This is one of our favorite things to do each year the second weekend in October. This is an entire weekend event, sponsored by the owners of Searles Lake in Trona, Ca. There is also a Gem & Mineral Show each year on this weekend in Trona. So prepare for camping in the desert for the weekend. Bring plenty of drinking water! The local church/high school has a pancake breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. So if you don’t want to cook breakfast…….there you go!

This weekend dig is completely set up for you and you’ll pay $20 per carload. This includes three salt digs. Two on Saturday for the Hanksite Crystals and the Pink Halite dig is on Sunday. There will be several parking areas set up for you to line up in anticipation for each dig. You will then be escorted to the dig site in your cars in a single file precession. This is all very well organized.You will have filled out a sheet taking all responsibilities of injury from the owners of the lake. This is a normal and reasonable request. Please have your form signed and ready to hand to the “keepers of the gate” just before you arrive at the dig! PEOPE WHOM DO NOT HAVE THERE SHEETS SIGNED & READY “IRRITATE THE OTHER DIGGERS” WAITING TO GET TO THE SITE!!!! After all first dibs at the digging’s are always appreciated by all.

There is a Gem & Mineral Show going on within walking distance of these parking lots. A great way to kill time between the two Saturday digs. There are about 15 mineral dealers at the show and it’s well worth the time.

Mud Bog Dig

The first fieldtrip is noted for the “Large Green Hanksites” found at this dig in the Mud Bogs. They will take you out to the Mud Bogs on Saturday morning at 9am sharp. Don’t be late or you’re a loser.

Notice the dark green mud that is placed on the lake surface. This mud is dug from deep within the lake bed and brought to the surface for your digging pleasure. Many times the hanksites you find will be in clusters, but large individual specimens can be found. The mud is very thick and smooth and can get everywhere. Just look at Carla, she’s only 3 and this is her second experience. Last year she wouldn’t even get near the mud bogs. Her little arms are covered with mud can you see them in front of her brother’s pants.

They also supply a brine cleaning trough for the initial cleaning of your hanksites. The two ladies in this picture on the right turned around when I asked “Show me your Hanksites!” They were so sweet, I then took a picture for them with their camera.

You may want to have the following gear for digging and cleaning the hanksites:

Rubber gloves, boots, stiff bristled brush to clean the hanksites, and a bucket to take them home in once they are cleaned. I like to use plastic grocery bags to wrap my hanksites from this site. Hanksites do not like to be wrapped news paper! You can use news paper gladly to pad in between the clusters and huge ones wrapped in plastic in your 5 gallon bucket.

Remember Hanksites, as all salt crystals, need special care for they will deteriorate if not treated with a protective coating so the air will not dissolve them. We use mineral oil as a coating on our Hanksites. It doesn’t smell as other oils do over time. You’ll need to coat you Hanksites 2-3 times a year to keep them in pristine looking condition.

I find an additional cleaning is needed once you get your Hanksites home. You can buy the brine from the lake in liter bottles in Trona, or as I, create my own brine with salt and water. I use a dentist’s pick to clean all the deep seated mud around the hanksite crystals. Then I let them dry and coat with mineral oil. Usually a second coat is a good idea for your newly dug out of the mud hanksites. Prep your salts ASAP for your best results.

Here you can see a huge cluster uncleaned [notice the hammer to give a sense of the size of this cluster on the left] and one that I’ve cleaned and oiled! Sorry folks it sold immediately after we got home from the dig.

Blow Hole Dig

The next dig is at 2 pm at what they call the Blow Hole site! This is truly amazing. They actually place a huge 40 foot pipe down into the lake and use compressed air to force the Hanksite crystals up through it and onto the surface! I’m told they also use explosives {way ahead of your arrival to the dig site} to help break up the crystals so they can be pumped onto the lake surface, almost right to your feet………just before the digging starts!

There are hundreds of people here to collect, and there always seem to be ample hanksites for all. You are made to stand back while they pump the hanksite crystals to the surface. This is a much cleaner dig. You simply pick up the Hanksites of the top of the dry lake. They may require some rinsing but not anything like cleaning and scrubbing the larger xls from the “Mud Bogs”. I use large Ziploc bags to collect and store my smaller Hanksites in till I get them home. Sometimes rarer salt crystals to be found called sulfa-halite and they are pyramidal twins and need no special treatment, also Borax crystals are found here. We only found a few of the Sulfa-Halites…….pictured below is one of our best Sulfa-Halites, it’s about .75” x .5” in size.

The Hanksites found at the “Blow Hole” are smaller and run from a translucent golden yellow/orange to translucent green. Pictured below are some of the smaller hanksites from this dig. The whole batch is in the casserole dish with a close-up of the different sizes on the right. There are 4 borax crystals at the bottom of this picture, their clear, but will turn to a white powder if not treated with mineral oil. [ xls are 50% larger than pictured]

Pink Halite Dig

AH, one of the truly exciting digs of the entire weekend is the Sunday 9am to 1pm. dig for the World Famous - “Pink Halite Crystals”. This is the only place in the world where you can find Pink Halites, yes, Searles Lake, Trona, CA.! It is an algae in the water that causes the deep cranberry to pink coloration of the salts. The pools of water seem almost black from the algae……but it’s truly RED! You can not be faint hearted to dig these pink halites. You’ll have to climb into the water and pry with a bar to get the best and largest of the halite cube clusters! Below is Art up to his elbows in this brackish - blackish water.

Halites form in cubes. The larger and more colorful the salt cube crystals the more valuable the specimen. Halite if found usually with a Trona matrix. The Trona matrix is quite heavy and saturated with the salt water from the lake. It may take several months for the Trona to completely dry out. Our largest salt pictured in the center above, weighed about 75 lbs when first dug. Presently it is in someone else’s hands, but I’m sure it is lighter by a 10-20 lbs. The picture on the left is a close-up of the largest clusters left end, with a nickel to show the size of the salt cubes. The picture on the right is of our second best salt. Notice how the Trona formed a unique bell shape for the Halites to form on.

Halite clusters also need special care and maintenance to preserve them. They must be keep dry and you “do not” apply any oil to the surface of these crystals, as you would to the Hanksites. If moisture/dew gets on the Halite salts it will cause a crusty crystalline veiling. The crystal is actually being melted due to the moisture, then recrystalizing again on the host Halite cube of salt, which it was once part of itself. This is not an incurable problem, but a timely one. You must carefully and gently razorblade you Halite cubes to remove the recrystalization that happens occasionally to your specimens. I have treated some of my personal specimens with a lacquer spray. It’s helps tremendously in the maintenance of your specimens. Don’t over spray, causing drips an droops on your Halite!

Your personal clean-up is paramount once you leave this dig. You must remove all damp clothing [so come prepared with fresh clothing close by] or suffer grave consequences. Possibly even rashes! If you have a damp facecloth it’s a good idea to wipe off all crusted salt from the body. It makes your drive home so much more pleasurable. I usually can save the clothing by hosing it down on the driveway when we get home……but the sneakers or footware have to be thrown away!

We haul our salts in our pick-up bed and use a couple pieces of plywood to build a second level. This level must not touch the lower level of salts. For it will ruin them. So be creative and safe when packing for your trip home. We live in Southern California, so we just put the salts out on the drive way when we get home and tarp them each evening. This helps with the morning dew. Then let the sun dry then out during the day!