BIG TRIP Coming Up

I’m going to be traveling to Micronesia until the end of May. I’ll be working in the field with my classmates and professors from college. I will also be starting a job while I am there which focuses on relocating agricultural fields which are threatened by rising sea levels. I am so thrilled about it.

I have no idea how reliable the internet access will be while I’m there (and I obviously won’t have anything new to post about NC while I am on the other side of the world), so I am not sure about whether I will have a blog post until after I get home near the first day of June. Final exams are wrapped up for my spring semester already. I definitely want to keep blogging about NC geology and cool hikes I go on, but I may set up a new blog once I get home without such a narrow focus. “NC Gems and Minerals” may change to “places I hike” or “how I see things” or something along those lines…still blogging about rock hunting, hiking, and finding minerals…just about other things people may be interested in with Environmental Science. I’m thrilled to be taking more geology courses in a few months!

Catching up about Spring Break

Sorry to everyone for not making a post about my spring break. The past two weeks have completely gotten away from me. The first Friday of my Spring Break was the day I went up to try to find some rubies and sapphires in a spot which was supposedly very good, and I didn’t find anything else for the rest of the week because of issues with the weather.

On Monday of my Spring Break I drove four hours out to the border of North Carolina and Tennessee to try to get on the Appalachian Trail for an enjoyable hike with some plans to search for kyanite on the way home. Well, that plan was a bust. We got half a mile from the trailhead within the Pisgah National Forest just to be blocked by snow. It was about 55 degrees for us without any snow recently in the forecast, but we were stuck there unable to pass because of it. Additionally, a snowstorm came through the mountains on Tuesday and Wednesday which eliminate any chances of getting some minerals before my sister was due to come home for her Spring Break. I spent the week catching up on sleep, doing homework, and hiking close to home. I’ll do a post not really focused on gems or minerals, but more about the interesting geological features I noticed on my trip hiking to the top of Morrow Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain tha I did a week ago on Sunday…that area is beautiful and I’ve never been to it before last week.