A rock slide in the Blue Ridge Mountains made me rethink my whole collecting plan

I was hiking near Blowing Rock, North Carolina last fall, looking for some nice quartz pieces. I had my usual gear and a clear idea of where I wanted to go. Then I came around a bend and saw a fresh rock slide that had completely blocked the trail. It was a huge pile of broken shale and granite, maybe 15 feet high. Just standing there, I realized how fast the ground can change and how little control I really have over where the good stuff ends up. My whole 'target' spot was buried. I spent the rest of the day checking the new debris pile instead and found some amazing garnet schist I never would have seen. It taught me to be more flexible and let the land show me what it has to offer, not the other way around. Do you guys ever have trips where a surprise like that actually leads to a better find?

3 comments

3 Comments

willow_ellis91mo ago

Oh for sure, my whole plan goes out the window half the time lmao. I once spent a week planning to hit this one creek bend for fossils, got there and the whole bank was just mud from a recent storm. Zero rocks. I was so annoyed I just started kicking at the mud clumps further up the trail and found a perfect little trilobite imprint in a piece I almost stepped on. Felt like the universe was laughing at me, but in a nice way.

thomas10518d ago

Classic @willow_ellis9, the universe just loves giving you a hard time before the good stuff.

tessagibson1mo ago

Last spring in the Adirondacks, a washed out bridge forced me up a different ridge. I was mad about it for a full hour. Ended up in an area with so much hornblende it looked like someone spilled glitter on the rocks. Plans are just guesses. The land does what it wants.