McBride Creek and Succor Creek
Saturday my friend Jason and I went on another rock hunting adventure to McBride Creek and Succor Creek. It was not one of our most prosperous trips but still a not-so-good rock collecting trip is better than a good day at work.
I had put together a list of nine sites to visit the day before and was very excited about going to all of them despite knowing that this would be a daunting task. We left Nampa around 7:30 and headed out of town on highway 45. Along the way I pointed out the remains of a volcanic cinder cone that is on the right side of the road as you leave the farmlands and head down the hill towards Walters Ferry. Next we turned on to highway 78 and went past Givens Hot Springs where fire opal was once mined. From highway 78 we turned onto Sommer Camp Road which went by Hard Trigger, where thunder eggs can be found, Squaw Creek, where opal can be found, and Queen Stone, where Jasper can be found. We did not stop at any of these locations because we really wanted to get McBride creek and Succor Creek. From Sommer Camp Road we turned on to Highway 95 which would take us to the desires location where we started following my list.
The first location we stopped at around McBride Creek was a place where we could find jasper and petrified wood in a creek bed. We found a few small pieces there but nothing special. The water was still running hard in this stream so it might be a good place to return to later this summer when the stream is dry.
The next location was about a half mile away. The notes I had on this location stated that we could find petrified wood. We ended up hiking to the top of a hill where the GPS location indicated. Along the way we found only two pieces of wood, both were smaller than a finger nail. I did find a fragment of an obsidian arrow head but even that was not that impressive. At this point I also realized that I had left my camera at home. So not only was I not finding any materials to take home, I could not take pictures of the view to share on this blog. As we returned to the jeep we found a couple larger pieces of wood but nothing that made us want to take time searching for more.
The third location on the list was a red bog wood site. This site was about three to four miles off our path so we decided to skip it and go to Succor Creek Park to collect thunder eggs. This is the same location I wrote about a few weeks ago. This site is used by more than just rock hounds so along the way to the bed we were stopped by people asking what we were up to. I guess people carrying tools and five gallon buckets stand out. We explained that the area is well known for thunder eggs and that we were there to collect them. Once we reached the egg bed we met John and Steve who were also there to collect thunder eggs. These gentlemen were member of the Idaho Gem Club. We talked for a while about rock hounding and field trips that local clubs have. We continued collecting until both Jason and I had about a third of a bucket of eggs. This turned out to be the biggest haul for the day.
When we returned back to the jeep there was a couple that had a flat tire stopped in the park. Jason noticed that they did not have a big enough jack to change the tire so he took his jack and helped them out. Once they were done they could not figure out how to lower the jack. John and Steve returned and also took a look at the issue with the jack. It took almost 30 minutes to get the jack down and almost an hour for the whole event. At least now Jason will know how the jack works the next time he uses it.
Since it took so long to figure the jack out we decided to skip out next stop, another thunder egg location, and head to a site where opal could be found. We followed the GPS unit to where the location should have been but could not find anything. I had been to location once before and knew we were in the area but I still could not find it again. After searching for a while we decided that it was time to start heading home. I did have a few Jasper locations on the list but we were just too tired to continue.
On our way home we stopped at a dry creek bed and another hill that had some interesting characteristics. At the creek bed we did find some jasper and petrified wood. These pieces were the nicest pieces of both materials that we found that day. At the hill we found a few small pieces of petrified wood. This might be a good place to explore more when we are not as tired as we were by then.
AS we returned to my house I had a hard time staying awake. Once we were there Jason cut his thunder eggs. I wanted to cut some of my stuff but was just too tired. After Jason left I went inside had dinner with the family, took a shower and then crashed bring an end to another fine day of rock hounding.