Lavic Siding Trip Report 2010

Blogger’s note: When I posted the trip on the various forums and blogs, I kept getting response to the wording “we will meet at the hotel in Ludlow”…people kept asking “which hotel in Ludlow”? Well those of you who went on the trip can tesitify that I wasn’t being evasive…there is only one hotel in Ludlow 😉

…and “why would you classify this as a >more strenuous<>

Followng is a trip report from Jay Valle the trip leader for this field trip for the AFMS/CFMS Show.

Thursday, June 24, 2010: Lavic Siding Trip

Lavic Siding is a classic jasper and agate location which has been visited by rockhounds since at least the 1940s. There is no way anyone can NOT find jasper here. Some truly spectacular pieces of lapidary material can and are found every time we come to collect. It is a beautiful location with a fine view of the Southern Cadys and Sleeping Beauty Mountain.

Ten rockhounds came out for this adventure, mostly from Southern California rock clubs. We met up at the restaurant on the south side of I-40 at the Ludlow exit.

Our first stop was the “bowl”, an amphitheater-like area from which literally tons of agate and jasper have been picked up. After explaining what to collect and showing some samples of local rock, the group fanned out and got to it.

Next we caravanned out to the flats on the south side of the railroad tracks near the black basaltic flows around Pisgah Crater. We collected here until around lunch time then off for an agate and sagenite location along the power line road fronting the Southern Cadys.

By the time we finished up here it was starting to get a little warm, over 100 deg F. Feeling the need to cool off, we drove east to Crucero Road, south to Ludlow and into the Dairy Queen parking lot for ice cream and “blizzards” (it was 107 degrees F at Ludlow.)

The end of June is not the ideal time for collecting in the Mojave Desert but it was a good group that came out.

Rock was collected and we had a good time!

Jay Valle – Trip Leader

North Orange County Gem & Mineral Society

Photo Credit: Chris Lesso from his Lavic Field Trip album