Saddle Mountain
IMPORTANT: If you’re interested in the EmP hosted dig, scroll to the bottom section.
Here’s a really easy spot to start to get some petrified wood.
GPS Coordinates to Big Pit: 46.808511, -119.889116
Road out from the diggings. Gentle hills abound, making traversing and prospecting easy.
Small pieces of petrified wood from Saddle Mountain.
Directions:
Driving eastbound on I-90, take Exit 137 for WA-26.
In a little under a mile, turn right onto WA-243. Continue for many miles, until you reach a roundabout. Take the third exit (in effect, turning left) and enter downtown Mattawa.
Continue on Road 24 for about 1 mile past Mattawa and you’ll see a crossroads - take a left onto R Road.
Continue on R Road for a good mile or so, you will come across a bridge. The road will become unpaved and will split in two - take the left split and drive past the gate.
At this point the road is bumpy. Go slow if you don’t have clearance. Keep on the main (largest) road for 4 miles - there will be a junction after a valley. Turn right and follow the road for about a half mile to the diggings on the left of the road.
At the diggings, there’s petrified wood all over the ground. You just have to go look. You can also dig out one of the collapsed pits and locate the productive ash layer which will hold much larger pieces.
The majority of the white crust on the pieces is calcite, which can be dissolved off with any acid. I recommend vinegar - safer to use. After dissolving the calcite you can assess what to do next - display as is, polish, slice, etc. It’s good hard lapidary material.
2021 Hosted Dig:
Tools (try to bring as many of the following as you can):
5 gallon bucket
Shovel (miniature or full-sized)
Rock pick OR carpenter’s hammer with hook end
Large pickaxe
3lb+ hammer
Cold chisels (NOT WOOD CHISELS!!!)
Screwdriver
Also make sure to have food, water, first aid, etc. as we will be a good half an hour or more away from civilization!
Plan
We will meet at the “Harvest Foods Lep Re Kon” parking lot at 11:00am.
Google Maps Link: click here
Wait ~15 minutes for everyone to arrive. We will then head up and dig. I will give an intro once we are there to let everyone know what we’re looking for and to teach some basic safety and tool usage. We will probably end up digging for an hour or two and heading back down!
