Trout Creek chert quarry

[rginn]

Made it here this week. Couple of miles walk, cause I didn't know how the road was. You could drive to within a hundred yards of the site, high clearance needed in a couple of spots. I was impressed. I've never seen this much yellow jasper lying around. I didn't see very much red, so I wonder if they had another source for that. It was worth the walk. I've been to the Alibates site in Texas also. One thing, there was a sign that said revegetation in progress, keep off. I thought this might just mean vehicles, as there was a road on up to the site. I saw where people were still walkin in, so I went on in and stayed on the path they made. Came across the remains of an historic structure on the way back, which was pretty cool too.

 

[Chilli]

Interesting looking place. I suppose you can't detect there.

 

[Jatrox]

You come across some amazing stuff. Did you see any brokes, partials or preforms lying around?

 

[Tesorodeoro]

“Revegetation in Progress” Sounds like something some USFS desk jockey came up with having no common sense or sense of scope. A very small patch of earth considering the big picture.

Maybe there are signs of human utilization that they want to preserve for their own future study.

Having it covered in grass would prevent people from picking up samples and taking them home. Having them covered with vegetation hidden from view forever would be much better than having less chert exposed. Sometimes I just don’t know.

 

[rginn]

I suppose you could detect if you told them you were prospecting, Chili. I didn't see any brokes, preforms or partials lying around. Saw tons of flakes, but I suppose this area, at least the places easiest to get to have been picked clean over the years. On their revegetation deal, I think they're mainly trying to keep vehicles on established trails. Some places they've blazed their own trails and caused quite a bit of erosion. In this area the grass doesn't grow enough to cover the ground anyway. NFS and CPW guys were in the area, and it was pretty obvious I was studying the ground, but they just waved and went on. Antelope Gulch, on farther south of here, would be a good place to come across artifacts, but it's been collected heavily too, and I saw where they were trying to get federal protection for the public spaces there.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Very cool spot. I’ve never been to a quarry out west. Jasper is only found in the mountains and is related to volcanism. Chert in the Midwest was formed at the bottom of the ocean. If you find some decent flat flakes on your next trip there you could send them to me and I’ll chip you a point.😉

 

[rginn]

Cool ToddsPoint, I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I may make it back down there again this season, but it all depends on if the weather holds. So far I've lucked out. The camping part is never a problem, it's the getting there over Hoosier Pass and navigating 285 in the winter that shuts me down.

 

[tamrock]

There were probably a few scuffles over who gets to exploit the resources of that site between clans who came from all directions during the warmer months a thousand years ago. I've gathered a few artifacts from all around there and along the Arkansas. The styles of points Ive found had variations in design and materials to which they were made. Some designers might be more often found as far east as Kansas and other would be more typical of what would be found down along the Rio Grande of southern New Mexico. During the summer months, South Park and the upper Arkansas Valley was as popular to the original inhabitants of this continent thousands of years ago, as it is to the hikers, mountain bikers and river rafters today. Other than the ancients, came for the deer, piñon, berries and trout creek chert.

 

[rginn]

Good to see that response, TR. One question I have, is where were they getting the red jasper? Separate quarry? There's some here at Trout Creek, but predominantly yellow. I didn't see enough red jasper at this site to justify the amount of flakes I see in South Park.

 

[tamrock]

Good to see that response, TR. One question I have, is where were they getting the red jasper? Separate quarry? There's some here at Trout Creek, but predominantly yellow. I didn't see enough red jasper at this site to justify the amount of flakes I see in South Park.

I've wondered that myself. There's so much of it around Chaffee and Park county you would think the source would be somewhere within a 50 mile radius. I found this broken yellow trout creek chert down here it Lafayette right where I put the red dot. That's 122 miles from trout creek pass. See my post to view the Trout Creek Crert Point

The mano hill yields again today.

I took me a cat nap after work today and got up after a half hour by the normal barking of the dogs who hate that I do that and decided to get on my bike and ride 5 miles to the place I now call the mano hill. You guys have encouraged me to take a further look around as I returned to look for...

www.treasurenet.com

 

[Tnmountains]

Quarry sites are often over looked. I think they made preforms to take home. Found one here of Fort Payne chert. Actually a Geologist told me where it was.Not many people understand or appreciate these types of sites. Is the material heat treatable? Might be the difference in colors.
Thanks for posting this.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Surely there is another outcrop that has the red. When I visited friends in CO we drove from Evergreen to Buena Vista. I thought it was Wolf Cr pass where we looked for jasper. It turns out it was Trout Cr pass where we looked for the jasper. We had to be close to it but no cigar!😩

 

[Gare]

Like Chilli said nice looking place . Have you thought about a small walk through foldable electric Bike ?Mine folds up and goes in my Hatch back very easily. I am supposed to be able to go 70 miles on one charge if i use the pedal assist

 

[rginn]

Aw man ToddsPoint, you were so close you could have drove to within a hundred yards of it. (High clearance in a couple of spots) Not that much out of the way. I'll keep it in mind Gare, but I don't think an electric bike would work out too good for me. I have a bad tendency of starting out on the trail, then wandering off on a tangent, so I'd wind up carrying that bike most of the time. I'm fine with walking.