During August 2015 I took a trip the three gemstone localities in the Cascade Mountain of Washington. First I visited my friend Joe George's amethyst mine called Green Ridge. This hydrothermal breccia lies deep in the forest of the Alpine Lakes region. We spent 5 days repelling off cliffs in search of treasure.
Joe and I as we approach his amethyst mine, Green Ridge.
Next I visited my mine, Spruce Ridge. This mine is also a hydrothermal breccia and is located within steep cliffs about 5 miles away from Green Ridge, although it would take an entire day to walk there. The Spruce Ridge mine is famous for its quartz and pyrite crystal combinations but gemstone quality quartz and amethyst can also be collected here.
the Spruce Ridge Breccia as it looked in 2015.
The grand finale for this trip was a hike to the famed Vesper Peak garnet locality.This was an epic trek to end an incredible adventure. We started at daybreak and hiked 6 miles, climbing 4,200 feet in elevation to reach the deposit. This deposit is a scary type and it has not been professionally worked since the 1980's. However, we were able to work the remaining boulders and sift the dump in search of specimens and loose gemstones. The garnets here are cinnamon is color, highly lustrous and gems. They re also interesting crystallographically because they express cube face, which is very rare in the world of garnets. The garnets are often perched on a dark green mineral called hedenbergite.
Sunset above the Vesper garnet locality.
This is the whole of the garnet mine. Most of this image is the pile of boulders created during historic mining.
Some of the garnets that were recovered during my Vesper adventure.