Fieldtrip report:
Ray Mica Mine,
Yancey County, N.C.
Campout and Dig!,
October 29-30, 2004____________________
Hello members, we had an excellent time this weekend at the Ray Mine. Several members showed up at various times throughout the weekend at the mine. I left early Friday morning and proceeded to the mine in the rain, once I got there it cleared up for an hour or so, time enough for me to set up camp,
Basecamp at the Ray Mine.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed that John Deney had already arrived. After I set up camp, I set out to collect. Dave L. showed up and we headed up the creek to find John. We spent most of the day near the top of the creek finding numerous oddball minerals and beryl, a little while later we were joined by Brian Taylor from Florida.
Soon the rain cleared out and by afternoon the sun was peeking through, a local collector showed up and went up the mountain to look around, a few minutes later he came back to the creek with a nice 3" beryl crystal in matrix, then he left!, he was there less than an hour, found a nice piece and went home, thats what I call "time managed collecting". I would say that Dave L. found the best beryl of the day, a very nice 3" dark green crystal near the creek. We spent the afternoon loading our buckets with nice material. Dave L. and John D. went home, I hauled a bucket of specimens down the mountain to my car, then I met with Brian at his hotel and went to dinner at the Sizzler for seafood night, I saw food and I ate it !. I got back to the Ray in the dark and donned my headlamp to find my way back up the mountain. Armed with a couple of cold Heinekin's and some reading material, I was set for the night. Throughout the evening the local coyotes sung a chorus of different tunes to keep me amused (and awake). At dawn I awoke to the sound of buckets clanking together as someone made their way up the mountain, I looked out to see Thomas Davis making his way up the trail. Thomas is the only one who can beat John D. to the mine.
Early morning.
I got dressed and put on a pot of coffee to wake up,
Pot of coffee.
I was just about to break down and eat my usual breakfast of champions (poptarts) when Brian showed up for the days dig, my good friend Brian brought me a nice hot sausage biscuit from Mc D's, did I mention what a great friend Brian is!
Brian, ready to rockhunt.
Brian and I hiked up to see what Thomas was into, then we went back downstream to collect for a while, as the day wore on many members showed up to join in the fun, Andrea Davis, Thomas and Danya Davis, Bob Taylor from South Carolina and his friend and new M.A.G.M.A. member Pete.
Pete and Bob Taylor.
Two members of the Gaston County Club also joined us. Around 1:00 we were joined by my friend Bill Miller and Alex Glover and some of their Geology group, they had heard that we were going to be there and decided to come and visit. For those who don't know Bill and Alex, they are two of the most friendly and knowledgable Geologists in Western North Carolina, I always get advice from them for some of my radio show material and they are always willing to help id minerals for rockhounds in the area.
Bob Taylor found this nice beryl in matrix.
I talked with Bill briefly about some of the rarer minerals found at the mine, He and Curtis Allen (our M.A.G.M.A. member) have a new geo paper out on the Ray which describes some of these minerals. While the fluorite, monazite and zircon, just to mention a few were rare at one time, they are now easily found in the creek area, Thomas and I both found excellent specimens of purple, pink, blue and the chlorophane fluorite, all of which Bill said have been documented from this mine in the past.
Fluorite ?, Thomas Davis.
Chlorophane fluorite, Thomas Davis.
Beryl, Thomas.
If you want to hunt for the microminerals , and oddball material, hunt up near the top of the creek where the mine dumps start, in the past month we have found every type of fluorite there, zircon, monazite, amazonite, thulite, lepidolite, apatite, kyanite, sphalerite and Curtis even found specimens of the rare hafnon zircon. Personally i'm still adding the big beryls to my collection, but i'll pick up the other stuff as I see it, there is plenty there for everyone!
Victory tourmaline.
This tourmaline resembles the material found at the Crabtree Mine.
Tourmaline on mica book.
Gem beryl, 1.75" x .5".
Fluorescent fluorite and elbaite tourmaline in matrix with muscovite mica.
Closeup of fluorite and elbaite.
Aqua in matrix.
I accidentally left this bowl of beryl sitting on the kitchen counter, when I woke up this morning I poured in some milk and started to have breakfast, after two or three bites I realized that the Captian Crunch was crunchier than usual !!! just kidding 8^).
As always another great weekend with great friends!
