OPEN TO PUBLIC LOCATION!!! Google search for "Sandy Bottom Creek Trail Rides" right outside of Asheville, North Carolina. They run the location and can give you directions and things for going to dig.
My husband passed away a year and a half ago. I picked up metal detecting, that led to gold mining. Then that led to rockhounding. I went to this mine recently and it was wonderful. I find it very therapeutic. It sounds silly but these things really helped me get through it all
I understand that totally. The last vacation my husband and I went on was to the ruby mines in Franklin, NC. He died later that year at 38. We had a lot of fun playing in the mud.
I live 30 minutes away from this mine, and now because your video absolutely randomly popped up in my suggested videos and even though I never had an interest in finding gem stones, i'm going lol.
I'm lucky enough to live 20 minutes down the road from this mine. Visiting Little Pine was my first real crystal collecting and mining experience and I cannot thank you enough for posting this video and peaking my interest! Definitely worth the work and money for what you find here. I've since been to several other mines in the region and have become a full blown rock hound. Again, thank you so much!
Nice! I would like to go back soon too. I meant to say in my last comment that I love watching all your other videos and living vicariously through you. There are so many places I want to collect at now.
Wow those are beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this information. Otherwise I would’ve never known what to look for or where to go. You’re the best and I love your videos❤
As I was watching your video things looked very familiar like I had been there. Low and behold I have been there! Back in 2015 my girlfriend and I did a photography trip to NC where we did a horse trail ride and ended up at this mine. I do have some garnets from this location. Cool!
You are doing a great job at editing meanwhile,i really enjoy the feel of your videos. Thanks very much, i am loving your channel.:-) I used to study geology a long time ago, but a chronic illness keeps me housebound for many years now (although i am just 38 years old). Watching your videos reminds me so much of the old times when i was able to doing little "digs" myself. And watching these vids makes me feel like i am with you on that trip, with you as guidance. Its way better than nothing.:-) Keep up the good work! Cheers.
denda2643 I'm 39 myself, and I'm happy these videos can bring you some satisfaction😊🙌 I'll be trying my best to do more and better videos in the future. I hope you can feel optimal for your condition and better 🙏🏻
denda2643 same here, hit by tractor trailer. Wanted to cut n polish stones maybe work as a jeweler, lost my knowledge of minerals and herds due to brain damage, along w precious memories. I'm 38 also and have to live through other ppls experiences, so videos like this make me feel like I'm there. I will may never travel, marry again, hike, work in a laboratory, or accomplish my dreams! But I am there for my family and others in emotional need, and very spiritual & most thankful for the smallest things. I lost my personality, who I was. But i do remember my self image. I had to grieve my loss of abilities, personality, loss of friends, hobbies n chance at normal life. But could always be worse ie paralysed, cut in half, coma ect. So I am thankful for what I have and seek to help others in worse shape. WOW sry for that, but I hope you the best. u r not alone
you have touched my heart strings! my heart breaks for your loss...i know that God must have something very special in mind for you! each day is a new beginning for each of us...it's what we do with it that matters so much...you are inspiring in the fact that in spite of what happened to you , you have not lost your faith!
Jane Lewis TY I lost soooo much I used to curse God n pray to die, could not do it me self. Example the military wanted me as a code breaker due to the testing, offered 45k sign on cash from starting at 15k. I realised that it was not peace time, kidney trouble in the desert... uh no. And lastly I knew my wife X now would have guys in my bed all while she would have a new car and bill free apt n life. Intuition was correct she abandoned me and my 2 children, no b-day cards or phone calls to just say she loved them. Another funny thing my collage enrollment papers and n course selection book were in the floor board of the crashed car. Let's laugh some more, it was on my birthday, and I had just payed off a second car as.a.personal gift. Thanks for your msg, I feel like I'm complaining sry this has been cathartic. So ppl don't take normal life for granted. Bless u for even msgn me. Hope things look up for you as well, don't forget to laugh!
I had a great time at the garnet mine this weekend. I wish I had watched this video before going. We didnt have the right tools and really werent sure what to look for on the cave walls. We left and went into marshall and bought hammers and chisels and a bucket. Then, went back. We managed to find some garnets after we got back, mostly from the dump pile. We will definitely go again....this time more prepared. Thanks for posting.
