Palos Verde California Barite

It's crazy but I've lived within 100 miles of Rancho Palos Verde my whole life and never collected there. I know, I'm about 30 years late, but it's an itch I have to scratch. Concidering all the development there in the last 30 years I assume many of the site listed are paved over. I will be there Tuesday to try my luck. The cliffs near Point Vicente appear to be starting point, but I sure would appreciate any details about where to look. Thank you in advance for your kind concideration. John Kirtz

Not at all, it is a great site to collect!! Contact Justin Zzyzx - he leads groups there all the time. He took Jessica and I and we had a great time!

Bob

Justin has a link to a map on his website.

I collected very nice barite crystals from a road cut on Palos Verde Drive East on February 9, 1991. The road cut was 1.2 miles from the junction with Palos Verde Drive South.

How was your search? The Culver City Rock and Mineral Club has been collecting Palos Verdes rock and mineral specimens to use in our Education Out Reach program. We are hoping to promote a program at our July meeting by Justin Zzyzx to be followed by field trip in late July or August - to help snare some of the families who attend our show in June and want to learn more.

I found my way to the cliffs(and barite) just south/east of Point Vicente. Justin Zzyzx's articles, info. found here on Mindat and elsewhere on-line were helpful in narrowing my search. It turns out that the area is quite large and I never got to Long Point or Livingston Quarry. All of my time was spent in one small area. The slippery cliffs can be challenging and one must remember to think about getting down while assending. I had a newbie with me and he froze on the cliff for a while. He had fun exploring the shoreline while I hunted for a fresh seam on the cliffs. The next time I will forego the long drive up the coast and get there early!! Palos Verde's beauty is also a distraction but what the heck, awesome locations are a big part of what I love about mineral collecting. From a trail above the cliffs we saw what looked like hundreds of dolphins headed south. Just enough barite was found to ensure that I will go back. Thanks for the encouragement!