Burt Township School Forest Hike

The other day my friend, Helen, was in town.  Even though it was in the mid-30s with a mix of snow and rain, we decided to go for a hike in the school forest.  We parked at the bridge and walked to the Lake Superior bluff at Goebel Beach.  We are not yet acclimated to the cold weather, but we dressed properly and had a marvelous hike.

We were around a third of the way when Helen spotted this Barred Owl resting on a low branch around 100 feet to our right.  Thanks to my zoom lens I was able to get a photo.

I have not been to this bluff for quite a while.  The erosion is unbelievable.

On the way back, the owl was still in the same place.

South Dakota Rocks Purchased from a Closed Rock Shop

While in South Dakota, my friend, Sharon, received a phone call from one of her friends, Ed, who I also know.  Ed asked Sharon to hand her phone to me.  He then proceeded to tell me about a decades old rock shop that went out of business last year.  I met with one of the co-owners, Bill, to survey the inventory for sale.  There were huge petrified wood sculptures, piles of rough minerals for sale in the five acre yard, a museum, and a rock shop.  Everything was for sale.  We ran out of daylight after the scheduled appointment, so Sharon and I went back a few days later.  It was a tight squeeze to pack everything in my car, but I am glad I did.

One of the boxes of minerals I purchased was filled with Royal Aztec agate from Durango, Mexico.  This material was mined many decades ago.  The blue/purple color is awesome.  The first photo below is the specimen I am keeping.

Satin spar....

Sharon bought a bunch of Mexican Laguna agate.  I traded a piece of the Royal Aztec for the following double chamber Laguna agate slab.

Wonderstone Jasper from Utah....

Old stock Mexican Crazy Lace agate...

Bumble gum/Indian Eye agate from South Dakota.....

I bought 125 pounds of whole Brazilian agate nodules....

Septarian slabs from Utah...

Arizona petrified wood slabs, polished on one side.....

I did buy two Fairburn agates from Bill's museum.  The top one is polished; the bottom is rough.  Yes, they were expensive, but you do not get a chance very often to buy old stock Fairburns.

Prairie agates from South Dakota....

More bubble gum/Indian eye agates, some polished.....

South Dakota Rocks and Minerals including Fluorescence

 For the heck of it, I brought two 365 UV flashlightsng with me to South Dakota.  One evening Sharon and I headed back to the White river at dark.  We hung a light on a bush to mark the location of the cow paths so we could find the truck.  Once we reached the rocky dry river bed, I turned my UV light on.  At first I thought there was broken green glass everywhere.  Then I realized that every green fluorescent object was a chalcedony agate.  Some of the petrified wood fluoresced orange.  There was also some fluorescent chert and calcite.  We had fun!

First I will show the fluorescence.  I will begin with a cool specimen of petrified wood.

Chalcedony seam agates....

I discovered that some of the specimens had phosphorescent minerals in the seams.  Under fluorescence the electrons in some minerals get excited by a certain wavelength and jump away from the nucleus.  The nucleus pulls another electron down to fill the empty electron shell, which releases energy as visible light.  Under phosphorescence, the electrons take their time moving back down so the specimen continued to glow for a couple of seconds.

Petrified wood....

More chalcedony agate....

Chalcedony and petrified wood under normal light.

Chalcedony agate.

Back lighting to show translucency....

Botryoidal agate...

Petrified wood.

Chalcedony.

Petrified wood.

I found one piece of rose quartz.

Chalcedony seam agate.

Petrified wood.

I found a couple of pieces of this very blue chalcedony.

Another botryoidal agate with front lighting and back lighting.

Colorful seam agates.

Chalcedony.