Lone Pine Gem and Mineral Society Newsletter

November 2007

New York Canyon field trip

Editor's note: The following report was written by the field trip's leader, Paul Burdeno. Thanks, Paul.

On the blustery morning of October 20, eleven LPGMS participants rendezvoused at the Benton Cafe for a memorable fossil hunting trip into the Gabbs Valley Range near Luning, Nevada. The trip was almost derailed before it began when Caltrans closed US 395 due to blowing dust, trapping Francis and Francee, her sister Gayle Millard, and Carl and Dan Zellner on the wrong side of the barrier. Fortunately, the Highway Patrol soon had things moving again. With the group finally together, trip leader Paul Burdeno gave a quick briefing on what they would be looking for: 200 million year old, Jurassic and Triassic marine fossils.

The first stop, at the mouth of New York Canyon, is a classic ammonite collecting area in the Jurassic Sunset Formation. Paul led several participants up a steep slope to show them several ammonites in-situ, too fractured to remove and left in place as a teaching tool. Everyone who made the climb was rewarded with a few specimens. Roger examined nearby strata hoping to locate the Jurassic/Triassic boundary. The Gabbs Valley Range is one of the few places in the world where the boundary can be traced.

The expedition then moved one mile further up the canyon to explore a side gulley said to contain a wide variety of Triassic species in the Gabbs Valley Formation. A biting wind whipped the collecting area, at times throwing sand and dirt back into the faces of the diggers. Nonetheless, everyone was able to find brachiopods and pelecypods. Adan and Christina found the first well-preserved gastropod, and the day’s grand prize went to Linda, who discovered a perfect four inch, 3-dimemsional ammonite.

Back at the vehicles, the wind still howling, the group decided to forego the third fossil stop in favor of a “windshield reconnaissance” of some copper prospects further up the canyon. No one suspected that what lay ahead would be the most stunning surprise of the day. About a quarter mile beyond stop two, we rounded a corner and entered a small valley. On the hill some 200 yards in front of us a large group of animals was moving toward the ridgeline. They were large and had a distinctive white “toilet seat” bottom. Could they be pronghorns or possibly elk? The leader of the herd reached the skyline and turned in full profile to show a magnificent set of curled horns. Desert big horn sheep several voices said in unison. “I count 24”, said Linda. “25”, said Roger. As we watched the entire herd move along the sky line, four more big horns emerged from behind some nearby rocks and headed uphill as Paul Ermatinger clicked away with his camera. When the last of the animals had disappeared over the ridge we resumed our slow drive. Around the next corner we entered another small valley and stopped in our tracks. Dust rose into the air as the herd crossed the road in front of us. About half of the herd climbed the hill to our left while the remainder decided not to trust these human interlopers and stayed on the hill to our right. Eventually, we crept forward as quietly as possible, the 30 or so big horn arrayed along both ridgelines eyeing us like so many horseback warriors in an old-time movie. It’s an experience I’m sure none of us will ever forget.

Turquoise Mine field trip

Editor's note: This trip report comes to us from Francis and Francee Pedneau.

Thirteen intrepid members of our club went turquoise digging: Gayle Millard, Paul Ermatinger, Ray Ramirez, Jeff Lines, Don Warner, Jim Grandgeorge, Gary Mitchell, Cliff and Jeanette Nutcher, Karl and Dan Zellner, and Francis and Francee Pedneau We all gathered at the rest area west of Tonapah on Highway 6 Sunday morning, Oct. 22. Shortly after meeting we set off for the mine following field trip leader, Jeff Lines. After about twenty miles, some of it through really deep poofy dust (poofy is a technical geologist term), we arrived at the Royston Turquoise mine. In just a matter of minutes we were all digging for those blue nuggets. We found many. Ray found the biggest and best. Yeah Ray!!! After 3+ hours of digging we packed up and headed for the Varicite mine where, again, we were able to dig lots of great material. The weather was absolutely ideal. You can hear about the October 27th field trip to the same area, in our next newsletter.

Lone Pine Film Festival

Your club was represented at the Lone Pine Film Festival. Many thanks to Jim and Jackie, Roger, Dana, Alice, Ray, Francis, and Francee, who donated their time to man our booth. Our club booth did quite well, taking in $300 to $400. Also, we met and talked with many people. As a result, we have two new members: Todd Olson of Sun Valley, California, and Jonathan Cassell from Santa Cruz, California. Welcome Todd and Jonathan!

November meeting

We'll hold our November meeting on Monday, November 5th. at 6:30 in the Lo-Inyo Elementary School library. Ray is providing us with the evening's program. He has two DVDs for us to view: One is on the Benitoite mine and the other is on the geology of caves and caverns.

If you have free time before the meeting, join us for socializing and dinner at the Bonanza Restaurant at 5:15.

Union Wash field trip

Our planned upcoming field trip is to Union Wash to search for fossils. We meet Sunday, November 18th. at the parking lot on the north side of the El Dorado Bank in Lone Pine at 9:00 am. Ray will show us the new location for ammonites. You will need a high clearance vehicle to reach this location.

Help Wanted!!!

Besides serving as our president of our club, Francis has held down many other jobs that he would like relief from. He'd like to have new people taking over these responsibilities by the beginning of next year:

• Field trip chairman
• Federation director
• Membership chairman
• Film festival sales/club promotion chairman
• Insurance chairman
• Donations chairman
• Meeting location chairman

Please let Francis know if you can spare some of your time. Our club owes a great deal to Francis and all that he has done over the years. It's now time to split up some of the duties. Call Francis at 760-876-4319.

Crossword puzzles answers

This is the solution to last month's crossword puzzle that Ray put together for us. How did you do?

Contacting the editor

If you have material you want published in the newsletter, you can send it to me by email to newsletter@ AT lpgms.org. Text can be in any format. If you have images, attach them as jpgs to an email message sent to me. If you are using snail mail, you can reach me at:

Linda Jeffries
694 Tuttle Creek Rd.
Lone Pine, CA 93545

If you have any questions, you can call me at 760-876-1009. If you want to receive your newsletter by email only, send me your name and email address in an email message. You'll be saving a tree and your club some money.