The Sierra Pelona Rock Club

Santa Clarita's Club for Rockhounds.

Member of the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies
and the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies

	On Line Photos	LOCAL ROCK SHOWS	FIELD TRIPS
Our Onyx Claim at North Edwards	Links	PHOTO ALBUM	LOCAL ROCK HUNTING
HOW TO JOIN	Members Only	Sierra Pelonagrams

Web page of Mike S. includes SPRC pictures and site info

Everyone is welcome to our club meetings!

We meet at 7:30 PM, on the third Tuesday of each month, except for July, August, and December.

We meet at:

The Clubhouse of the Greenbrier Mobile Estates EAST
21301 Soledad Canyon Rd
Canyon Country, CA 91351

Map to the Greenbrier Club House

Come and be our guest!

Presidents Message for January 2008

It may not be Spring yet but if the weather continues like this we may have a good year for field trips.

The rain uncovers the material and even the "Picked Over" spots are productive again. Shep, as field trip chairperson, has a number of trips coming up, more then one a month and even an over night in May.

Our program for the general meeting will be Mary Bates from COC. Her topic, the San Francisquito

Dam disaster is timely since next month March 12th will be the 80th anniversary of the event. I hope we have enough seating in that little room for everyone.

The Sierra Pelona Rock Club has a long history (over fifty years) with many memories. Times when the outdoors was the thing to do, times when families were everything. Now free time is rare and other obligations take us away from the simple things. I fondly remember the Saturdays when Dad would take us kids up Balboa Blvd. to some creek or wash to look for pretty rocks.

Well, now I am learning what to look for and what can be done with what I find. I want you to know that when Mike and I went out to Gem Hill and Brown Butte the other day, that feeling was back. So turn off the TV or the computer and grab the kids or a friend and head for the desert.

Ron Lawrence

President

Happy February Birthday’s!

Roxanne Heagy 2/7, Louise Huber 2/2, Victoria Law 3/3, George Lawrence 3/14

Modern Birthstones for February

Amethyst is the modern February birthstone. This member of the quartz family gets its name from amethysts, the Greek word for sober. According to legend, amethyst originated when Bacchus, the God of Wine, grew angry with mortals. He vowed tigers would eat the next mortal that crossed his path. At that time, a beautiful young maiden named Amethyst was on her way to worship the Goddess Diana. Diana, knowing of Bacchus vow, turned Amethyst into a pillar of colorless quartz to protect her from the tigers. Bacchus, witnessing the miracle, repented and poured wine over Amethyst, staining her purple.

The gemstone Aquamarine is the modern March birthstone as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also the birthstone for the Zodiac sign of Scorpio. Aquamarine is a member of the beryl family and ranges in color from an almost colorless pale blue to blue-green or teal. The most prized color is a deep-blue aqua color.

Next business meeting will be on March 4^th at Coco’s Restaurant starting at 6:30 pm

Business Meetings are held at the Coco’s Restaurant on near the corner of Soledad Canyon and Sand Canyon (16526 Soledad Cyn Rd) on the first Tuesdays of each month at 6:30pm. We always order first and then about 7:00 pm we start the business meeting.

Sierra Pelona Rock Club's Business meeting notes:

February 5^th , 2008

Started the business meeting off by talking about publicity on TV and in the Signal. Diane had publicity information. We could get something on the local SCV station, but do not know what time it would be on. The Signal (SCV) runs a regular notice about the general meeting. If we get the program information to Diane early enough, she has make sure it gets in the Signal. The Daily News (San Fernando Valley) simply does not respond to e-mails or phone calls. It was mentioned that we got two new prospective members from the newspaper. Shep asked about putting flyers up in Library or somewhere else.

Mary Bates from College of the Canyons will do the February presentation. The March presentation we plan to have Justin from "The-Vug.com". If Justin cannot make it in March, we will try to get him for April. Alternate programs were discussed. Mike S. was going to follow up with Justin.

Frank mentioned the cost of the PO Box that club has. Frank thought that was a lot. He suggested a club member’s address with compensation to the club member. The group kind of agreed that a personal address would not work. Ron said he was going to look at a UPS postal box.

Ron brought up the requirements in the by-laws for a club member to display five samples or do a presentation each year. Ron mentioned there is a table in the back of the room for bringing in rock related items. He also mentioned that the September meeting is the suggested meeting to bring in displays.

Shep went through the field trips. February is the Barnett Mine in the El Paso Mountains. The March field trip will be to Sheep Springs. April will be a busy month with the Bakersfield show the first weekend, a trip to the South Cady Mountains for the normal club trip and a trip to Ant Hill with the Girl Scouts to collect fossils the last weekend in April. The May field trip is planned for the Owens Valley, which would tie into the presentation, by Justin.

Respectfully submitted

Greg Mazourek.

Preliminary Calendar
This is a work in progress and most trips are preliminary. I leave some old events here for general reference.

