Before generally making a vacation for this quarry then you've got to ensure you have a sturdy car. Anything without four wheel drive is certainly going to have a difficult time rendering it up there. I might also make certain you have an extra tire with you together with the means to alter a tire. A cell phone is strongly suggested also.
You can drive in before the road gets difficult, park in the side and then walk up. There clearly was an open area, what appears like a gravel pit that is an excellent area to park. This mine could be tough to find for a few, because it is over grown and you can tell few individuals make gathering trips to the location.
That is a very important thing, as it implies that the location is not selected clean. The Hedge Hog Hill Quarry is found in Peru Maine in the County of Oxford. Few minerals have now been discovered here, within my brain it really is an easy granite pegmatite, but it is still worth the trip. For starters the scene from up there was worth the trip alone. The fact that few people appear to come here is another draw. The reason being you will do need certainly to drive a ways on a dirt road through the woods to achieve the mine.
Minerals observed listed here are albite, almandine garnet, beryl, biotite, chrysoberyl, fluorapatite, microcline, muscovite, quartz, and schroll. This is certainly it, and I only found garnet, biotite, muscovite, and quartz to my trip. So, just because all those other minerals were listed, usually do not depend on finding them. The jackpot as of this location would be the almandine garnets. Some huge almandine garnets are available here. The open mine face is chock filled with them, but try not to count on getting these out.
You can accomplish it, but it takes lots of work and also you better ware a set of goggles. As well as you are able to go through all of the work simply to wind up damaging the sample you will be after. I did not see any garnets worth that kind of effort all though it is said that some very gem quality samples have been present in pockets of quarts. I found one particular garnet sample at another mine precise location of the grossalur garnet variety. This garnet ended up being roughly how big is a golf ball and was treasure quality.
I hammered around that thing for one hour without so much as building a dent. The crystal ended up being resting in a pocket of quartz. I left it there with a tear in my own eye. The almandine crystals in the Hedge Hog Quarry can be large. I would suggest digging through the talise piles. I could nearly guarantee you see one of these brilliant big garnets. Mainly because hardly any folks have dug through these piles. This particular fact becomes obvious when you get to the mine. In reality, i might almost bet the only signs of digging you'll find come from my trip there over five years ago.
I only spent four hours here, but I left there with some great samples. My best had been a completely created and whole almandine garnet crystal, concerning the measurements of a golf ball. I figured I happened to be not likely to do better than that, I really left. I intend on heading back and spending even more time at this site. Maybe take a tent beside me while making per week end from it.
Driving instructions are the following:
From four way intersection on route 108 in West Peru, drive 3.05 miles south on Dickvale road. Turn left onto mineral springs road and continue 0.95 mile to intersection. Turn right onto Paradis road (gravel) and drive 1.05 miles to abandoned cabin on left. Park here. Walk on primary road from here about 150 ft to quarry road regarding the right.
Follow this woods road 270 feet to fork, keep left at fork. Continue 675 foot to next fork, keep right. Walk 390 feet to stone wall. Follow road through starting in wall and go another 150 foot to get rid of of obvious road. Continue straight ahead on high down grade following path for 360 foot to your quarry. (Maine Mineral Localities 3rd EDT. by W.B Thompson, D.L. Joyner, R.G. Woodman, V.T. King)
These directions make it sound extremely tough to get, however it just isn't mainly because nothing is else up here. Be sure you stick to the proper path if the road forks and you'll do not have trouble locating the mine. I drove after dark cabin and followed the directions until We reached the gravel pit area. I parked here, but do not you will need to make it unless you have four wheel drive. From here it is a quick stroll up a steep dirt road to your quarry.
It is fundamentally the top of a tiny hill where in actuality the mine is. One side has been mined. The talice pile is found off towards the side and listed below. I should not call the region We parked a gravel pit. It is just a wide open area that seems like an all natural dirt parking great deal. I assumed it absolutely was a gravel pit, given that it was truly the only reason i possibly could show up with for it being here. Perhaps it is just what remains from the time the mine had been open and in procedure. It might be a smart idea to bring sub block and bug spray to you.
I can not emphasize the bug spray enough. This might be a wooded area and black flies and mosquitos are thick right here. It is also a smart idea to bring a screen for sifting. Specially when the key objective is finding garnet crystals scattered through out the talise piles. You can even bring a chisel and a hammer while they are not essential. A tiny shovel could be more useful. I strongly recommend causeing the journey. The garnet samples can be worth it, and also you never know. You might get fortunate and discover a few of the rarer minerals that have now been found right here.
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