Date:        Saturday, July 5, 2003
Time:        9:30 A.M. Eastern
Location:  HACKNEY FARM, BLUE RIDGE, GA.

Children are welcome.

Pets are OK but the owner has pit bull dogs which are very friendly to people - ? pets, I'm not so sure about?

Location:  This is a world class site for staurolite (fairy crosses and the Georgia state mineral)!  Steve Hackney had made a few improvements on the farm a few years ago to make it easier for us to collect here.  He cleared and bulldozed the old trenches by the creek and dug new trenches. Now you can either dig in the newer trenches or make your own hole someplace else.  So far, the foot of the hill seems to be the digging spot of choice.  I like to sit in the shade of a tree on an overturned 5 gallon bucket and screen the creek for crystals.  The crystals at Hackney Farm are small and almost perfect.  Most of this material is in the form of single prismatic blades(over 60% found), twinned crystals inter-grown at 60º(over 30% found), twinned crystals inter-grown at 90º(3-4% found) and occasionally Maltese crosses(under 3% found) and "multi-twins" (rare).  You may also find hornblende, diorite and gold ore.  On a trip here a couple of years ago, Daniel Miller(field trip chair for the Knoxville club) found three small gold nuggets while panning in the stream!

Meet at:  We will be meeting at 9:30 AM in the theater parking lot located behind McDonalds at the junction of SR 515/76 and SR 5 in Blue Ridge, Ga.

Minerals found: There is plenty of staurolite (Fairy crosses) here.  (Single prismatic blades, twinned crystals inter grown at 60º and 90º, and occasionally Maltese crosses)  You may also occasionally find hornblende, diorite and gold ore.

Tools:  You will need to bring a shovel and pick for digging in the new trenches, a bucket or two to hold specimen dirt, wire screens of 1/2 inch and 1/4  inch to take to the stream to wash your bucket material, and  Ziplocs for your specimen finds.  You can forget the digging and just screen the stream material.  I've had great luck with this method in the past. You may even want to take a few buckets of specimen dirt home to process later! Don't forget your food and drinks. 

Cost: $10.00 fee per carload.  A Georgia Mineral Society host will be collecting this fee and issuing a "parking pass" at the movie theater meeting location.  Please bring the exact dollar amount! 

DIRECTIONS AND WHERE TO MEET:
When:  We will be meeting at 9:30 AM, Saturday, July 5th. 2003. 
Where:  In the theater parking lot located behind McDonalds at the junction of SR 515/76 and SR 5 in Blue Ridge, GA.
Directions from Atlanta:  Take I-75 north to I-575. I-575 will change to Georgia 5 and 515. Follow this highway North through Ellijay until you reach the town of Blue Ridge.  SR 5 makes a left at the McDonalds. You will see the McDonalds on the North West corner. Make the left and then right into the theater parking lot which is just after the McDonald's entrance.  Total distance is 74 miles from I-75/I-575 and total driving time will be about 1:25 hours