Trip Logistics
Gem Collecting/Fluorescent Night Digs
Once meeting at the Park and Ride, Attendees will then follow the guide to the mining area. If you are 10 minutes late the party will leave without you, please be on time. If you are going to be late please contact the guide with as much advance notice as possible. Bringing a packed lunch and fluids is recommended because once the trip begins, the guide and attendee’s can not leave the mining area and return. Once you leave the mining area you will not be allowed to return unless special arrangements have been made. Plan on staying a full day unless you would like to leave early which is ok but you won’t be able to return once you exit the location. “Day Trips and Night Trips Meet at the Same Location.” Day Trips meet at 9:30am and Night Trips Meet at 6:00pm.
Mount Kineo Geology Tour
The Mount Kineo Geology Tours start and end time will fluctuate depending on the month. This is because the ferry to get to and from Mount Kineo runs at different times throughout the year.
For the Mount Kineo Geology Tour, participants will meet at the Rockwood Gas Station. This is a great place to get some last minute snacks, fuel, water, or to use the restrooms. There is a clubhouse at the golf course on Mount Kineo; however, it does not always have food. Bringing snacks and beverages is encouraged!
Rockwood Convenience Gas Station is located at 3628 Rockwood Road, Rockwood, Maine, 04478. Once all members of the group have been accounted for, we will then take a quick 2 minute drive 0.6 miles to the Rockwood Town Landing. There is ample paved parking at this location. At this point, the group will convene at the head of the parking lot and make our way to the Kineo Ferry.
The ferry will take us across part of Moosehead Lake to reach the shores of Mount Kineo. The total ferry ride is about 15 minutes and the cost is $15 for ages 5 and up and free for kids under the age of 5. Attendees will be responsible for paying for their own ferry across the lake to Mount Kineo.
Once ashore at Mount Kineo, your guide will take you on a geologic journey over 600 million years! We will walk along a well-used path, and talk about Mount Kineo geology along the way! In addition, your guide will provide you a little history of human activities at the island from 15,000 years ago to the present time. We will walk the historic trail system through Mount Kineo. This carriage trail is a tour favorite, it is well used and the least steep to travel. Your guide will discuss the other trails, but for safety reasons, we will not be taking them unless previously discussed prior to the tour start date.
The Kineo Golf Course is still in operation, complete with a little clubhouse. Restrooms are available, and sometimes food is served. However, food services are not always present at the clubhouse. Therefore, we recommend bringing snacks and beverages suitable for a 3.5 hour hike.
This is a popular destination for visitors from around the world! We remind you to stay with your group at all times!
After completing the trail section, your guide will have circled back to the Kineo Ferry Docks with the group. At that time everyone will depart and take the return ferry back to the mainland.
Fossil Hunt
For the Moosehead Fossil Hunt field trip, participants will meet at the Rockwood Gas Station at 12:00 PM. This is a great place to get some last minute snacks, fuel, water, or to use the restrooms. There are no restrooms or places to get food for a majority of this adventure. Bringing snacks and beverages is encouraged to keep your hydration and energy levels up!
Rockwood Convenience Gas Station is located at 3628 Rockwood Road, Rockwood, Maine, 04478. Once all members of the group have been accounted for (or 12:30PM), each group will take their own vehicles to the fossil locality, following the equipment truck. This adventure takes you into some remote areas between Rockwood and Bingham! Please make sure your tires and your vehicle are in good condition before undertaking this adventure!
We travel through time to an ancient coral reef that is over 550 million years old. There are many different locations along this fossil route. The first extends north of Rockwood, the rest take us along between Rockwood and Bingham. The total route is one hour maximum one way.
Once at these hidden fossil localities, everyone will be given the equipment they need to explore and find fossils! Everyone is allowed to take up to (2) five-gallon buckets of material. Types of fossils that have been found include: shells, corals, pyritized fossils, and even trilobites!
We will collect fossils, and return to the Rockwood Gas station by 5:00PM.
Helpful items to have on the trips:
-Gardening hand tools
-Sifting screen
-Small shovel
-Water
-Buckets
-Packed lunch
-4 wheel drive vehicle with good ground clearance
-Chisel
-Hammer
-Flathead Screwdriver
-Gloves
-Sunscreen
-Safety Glasses
-Cell phone
-Tick Remover
-Bug Spray
-Any personal, medical, or safety items you’ll need, if any, for yourself and anyone in the group with special conditions.
Rules:
1. Stay out of the active mine area.
2. Stay out of the water
3. Must sign waver before entering property
3. Must provide pictures of significant finds
4. Don't wander in the woods, we don't need lost people
5. Do not leave children under 13 unattended
6. Stay off other people's private property.
7. Ask before posting videos to social media
8. Must report any injuries to the guide
9. Must listen the guide at all times
10. After trip has ended, no reentry is allowed without signed permission from the mine owners
11. Must leave when the trip is over
12. Pick up all garbage, you bring it in, you bring it out
Here is a list of minerals that can be found at the mine.
| Quartz | Smoky Quartz |
| Pyrite | White Quartz |
| Clear Quartz | Optical Quartz |
| Muscovite | Biotite |
| Feldspar | Albite |
| Microcline | Beryl |
| Heliodore | Aquamarine |
| Green Beryl | Columbite |
| Cassiterite | Fluorapatite |
| Almondine Garnet | Zircon |