline chalcedony in the void, or vesicle, in the basalt it came from.

The larger, and more red, typically the more they are desired as a semi-precious gem stone.

But we are spoiled, so just like hunting for them.


There are lot's of smaller ones scattered all over the bar.

Should be able to see at least 5 small ones in this photo. On sunny days, they pop out, like little grains of Indian corn.
IMG_2619 by ursidae8, on Flickr

This one has some druzy action in the vug (very fine sparkly crystals in the void within the geode)
IMG_2620 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Some nice fortification in the one on the left.
IMG_2594 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Some banded rhyolite, one of my favorites. Sometimes confused with petrified wood, or sandstone. It is actually an igneous rock, volcanic.
IMG_2595 by ursidae8, on Flickr
 
A cottonwood leaf partially decayed by bacteria and invertebrates, so all that is left are the veins. Beautiful.
IMG_2597 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Here is some wood. Just a bitty piece, this has some chalcedony on one side
IMG_2601 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Here you can see the grain
IMG_2603 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Petrified wood is also very common in this area.

Long story short, there is a lot of source material in the foothills of the Cascades that supply all the tribs in this area.

I won't bore you with the info on how and why, but there are places an hour away one can go to see ~75% of the rocks in a stream are petrified wood, and whole farm fields when dug up with a back-hoe yield log after log. Amazing stuff. Well, for some of us slightly deranged it is.

Lots of Asian clams (id them by the white patch near the hinge). Introduced in the 1930s from Asia, they are now widespread throughout much of the United States, and in almost all major tribs in the PNW.
IMG_2612 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Ones that look interesting on the outside, can get a solid smack (they are very hard) with the hammer, to see what is on the inside.
IMG_2641 by ursidae8, on Flickr

IMG_2640 by ursidae8, on Flickr

(...how many of you thought I was talking about the clams...?)


This one has a little heft.
IMG_2607 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Most I will leave.
IMG_2611 by ursidae8, on Flickr

I have collected for so many years, now I can be picky; I don't need to take every one I find and can leave most for others.
We are blessed in our location.
And if there is one thing I have more of than knives, and books, it is rocks, and minerals. (I think...?)

So pay-it-forward and all that.

The real prize in this area is the Holly Blue.
One from last year.
IMG_2642 by ursidae8, on Flickr

With some nice fortification on the inside, showing the layers that formed as it grew in the mother rock's void, over 1000s of years.
IMG_2644 by ursidae8, on Flickr
 
Very Cool! I live not too far from one of the best cove/beach for geological discoveries, and it's a tremendous place for rockhounding. It's a passion of my girlfriends, and I've been a willing pack mule often enough. It's amazing to see such history in rocks. We've tumbled and polished a number of pieces, I'll have to find some pictures.

Thanks for sharing! Looks like y'all had a great time!
 
Wapiti said:
Got done with my work around the place and decided to take a little walk with my son.


What could this tool on the pack suggest about our sojourn?
IMG_2627 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Aaah, the rock hammer can mean only one thing... geologing! (my word for rock hunting or hounding).
IMG_2628 by ursidae8, on Flickr

We will head down to the Calapooia and see if the water has come down somewhat.

Not much trail work for the BK&T kukri to show, as it was a pretty open walk.

Well the water has come down some,
IMG_2591 by ursidae8, on Flickr

but the main bar we prefer is still under a fair amount of water.
IMG_2589 by ursidae8, on Flickr


Well, let's see what we can see.

Here is a nice one. (Kukri makes a good impromptu pointer.)
IMG_2587 by ursidae8, on Flickr

A little carnelian in there.
IMG_2588 by ursidae8, on Flickr

The more toward the red, the more iron was in the solution that grew the microcrystalline chalcedony in the void, or vesicle, in the basalt it came from.

The larger, and more red, typically the more they are desired as a semi-precious gem stone.

But we are spoiled, so just like hunting for them.


There are lot's of smaller ones scattered all over the bar.

Should be able to see at least 5 small ones in this photo. On sunny days, they pop out, like little grains of Indian corn.
IMG_2619 by ursidae8, on Flickr

This one has some druzy action in the vug (very fine sparkly crystals in the void within the geode)
IMG_2620 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Some nice fortification in the one on the left.
IMG_2594 by ursidae8, on Flickr

Some banded rhyolite, one of my favorites. Sometimes confused with petrified wood, or sandstone. It is actually an igneous rock, volcanic.
IMG_2595 by ursidae8, on Flickr
Click to expand...

Nice! So those carnelians are similar to small geodes?
 
Very cool hike. Thanks for sharing.

My novice interest in geology is on a much larger scale.

I’ve always been fascinated by the stripes of different material that you can see on rock faces. Especially along highways. Where the they blasted hills to make the road level. If you look for it sometimes you can see the stripe on both sides of the highway. Sometimes you can even see the stripes in granite curb stones.

Always look to see if the same stripe appears on several curbs within sight of each other. Indicating which ones belong together.

