Yes, you read that headline correctly! After many years and a very long dry spell, the Sun Lakes Rock, Gem & Silver Club will once again feature field trips for all active members. The very essence of a rock club is the ability to offer field trips, and we are fortunate to have a newly dedicated coordinator in Krystal Michelin.

Krystal knows that Arizona has a plethora of extraordinary sites available for collecting rocks, gems, and mineral specimens. Currently, she is planning out a series of active field trips to exciting destinations, which may include cities like Kingman or Bisbee for turquoise, Safford for fire agate, Woodruff for petrified wood, or Payson for fossils. Club members should stay tuned for upcoming announcements with specific details, which will be emailed to active members in our monthly newsletter.

Also included this fall will be visits to rock shops where you can just purchase the ideal gem specimen you have been searching for. You might wish to invest in “rough” if you are taking a lapidary class and plan to cut it into slabs and then cut and polish into cabochons. Or you may want to buy a finished cabochon for your wire wrapping class.

Natural Expressions is a big rock shop nearby in Gilbert and close enough for those who want it now, and can’t wait for the next field trip. Perhaps you’ll visit the Sticks and Stones shop in Mesa, or maybe even the Copper City Rock Shop up in Globe.

Who knows? One of you lucky ones may stumble across and actually find the original Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, thereby claiming the reputed fortune in pure gold nuggets! According to one estimate, 9,000 people annually make some effort to locate the Lost Dutchman’s mine. (So, naaah, you probably won’t be the one who finds it … sorry, LOL!)

Whatever, it’s going to be an exciting new phase of field trips presented to our membership during the next 2022-23 season. All you need to do is go online to our website, slrgs.com, and check it out. Look under the heading “Documents,” and then under the pulldown menu to “Fieldtrip Documents,” and then you’ll see one page each detailing the “Process and Rules,” “Pre-Trip Process,” and “Collection and Safety.” Reading these over gives one confidence knowing how professional our club is regarding procedures for field trips.

Afterwards, you’ll want to look over all 24 of the personalized classes we offer. And then it’s easy to fill out the membership application and send it in. Why not do that right now while you are waiting for the first general meeting of the new season. We look forward to seeing you at 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 17, in the Phoenix Room at the Cottonwood clubhouse.