Sept 7th: O’toole Creek Mt Baker Rock & Gem Club field trip on the South Skagit Hwy. I propose a 10AM meeting point at REI on southside Bellingham to carpool to the site. I think there is only room for around 5 vehicles. I will have maps to the area and samples of material to be found.
Material to collect: There is a large iron deposit in this area that extends to the other side of the Skagit river to Hamilton area. The guide books list the material as Hematite. However, is strongly magnetic so I suspect Magnetite-Hematite combo. Hematite is only slightly magnetic when heated. There is a large amount of this black rock to be found the last time I was here a couple of years ago. I filled 5 gallon bucket in less than 1/2 hr.
Rockhound tools, etc: Bring boots since you will have to cross the stream in spots. A magnet would be handy also. Eyewear if you want to break any larger rocks.
I use a Harbor Freight magnet with about a 30″ handle which makes it easy to identify the magnetite. Almost anything dark colored in the creek seems to be this material. There is also some Serpentine and Jade in the nearby creeks (like Gilligan) we might also stop at. This is an easy newby rockhound trip for anyone to find magnetic rocks. Please respond here that are you are interested in this trip so I can get an idea of how many people to plan for. I believe we also have a preliminary date of Oct 6th for Rosario Beach field trip.
~Michael L