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Early in the morning on August 8, 2001 the gang was packed and ready to head west. When we stopped in Grand Island, Nebraska. We had covered 1,000 miles in a grueling 17 hours-on-the-road day. The indoor pool and hot tub provided awesome relief. The following night, we arrived in Delta, Utah, an astounding 850 miles on top of the 1,000 miles covered yesterday. There is one motel in Delta with a pool (a Best Western, I believe) and we found it in time to soak out some of the wear and tear of the road trip. Delta is one of the closest towns to the Dugway range geode beds that has all of the amenities a family with 4 children needs. especially after consecutive 17 and 15 hour days on the road. |
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 On
the 11th we traveled northwest on Utah 174 to a point due north
of Lady Baird Peak where a BLM road cuts due north next to Antelope
Ridge toward the Dugway Range. After about 20 miles on this Jeep
trail that we carefully navigated in our 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan ES, we
intersected the smoothly graded Pony Express
Trail, turned west, and crossed Dugway Pass into the Dugway Valley. About 4 miles west of
the pass, a right turn (north) on another Jeep trail that left the
more comfortable Pony Express Trail carried us in a north by northwest
arc that traces the western base of the Dugway Range. Nearly
any right turn toward the mountains will lead you to spots with
visible signs of digging. What you are looking for is a band of pink
clay that comprises the geologic layer in which geodes were deposited. The geodes were formed elsewhere and rode the currents of the ancient sea that once covered the area into the mountain range which stopped their eastward movement. We
had great success in finding both geode fragments and unbroken spheres
ranging from the size of a lemon to one that was the size of a large
cantaloupe!! |
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