A couple of weeks ago I promised to get pics for the RHS1 members of some wood that I was extremely excited about finding in the Paulina area.

I had been to the area a few weeks before and had found pockets of potch, but it was brittle and breakable, and after hiking some ways in and having to hike some ways back to the car, I didn’t have much left (including time) for digging so don’t know if the wood becomes more stable lower, of if it’s just an area that the wood is potch that shatters into pieces when hit, and a few pieces of brown toned chunks of wood in earth tone colors  – browns and oranges on previous trips to the general vicintiy.

This time I went in a a bit further close to an area I had previously found a few small limb casts  and found several small limb casts, a few nicely colored orange/brown chunks and one piece that really wowed me.  Perhaps you have seen wood like this from that area, or another area, but this was the first time I have.  When I picked it up I just thought I had an agate despite the half-moon shape of the wedge.  When I cleaned it in water later I got a little surprise.  It was a half round of limb cast agate.

Before I cleaned it, I could not see the outside edge that identified the piece as wood:

Cleaning also brought out many interesting markings throughout the cast.

Not all of the patterning details show up in the pictures, but the green and white inclusions seem to be common opal.  It will be an exciting one to cut in half and polish.

Naturally, I will be going back to see if I can find more wood with similar petrification.  Wish me luck!

Life’s Short – Rock hard.