Spruce Ridge 2009 Challenge

In the winter of 2008 a group of us began planning a mining trip to the famed Spruce Ridge Claim in Washington State. This claim is famous for the wonderful quartz crystal and pyrite specimens that are obtained here. Many times the two minerals come in association with each other in very aesthetic and highly valuable combination plates. Also associated minerals such as baryte and ankerite may be present. Pyrite can be found in association or as single or multiple dodecahedrons in excess of 5 inches. Trips were limited to 8 people at a time and reservations were hard to come by.

This year the possibility of making the trip was in question due to a number of reasons. One was that the severe winter storms had washed out the bridge crossing the Talyor River. This left access to the claims quite problematic.

The second reason was that the patented mining claim had been turned into a LLC and the new owners needed to approve any trips that had been scheduled.
The access issue was solved in three ways.
1 Walk the twelve miles in.
2 Mountain bike the twelve miles.
3 Ride a quad in if you owned one.

For three of the four in my immediate party we chose the option of riding our mountain bikes in. The fourth member of our group elected to hitch a ride on the quad used to transport out equipment. For myself I reasoned that since I had ridden about 10 miles almost every day the ride would be a piece of cake. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! In fact it turned out to be very difficult.

Of the other 4 participants on this trip one walked the entire 12 miles in. (way to go Rowann!) and the other three teamed up on a quad of their own and rode in.

This trip was also unique in that it was the last fee digging trip to the Spruce Ridge Claim. The claim has been sold and transfered to a LLC partnership.

So, come along and enjoy the 2009 Spruce Ridge Challenge!

Bridge to nowhere

This is the end of the line as far as automobiles are concerned. As you can see the winter storms were really hard on things. Over 40 feet of this concrete bridge was washed out.

Perhaps Ben is thinking if he goes really, really fast he can make it. In truth everything had to be zip lined across the river.

Here we are zip lining my bike across the river. All of our packs and bikes and other gear were transported to the other side in this manner.

Ingenuity in action

Can we fit anything else on?? Fortunately Bob Jackson had arranged to have a quad on the other side of the river. It hauled all our heavy mining tools and packs for us. We "only" had to make the ride in with our camelbacks and whatever food we wanted along the way.

Avalanche!

In addition to the winter being really hard on the bridge it also played havoc with the logging road to the trail head. Our twelve mile ride was not only almost completly all uphill (both ways) but there were 18 avalanche chute run outs that we had to portage our bikes across. There was simply no way to ride across these boulder fields. Looking uphill one could see the path the avalanche took and it literally looked like a river of stone!! Incredible!

Scenics

In spite of the difficulty of the ride in there was plenty of spectacular scenery to distract us. Here, Ben and I are standing in front of a very impressive waterfall on Dingford Creek. Dan is behind the camera lens. Enjoy these next few shots.

Other highlights were abundant wildflowers and the crystal clear river which accompanied us on part of our ride.

Dan posing in front of a very scenic portion of the falls.

After completing our bike ride to the trail head we bedded down for the night and woke to some pretty heavy fog that was precipitating off the trees. The good thing was it wasn't hot. The downside was that pictures were hard to take. The flash just reflected off the fog and any motion appeared as a blur.

The hike in was a real adventure. While only about 1/2 mile in duration there is almost a 1,000 foot gain in elevation.

We are talking VERY steep terrain. There were four or five portions of the trail that had climbing ropes to assist the hiker. A fall here would be a disaster!!

All non essentials were left at the trail head. We only took our mining tools, supplies for wrapping and packaging what we recovered and food and water for the day.

Here I am on the fun part of the ledge switchback. It looks like I am posing for the picture but in reality I just stopped to catch my breath.

Here I am finishing up one of the rope assisted portion of the trail. As you can see,it's very steep. And, as one viewer put it, not a bad butt shot either.

Here is Dan negotiating part of the ledge portion of the trail. The first part involves a toe to toe walk on a ledge that is about 4 inches wide. It then makes a switch back to the wider portion you see here. One of the main problems is stepping on your tongue.

Here is one of the rope assisted portions of the trail. As you can see a tumble here would carry one a long ways.

Mining pictures

Here is a picture I took by placing my camera up inside a vug and using the flash. One can see quartz crystals lining the insides of the vug. The challenge lies in removing the specimens without undue breakage or damage to the crystals. Also the limited visibility and tight working conditions play a very big role. In spite of these difficulties we all brought home some very nice Spruce Ridge Specimens.

Rowann with a very nice plate freshly extracted from a vug.

Here is Dan working hard at removing a nice piece from a small vug. Dan is a veteran of quite a few Spruce Ridge trips. He knows what he is doing and has a beautiful display cabinet to prove so.

Bob Jackson up to his neck in a vug and Russ showing what he pulled out after Bob left the hole!

Here is a group effort at opening up a new vug. BTW, I am offering verbal encouragement and technical advice in this picture.

Here I am with a nice quartz pyrite combination fresh from the vug. Happy smiles!!!

Bath time!!

Here are a couple of specimens with the typical before and after pictures. Specimens from Spruce Ridge come out of the ground incredibly dirty and quite deceptive as to their true appearance.

Nothing like a good bath to pretty up both the mineral specimen or the miner. Sometimes both go too long without and suffer the stigma of being unattractive when in reality underneath all the dirt there is a hidden beauty just waiting to be seen.

The specimens at Spruce Ridge are mostly dirtied by various iron oxides and compounds. My cleaner of choice in this case is "Super Iron Out". This is a cleaner that is sold mainly to dissolve rust stains from toilet bowls. Since the crud on the specimens from Spruce is high in iron this is an excellent choice. Some of the harsher acids like oxalic and muratic will leave a yellow stain on the specimen that is incredibly hard to get rid of. In addition neutralising the other acids is always a problem.

Looking at these pictures it is almost hard to believe we are looking at the same pieces.

Specimens

Here is a partial grouping of some of the specimens I mined on this trip. Sizes range from about 2" x 2" to large cabinet sized pieces of 6" x 5 ". All are beautiful and unique in their own way. Minerals are primarily quartz crystal and pyrite in all of their forms but some pieces also have secondary minerals such as Ankerite and Baryte on them. The quartz presented itself in a wide range of habits. Crystals with single terminations were common but there were also scepter and doubly terminated crystals present. The pyrite occured primarily as doctehedrons. Some were very large but much consideration was given as to their weight before wrapping them and placing them in the backpack to be transported out.

Loose points

In addition to the many fine specimens we took home there was an abundance of facet grade loose points to be found. My only regret is that I didn't take more home. I would like to have a point with a pyrite inclusion in it to facet. Such an item would be both fascinating and extremely beautiful. However, in searching the loose points I brought home I didn't find any suitable for such a project and I am not about to break up one of my plates to obtain one. However, I will facet some fine gemstones from the points I did bring home.

Thanks

In closing, the memories of this trip will last a lifetime. Not only were some great specimens obtained but the whole trip was an adventure from start to finish. Early on we all dealt with the disappointing news that we might not be able to make the trip at all. The complications of the road situation made it look doubtful that it would happen. For me personally the financial aspect was daunting due to my new status as unemployed from my regular job.

The difficulties involved in getting to this remote site also proved a challenge for all of us. However,we each rose to the challenge and found a solution in our own way. When all was said and done we all came away with some great specimens and our own unique memories of the trip. New friends were made and old friendships made stronger.

And so, the Spruce Ridge 2009 Challenge resides proudly in our specimen cabinets and memories. Thanks to all of the participants for their camaraderie and help. Bob Jackson for making this final trip for fee diggers possible and to the Creator for placing such objects of beauty in the Earth.