Field Trip Report:
Recon trip to the Ray Mine
September 24th, 2004
As you know, we had to cancel our trip to the Ray Mine on the 18th due to the severe weather we had here in the mountains. I have rescheduled the trip for this coming week. I received several reports of the road being closed to the mine etc., I got an email from our MAGMA member Chris Moss, who said a couple of his friends had visited the mine with good success in the past few days, since the trip for our club is set for next week, me and John Deney decided to make a recon run to the area to see if we would be able to have the trip. After scouting the area, we found we will be able to have the club trip, we will have to take a few back roads to reach the site but we can get there. Here are a few pics of what we saw and found today at the Ray.
Part of Bolens Creek Road.
The parking area at the entrance to forest land is washed out.
Huge rocks washed into the road.
The creek at the Ray used to be a small stream, it now looks more like a river.
This waterfall is about 8 feet high, it was not here a month ago.
Hurricane Ivan has washed away material from the creek area that would have taken rockhounds 50 years to remove, it is ironic that the Forest Service closed the road to the mine and that one of the reasons was the silting of the creek. I'd say the hurricane silted the hell out of it.
It was an awesome sight to see just how much power water can have on an area, Ivan did leave a few treats for us when we got there.
My best crystal of the day a 4" x 1" perfect crystal.
Hex apatite crystal in matrix, these are rare at the Ray.
Same crystal under short wave UV.
This chubby fellow was perched on top of a rock in the middle of the creek.
We also found many nice crystals in matrix.
Tourmaline spray.
Same rock under short wave UV.