@@TheCrystalCollector My girlfriend, who goes rock-hounding with me, told me earlier today that it was closed until further notice because someone bent the rule of not digging on the ceiling and someone was injured when a chunk fell. It apparently happened Saturday, while we were there. We didnt see or hear of anyone getting hurt....even though we were there all day. Interesting. I guess we'll have to try our luck at the ruby/sapphire mine in Franklin.
The last clips of finds were of several trips of serious digging. The garnets are there, but hard work, and I cant stress enough how important it is to have the right tools and know how. This location should be for beginner to expert rock-hounds, but know your limits for sure and stay off the high walls always. The "cave" can only handle a few people at a time digging inside it, but the outside dump piles can handle alot more at one time. Have fun and be safe if you decide to go.
ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING!! since I was little,I have collected rocks! I would collect the ones that caught my eye and take them home and bust them open with a hammer to see what they looked like inside! I love this!😀 Please keep the videos coming!! And by the way, LOVE THE SOUND EFFECTS!! HILARIOUS!!!!!
I felt like I was right there with you not that I go into caves but hey I guess that's what this videos for. I like large garnets in raw form too seeing you extract one out of mica schist! That was a treat thanks for making this video for sure
The lighting in your video was amazing inside the cave. Great video, great overview of Little Pine. Love that place! Edit: Just read the rest of the comments. I vote "keep 'em" on the sound effects. :)
We have a mountain behind our house that we call the garnet ridge. On that ridge you can find these huge garnets, they are totally beautiful when they are polished.
I have the eye😁. A few times, I spotted the garnet in the tailings before you picked it up. That gave me confidence that I would be able to find plenty, if I ever go mine at Little Pine Garnet Mine.
I took the family here in May just because of your video. It was awesome! Thanks so much for the inspiration. We found very nice stones in both the mine and the Creek tailings.
Gemstone mining and rock hounding is definitely on my bucket list. My husband and I would totally be your disciples!!! I don't mind getting dirty for natures beauty.
Awesome 👍👍👍 as an ametur rockhound I can't get enough of your videos. You make the hard work you do look so easy. People don't realize you are making a living doing this. At locations all over the South. Would love to be able to hunt crystals with you and your friends. You are unique. Stay that way!!! Try to watch other miner's. Ugh, boring.
@@TheCrystalCollector Hello Steve, could I ask you an expert advice PLEASE? Am a big fan of your content, and watch about every video you create. What a passion WOW. You seem to be a trustable and nice person ;>) I will travel for one year starting in March 2025. I will dedicate 3 months for the US and S/E-Canada. Coming over from Europe, I would very much love to use time the best I can. I aim to do three to four crystal diggings. What would be your 3-4 main biggest one-day recommendations to go for? My idea is the following 1) Herkimer Diamonds (most important!) - which mine? Mohawk Valley Mineral Mining, Inc., NY? As the Ace is closed, and I do not know much about "Herkimer Diamond Mines" next to the Ace. Your Herkimer videos make me smile all day. My focus is on clarity and shape, not size. 2) Garnets - Little Pine Garnet Mine, NC, also closed?! 3) Sunstones - Spectrum Mines, OR 4) Topaz - Topaz Mountain, UT? 8) I guess aquamarines at Mt Antero are too challenging for a normal person. 9) Ruby, emerald and sapphire are amazing, but hard to find some good ones in one day. I am not a big fan of amethyst, smoky quartz etc. In the end I'll have to get the stones exported and imported to the EU, but that's a different challenge. Huge thank you in advance!
That's the spirit, "Put the work in" Man I can spend the whole work day there, 8 to 10 hours on the rock. For me, it's spiritually enlightening. I need to form a crew that's willing go. Retirement Goal
This was the most amazing vid I ever saw!! I studied back in the day. I seriously need to to extract rocks. I love Rocks!! I probably have your Garnets. I bought them from a lady that goes to Gem shows down there. Garnet is my absolute fave!! Mine are very tiny, this was the 1st time I ever seen such beautiful Garnets. You are so blessed, I thank you so much for doing this vid. It maybe the closest I'll ever get to being there.
Yes, I would like to do a video on the Hiddenite mine but they do salt the creek tremendously. This current location is legit though it is really fun and they just did a lot of fresh work, it’s a nice place to go
Years ago I traded a large green crystal formation friends and I had retreived from a cave in Tucson when I lived in Tucson in Catalina on Sunrise Dr for a crystal from You ,I will allway's treasure my crystal!.. that had a price tag of $100.00..it is a large quartz crystal so beautiful...KEEP ON ROCKIN IT!......The Crystal Collector................................
