Looking for Jasper

Hi everyone, wanted to share our hiking trip into the hills behind Cave Creek to hunt for a new stone for us called Jasper. It is a beautiful purple red stone that makes lovely jewelery. Cave Creek is north of Phoenix. We went with two other couples and two men who are all rock hounds. They were gracious enough to agree to not leave until after my exercise class Thursday morning. We were all on the road by 0930 hours this past Thursday. It took us about a hours drive up and around Phoenix to arrive in Cave Creek. We parked at the fence boundary of the regional park and then began our hike. It was a gorgeous warm day so beautiful for both hiking and seeing new country. You will notice in pictures, the lack of saguaro and barrel cacti in this part of the country and this is because we are out of the valley and the Sonoron desert and up in what the call the "high" desert.

Sharon & Ann stopping to discuss a rock on the way up the hillside

Doug is heading off up the hillside looking for chunks of Jasper

These are some of our pieces of Jasper, the closest one with stripes of white granite in it

 

 

Looking down at some of the expensive homes built into the hillsides

 Looking out over Cave Creek and towards Phoenix in the background

Doug finally coming back down off the hill with his prize rocks

We are having a much needed snack break as it was getting pretty warm

You have to look carefully before you sit as lots of cholla cacti around and could be painful

As usual, we all picked up pounds and pounds of rocks and then had to haul it probably a 45 minute hike back to our vehicles down the mountainside often not even on a trail! Now I must take the credit and say it was my idea to find a stick to put between the bucket handle to make it easier to carry our rocks back down the hill. I couldn't convince anyone else to try it and as a result, Doug and I had the most comfortable trip back! I will also say: Doug also filled my backpack with rocks so I was carrying twice as much as him!

A very effective way to carry a heavy load!

Once Doug & I got back to our vehicle, I hiked back to help Trent carry his rocks as he was struggling to get back as his hands were cramping from carrying the bucket.

We found some beautiful stones and I can't wait to see what they are like once Doug cuts them

These are just a few of the rocks Doug has found and cut this winter

During our trip before this one, Ann and I decided we wanted some small barrel cacti to plant in planters so we rescued a few and brought them home from the desert. We were lucky there we no patrols out that day as I am sure we would of received at least a $1000 fine if we were caught. We only took cacti that were growing precariously on rock that likely had a short lifespan. Does it sound like I am rationalizing what we did?

My little barrel cactus at the front of our site

 My bigger barrel cactus with my Christmas poinsettia at the back of our site

We ended our Cave Creek jasper rock hunt by all going to the Smokehouse Pub in the old town of Cave Creek and having a few beers (we were parched!) and a wonderful meal. On the way home, Doug and I stopped in and visited with our friends Don & Kathy Cook from Lincoln Nebraska who are staying in a RV Resort in Fort McDowell, just out of Fountain Hills. We had a beautiful drive home on the Bush Highway through the Usery Mountains in the dark with all the stars out and arrived home about 9:30pm. All and all a very enjoyable day!

Our next trip is going to be an abandoned gold mine back in the hills. Our ride "leader" Bruce has just got a map to it and you are supposed to be able to go about 50 feet into the mine where there are thick granite slabs that may still have a bit of gold attached to it. I have offered to be the mine opening guard as there is no way in *&@#$ you will get me going into an abandoned mine! Will post after we do that trip