Pictured Rocks Hike -- Post 1

My exercise routine has been interrupted by the busy summer schedule. However, on Sunday hiking friend Wendy and I decided to drive to Melstrand and hike the Chapel Loop. The sign says the entire loop, including Mosquito Falls, is around 9.8 miles. We did a couple of side hikes so the total was around 10 miles. Although we were glad to see the parking lot, we both faired well.

Over the next few days, I'll take you on the hike with us. I'll post the photos in the order they were taken. The first picture was taken on the six mile drive north of Melstrand to the Chapel area parking lot. I just love the birch trees along this section of road.



Once we put on our day packs and grabbed our hiking poles, we headed north on the trail to Chapel Falls. This trail is 1.3 miles to the falls. A map is below. The red line marks our entire route. The first section features in this posting is marked in purple.



Here is a shot taken about half way between the parking area and Chapel Falls.



You don't see Chapel River until you get close to the falls.




Here are two shots of the falls. One was taken on the southeast side before crossing the river. The second shot was taken from a platform located northwest of the falls.

New Agates for the Museum

Usually I try to limit the number of new mineral specimens I purchase for the museum to one or two a year. That rule was thrown out the window at Moose Lake. I decided I needed to get a high quality example of a new agate from Brazil as well as some Argentina agates.

This nearly 12 pound agate from Brazil completely blew me away. It was found buried in the Jequitinhohna River in Minas Gerais, Brazil during the 1970s. Apparently the sands of the river are diamond bearing. After the agate eroded free of its host rock, it ended up in this river. The diamond bearing sands in the river naturally polished the agate.




Next are photos of the Argentina agates I purchased from Ana De Los Santos. They include a Condor Agate, Puma Agate, and Snow Agate.





The photographer for the book, Tom Shearer, and I traded some specimens. He gave me this outstanding Polyhedroid Agate from northern Brazil. Scientists think that these agates formed in voids between calcite crystals.



Finally, for you Grand Marais lovers here are a couple of shots of a sunset taken from the south side of Grand Marais Bay.

Moose Lake Agate Days -- Post 2

This year sales in my booth were the best yet. Things were looking a little sparse in the booth on Sunday. I had a request from a friend to take a photo of my booth -- here it is.



Later on Sunday I snapped this picture from my corner of the gym. Sunday's are always a bit more manageable relative to the number of people who attend. Saturday was not as bad this year as last, but it was still nuts.



Moose Lake is all about the agates. There were LOTS of Lakers for sale, as well as many other types of agate and minerals.



One guy was selling basalt matrix with embedded agates.



Of course there were big agates for sale.



I met and spent a little time with Ana De Los Santos. Although she now lives in California, she is part owner of the Argentina agate mines. She spends a couple of months each year mining agates and a lot of time cutting and face polishing. It is nice to have another woman working in the industry.



One of the highlights of Moose Lake Agate Days is the stampede at 2:00 pm. Because of the popularity of this event and the thousands of people who participate, this year the organizers doubled the size. Two gravel trucks dumped rock along two city blocks. In the gravel there was 500 pounds of agate as well as $400 in quarters. Everyone has to stay behind the yellow police ribbon until the cannon goes off. Then it is a free for all.






I'm not sure how this rockhound felt about the event.

Moose Lake Agate Days -- Post 1

I returned home from the Moose Lake, MN Agate Days show last night. Thanks to selling the new agate book, it was the best show I have ever had. I drove the eight hours last Thursday so that I could set up at the AmericInn on Friday. This is an informal tail gate show that takes place the day before the actual Moose Lake show starts. Thanks to help from the Phillips family, my booth was set up Friday by 10:30 a.m. After dropping off a book order at Moose Lake State Park, we headed over to the AmericInn. We arrived just after noon and I sold books out of the back of my car untl around 5:00 p.m. Jill and her son-in-law Eric and grand daughter Sevie are shown here helping to sell the new agate book.




Here are a couple of shots of the tail gating.




Terry Roses, owner of Fragments of History in Duluth, loves agates that look like images. It doesn't take much of an imagination to see the clown image in this agate.




Terry had a table set out. I really liked this moss agate.



The photographer for the new agate book, Tom Shearer, showed off some of the incredible petrified wood that he and his wife, Sandy, found on a recent trip to the Dakotas.



Eric Powers had a table set up at the AmericInn. He figured that I would be there, too. He brought with him one of the agates that he allowed us to use for the new agate book. This agate is pictured as Figure 146 in the book.




After packing up at the AmericInn, we headed back over to the campground to eat dinner. Then we drove over to Carlton County to agate hunt in our friend's gravel pit for a couple of hours.

Agates and Flowers

It has been a crazy week. The museum has been very busy, plus I've been spending a lot of time shipping out the new book. Other than the boxes I have in the car that I'm taking to the Moose Lake Show, there are only ten boxes left of the 48 boxes I picked up a couple of weeks ago! I'll probably have to take another run down to Holt to pick up some more!

I have also been busy making product. Here is the latest batch of agate plates.



A couple of years ago local summer resident Carol Rowe and friends hired me to take the agate rockhounding class. Carol was a great student and is now an accomplished agate hunter. I'll have more photos of her latest finds on my next web page update, but here is one of her agates front lit and back lit.




After a front came through last night, the sun is again shining. Here is a shot of sun rise this morning from my yard.



I don't have a lot of perennial flowers and hope to add more in the years to come, but here are a couple of shots of a hollyhock and bee balm. This is also the first year I've planted pole beans instead of bush beans in my garden. I'm going to enjoy watching the beans climb their way up the poles.

More Photos from the Dunes

Things this week are busier than normal as I've been trying to make product for the Moose Lake show. I did take a little time to get in one hike in the dunes, however. The recent rains have caused flowers to bloom and mushrooms to grow in the dunes. Here are a couple of mushrooms. The yellow ones almost look more like flowers. They were growing in one of the wooded sections. The little brown mushroom was right in the middle of the sandy section of the dunes.




Here is a shot of one of the dunes on the south side, near our access point across from the overlook on Sable Lake.



If you look close you can see a standing telegraph pole in the top center of the photo.



Here is a shot of hiking partner, Wendy, on top of a dune.



There are some shots that I take repeatedly, including this great angle of Au Sable Point.



The Milkweed is in bloom all over the dunes.