FIELD TRIPS

MA 13

Second Saturday in May. Deep springs road for fossils. Meet at 9am in north gate plaza. This is at exit 6 I81 just north of Binghamton. Park behind Burger King. Car pooling from there perhaps. Another 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hour drive, no charge, private property but collecting permitted as long as it is for education . Bring kids or adults who want to know more. Tools minimal; bring what you can use easily. Very short walk. Bring wrapping paper and boxes. Boxes are better than pails. Dave Millis will bring examples to the April meeting. No facilities after the BK Lounge. Lol

JUNE 10

Second field trip on second Saturday of June to the blue calcite on rose road near Pitcairn. $5 charge. Pieces are very large and need to be broken to get into the car. Bring envelope and put money inside and names and license on outside. Meet at north gate plaza as in May but meet at 7am. Drive about 3 hours from there. Probably, you will have enough in your car by 11am. Two choices for a second site. Lake Bonaparte blue calcite on the way home. Calcite not as blue, but other minerals on hand. Graphite, wollastonite, prehnite and some wollastonite fluoresces.

The other second site will make it a long day. Site is the famous Bower Powers uvite site in pierrepont NY. $5 charge and release must be signed. Almost another hour drive. And a gentle half mile walk in woods. Serious digging yields nice stuff but small crystals can be found by everyone. Recommend you stay overnight.

Second Saturday in July is the Syracuse show and the eastern federation show.

Tentatively, the second Saturday in august will be a field trip to the benson mine near star lake. Meet at 9am in the parking lot of closed grocery store. I think it was a big M. Sign release and pay $5. Passable to cars who are easy on the gas. Start bouncing and hit bottom. Pegmatite that the miners didn’t want in their crusher was piled in a different part of the dump. Get this: 5 acres and 15 feet high! Muscovite mica, feldspar, smoky quartz, sillamanite, lots of iron minerals. Other minerals present but not common. Bring digging tools and maybe a sledgehammer. Wait for confirmation of date. Those you stay over can visit other sites, too.

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