Date	Time	Event	Where	Rocks to Find	Details
May	10:00-3:00	Placerita Canyon Nature Center Open House	Placerita Canyon Rd. few miles east of Highway 14	Freebie tumbled stones	We will be displaying some Rocks
May	9:00	Omya Mine	Lucerne Valley	Calcite, Copper minerals, Azurite Malachite	About the mine
June	11:00	SPRC Picnic
August		SJVL show	Bakersfield		12 by 12 booth
Sept		Greenhorn Mountain Field trip	20 mi North of Lake Isabella. See the link	Beautiful Rose Quartz	Rose Quartz With the Oxnard club??
Oct	7:00am -5:00pm	Lombardi Ranch Rock display	Lombardi Location	An assortment of rocks we have acquired over the years.	Lombardi Ranch Come chat with the club members and learn about local rock hunting.
Oct		Trona/ Searles Lake	Road Map to Trona	Beautiful Halite, Hanksite, and borax related minerals	Trona 2006 The 2005 GEM_O_RAMA
Nov	Wiley Wells Nov 22-26 2006	Wiley Wells Wiley Wells Nov 22-26 2006	CFMS Field Trip The Wiley Well District is 10 miles southwest of Blythe	All types and colors of agate & jasper, crystal filled geodes, botryoidal psilomelane, fire agate, chalcedony roses, zeolite crystal fill amygdules, calcite rhombs, petrified wood	The Wiley Well District is 10 miles southwest of Blythe, CA Phone:  951-845-3051                       Email:   RURocky2@aol.co
Dec		Holiday Pot Luck	Map to the Greenbrier Club House	Ham, rolls stuffing, pie, & pot luck	Holiday party replaces official field trip. Members and guests only please.
Dec		Opal Mt.	Off the 58 behind Hinkley	Multiple colors on opals and opal in rhyolite
Jan		Tecopa Opal Kingston Mt. amethyst		Precious opal and amethyst points
Feb		Dish Hill		Peridot desert roses and apache tears
March		Owens Valley Crystals		Clear & smoky points
April		Clear Creak minerals		Over 56 minerals to be found
May		Jade Cove/Willow Creak		Jade and Serpentine
June		SPRC Picnic

Also see the LOCAL ROCK SHOWS page.

 How to join the Sierra Pelona Rock Club

You get to attend meetings and field trips even before joining!!
Membership in the Sierra Pelona Rock Club costs an astounding $20 a year.
See joining up!! to start the process.

LA-ROCKS

Rockhounding Field Trips

A number of rock clubs in the Los Angeles area are collaborating on a joint field trip schedule where each event is open to members of any club. The goal is to have one or two quality trips each month and to share the load of planning & coordinating each event.

The group communicates using an Internet mailing list "exploder" called LA-Rocks. A wide variety of information on field tripping is discussed.

Each trip is sponsored by a CFMS member club, and members of other clubs may attend at no cost. You must still join a rock club to go on LA Rocks field trips.

Click here to Join the List or send a blank email message to LA-Rocks-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com

HANDY DANDY ROCKHOUND LINKS

New links are oversized

Rock Clubs

American Federation of Mineralogical Societies Antelope Valley Gem & Mineral Club California Federation of Mineralogical Societies

North Orange County Gem And Mineralogical Society Searles Lake Gem and Mineralogical Society The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society

 Woodland Hills Rock Chippers Kern County Mineral Society

Non-commercial sites

Amethyst Galleries Geology of the Santa Clarita Valley Jalama Beach Store Site Jalama County Park Site

Lapidary Digest Lapidary Journal Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom Mineral Gallery - The Gemstone Minerals

Web page of Mike S. includes SPRC pictures and site info

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Quartzsite Chamber of Commerce Quartzsite, More Info

Rockhounds Information Page Shark Tooth Hill Bone Bed More Shark Tooth Hill

Smithsonian Gem and Mineral Collection Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures

City of Santa Clarita, CA - Home Page

Kentucky Geological Survey Rock and Minerals Page

Commercial sites
The SPRC does not endorse any commercial enterprise. We are non commercial, non-profit, and non-sectarian. The following links are listed only for the convenience of our readers. Their inclusion here does not constitute any guarantee or recommendation.

As seen in

Bob's Rock Shop Bryson's Rock Shop Clouds Jamboree Dad's Rock Shop The Marshall Mint & Museum

Opal Queen Mine Sixteen to One Mine Tyson Wells (Quartzite)

Other Links We Like

Friends of Mentryville Sonora Desert Museum Saguaro National Park. Placerita Canyon Nature Center

 E-Mailing the Rock Club

Clicking on the following link will pop up an E-mail window BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO CHANGE THE ADDRESS BY DELETEING THE LETTERS "GG" FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE ADDRESS.

E-mail the Rock Club Don't forget to delete "GG" from the E-mail address.

Sorry for these gyrations but I have been getting spammed silly. This method defeats the automated "BOTS" that cruise the Internet for E-mail addresses.

Author: Ralph Hyde
Created: 3-23-97
Last Updated: 2-24-08

You are visitor since October 16, 1997.

About the Author

© 2008 by R. E. Hyde. All Rights Reserved.