March 7, 2007

March 7, 2007

Since we live so close to the Sabino Canyon Rec. area we decide to go there for a vigorous walk instead of riding the stationary bike in our gym. The park has a shuttle-only paved road that extends four miles up the canyon. The upper sections had been closed because of flood damage and rockslides caused by one of the summer monsoons last August. We walk up the road to survey the damage. On the way we encounter some volunteers teaching panning skills. I have to give it a try. They hand me a gold pan with a shovel full of gravel. I swirl it in the stream. After picking out the larger stones and swirling some more, I can see the gravel separating into two layers. I tilt the pan to let the lighter tan-colored sand on top wash away. I am left with a bunch of dark sand.

One of the volunteers stirs it with his plastic coated magnet picking up a bunch of black gravel. As a chemist I know this is black Magnetite, a form of Iron Oxide. I am just surprised to find so much of it in the gravel. I am left with a bunch of dark red gravel in the pan. No gold flakes! But the volunteer tells me the rest is mostly garnets and hands me a jeweler’s loupe to prove it. When Aimee hears I found gemstones, she comes running to see. Unfortunately they are all nowhere near big enough for a ring. Just the size to make garnet sandpaper! Panning is a lot easier than I thought. Since we will be heading north thru the California gold fields this summer, I need to get myself a pan.