North Bay, Ontario

My wife and I will be in North Bay, Ontario starting the week of 15Nov. My step-daughter and son-in-law have recently moved there. He is in the USAF and based there. I seem to remember seeing where some one on the list was from there. Weather permitting I would be interested in seeing some of the sites in the area. Pegmatites are a big interest.

Dave Garland

Hi Dave.

I didn't know the U.S. had a base in North Bay - you must be attacking us from behind

I might have been the person you were referring to. We have a cottage about an hour SW of North Bay (actually closer to Parry Sound). I was asking about a year ago - but didn't get much feedback.

I haven't gone collecting in the area yet - I never seem to get the time. But here's some information I have found.

1) The mineral club in North bay is the Nipissing Lapidary & Mineral Club. Check out the NRCan website for the contact information - [gsc.nrcan.gc.ca]

The seem to be old school - They don't have a website or email contact - just a phone number. I was planning to try and join this winter if they have any collecting trips. It's possible the website is outdated and the club doesn't exist anymore, but it may be worth checking.

2) Here is a link to Sabina's latest book from 2007 (free online from GSC) for Ottawa to North Bay. [geopub.nrcan.gc.ca] It has some local areas some some that are further away. I think the South River garnet site is pretty interesting, but seems to be remote.

One of the reasons I haven't done a much collecting by myself around this area is I'm chicken #@%! and expect them not to find my body until after the next spring fall.

3) If you're driving up from Toronto, you would not pass too far from a site Maggie Wilson reported on a few weeks ago (~ 50km from highway 11) [http]


I don't know where you are coming from, but keep in mind that North Bay will probably be just above freezing in mid-November and may already have snow.

Also if you do go collecting, you should probably check into the hunting season to make sure you don't end up on the hood of a hunter's car.

I should get back to work now! Good luck and let me know how things go.

Andrew

Andrew

Actually the Americans do have personel there. It's part of NORAD.

[www.mindat.org]

This is a site that is due east of North Bay, about an hour and a half - easy to find and access... I've posted some site and mineral picutres to the link above.

There are plenty of other sites between North Bay and Mattawa, however, I've not had personal experience at any - and I agree with Andrew - try to get your hands on a copy of Sabina's guidebook

the garnet location I have collected twice, and missed out on twice...the misses were due to damming activity by local beavers, subsequently drowning/obscuring or otherwise totally blocking any access...this is one of my alltime favs for collecting,so please let me know of any success you may have in finding it,as it is off the map unless a nipissing member remembers how to get there still and is willing to either guide you, or give explicit directions so if you make it and are successful, I would dearly love getting gps coordinates sent to me by PM
good luck

Thanks everyone....

I will give a trip report when we get back. My 7 year old grandson I understand is a confirmed junior geologist (I have not seen him in a year and a half) and I understand he is chomping at the bit to go mineral collecting with "grandpa Dave." He has a copy of the Handbook of N. American Minerals I gave him when he was last here and I understand he carries it everywhere he goes. Here's to good weather when we are there...

Dave Garland