(July 24, 2012) Why would anyone want to head to a place called “Dismal Swamp” when there are 100's of places in the Boise National Forest with much nicer names? The possibility of finding smoky quartz crystals is about the only reason…or is it?
No Real Plan
With my wife Toni staying very busy developing her “Cripple Frog Web Design” business, she hasn't had much time for some good old fashioned Idaho exploration. Sometimes you just have to make the time so I gave her the day, time and Toni was tasked with giving me the destination for this adventure. She was torn between a rock hounding trip near Atlanta and a trip to Dismal Swamp. As we were enjoying the scenery passing by in Featherville, Toni was muttered “Dismal” and I knew had my orders.
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| From Discover Elmore County Idaho Daily |
Through Rocky Bar and Up Trinity Mountain Road
We parked about 3 miles northwest of Rocky Bar and unloaded the Arctic Cat ATV around 12:15 PM. With temperatures just starting to warm into the upper 70's we headed up towards Trinity Ridge Road. This route is about as scenic as any place in the US especially when the view opens up to the south. We stopped for a while to take in the sweeping views and to enjoy the many wildflowers before continuing west towards the Dismal Swamp Road.
NFS Road 290 into Dismal Swamp
We've always had some luck finding quartz crystal on the road down into Dismal Swamp on NFSR 290. Toni spent a long time slowly searching the roadbed while Addie the Plott Hound and I explored the woods and did some bouldering.
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| From Discover Elmore County Idaho Daily |
As rock hounds go, we're more of the “low hanging fruit” hounders. By that I mean we don't really get into digging more that 1 inch or so into the dirt. And most times, we don't even dig at all. For our efforts on this day we found about 10 crystals, mostly of the smoky quartz variety but found a “triad clear” that is quite stunning. And all this long before we bottomed out in the Dismal Swamp valley.
The Swamp Monsters
Normally we stay well away from the mostly claimed Dismal Swamp area. But because it was Tuesday and we hadn't seen a single person since we jumped on the ATV, we though a little claim jumping might go unnoticed. Not really! We heard rumors the Dismal Crystal Claim wasn't renewed for 2012 so we were going to join the other swamp monsters in digging in the creek. It appears someone has an active claim down there and they ask other rock hounds to “repect their claim”.
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| From Discover Elmore County Idaho Daily |
Respect the Ugly?
So, a certain someone has a quartz crystal claim in the Dismal Swamp area. And this certain person asks the rock hounds to “respect” the claim? While it is kind of annoying one of the finest quartz crystal areas is locked up by a mining claim, I can and do respect that law. However, when that claimant asks that I give him “respect”, I expect something in return. I fully expect that fucking pig will respects my public lands, fill in the holes dug in the creek-bed and above all, pick up the trash heap located 10 feet from his “Claimed” sign.
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| From Discover Elmore County Idaho Daily |
And for all the other folks that have turned the Dismal Swamp area into one big dug up mess and trash heap? Shame on you! And as far as I know, all the land in the Dismal Swamp is “public” and the claimers are just “legal squatters that are allowed to take valuable things from the land”.
Link to More Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/112532322025941965882/DiscoverElmoreCountyIdahoDaily?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you wish.
This blog post is dedicated to the people in Fairfield, Idaho who seem to understand things better than other folks further southwest.