Monday, July 18, 2011

Princess Sodalite Mine RVing Adventure

John's 70th Birthday & this weekend RV trip was his early Bday adventure surprise! He had no idea what the RV trip was about until he arrived there.






A wonderful July day to visit a rock shop!

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NEXT,we went to the MacDonald's Mine ~ The vortex ~
The entrance to the Vortex.
John looking down at the cave opening wondering how is he ever going to get down that hill.
Seon, Carrie, Lisa, & Sylvia walking the trails nearby the MacDonald Mine vortex.
Click on the photo to see the family that were at the opening of the cave to the vortex when we arrived. They can barely be seen from the top of the hill.

Looking high up on the cliff beside us.


Quite the hill down slope to get into the vortex. Carrie and Seon look small at the opening of it. With Lisa & Sylvia part way up and John at the top of the hill.


There are various cave openings into the rock revealing more crystals & different rock types. Some caves were quite wet and we couldn't walk through them.
This cave was way too wet & dark to venture into it.
The view from inside the vortex looking outside.

One section of the ceiling rock up into the vortex cave.
The walls with quartz in them.
John standing just inside the opening to the vortex.
Carrie, Lisa & Sylvia further on into the vortex.
Some graffiti some people just had to add.
Carrie by one of the caves.
Sylvia & Lisa.
Looking from one opening to the other of the vortex.
Quartz.
It was a beautiful sunshine filled day as we were exploring the vortex.
Lisa & Sylvia descending the toughest part of the vortex. We all had to be very careful coming down this section of loose rocks and it was a must to walk with our feet sideways to the slope in order not to fall.
I took this duplicate photo "without" the camera flash so it looked more mystical. :-)


John's photos that he took on the caving expedition.
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 The dancing lights.


 We both decided to take a photo of each other at the exact same time. lol


Broken bits of quartz at the base of a rock wall of it and the bits look like broken glass.
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MORE of my photos ~
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 Sylvia





John starting to collect some of the quartz rock samples to take home with us. We ended up with a nice bag full of various shapes, sizes and types.

 Sylvia picking up rock treasures.

 John picking up the broken pieces of quartz where someone had worked away at the quartz wall with a hammer & pick.

 Tiny ferns growing into the side of the quartz walls.


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Our stay at the Banroft Campground & RV Park after our caving and rock picking adventure.









Bird Lake