FIELD TRIP REPORT On Friday, October 26, 2007, Anne and Jeff Davis joined me (Jack Donner) at the Boxley Quarry in Mill Point, West Virginia. It was a dark and stormy day, so I donned my foul weather gear I had from our stay in Seattle. We drove down into the quarry looking for what we could find. Wading through the sticky mud, I came across a huge boulder that had crinoid stems sticking out of it like cigarette butts in a sand ash tray. The rock was huge and very hard, so the specimens are still there. Near it, Jeff found some individual fossil coral in matrix. There was one real beauty horn coral diving into the rock, point up. It was bright orange, and about ¾ inch in diameter where it disappeared into the rock. Again, the boulder was huge and very hard rock, so there it remains. Jeff got ambitious and hit a few boulders and got off some specimens. Another too heavy rock to carry had crinoid stems and what looked like an ammonite in it. In the meantime, Anne came across a bunch of fossil colonial coral. This is Lithostrontianella, and is agatized. As such, it is the West Virginia State MINERAL, not fossil. There were also pieces of rock that had what looked like white calcite cascades along a face. After that, we went North on 150 to a location in Jasper Burn's Book. We found some plant fossils in large boulders. I took photos. Jeff took one of the boulders, rolled it down the hill, and manhandled it into his car. He got the pig award for the day. We went to where the covered bridge is but the water was at high tide and did not lend itself to collecting. We went on to Beckley. I told Anne and Jeff from Beckley, it would take half an hour to get to the Boxley Quarry in Mount Hope. That would allow fifteen minutes to get there and fifteen minutes to get lost. Somehow, I managed to get lost, and went in the opposite direction from where I thought I was. When I got to the quarry, Anne and Jeff were already there. It was overcast, but the sun kept shining through. We drove down into the quarry to see what we could find. The Quarry has two types of rocks. One is a hard material that they crush into fist sized rocks for construction. The other is a slate like material that had a lot of plant fossils in it, but crumbled at the slightest provocation, destroying the fossils. Jeff found a large slate boulder with plant fossils in it, rolled it down the hill, and backed his car up to it. It was so big, I had to help lift it into his car. Double pig award for him. I found the hard sandstone specimen, I showed to the club, that had several varieties of plant fossil in it. Quasi-pig award for me, as I can lift it by myself. I lift, and then have to really lift to get it up. We then went up to Elkins, and stayed overnight. The next day, Dave Phillips from Morgantown joined us and helped us collect. We found brittle star (starfish) tracks, brachiopods, and several varieties of worm trails, including anthrophycus, bifungites, and ichno fossil. In addition, Dave found and gave to me some siderite. This is an iron mineral, and if I had come across it by myself, not knowing what it was, I would have left it. We then headed home, taking two lane mountain roads like the grand slalom, till we came out at Staunton, Virginia. Getting on the 64 at that point was a challenge, as signs beforehand had said this way to Charlottesville, but then disappeared, so when push came to shove, I stopped to ask. On Saturday, November 3, 2007, we went to the Morefield mine in Amelia. There were about six others, including some in-laws from Georgia. Walking around, I came upon a salt and pepper looking rock, and took it to the office for ID. They said it was Gneiss (pronounced nice), and it lined the walls of the mine, and harbored garnets. They looked and found some garnets in it, so I was pleased. At about 12:30, they dumped fresh. It was the usual zoo with everyone jumping in. I walked around and found an opening and collected amazonite, mica books and some amethyst. I was happy. We met Robert Sherman who had been a club member several years ago, and he took us to a site where he had found some crystalline mica specimens that were several inches long and quite exquisite. I dug around and found some small ones that I could see with the unaided eye. After that, the others left, and I went on to mineral. Somehow, I passed right through and ended up in Louisa. It was late in the day, so I checked into the local motel, and got dinner. The next day I looked for "the bridge" and "a road on the left", north of Mineral. Well, I passed over bridge after bridge, and roads here and there. Finally, I went back to the first one, and walked down to the river. It looked interesting, so I went back to my car and put on my rubber, knee high boots. I walked around and saw some quartz rock that someone had broken. There was a large watermelon size piece that needed more work, but there it stayed because of its size and weight. There was a likely piece about cabbage size, and I took it. At home, I hit it with a crack hammer and what did I get? More pieces of quartz! While gold can be found in quartz, not all quarts contains gold. Oh, well, so much for a specimen. So now, I have way too much, and far too many of everything, so I have to sort through it. Too much fun. Jack Donner Field trip coordinator