I remember being so excited as a kid when I found fossils in my mothers garden wall. Now I realize they were just leaves that fell into the cement while it was wet. Lol.

They always say stop to smell the roses, but they could say stop and look at the rocks.
 
JoshSkaarup said:
Very Cool! I live not too far from one of the best cove/beach for geological discoveries, and it's a tremendous place for rockhounding. It's a passion of my girlfriends, and I've been a willing pack mule often enough. It's amazing to see such history in rocks. We've tumbled and polished a number of pieces, I'll have to find some pictures.

Thanks for sharing! Looks like y'all had a great time!
Click to expand...

Where at? (You don't have to tell me the exact location; I promise not to show up there tomorrow:D)
My friends and co-workers get a laugh out of my habit of packing home rocks. They say they don't have to add rocks to my pack to slow me down, I do it myself!

tanglediver said:
You know way too much about rocks. :D
I just know how to throw 'em. Got me into lots of trouble early on though. (As I pick up a stone with a rising, evil eyebrow and a target in sight.)
Click to expand...

You are very kind, but what I have really learned is, the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know:).

I throw a lot of rocks, too. We get a lot of nice round, flat river rocks here, perfect for skipping.
Although we often challenge each other on who can get at least three skips out of the most un-flat, jagged rock we can find.
That turns into throwing large rocks, the largest we can find, and getting the best spaalooosh we can in the deepest water-hole.
Fun stuff.

91bravo said:
Nice! So those carnelians are similar to small geodes?
Click to expand...

Short answer: yes. and no...
More complicated: Technically, a geode is basically a rock made up of crystalline minerals with a void or hollow in it (no void, it is called a nodule), that grew in a gas pocket or void in mother rock, like basalt.
The crystals, basically a fine quartz, in the geode, can be very pure (no to few patterns, lot of light transference) and is referred to as chalcedony;
be somewhat less pure (and have color or bands, lines, transfer less light) and is referred to as agate;
or have lots of "impurities" (no ability to transfer light, less banding, etc) and be called jasper.

Carnelian is a technical term for chalcedony that has mostly just iron mineral impurities in it, making it orange or reddish brown, but has some light transference.
(If it got too much impurity, it gets completely translucent and is called sard--oy oy!!)

There is a lot of overlap in the occurrence of chalcedony, agate and jasper; often in one rock, all can occur. And there is some fuzzy-ness in how they are defined.
People also often use the term agate and geode interchangeably for these rocks, but, technically you can have a geode that does not necessarily have agate in it.

Confused yet?

That is my understanding, at least, but no, I am not an expert, at all. I get them mixed up often, and have to walk through he process again.:confused:

You could just call them pretty rocks, made up of minerals, and you would be good to go!

eveled said:
Very cool hike. Thanks for sharing.

My novice interest in geology is on a much larger scale.

I’ve always been fascinated by the stripes of different material that you can see on rock faces. Especially along highways. Where the they blasted hills to make the road level. If you look for it sometimes you can see the stripe on both sides of the highway. Sometimes you can even see the stripes in granite curb stones.

Always look to see if the same stripe appears on several curbs within sight of each other. Indicating which ones belong together.

I remember being so excited as a kid when I found fossils in my mothers garden wall. Now I realize they were just leaves that fell into the cement while it was wet. Lol.

They always say stop to smell the roses, but they could say stop and look at the rocks.
Click to expand...

Great post!
I love road-cuts! I often call them little windows into the landscape. You can learn a lot about the geology about an area by looking at road-cuts.
And they are great places to look for fossils, if it is cut into the right sedimentary layers. I have several road-cut locations in Oregon I stop at when in the area where I hunt.

And this sounds like something I would say!
"They always say stop to smell the roses, but they could say stop and look at the rocks."
Nice!

Brome
 
In Nova Scotia; there's the Joggins fossil cliffs (a Unesco site), Blomindon, Amethyst Cove, Scott's Bay, they're pretty much all the same area. Beaches are awash in jaspers and agates and other cool stuff!
 
Thank You for all that info and pics. Im new into rock hounding myself. Arizona has so many, that I finally decided to try and figure out what they are. It’s a fun hobby and fairly inexpensive but very interesting.
It makes hiking and traveling more fun too:)
Thanks again, that was fun reading your posts and looking at your pics.
 
Last edited:
Josh:
Really hope to get to Nova Scotia; my understanding is it a beautiful place.
And now you have given me another great reason to want to visit.

Azwelke:
You, and everyone, are very welcome.

evelded:
I don't think so? Tell us more! (pics?)
 
My neighbor has a place on PEI. Our kids played together. His son brought a rock home to give to my daughter. He said they are all over the place there. It has a reddish brown center. With gray on the outside. It’s about the 3 inches thick. And looks like a peanut butter sandwich.

I’ll try to find it.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm.
Sounds like some kind of sandstone, possibly with a layer of mudstone, or something...
The reddish brown is usually due to higher iron concentration.

Sounds like a PB sandwich is a good description.

I would love to see some pics, if it comes out of hiding.

Brome
 
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