Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Lake Superior Agate Search Adventure
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We're back!! We had the most wonderful weekend trekking
about the forest north of Sault St. Marie and I've decided to post some of our adventure
photos here. (That's me, sitting on the rocks out front of our cabin in Montreal River that we stayed in for our weekend adventure). Aren't those neat rock formations? Our adventure beings on Friday - I managed to get "just about everything" we could possibly need packed on Thursday (with a lot of effort) and into the back of the truck. It was a bit crazy as Rob had just gotten back from out of town and
we had about a zillion things to do before we left. For some of you who have been
reading our Blogs that are posted on Blogspot? You may recognize some of the writing and
photos. I've decided to post our adventures here as well. |
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The book you see in the picture is one of the
publications we decided to use on this trip. It's called Geology and Scenery of the North
Shore of Lake Huron Region. This book is like a travel guide that talks about some fabulous side trips you can take as well as the local mineralogy and old mines that are in the area. It's in a series of books - and not easily found... I spent a LOT of time with my nose in the pages reading off information to Rob as we drove west from Sudbury towards Sault St. Marie (there are a LOT of cool things to learn that I didn't know about!) Since this trip, we've found 2 other books in the series for
Southern Ontario and they have proven to be worth their weight in gold. They are a
treasure and if you can find any of these books in the series? Do keep them in your glove
box for travels. |
| One of our first stops was at Rydal Bank - this is a
very small town that is about 8 miles north of Bruce Mines. (A bit of Bruce Mines
history). Copper was first discovered in Bruce Mines in 1846 and this town became
the first commercially successful copper mining area in Canada. The early workings
of the mine were located on two parallel quartz carbonate veins with chalcopyrite and
small amounts of bornite and barite. The mine reached a depth of 400 feet but was
difficult to work. (On the way home we did make a stop in Bruce Mines and I was
amazed at how much Pudding Stone is saw in the huge boulders that dotted the shoreline.
You do have to get out of your car and walk the shore in order to see them.)
This is a really pretty stone that is an off-white cream colour with beautiful dashes of red. This stone is well known for its ornamental use but the best pieces have been located from glacial boulders located along the beaches of Lake Huron Ontario. |
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Rydal Bank is located
north of Bruce mines on Highway 561. A prominent ridge marks an outcropping of the
Lorrain Formation and you can find what is called "Pudding Stone" (or quartz
jasper-pebble conglomerate). 
| After a quick use of their out door bathroom we got
back in the truck and decided that we'd see if we could explore the ridge. We turned onto a bridge going east and across the river towards what we figured "might" have been the ridge the book was talking about. The book we were using was quite old and since that time a lot of trees have grown. You can see it in the picture - there is a white coloured ridge that is pretty high up on the hills. As it's the month of May there was very little vegetation so we were really able to see the white crest on the hill. |
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So off we went - we discovered a pretty good side road that goes to the left up towards the hill. Of course, we took it (checking first to make sure that there were no private signs posted - there were not). About half way up the road we stopped as there was an address sign posted on the road (a number). After some discussion we pushed further down the road (deciding that if it WAS a house we'd just turn around and go back). Just a bit further up the road we found "Humphries Cemetery", a very tiny old graveyard with the most beautiful headstones and scenery. I took some very pretty pictures of some of the old headstones but I'm not going to post them here - these are very old families located up on the hill that date back to 1900 and earlier. I'd rather keep the names private. Ah yes, back to the rock hunting! As you can see by the picture of Rob standing near the white rocks (in the picture above) there was some blasting and removal of rock going on in this area. At the bottom of this hill was a large gravel pit - we didn't find a lot of pudding stone here, just the odd piece here and there. The white stone he's standing on was quite pretty though with a lot of sparkles! |
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Back on the highway we went - and pushed our way
through Sault St. Marie and beyond. We took a short side trip down Wolf Lake Road (around
Batchwana Bay area) and did some exploring. It was more of a look around and not any
serious rock hunting happening. Both of us found it FAR too
busy with a lot of dirt bikes and fishermen everywhere - so we turned back on the highway
to go further on. Batchawana Bay is a beautiful area to explore. You can park in the
provisional park "day area" (you do have to pay a small parking fee) to explore
the seemingly endless sand beaches. There are pebbles and rocks you can find, most
of which are worn very smooth and feel wonderful to touch. I spent quite a bit of time in
my bare feet feeling the warm sand between my toes. Here's one of the places we stopped to stretch out legs before driving on. Although this picture shows the beauty of the lake, what you DON'T see is the embarrassing piles of garbage everywhere. I have to say, I was utterly disgusted with what I saw. The shore was littered with diapers, bags of mystery garbage, cans, bottles, tires, even CAR batteries were thrown down into the water from the top of the lookout!! There was jug after jug after jug filled with 'yellow mystery liquid (take a guess)' in piles and piles that had been thrown out through windows and over the edge of this lookout. I was disgusted and shocked by the fact that so many travelers just figured it was "okay" to throw their garbage out and figure that it would just take care of itself. I do not understand how someone can do that..... |
| After some breathtaking views, we finally reached our
destination (Twilight Lodge). For anyone looking to hunt rocks in this area? One of
the nicest places to stay is in Montreal Harbor. You have to book early in the year,
but you can spend a weekend (or longer) in one of the cabins located right at the river's
mouth. (The folks who run the place are really nice.) This is the mouth of the Montreal River. We did do quite a lot of Agate searching here as we were told by many people that Montreal Harbor is a great location for locating them. But alas, we were skunked again. By the way, the should check with the folks at Montreal Harbor to make sure you can access their beach - we always stay at the cabins located there so we have permission to walk the shoreline. Usually this is underwater, but don't be fooled if you are going to visit this place and walk around - this IS a mouth of a river and the water flow is controlled by several upstream dams - so if you are going to walk around, make sure to keep your ears open for the sound of the water flow changing. |
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Page 2 of our Lake Superior Agate Search
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