Yes, some of the formations at this location is just simply wild! There are a couple of theories of how this occurred some people say they form together like that some people say they formed and after the fact they got super heated and melted together, I kind of think they form from the get go like this but who really knows
That’s some awesome garnets! Bummer though I just looked them up and the cave is closed, tailings are still open though. Have you ever stopped and picked garnets at Bridal veil falls near Highlands NC? Right by the roadside there’s small garnets where the falls lands and also to the left up a little trail you’ll find them in situ.
Yeah it’s a huge bummer, I’m hoping to try and work something out with the owners about this location in the future. I’ve never dug gone it’s there but I know where you’re talking about
Cool video We love mining Little Pine Garnet mine Great place to take the kids too My wife has a almost 2 pound Garnet from there The People are wonderful too.
Garnet comes in every color of the rainbow.. even color shift.. color change,purple,pink,red ,green orange, yellow, blue, n padparotia and Raspberry, Some if you're really lucky,find a garnet that flourencents under UV light.!!
lol, yea I'm having fun with the sound effects, I'm going to purchase more variety of things to use and try to make the videos more interesting. Just trying to mix it up and have fun and show others places or ways they can also get out and dig for crystals.
I love watching your "hunt" videos! I got an extra chuckle on this one when you spelled schist (shcist)@8:30 in the video. It just struck me funny because you made a point of spelling, mica schist for people so they had the word image as well. The video was great as always!! Hope you get a smile out of this too! :P
I live South of Asheville in Henderson county. There aren't any really cool gems left in this county and the zircon mine in Zirconia has petered out, but I have found a few tiny intensely red garnets in embankments, usually in matrix.
Most gemmy garnet, at least what I have found, tends to be pretty small. Larger pieces tend to have too many inclusions to make good faceting candidated.
thanks, trying to make the videos better, its a learning experiance., yea I got a little excited with the new app I just got, need to get actual editing software, really want to make them more professional looking
I admire your journey I think it’s amazing started prospecting a little over a year ago mostly beach stuff here in Florida hoping one day I can get my RV and get on the road and do the same
Yes if you ever get the chance do that, back in 2015 for a couple years there I would just rent a van from enterprise rentals, take all the seats out and travel for 4 to 6 weeks with the rental and just sleep out of the van. That’s one way to do it
I live in East Tennessee and attended East Tennessee State University for a brief period of time. I took a historical geology class in the spring of 2009 and taught Dr. Michael J. Whitelaw ( an Australian fellow ) and I can remember him saying at some point that there was an industrial garnet mine someplace in North Carolina and him displaying some fairly large ( fist sized and larger ) pieces of unpolished garnet. I distinctly remember him saying that these pieces were of industrial grade garnet, not gemstone quality. You might want to try sending him an E-mail and see if he can point your in the direction of that particular mine.
This could be the actual spot that he was referring to, this was an industrial Garnet and actually they mind the mica schist also, I think it’s been mine three times by different people over the last century.
Haha 13:29 I'm pretty sure is the hole I smashed near the roof with a sledge hammer. If there were foot holes dug up to a place you would have to be crazy to go, then yup. College geology trip with a few beers on the way up... Oh college.
Dahalongea Ga, is where the first gold rush began, there's a mine that you can go to, I plan on going when I get back to Ga. I camp there with my cousins as often as I can. They have a camper out there year round.
