wikieup,AZ: garnets

Howdy all!

So my friend and I visited this site yesterday. It was a nice relief to get out of the mountains of Flagstaff and down into the desert out there to get out and find crystals! A nice 88 degree high, not too hot at all. We had to walk the last mile or so, a hard uphill climb, then scramble around the cliffs for a while. We spent a good 4-5 hours searching for garnets. We both had some heavy duty sledgehammers and used them well, but mostly they were only needed for trimming. A lot of the garnets were just found in rock already broken and exposed.

Unfortunately though, we didn't do nearly as well as the ones Ian posted above. The largest one I got, which is also probably the sharpest, best crystal, is only 8mm. The rest were smaller, same with by buddy. Still though we got a good number of sharp, beautiful crystals! I wonder where the bigger crystals are. We hiked from the parking lot straight up to the darker cliffs, and scrambled up in there getting higher and higher. One little canyon is where we found almost all of ours. We left there after we got enough tiny crystals and looked around the other cliffs for bigger ones, but found them to have almost no garnets and certainly no bigger ones. Thus, the biggest and best we found were in the same place as all the other smaller ones we got.

Anyway - great site and I hope to go back there, some time. Thanks for posting about it... I'm glad I went! I'd post pictures but they look pretty much the same as the other ones posted, except smaller. If anyone wants to tell me where the bigger ones are, your secret is safe because I probably won't get the chance to go back there for months! :)

Ben Kirchner

How exactly do you get to the Lion Springs area? I understand it is east of Wikieup but which road do you take to get out there? Can anyone offer any directions for someone who is horrible with a map?

Hi Ian,

I know I am looking at an older post, but I was near Lion Springs a few years ago with a rock club & would now like to take my grandson but do not have directions or coordinates. Can you help me please? thanks.

Sue

This past weekend I camped at Burro Creek. I successfully made it to Lion Spring. As people here suggested, my Honda Civic did fine on the main road (Signal Road-Burro Creek Crossing Road-Sycamore Creek Road) at a speed of 10 mph to 20 mph for most of the way. I drove a half mile on the side road to Lion Spring but then, a bit stressed over the lack of clearance, got out and hiked to the Spring. I was a bit tired and had to preserve energy for the return hike but still spent an hour or so hunting for garnets. I did not break apart any rock. I found several 1/8-inch garnets and one, 1/4-inch one. Of course, it was less about the 'treasure' than it was about the absolutely delightful journey. I would like to return sometime.

After my success (as a relative newbie ) at Lion Spring, I went hunting for garnets at the very steep Red Knob about three miles further down the main road. I thought I really scoured it on one side, but I came up empty-handed. This was despite having a good idea of what to look for at this point.

In 2008 I dear geologist friend of mine took a group of us to another garnet field in the Burro Creek area. She was using a photocopy of some ancient, handwritten notes one of her professors from the 80s prepared (Christiansen?). I found a huge garnet, about the size of my thumbnail at this field. One day I would like to return to this field, but I think my friend will not part with the notes easily.

The wildflowers this time of year were fantastic. I had a good, desert wildflower book with me and identified around ten or so.

The Burro Creek area was a tad unseasonably warm. I swam each day in the creek (non-stagnated parts) to cool off. A few of the RV folks were running their generators for several hours from late afternoon to evening, to run their a/c units. The noise and subtle fumes were the only downside. I loved being near the creek and hearing it at night.

P. S. Near the top of Red Knob, I found many geodes. I understand that garnets may be found in geodes. I did not know enough at the time to look carefully inside the geodes.

Ian, You put in the time and effort and came away with a well earned prize. Ah.., the joys of discovery. I hope to see you at Foster's in May.