Looking for agates and Eocene forests in central Washington

[Neanderthal Shaman]

A friend of mine knows some great spots for rockhounding in central Washington near the town of Cle Elum, so we took a day to go check it out. We started by driving up Old Blewett Pass where he'd previously found some stuff representing an Eocene wetland about 50 million years ago. Sure enough, the outcrops on the pass yielded some neat finds. 

If you zoom in, you can see that it looks like this plant had some sort of leaf spot disease in life. 

 

 

More leaves, excuse the shininess of the paraloid. 

 

I think this is a horsetail. 

 

 

 

Palm frond impressions.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Neanderthal Shaman
Edits

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice. 

I agree that that is a nice little bit of horsetail. 

[Neanderthal Shaman]

As far as I can figure out, this is also from a palm tree. If I had to guess, I would say it's maybe part of a petiole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we went to First Creek, a spot that is well known for water-line agates. 

 

A friendly cave-dwelling frog was waiting for us halfway up one of the hills. 

 

 

 

[Mister Wu]

such pieces are rare in my location.