Love watching you, you are a true 100% rock hound personality and my boyfriend and I get a kick out of the way you are true blue and real and never stop to pay mind about what those people who look down on rock hounds instead of the ground at the rocks us rock hounds are spotting right under their feet! We feel your excitement and literally relate and resemble the same astatic emotions that such beauty detailing the earths gifts brings to us. That said, we are just about to spend a week or more traveling from our home in NY to South Carolina and back with chosen destinations and a list on the side for just in case that will take us 4 hrs most from one to the next and back. It’s such an exciting adventure to have places to go and things to do but no actual schedule, no clock to beat and no obligations restricting our time. Taking the tools of the trade, a propane burner and a cooler (yeah, who wants that sluggish feeling of fast food diet weighing on you when your about to carry the weight of the world in iron to expel the weight of the world (literally) just waiting to give us that feeling that’s better than shopping could ever reward us! So hey, we own 2 properties both on the same road, one is 50 acres of freaking amazing ness! It’s the perfect combination for the most amazing fossils and gemstones of our area with a sweet creek running down through the mostly wooded property that resembles Jurassic world still and had amazing trails always maintained offering mean hiking and even meaner 4wheeler trails to haul your load. It has artifacts and has not been changed and dug blind because it’s been in my boyfriends family for generations and generations used to respect and not destroy property and we still live by that notto! So then there’s our property down the road a mile that we have 3 acres and it’s the most beautiful property for rock hounds as it’s at almost the bottom of this road that is really more mountain than hill and the same creek runs through and it’s back in private loaded with Devonian fossils. And this exact spot was the property where the largest battle of the area between the Native American tribes (the 7nations banded together to become as one) and fought the battle for the lands here against the 7th Calvary with General Washington leading the settlers to take the land here. In our yard there is a Bend in the creek and one of the worst battles took place called “where the creek runs red with blood” the 7th Calvary were actually defeated and retreated the first battle and the second battery proved defeat for our people (I am Blackfoot siksikah descendant my boyfriend is of Tuscarora nation Indians. The Seneca nation (the 7 individual tribes of the area banded to fight becoming known as the Seneca nation) and it is significant that our property is immediately downhill from where the leaders met in what is still called the council rock in which a huge rock protruding from the side hill along side a small aquifer opening acted on behalf of this sacred meeting spot for these nations and used to plan the battles. They used to take school trips to this spot as it holds to this day the council Rick and a very detailed and praise my laid 6 large rock mounds that surround the main center one in perfect conference as if it were representative of a sun and seems to be of relevance to possibly be the resting place of leadership. It is directly above our bedroom actually apx 1/3 mile across the road and above as it runs uphill. The Aqua-fir spring from there runs down and to our yard out of the hill and is right at our well. We have found some extremely interesting things such as 2 cases of candle lanterns used during that time buried by an old tree along side our house (we are surrounded by woods and the yard is an opening in the center that was an open field where the. Battle began. We also interestingly found about 200 lace up war boots that were mostly only the metal laces and leather strips left that hadn’t decayed. Don’t wanna know, try not to wonder and have no explanation but they were all in a mound and the decayed leaves and rotten broke down trees covered the pile making it appear one a hill that was not one that was solid dirt but the remnants of boots, soldiers boots! And we have also found interesting things such as an arrow that is lodged holding 2 sections of ribs together that is maybe 4”longx2” wide and the arrow lodged holding together this extremely treasured and respected piece. I found a clay hand made and stained beaded necklace with a totem figure in the center that was laying in the ground by a sycamore tree that is-absolutely huge and has seen its share I’m sure. We also have a large section of tree that is a shield looking piece having what appears to be muzzle ball holes or some kind of large shell holes from being shot that has petrified and I am not joking this thing is absolutely no question to it being a piece of tree it’s unmistakable as are the holes that were made while the tree was still tree. We also have found small musket balls that are definitely hand forged and although not perfect in today’s standards are perfect examples of what was used to be ammo in those days and had definitely done the job. I also have a military personal first aide tin I found that has literally got finger indents and was bent by the hand that apparently squeezed it under extreme stress. It still contained some of the supplies when I found it. The creek Bed is all shale as are the walls on either side and this is the most amazing town in its history. It would be an honor to share what we have been blessed to be owners of and we both were raised and born in this town so if you are ever interested in coming and checking it out we have private amenities that you are welcome to be our guests and explore what we have to offer in upstate NY. We are in small town USA but famously known around the world for the products the company our town is named after with plants all over the world. We are in the city (although the city is adorably cozy and minutes away, we are actually in the area that was the original (city) when it was first settled in. I have given you soooo many clues in this email as to our whereabouts and it’s in an area of NY all private owned but all the rock hounds want to get their shovels in because the mysteries it holds in its privately owned terrain with more people who are into our shops on market street than even realizing what’s under them so you my friend have our private invitation and I am on Facebook, PM me
I would love to know how much it might cost to go in and dig and if you might be able to use battery powered tools to do more than sharpen chisel's! and other general rules and conditions the mines have By the way your sound effects are hilarious !
@@TheCrystalCollector thank you it does look like loads of fun! I just wish I could join in on that fun and excitement of finding precious/stones and crystals ! it SUCKS being disabled for so many reasons! Please keep on making your videos
