I got back on Hwy 20 and headed west. One of my planned stops prior to the trip was going to be Hampton Buttes for agate and Petrified Wood. The Oregon Highway department was doing road work on about 30 miles of the highway between Hampton and Bend so I decided to make a detour to the north and see if I could find the road leading to the collecting area as published in the "Oregon Gem Trails". Everything on the Van Lake Rd. which leads to the area has changed and it looks like the GI Ranch listed in the book has sold or I missed a turn somewhere. The new owners have no tresspassing signs all over the place so I have to assume that it is now closed to collecting. I continued on the Van Lake Rd. to the Camp Cr. Rd. which took me north to the Post-Paulina Hwy. There I traveled west to Prineville along the scenic Crooked River. From Prineville I went thru Madras to Biggs Junction then east to Umatilla, then back thru Kennewick, Ritzville and Spokane. A long quick trip, but a very satisfying one!
Below is a picture that I just took with a cigar box about 1/2 full of the sunstone I picked up in the public area and a few specimins of sunstone in basalt matrix from the Dust Devil Mine. Yahoo's pagebuilder and I dont get along the best quite yet and I didn't want to have to rebuild pages I have already completed! Enjoy!
