Two Days in the Jade Fields near Jeffery City, Wyoming Fall 2014

The trip from Star Valley to Lander was uneventful. Now it was time to wait till my last doctors appointment before heading east and south for the winter. Of course I could have scheduled the doctors somewhere else, but Lander is near the jade fields and so we figured we could mix some pleasure into the week.
This year two friends, Barbara and Lynn were going to meet us for rock hounding and we were both pleased when they arrived safely and on time. The question always is, do we go to Agate Flats first or last? The reason for this is because good jade is extremely rare and hard to find. Normally Renita and I would search for jade before becoming frustrated and then go to Agate Flats, but we had talked it over and decided we would take the newbie rock hounds to Agate Flats. There they would have some success, (finding jade is kind of like finding gold, you have to put in your dues days before you finally acquire the skill/luck to find some quality jade).

So we headed to Agate Flats where Renita and I regaled them with our stories of Sweet Water agates, World War Two artifacts, horny toads and rattlesnakes, along with the pleasure of being out in the middle of nowhere. We stressed that the chances of seeing any rattlesnakes was minimal but it still is something to keep in mind when visiting Wyoming's high deserts.
Turning off the main road we drove down a four wheel drive track, finally stopping near where we had hunted agates last year. The goal for the morning was to find enough to fill our tumbler which we then polish and give away to kids at the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Show. Barb and Lynn were also planning on buying a tumbler and so we hoped they would find enough to fill its hopper.
 Heading down hill I walked for a while before finding my first agate and then another. Slowly but surely I filled both of my pockets before returning to the truck. Barbara and Lynn both showed up with a nice handful of agates! Renita had also had success and so we drove to another spot to eat lunch and get a few more agates for the polishers.

Next it was time for the mythical jade and so we drove back to Jeffery City before turning north to Beaver Rim. The first stop was a road curt where we had found snowflake jade in the past and everyone found some pretty rocks to put in the truck. Next we drove to the rim itself where we followed the power line, the site where we had found several slicks in a previous visit.
Not having much success, although I did find a very small jade slick, we decided we had had enough fun for the day and headed back to our base camp, (Lander). The next morning arrived, along with Barbara and Lynn and soon we were looking for Bull Canyon.

Now Renita and I had been to Bull Canyon in years past, but the roads had changed since the last time and we missed the turnoff. Also there has been some significant oil filed activity and road work and so Renita suggested we look along the recently bladed ditches.
We found lots of common opal and honey agate and Barbara actually found a cobble with small inclusions of high quality green jade. Renita had also found some sea oak petrified wood, definitely petrified wood anyway, Lynn found some green rocks that were almost jade, (you see these sold all the time as jade on EBay from people that don't know what jade really looks like). Lin did find a beautiful sample of pink feldspar with a crystalline band of fibrous serpentine.

Heading back to the power line and Beaver Rim we stopped and walked several stretches of the line but we didn't find any quality jade. I did find some snowflake and at least it allowed me to show Lynn and Barbara another example of good jade versus the quartz crystals that fill in the snowflake.
Driving along Beaver Rim we stopped and had lunch before the afternoon jade hunt began. Li\ynn did find a nice piece of snowflake jade with some interesting inclusions that were perhaps pink jade/ thulite.
We were all tired, by this time, and so we headed back to Lander. As we passed through Jeffery City however, the Mad Potter's pottery shop, in Jeffery City was actually open.  Barbara had wanted to look at his art work, (she owns and operates Raven Lunatic Art Gallery in Alpine, Wyoming). At first no one was around but Byron spotted us form the bar and walked over to answer our questions about his unique pieces.
Barbara bought a piece of his work and wishing him well, we headed back to our base camp. Everyone was tired as we moved their rock from our truck to their car. It had been a successful couple of days, days filled with pleasure and hope as we walked the desolate, barren, but beautiful high desert of the Granite Mountains. Clear skies