Register Here

Friday night June 21st through Sunday, June 23rd. 

This is a two part trip. Either one or both parts can be attended. 

Trip leader: Don Wilcox - Don.W@maplewoodrockclub.com

This trip is to an overnight trip to Omak, Washington (Saturday) and Republic, Washington (Sunday). We will meet Friday night in Omak, Washington. One or two hotel choices will be announced with costs. We will work to get a group rate. 

Class 2

Saturday morning We will have a group breakfast, then drive 6 miles north to Riverside and meet the mine owner at the park in Riverside by the general store at 9 AM. We park at the base of a fairly large hill. We walk up an easy gravel road. The mine owner brings a truck to haul back down our finds. The mine is an open pit that is excavated regularly to expose more material there and in the adjacent wall. 

Thulite (sometimes called rosaline) is an opaque, massive pink manganese-bearing variety of the mineral zoisite. Manganese substitutes for calcium in the structure with up to two percent Mn2+. Thulite is often mottled with white calcite and occurs as veins and fracture fillings transecting many types of rock. In mineralogical literature, thulite may sometimes refer to any pink zoisite. The mine owner charges $1/pound for materials we take home. 

We will eat lunch around noon and then we caravan to another quarry about 10 miles away to get zebra rock, serpentine, and soap stone. Zebra rock is a mixture of Quartz and Basinite, occurring in zebra type patterns. The charge for materials taken here is 50 cents/pound.

We should wrap up around 3 PM. Some may wish to drive back to the Seattle area. Others may wish to stay a second night in Omak and drive back on Sunday. It is my understanding that Highway 2 will have major construction most of the year, so Highway 90 may be a better option. An update will be posted closer to the field trip date.

Sunday: 

Class 1

Some of us will head 60 miles northeast to Stonerose Interpretive Center and Ecocene Fossil Site in Republic, Washington. It is located at the intersection of Highways 20 and 21 in Northeasten Washington. 

We will meet here at 10 AM and dig until about 1 or 2 PM. The street address is 15-1 North Kean Street in Republic. www.stonerosefossil.org

Digging permits range from $3 to $5 per person and tools are available for rental at $4 per set. 

800-204-4800

 

Ask for Maplewood Rock and Gem Club Corporate Rate

$57.50 Basic Queen Bed (no microwave or fridge)

$62.50 Queen Bed with fridge and microwave

$72.50 King Bed with fridge and microwave

Register Here