Garnet, Darn it!

When prospectors panned for gold a century ago, they often found other heavy minerals concentrated in their pans. They called anything red 'rubies', hence the abundance of places named Ruby Creek, Ruby Flat, etc.  They saved these red stones to have identified by a jeweler, who would have told them it was "garnet, darn it!".  

Join our newest trip, and you'll be delighted to find garnet crystals, some as big as cherries.  The garnets are so abundant here we won't need to pan for them, but if you would like to learn panning, bring a goldpan, we'll be happy to teach you. We meet at 11 A.M. near Blewett Pass (Hwy 97, north of Cle Elum, WA).

Price:
$20/person

• What you should know:
  The hike is 6 miles round trip.  The elevation change is less than 800 ft., but almost all occurs in the last half mile before the locality. This is about 4 times as high as the hill that we walk to Crystal Kid. The Forest Service has replaced their bridge with a large log, which you must walk across. The log is about 2 ft. wide, with a flat-cut surface, but as it is at least 6 ft. above a rushing creek, people who are acrophobic might have trouble with this. For this reason, we are upping the minimum age to 10 years.

Dates:
Sunday, June 15; Sunday, July 13; Saturday, September 13 2003

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