Searching for Jasper in the Owyhee Mountains

Saturday evening Jason called asking if I wanted to join him and Tony on a search for jasper in the Owyhee Mountains the next morning.  I had already made plans to move some unused furniture to my storage unit but that had to be postponed.  There were many trips to search for jasper this past summer and I had missed all of them.  With the weather getting cooler and rain and snow coming soon I knew this could be one of the last trips of the season.  I could not give up this opportunity to go.

Jason and Tony arrived at my house at about 6:30 Sunday morning.  It only took a couple of minutes to load my equipment and hit the road.  We made a quick stop in Marsing, Idaho to get gas and pick up something for lunch before heading out Highway 95 to McBride Creek Road.  We then followed that road to the turn to the area we wanted go.  As we road along Jason pointed out some places that he and Tony had discovered by accident a few months ago when they had to walk about 10 miles out because the fuel pump on Tony’s truck went out.

The first place we stopped was at a canyon that none of us had explored before.  We hiked in following some jasper float until we came to an area that looked promising for fossils.  Within minutes we were finding nice fossils with full leaf prints.  I thought this was cool because there were no signs of people collecting at this location.  As Jason and I searched for fossils Tony continued up the canyon.  A little while later he came back very excited.  He told us that he found a jasper vein and that we needed to get up there to see it.

Leaf Fossils

Jason reached the jasper vein first.  As I approached I could see that the vein was half his height and went from one side of the canyon to the other.  There was no telling how far back it went into the ground.  Again there were no signs of anybody working the area.  As we started to break a few pieces off we quickly realized that the outer layers were very weathered and the material was cracking into mostly tumble sized material.  We wondered if better material would be found under the first layers and ground but since we didn’t have the needed tools that information would have to wait for another day.

Tony at Jasper Vein

We left the large jasper vein and headed to an area where the material resembled Rocky Butte Jasper.  Tony and I collected quite a bit of that material while Jason explored a nearby hill.  By the time we left that location we were all starting to worry about getting out before dark.  We may have been worrying somewhat but that didn’t keep us from stopping a few more times.  We collected some Monarch Jasper that so far is not that good.  I was hoping for some that matched the quality of the material that comes from a nearby claim.  The next and final stop was to collect Easter Egg Jasper.  So far I am not impressed with what I cut but I know we could have collected some good material.  The person who originally told us about the material and named it on Easter morning had shown me some pieces that were incredible.

Monarch Jasper

It was just before nine when we returned to Marsing where we stopped and ate dinner at a local burger joint before returning to my house in Nampa.  By ten Jason and Tony were leaving my house.  The adventure for me was over but Tony still had to drop Jason off in Boise and then drive to home to Gooding.  I bet he didn’t get home until after midnight.

I wanted to cut some of my new rocks but I was too tired and had to work the next morning.  I cut a little bit Monday evening and have not had a chance to get back to it since.  Hopefully I will get some better cuts tonight.