General Field Trip List
LaFarge Quarry - (fossils, quartz, calcite)
Margaret Hastings - Fonda, NY - (herkimer diamonds)
Schoharie Quarry - (fossils)
Batchellerville, NY - (beryl, radioactive material)
Gilsum Rock Swap and Sale, Gilsum, NH - on your own
Barrus Ledge - (indicolite tourmaline)
October - Walworth Quarry - Walworth, NY - on your own (fluorite)
For travel times...basically go to maps.google.com and put in your address and then the address of where you are going to get the time. We tend to try to meet as close to the location for collecting as possible to avoid large caravans. Leave extra time to get to your locations. Excuses such as you forgot to get gas, you hit roadwork, etc won't work for you, cause if you are late, we will be gone. If we are at a quarry, mine, or other private property location and you find your own way in, you will be in direct violation of club policy and will be punished.
Please
read the safety manual you got with your membership. You should have your club card with you on field trips to prove to the leader that you are indeed a member of our club.For all trips...field trip leader is your boss. If you have questions, ask them.
Expect
to get dirty. Wear old clothes. Long pants. wear layers so as you get hot, you can take stuff off. bring: Bug spray, suntan lotion, water, snack or lunch. No bathrooms on most
trips. Have a full tank of gas to start. bring a camera take pictures, and email them to the club website...I'll add them to the photos...for most field trips if it looks like rain, bring raingear, otherwise call the field trip leader to see if the trip is still on.
Mohawk Trip -
mostly river rocks...the Mohawk River's dam is still down or up, so we get to see the bottom of the river...the current is swift enough that we get new stuff each year. Need sturdy shoes with ankle support. water shoes if you want to cross the stream. 5 gallon bucket, can pick stuff up by hand, or hammer and chisel off a bigger rock depending on what you see or want. Must walk up and down steep (sometimes slippery) incline to get to collecting location and across parking lot. collect river stones. In the past I've gotten cool garden rocks, granite, garnet rock, fossil rocks,labradorite rock. Meet at the Amsterdam toll booth parking lot for trailers just beyond the toll booth off I-90. 10am
Fonda Trip - club claim. Meet at ice cream stand across from the car racing place in Fonda, NY at 10am. The Fonda Trip are public places. Anyone can go to Fonda. However, only club members can go to the club claim at Fonda. Also, you cannot enter anyone else's claims either, or Linda will ban you from Fonda (Margaret Hastings). Bring: little red wagon, old T-shirt or rag to stuff into hole, 5 gallon bucket,
rake, sieve, chisels, hammer, cultivator rake. Can dig through dirt to get crystals, or work the wall and break rock til you find a pocket. Must walk from car to collecting location...collect herkimer diamonds in hard rock.
LaFarge Quarry Ravena, NY trip, you will need OSHA safety equipment. Hardhat, safety glasses, gloves, preferably steel toed boots (or hiking boots), fluorescent vest. If you forget these things, you can not go to the quarry, no matter how far you drove...unless a friend can lend them to you. If you are in trouble with equipment, tell
the field trip leader, not the quarry people. 5-gallon bucket. Can basically drive to location. Driving in quarry...high clearance for undercarriage of car better...low clearance watch for ditches and rocks, drive slowly...hope you don't kill your oil can. The LaFarge quarry is a large quarry. It is important that you stay with the group and not wander off on your own. If you feel you need to wander off, ask the leader or quarry person. If they say no, don't do it. There may be large mining vehicles (they have the right of way). Collecting is mostly quartz and calcite crystals. Some fossils. Most on
limestone. You will need large or small sledge hammer, chisels. or you could probably just walk around and pick up some off the ground. They have blasted for us in the past.
Not sure if they will do this before we go, or if we will be working off the old blast section. Rock saws are allowed.
