Diggin-In at the 72nd Annual Gem-O-Rama

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
About 5 years ago, Cindy and I were watching a show on the Discovery Channel called Dirty Jobs and, in one particular episode, the host Mike Rowe went out to Trona, CA to help setup the annual Gem-O-Rama show put on by the Searles Lake Gem and Mineral Society. Since that time, we've always wanted to get out there and participate in the event but was never able to find the time, or at least, not up until now. Thanks to our good friends Tony and Stephanie for reminding us about it this year, we finally got a chance to get out in the muck and dig us some real gems. Here are some pics from our trip, I hope you enjoy.

Picked up some tools before heading out...
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On the road and on our way to Ridgecrest - our basecamp for the weekend...
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Here we are - at the 72nd Annual Gem-O-Rama!!
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Lining up and getting ready to head out on a "field trip" as they are called...
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Here's a map of the different areas we got to rock hound in...
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Moochie signing up for the field trips...
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Because the crystals we will be digging up are essentially a for of salt, you cannot clean them with regular water as doing so will dissolve them. So, we decided to pick up a few bottles of Searles Lake's finest brine...
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Getting ready to move out...
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Heading out on to the Searles Lake bed...
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Sights along the way to our digging grounds...
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Large bodies of water are magnets to migratory birds but, the evaporating pools here can be lethal to them and so great effort is made to keep them out of the waters. Here you can see one of many propane cannons that surround the area and fire periodically to scare them off...
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Making our final turn and getting ready to hand over our field trip ticket...
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And here we are - the Mud Dig!! What in the world did we get ourselves into...
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Time to park em and suit up...
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Time to get dirty and look for some Hanksite...
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Tony and I giving new meaning to going muddin...
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Stephanie holding up something that looks very promising...
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After collecting a bucket full of specimens, it's time to hit the wash troughs to see what you got...
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Well what do you know, there are crystals under all that muck...
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Here are a few of the nicer specimens that we'll be keeping for further cleaning back at home...
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Another shot across the mud fields as the crowds begin to thin out...
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Back at the Searles Lake Gem & Mineral Society waiting for the next field trip, we came across this beauty...
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At our next field trip destination - the Blow Holes...
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Unlike the Mud Dig where tons of mud is dug out from around the lake bed, trucked in and dumped into a digging area, the Blow Holes are literally holes that are drilled into the ground, blown up and then brine pumped out of it along with crystals such as Hanksite, Sulfohalite, Borax and Thenardite.
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Let's see what we can find...
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Getting ready to see a demonstration on how all the crystals are pumped out of the ground...
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Stand back everyone...
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After a long day of digging in the mud and rock hounding, we decided to make a trip out to the famous Trona Pinnacles...
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Time for a cold one at Schooners - CHEERS...
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More pics below...
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Sunday morning on our way out to the Pink Halite beds...
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View across the water...
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Time to get wet and dirty...
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Of all the field trips, this was required the most manual labor...
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This looks like a promising place to start digging...
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I'm so glad I brought a digging bar...
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Stephanie pulling up her first promising specimen...
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Here's one that Cindy pulled up...
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Shot of some flakey salt crystals forming on the surface of the water...
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Within a minute of pulling your hands out of the brine...
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Before calling it a day and heading out, we noticed these cool salt-cicles hanging from the rocks nearby...
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Before leaving the Searles Valley, we decided to make a stop over at the Trona Turtle and pose for a shot...
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Tessa wanted to be in on the fun too...
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The Gem-O-Rama always takes place on the second weekend of October and, if you have the time, I would highly recommend you get out there and get your hands dirty. It really is an experience of a lifetime and one that you get to take a little back home with you. :cool:
 

QRS

New member
Great pics, pretty sure you had a great time, I'll make sure to be there next year :D
 

RanchoRubi

Caught the Bug
Man, that is way cool:rock: I knew it was going to be a great adventure. Sorry I missed it. Thanks for sharing with us.
 

jeff_in_rc

New member
Looks like you had a great time, we saw you there as we passed on our way to Beatty NV.
We waved but you didn't see us, no problem, it's all good. :standing wave:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Holy cow!! This isn't something that we would have been able to find at the Gem-o-Rama... or, at least, I don't think so but, check it out!! This this was just auctioned off for $125,000 :shock:

purple-cube-crystal.jpg
 

StrizzyChris

New member
I suspect your final stop was at the car wash to hit the undercarriage? Don't miss how my old YJ looked back in Ohio from those salt covered roads!
 
Here are a few of the nicer specimens that we'll be keeping for further cleaning ba

Here are a few of the nicer specimens that we'll be keeping for further cleaning back at home...

Eddie, where's some photos of the cleaned up 'finds'??? The Cindy's Sunday finds came out clean and looked great, wished we were on that run..., but you left me / us hanging on seeing more. That bucket looked full!
 

Trail JK

Active Member
Sunday morning on our way out to the Pink Halite beds...


Stephanie pulling up her first promising specimen...
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Here's one that Cindy pulled up...
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The Gem-O-Rama always takes place on the second weekend of October and, if you have the time, I would highly recommend you get out there and get your hands dirty. It really is an experience of a lifetime and one that you get to take a little back home with you. :cool:

Awesome finds!! [emoji41]

Looks like it's just around the corner.
 
Cool bump of this thread!

I miss living out that way terribly. I was working that weekend of the Trona GemORama and remember seeing you guys on 178 driving into town.
 
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