Pala - Rockhounding The Southwest

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The Ocean View Mine and the Pala Chief Mine
37304 Magee Rd, Pala, CA 92059
Jeff Swanger, Owner, Chief Operator, and Hero to Small Scale Miners
760-415-9143

http://www.oceanviewmine.com

$75 a person

Special instructions to reach the mine at their website and also discussed below.

Oceanview Mines, LLC offers two fee/dig experiences in the Pala Mining District. Commonly found are tourmalines, kunzites, and morganites, along with other sparkly things like pink lepidolite. The Pala area, a pegmatite mining district, has been actively worked for gemstones since the turn of the 19th century.

A screen and wash activity is held three times a week in season throughout much of the year. Online videos produced by Jeff Swanger and crew show the entire process. This easy-to-do activity will return attractive stones.

The second experience is held twice a month for part of the year. Bring your own tools. The Pala Chief fee/dig allows rockhounds to search through old tailings and mine dumps, along with hacking at the side of Chief Mountain itself. At some point the mine operator might work an excavator, digging a six-foot deep trench to bring up fresh dirt and rock for searching. Anything found can be kept.

Follow website directions with care. Their directions start in Pala and go east. First, get to Magee Road using Highway 76; the mine’s entrance road is a few miles from there. Only Magee’s south entrance from Highway 76 should be attempted. Do not take Magee Road if you are driving south from Temecula. In Pala there is a Magee Place that is not Magee Road. If Magee Road is not in one’s navigation device, try looking for the Pala Raceway. Magee Road is further east on 76.

If you have the time, locate Magee Road the day before so you won’t worry about finding it on the day of your dig. The countryside is beautiful and the Mission San Antonio de Pala in Pala itself is a Kodak moment. The California Mission chain is well known but their extension churches like this one are not. On this day before you can also try visiting The Collector or the Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Museum.

The mine property road is rough but I saw a Mini Cooper negotiate its entire length. Staff will happily load people and gear into a buggy if a driver does not wish to drive the road. Bring sunscreen even if it is overcast, snacks, and tools if you are doing the Pala Chief. Full details at their website. Driest weather month may be May if you are planning a trip from across the country.

Resist taking too many photographs, instead, dive into digging or screening as long as you can and as hard as you can. You are going to find something wonderful. Oh, and if you can’t go, you can order a bag of pay dirt if they are still offering it. I found enough nice things in what they sent to convince me to go in person.

Magee Road and Highway 76 coordinates:
33°21.830′ N 117°03.440′ W

Google map link to Magee Road and Highway 76:
https://goo.gl/maps/hxKNCWGxSzdK1Kxv9

http://www.oceanviewmine.com

For further adventures, read my file on Places to Collect and Visit in the Southwest:

SW_Places_To_Visit_Or_Collect_5_

The road to the mine at the intersection of Highway 76/Pala Road and Magee. Do not attempt the north entrance of Magee Road

The celebrated, pegmatite studded hills of Pala

Tourmaline filled rocks used for landscaping

Close up of previous. Staff will identify everything you find.

My ore bag findings, what you’d probably get at the screen wash

Buggies will take you and your gear to the diggins if you want

People waiting for the orientation went hunting at the end of the parking lot

Not a part of the dig area but I was all over it, too.

Little aquamarine found at the parking lot

You can attack the face of the mountain if you wish

Surface collecting can yield good results, too.

Lots of well terminated quartz waiting to be found

Excellent. She could have used a spray bottle.

An hour’s worth of hillside digging for this woman.

Can’t dig in the mine but ask staff if they will guide you in for a quick look

Swanger bringing up fresh material for digging

Some people later jumped into the trench, others scoured the fresh rock and dirt in the piles

Digging done for you. Jeff did about 20 minutes of excavating

Well capped tourmaline, with a flashlight on it due to the dark skies

Poor termination but this ground holds tremendous promise

I am ashamed that I took vertical video but here it is.

Pala Chief Mine in Early March, 2019 from Thomas Farley on Vimeo.

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A piece of granite. The only thing I had time to pick up on my mad dash to Pala and Fallbrook from Palm Springs. This piece was on the western edge of the San Bernardino National Forest, on the Pines to Palm Highway. The whole mountain was granite. When I see granite, I think quartz. When I think quartz, I think gold. But I like granite regardless of what it might lead to.

“This summer in India, I was fortunate enough to do some glacial research with a few colleagues and one grabbed probably the most irrelevant granite sample I’ve ever seen, and after asking him about it he said ‘I don’t know, I always kind of liked granites, I know they’re not as cool as some of the other rocks we’ve seen today but I just like it.’”

“And honestly that’s as simple as it has to be. Collect the things you like.”

Sam Nski

Quote used by permission.

Tag: Pala

The Oceanview and Pala Chief Mine in Pala, California

You Collect What You Like