Tag: field trip

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Field Trip Saturday, July 9, 2022, 10 a.m.

Flint Knap-In and Paleo Tool Demonstration at Chilao School in Angeles National Forest

The July 2022 Field Trip will feature an educational visit to Chilao School, 40 minutes from La Canada.  (Note that Chilao School and Chilao campground are different locales.)  Chilao School is located next to the US Forest Service Chilao Fire Station.  To get to Chilao School from La Canada, take Angeles Crest Highway 25.1 miles to the Chilao Campground loop.  Turn left into the campground.  Drive .9 miles past the Little Pines and Manzanita loops and turn left at Mt Hillyer Road (3N141).  Proceed down 3N141 for .5 miles to Chilao School.  The one room school is on the right BEFORE you get to the fire station.  Some of the roads may not have names on them, so please look at the map before starting your journey.

Though the field trip is Saturday only, we’ll be camping ¼ mile down the road at Chilao campground on Friday night so we can get an early start on Saturday.  There will be a potluck at the school or campground on Saturday night.   Expect daytime temperatures in the 80’s and nighttime lows in the 50’s.   If you want to camp overnight, you should arrive ASAP on Friday afternoon to claim a campsite.  Better yet, arrange with someone who is going to be up there on Friday morning to reserve you a spot.  Campground use is heavy especially in the summer. The cost is $12 a night.  Water is provided along with a vault toilet.  Note that the Station Fire ravaged Chilao about 13 years ago and new trees are now starting to repopulate the area. 

We’ll be learning how to make spear tips, arrowheads, hatchets, and knives similar to what prehistoric man used thousands of years ago.  This paleo tool get-together is casual; there is no schedule for instruction, hence there is no official meet up time.  You can arrive and go when you please.  I recommend getting there by 10AM.

I’ll bring obsidian slabs to practice on.  You can contact me at rexch8@yahoo.com.

There is no charge, but a small donation to the nonprofit Redbird/Chilao Visions is recommended.  Our hosts are Corina Roberts, founder of Redbird, and Gary Pickett, flint knapping artist.

GPS coordinates for Chilao School:
34.3341764547053, -118.02406758638696

Chilao School Community Programs

Obsidian shards are very sharp.  DO NOT WEAR SHORTS.

Please bring:

Leather gloves

Safety glasses/reading glasses

Dust mask

Leather pad/carpet  to protect your legs

Chair/shade umbrella/popup

Deer antlers (can be found at Petco and on Amazon, among other places)

Copper tools

Abrading stone or a piece of grind stone

Bug repellent

Small drop cloth to catch fragments

Water/drinks

Typical camping gear

DO NOT WEAR SHORTS

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The Tunnel to Nowhere

December’s educational field trip will be at 8AM on Saturday, December 18th to Shoemaker Canyon Road above Azusa.  We’ll be visiting the Tunnels to Nowhere, which were hewn out of solid granite in 1969.  These tunnels were built to provide an escape route out of LA in case of nuclear attack.  Now they sit vacant; a lone sentinel to times forgotten. 

This trip is suitable for any passenger car and is 31 miles from Pasadena.  The walk to tunnel is 2 miles with an elevation gain of 700 feet.   We’ll be on the lookout for various ores and minerals, but this is more an educational/nature walk rather than a collecting trip.  For more details, please contact Rex at rexch8@yahoo.com 

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Thanksgiving Weekend Trip to the Cady Mountains

Seam agate

PLS will be rocking in the Cady Mountains at the end of the month. This 3 day trip will begin Friday at noon on November 26 and finish on Sunday, November 28 at 11 AM. We’ll be searching for agates, jaspers, and fluorite. Though you can make it to base camp with high clearance 2wd, 4wd is required for the rockhounding part of this trip.

Must RSVP to field trip leader, Rex, at rexch8@yahoo.com with the subject line “Cady Mountain field trip.”

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Time to Go to the Sierra Pelona Travertine Claim

Whether it’s planting a new tree for the garden or extracting a boulder while mining, there’s something satisfying about digging and rocks.  No, I’m not talking about hard rock mining, for that is pure torture.  I’m talking about the Sierra Pelona claim out in North Edwards, CA, a renowned location for prize winning travertine onyx.  The only difference is that while rocks are the bane of any happy garden, the goal at the Sierra Pelona is using a pry bar to make that rock wiggle and finally extracting it in triumph.

Though hundreds of clubs and rockhounds have visited the claim over the years, this location still produces hundreds of pounds of quality travertine onyx. 

On our last visit October 30th, we were able to excavate one hundred pounds of travertine in about 2 hours.  That’s a pretty good haul for any rockhound and the colors were spectacular.  I hadn’t seen the greens that color in a few years, but it looks like the seam is into a green band right now.  Greens, reds, and even blue bands of agate make beautiful spheres or cabochons. 

The claim is open to rockhounds everywhere and though access is fairly straightforward, you’ll need a high clearance vehicle.  This is a great trip for an experienced miner or just a weekend warrior who wants to get out and smell the dirt.

The weather is cool and it’s time to get out your picks and shovels and go rockhounding.   No one knows when the green banding will run out again, so plan your next trip with your local rockclub to collect this beautiful material.

‘til next time,

Rex