Ruby Mountain CO campground

rginn · Apr 22, 2014

Camped here in Chaffee County, northeast of Nathrop, Colorado, along the Arkansas River last night. Nice views of the Collegiate Range off to the west and no sloggin through mud and snow which is what we have currently in Summit County. Found the remains of a half dugout in a canyon off the river and a grinding basin back up from the river in a canyon. (Hard to tell from the pic, but it's still there if y'all wanna go check it out) Nice day, 75 with a few sprinkles, but a clear night down to 33.

tamrock · Apr 22, 2014

did you look for any garnet ruby's? most are teeny tiny, but some sizable specimens have been found. One of the first things I did when I move to BV was go look for specimens on Ruby Mountain. Very nice shot of Princeton, I hope I got that right?

old digger · Apr 22, 2014

Nice Views!

What's with the rock? It kind of looks like a metate.

vpnavy · Apr 22, 2014

Nice photographs! Thanks for sharing...

rginn · Apr 23, 2014

Yep, Princeton. It's my understanding a private owner has Ruby Mountain now and doesn't let people in there. Used to, the land owners would let you in for a small fee. You can still find garnets around Sugarloaf Mountain and I observed plenty of them, but all about pin head size and not gem quality. People are still lookin cause I saw lots of specimens folks left around my campsite. I said 'grinding basin' cause I wasn't sure many would understand 'metate'. You can tell by feel that it was put to some use. This type of rock occurs in the river bottom a half mile away so it appears to have been carried to its present location, so I'll tag it as an artifact. In the brief survey I was able to do of the area I didn't turn up anything else, so it could have washed down from a temporary camp up on the flat above the canyon or be associated with a burial. I'll have to go back and check the whole place out a little better.

tamrock · Apr 24, 2014

Huh! one more place you can't go anymore? I'd always thought that was all BLM land...I see some of the better spots I panned on the Arkansas are now on a map claimed up by the gold prospector clubs these days. "Good spot on the artifact".