National Limestone Trip

ATTENDEES: The Hog, Mike “the Pie Man” Dunton, Jess and Laura Jacobson, Ron “ChiselBuster” Schulz, “Lainie” Alaine Kamin, Linda Lovstad, Gary Quam, Paul “Mr Reveille” Radziewicz, Dave “Dude” Miller, “MK” Mirkethy Delaleu, Mike “Mr Maui” Machette, Billy Archer, TIm “Hitchhiker” Hollister and Mark Hollister, Rolf Schudel Jr., Dave “the Lermanator” Lerman, Ray Bossinger with daughter Alana, DMS members including Pres. Teddi Silver and Trip Leader for the day Christine Verdi, and several Nittany Club members led by Mike “Pie Man” Dunton. Well, we had another outstanding field trip to the NLQ quarries this past Saturday. For once there was no chance of rain, and skies were clear for the day although it started out nippy at 30 degrees locally. As always, Eric Stahl was more than accommodating to us and gave his usual brief sermon and safety briefing. There were numerous great finds throughout the day, between the 2 quarries visited. Ron “ChiselBuster” Schulz quickly took to his favorite berm area and dug out some really nice rhombs and other shapes of Calcite crystals from behind a layer of more common white Calcite layers cemented into the berm with compacted lime and mud. Jess and Laura Jacobson opted for the similar approach in several similar areas, focusing on the darker shale-like Dolostone layers, hoping to unearth some nice Calcite vugs and pockets. They also worked on areas of Flowstone and Travertine throughout the day, also favorites to collect. “MK” Mirkethy found a beautiful small piece of Chalcopyrite in white Calcite while working towards the north end with Dave “Dude” and Paul R. Kristine. Bill Fischer really took to the Travertine found in the same area and took a few small boulders of nicely layered Travertine. Mike “Mr Maui” Machette and Billy Archer took the low road and focused on the Calcite vugs amidst the lighter grey limestone, and wound up extracting some awesome slabs chocked full of of 1/4? to 3/8? crystal clear Calcite crystals. Over at Mt Pleasant Mills, the Hog had his find of the day with a soccer ball sized coral piece. One face had a well preserved mineralized display of the tubercles / radiating “lines” seen in classic coral fossils, and the other faces had distinct small “pockmarks” typical of coral outer surfaces. Rolf Schudel and Dave “Lermanator” Lerman took to the Wavellite area, finding some nice split crystals on pieces of limestone. Numerous Brachiopod fossils were found up there too by the groups of people who went to that section. The supposed Celestine wound up eluding us for this outing, although it did not stop Linda Lovstad from pulling the Hog’s leg with a Madagascar Celestine specimen she recently purchased. And as always, our “Host Extraordinaire” Jim Van Fleet was extremely gracious with his classic BBQ and tours of his garage and basement collecting. Attendees to Jim’s were: Mike “Mr Maui” Machette and Billy Archer, Mike “the Pie Man” Dunton, The Hog, Dave “Dude” Miller and “MK” Mirkethy Delaleu, Paul “Mr Reveille” Radziewicz, Linda Lovstad with Gary Quam, Bill and Kristine Fischer, Tim “Hitchhiker” and Mark Hoillister, and Ray and Alana Bossinger. Numerous flats of goodies were collected from Jim’s garage and of course, the food was fantastic. A great outing top to bottom.ATTENDEES: The Hog, Mike “the Pie Man” Dunton, Jess and Laura Jacobson, Ron “ChiselBuster” Schulz, “Lainie” Alaine Kamin, Linda Lovstad, Gary Quam, Paul “Mr Reveille” Radziewicz, Dave “Dude” Miller, “MK” Mirkethy Delaleu, Mike “Mr Maui” Machette, Billy Archer, TIm “Hitchhiker” Hollister and Mark Hollister, Rolf Schudel Jr., Dave “the Lermanator” Lerman, Ray Bossinger with daughter Alana, DMS members including Pres. Teddi Silver and Trip Leader for the day Christine Verdi, and several Nittany Club members led by Mike “Pie Man” Dunton. Well, we had another outstanding field trip to the NLQ quarries this past Saturday. For once there was no chance of rain, and skies were clear for the day although it started out nippy at 30 degrees locally. As always, Eric Stahl was more than accommodating to us and gave his usual brief sermon and safety briefing. There were numerous great finds throughout the day, between the 2 quarries visited. Ron “ChiselBuster” Schulz quickly took to his favorite berm area and dug out some really nice rhombs and other shapes of Calcite crystals from behind a layer of more common white Calcite layers cemented into the berm with compacted lime and mud. Jess and Laura Jacobson opted for the similar approach in several similar areas, focusing on the darker shale-like Dolostone layers, hoping to unearth some nice Calcite vugs and pockets. They also worked on areas of Flowstone and Travertine throughout the day, also favorites to collect. “MK” Mirkethy found a beautiful small piece of Chalcopyrite in white Calcite while working towards the north end with Dave “Dude” and Paul R. Kristine. Bill Fischer really took to the Travertine found in the same area and took a few small boulders of nicely layered Travertine. Mike “Mr Maui” Machette and Billy Archer took the low road and focused on the Calcite vugs amidst the lighter grey limestone, and wound up extracting some awesome slabs chocked full of of 1/4? to 3/8? crystal clear Calcite crystals. Over at Mt Pleasant Mills, the Hog had his find of the day with a soccer ball sized coral piece. One face had a well preserved mineralized display of the tubercles / radiating “lines” seen in classic coral fossils, and the other faces had distinct small “pockmarks” typical of coral outer surfaces. Rolf Schudel and Dave “Lermanator” Lerman took to the Wavellite area, finding some nice split crystals on pieces of limestone. Numerous Brachiopod fossils were found up there too by the groups of people who went to that section. The supposed Celestine wound up eluding us for this outing, although it did not stop Linda Lovstad from pulling the Hog’s leg with a Madagascar Celestine specimen she recently purchased. And as always, our “Host Extraordinaire” Jim Van Fleet was extremely gracious with his classic BBQ and tours of his garage and basement collecting. Attendees to Jim’s were: Mike “Mr Maui” Machette and Billy Archer, Mike “the Pie Man” Dunton, The Hog, Dave “Dude” Miller and “MK” Mirkethy Delaleu, Paul “Mr Reveille” Radziewicz, Linda Lovstad with Gary Quam, Bill and Kristine Fischer, Tim “Hitchhiker” and Mark Hoillister, and Ray and Alana Bossinger. Numerous flats of goodies were collected from Jim’s garage and of course, the food was fantastic. A great outing top to bottom.

Location: National Limestone Quarries, Middleburg and Mt. Pleasant Mills Quarries, Snyder County, PA, ,