Day 5+ (I know – Day 6, but….)

  Even though it’s actually day 6, I’m still working on day 5 time.  we go back to the hotel to clean up and sleep for a few hours after the campout on Kvanefjeld, then it’s off again to Tarsaq slopes.  After climbing for two hours (See pic above - it’s longer and much higher than it looks - I was exhausted after this climb!!!!) – had to take a break every 100 feet, we arrived at a vein within the rocks.  I cracked open an ugly old boulder and found a nice big (40 kilos?) chunk of yellow sodalite, nicely tenebrescent.  Better yet, it had tug interspersed in several areas.  This got the rock fever burning again! We spent an hour breaking it into manageable pieces, then on for more.  I picked up a large interesting white rock – SOLID TUG!  Beautiful.  That set us off on a tug hunt.  Soon we found some really nice looking stuff, cracked it open and the white turned a deep pink as we watched!  More very phosphorescent tug.  We found the huge (1 ton+) mother boulder the pieces had broken off from – Peter will attack that with the drill sometime in the coming weeks.  Most of the tugtupite in this area is of the white variety, but cracking open a few of the finds revealed a nice pink coloration.  The colors are dramatic too – many pastel hues and super phosphorescence from this area.

 Special note: We cracked open several pieces which initially were white.  As we watched they turned a deep pink and when lit by UV glowed the deep cherry red.  I wonder if when kept in the dark they will return to their white state again?  This is very different from the tug found on Kvanefjeld.

 By this time I had a full knapsack and a extra bag of rocks, Peter, his brother-in-law, his brother had full sacks too, as well as Lee.  I was DEAD!  Lee and others went off to another outcropping of sodalite (3 and 4 color) while I started back down the slopes.  Of course they beat me down but that’s ok.  I wanted to get back to enjoy my finds.  Slow and easy, check every rock you step on to make sure it won’t slip out, keep your footing.

  Finally at the bottom of the slopes and we start the trek back to the truck.  We have to cross a stream and finally I took a tumble on a slippery rock, wet feet, sizable gash on my lower leg, and hurt pride – but nothing more.  Looks worse than it hurt.  But – thank god was at the end of the day, would not be too good to start the day with wet feet.  Back to hotel, quick shower, and bed!  Slept for 12 hours.

On to Day 7