Royston Turquoise Mine Tour

One more thing off my bucket list!

Ever since I've learned of Royston Turquoise Mine Tours, I've wanted to go.

This past weekend, we packed up the car, and headed out to Tonopah, Nevada for my chance!

Our destination was the Mizpah Hotel for lodging.Avoid the 5th floor unless you want to tempt a visit from the ghost of the Mysterious Lady in Red.

Talk about taking a trip into the past~ this was a turn of the century luxury hotel of the Wild West. Ornate, and...small! Small rooms, wide halls, lots of copper fixtures and carved features of a time gone by.

Our 'Queen' room

We checked in and walked up and down Main Street for a bit. Lots of closed shops, but with the help of Google, we found a great pizza place down a ways. Delicious crust!! That's how you judge a pizza, right?

Next morning, I, with 22 others, stood outside the Otteson's Turquoise jewelry shop inside the lobby, at 9:30am. By 10:00 am, we were all accounted for, had our yellow sack in hand, and were headed out to the mine.

I got a ride there with Tom, who was born and raised in Tonopah. (Thanks Tom, for the ride, company and conversation!) Also with us was Lane, one of the Otteson family, and as he says, 'I've looked for turquoise ever since I could walk!' Awesome guys, both, they escorted us to the tailings, which were mounds, and mounds of  rock moved out of the active mine made while they search for large veins of high grade turquoise. The 'tailings' get moved out with heavy machinery and surround their dig. Our job, as guest rockhounds, is to try and search these mounds, and look for a glimpse of brilliant blue for a piece of turquoise. We keep anything we can find and carry back.

That's Tom on the left

We were lucky! At around 6000 ft. elevation, the temperature that day was a high of 85 degrees. It had rained a lot earlier in the week, washing off layers of the white dust, making it easier to spot the blue.

Among us were repeaters, a few who come regularly, Although I was told they no longer allow 10 gallon buckets and give you the generous bag instead, these folks had their buckets, and were prepared! Knee pads, tools, covering from the hot sun. However, I was quite happy with my bag, and I was in bliss looking for hints of blue, and throwing it in my bag. It was getting heavy. I couldn't have carried a 10 gallon bucket filled with rocks if I wanted to!

I mostly surface grazed. I would see a piece of turquoise to pick up, sit, and mosey along, from piece to piece. Any blue. If it was pretty, I put it in my bag. Others sat in one spot, and would dig, dig, dig. Most were down near the active mine, I moved from there, where the rocks were large, back to where the tailings were a few months old. That area had smaller rocks, and I was happiest finding blue there, and moving little bits of rock with my claw hand tool, provided by Lane.

There's blue in these rocks! Really!

They let us look for 3 hours. I was getting weary at about 2 1/2 hours in the sun, and made my way to the truck, still casting my eyes on the ground, putting some last additions to my stash, as I waited for Tom and Lane to gather up the rest to head back. All looked happy and loaded with rocks.

When all were accounted for, we began the long, dusty ride back to town. Usually, they take you down to the basement of the Mizpah Hotel,  and work a bit of your turquoise for you, but Tom has been gone for 2 years and has just returned, and the equipment was a little worse for the wear during his absence. Worn blades, no drive band for the saw. I'm not sure what happened with the rest of the group and Tom down there, as I made my way back upstairs at that point, I was hot, dusty, thirsty, hungry, and ready for a hot shower

After a cleaning up, Rich and I  had excellent bbq and an amazing craft brew, Mucker Irish Red Ale at Tonopah Brewing. Rocks, and then a delicious dinner! It was the best day EVER!!

The next day, Rich laughed when I insisted on bringing a rock to keep me company during the long drive back home, just to gaze at and enjoy.

Soon enough, we were home. We emptied the car, put things away, and started laundry. There were still a couple of hours of daylight left, and I spent it outside, going through my treasure!

Remember I said I picked up anything that was pretty? Apparently size didn't matter either. I'm not sure what I can do with these!

One of my favorite pieces:

Of course, one of things I do first with a new batch of rock is grab a few small rocks and bring them straight to the Genie for some creative freeform cabbing.

Thank you to the Otterson's for opening up their mine for folks like me! If you have a chance, you must give it a visit!