[Rockhounds] Adirondack Mountains Trip Report

Mon Jul 20 18:45:35 PDT 2009

Carolyn,

The problem of the commons is an old one. Finding the balance between 
access and preservation is not easy. The Federal government moved a 
town and built a railway in violation of NY's constitution because they 
needed titanium for the war effort. I hope the Federal government stays 
out of the NY experiment that is the Adirondack Park.

Yes, it is convenient to drive to a spot and collect. Unfortunately, 
the convenience makes it easier for some jerk to come along and rape 
the collecting site for personal gain. Adding a half mile hike is not a 
big deal for the normal collector, but it certainly protects the site; 
ten miles may be excessive, or a good idea.

You are lucky to live near a valuable wilderness area. I hope my 
children's children will appreciate it as we do today. We need to live 
in harmony with our planet if we are to survive. Rockhounding helps us 
understand our planet.

Kreigh

On Sunday, Jul 19, 2009, at 09:37 America/Detroit, Carolyn Reynard 
wrote:

> Keigh, I enjoyed your Adirondack Mountains report. I live just a few 
> hours
> south in the Mid-Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie.
> There is one meadow east of Lake Placid that appears to be the base of 
> some
> of the Adirondack high peaks. For me that site has some of the wonder 
> I feel
> upon looking at the Rockies Front Range. I am originally from Kansas 
> and
> having a geologist father we traveled every summer I can remember as a 
> kid
> to Colorado  or Wyoming.
>
> Yes, the Adirondack Park is well protected. There are some interesting
> collecting  areas outside the Park.I have become more of an advocate of
> protection after looking at a site in Bancroft Canada called the York 
> Skarn.
> The first time about eight years ago, the hillside was covered with 
> calcite,
> some blue, spessertine garnet, diopside, etc. a skarn.  A beautiful 
> site.
> The area now is protected but too late. Last year we visited again 
> only to
> find nothing of the skarn only smooth bedrock as if the rock had been 
> licked
> clean, every crumb of a mineral gone. There is another area in 
> Wilberforce,
> Canada, a fluororichterite site. It is a small exposure at road side. 
> Two
> years ago it was a good sized mound of calcite and fluororichterite
> crystals. It was difficult to collect using the usual hammer and 
> chisel, but
> one was able to collect a medium sized specimen. Last year we visited 
> the
> site to find  a collector had taken a saw and drill to the mound and 
> had
> collected a large amount. I felt it has been vandalized just for the 
> sake of
> mineral sales.
>
> I am a serious mineral field collector, an artist and a protector of 
> the
> environment and I do purchase minerals. It is very troublesome that 
> there
> are collectors who raid a site. Leave some for others to enjoy. It is a
> difficult balance, I know.
>
> Carolyn Reynard
> Feldspar Collector
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kreigh Tomaszewski" <Kreigh at Tomaszewski.net>
> To: "Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem 
> collectors"
> <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2009 1:57 AM
> Subject: [Rockhounds] Adirondack Mountains Trip Report
>
>
>> I got home tonight, as the sun set, from a 13+ hour drive from NY and
>> am (still) trying to unwind. I'm downloading 22K+ email messages
>> (mostly spam) for the third time (volume crashes computers). Trying
>> (again, #@%$!) to share my trip report...
>>
>> We left early last Sunday morning and drove almost 15 hours from Grand
>> Rapids (MI) to Raquette Lake (NY) - bad traffic in Canada - and 
>> finally
>> got our tent set up at the Brown Tract Pond Campsite before dark.  I
>> can highly recommend the campsite (but you need to take bear
>> precautions).
>>
>> Monday we drove about an hour to Garnet Hill, near Ruby Mountain, to
>> collect at the Hooper Garnet Mine. The local ski resort allows parking
>> for the mine and the other public lands hiking trails. I brought down
>> two small pack loads of garnet specimens down the half mile hike from
>> the mountain top mine.  It was a step above collecting at the nearby
>> Barton Mine for a fee.
>>
>> Tuesday we hiked to various waterfalls. I was camping with one of my
>> sisters, who climbs mountains for a hobby.
>>
>> I injured my back the week before the trip (enlarged disk) and had to
>> limit my activity. Wednesday we hiked from Brown Pond to Raquette 
>> Lake.
>> My sister went on to a local mountain and had a knee problem.
>>
>> Thursday we decided to limit our activity, avoid the rain, and try to
>> find the Opalescent River, where Labradoirite can be collected.  We
>> found one specimen down-stream in the Hudson River, but did not find
>> access short of a 7 mile hike (one way).
>>
>> But Thursday did find Tahawus;
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahawus,_New_York. It was a _very_ good
>> day collecting.  I regret not making a second trip; my back is still
>> very sore from what I carried out.
>>
>> Friday we visited the "Great Camp" Sagimore, and learned about where
>> the words 'vacation'  and 'recreation'  came from.  I highly recommend
>> the tour. We share the 'commons' as we experience the 'wilderness'
>> during our collecting trips. The nominal fee was wel worth the hours 
>> of
>> the tour.
>>
>> We all need to learn from from the experiment of the Adirondack
>> Mountains. The NY constitution  preservers the pard as wilderness
>> forever. If there is a bigger protected  park I am not aware of it.
>>
>> I had a great collecting trip.  I have had much to think about. It has
>> been a great vacation! I got to escape the normal and do something 
>> very
>>   different.
>>
>> Kreigh
>>
>> -- 
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