My Last Visit to the Crystal Mine

This was written days before we left our home of 20 years in Colorado and moved to Oregon…..

Today after lunch I gathered up the dogs and hiked up on the hillside pasture to visit our Crystal Mine – most likely for the last time. For those of you that don’t know about the Crystal Mine it’s remained a closely held family secret for almost 20 years. I’ll explain….

As a kid I visited the site of the Crystal Mine often, but was completely oblivious to the existence of such. Instead it was one of my favorite “think” spots on the hill above the ranch. I visited that spot often as an adolescent. It was quiet, private, and it offered me a venue for peace and solace – particularly when I had a difficult situation or decision to make. I visited this spot before Joe and I decided to get married, and more recently, I visited it alone when my Dad died in 2009. I could see the ranch, appreciate the beauty and ruggedness and think about all it has offered me growing up and then later raising our family here. Once again, I found myself making the trek up to the “think spot” today, which is more officially named the Crystal Mine.

Anyway…. Back to today. As I walked along above the ditchbank of the Oak Ridge Ditch, I thought about the many visits we’d made to the Crystal Mine over the years with the kids. My first in recollection was when Meg was about 3 and Jake was small enough that I still had to carry him (it seemed like a very long trip). We were walking along and suddently Meg stopped short in her tracks, bent over and picked up a very shiney rock. She had found the first crystal, and couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. It was early spring, and the melting snow gave the rocks enough moisture to really glisten in the sunlight. They were easy to find. We stayed for a few hours that afternoon and collected so many crystals that there was no way we could carry them the ½ mile jaunt home. So instead, Meg picked a spot on the rocky hillside above the ditch and we stacked the crystals there.

This was just the beginning of the Crystal Mine. We frequently visited this special site, and made a pact that visitors could only take one small crystal home, and we wouldn’t show the spot to anyone but the very most special of friends and family. When Jake got old enough to understand the significance of our secret treasure, we built a perimeter of sandstone rocks around the mine so that they wouldn’t fall off the hill. Eventually, we covered our treasure in sandstone rocks so that “no one could find and steal our treasure”.

On each visit we added more and more crystals. The visits involved uncovering the treasure to admire the vast size of it, and hunting for more crystals, and then eventually covering our precious treasure up again before leaving. There were a few occasions when Jake was certain that there had been an intruder to the Mine. He’d size up the number of crystals, just certain a few were missing. Not only did this conjure up a mystery as to “who” the intruder might be, but also made for an adventuresome trip home in trying to track the intruder.

The crystal hunts were a year around endeavor. I remember uncovering the snow from the top of the mine on several occasions. It was so exiting to find a bigger, more beautiful crystal, and add it to the Mine. Over the years it is hard to guess how many hours we hunted crystals and tended our Mine with the kids.

When I finally reached the Crystal Mine today, I say down, and uncovered it’s precious contents only to find that the stash of crystals wasn’t nearly as big or impressive as my mind and imagination had recalled. I looked out from the mine-site over this beautiful ranch and let out a big sigh, and indulged several moments to let adventures of the last 20 years settle into my bones. It didn’t take long for me to feel a lump rising in my throat, and I knew it was time to leave. Before going, I have to confess that today I broke the cardinal rule of the Crystal Mine and gathered as many crystals as I could into my shirt for the return trip home.

Tears streamed from my cheeks as I descended the hill, but not so for the sadness of leaving, but moreso with a feeling of gratitude for having had such a place that I could escape from the world with our kids; let our imaginations run free; and hold a secret near and dear to our hearts. Though trying to take a piece of that special place with us to Oregon is probably futile. I trust that we’ll find another treasure hiding there on Fish Hatchery Drive. I’m not sure where the crystals I schlepped off the hill today will end up. But can say with certainty that they’ll be in a box packed for Oregon. They may end up as in a stocking stuffer, on a shelf, or just packed in my mind as a reminder of the sanctity we found at this place we call the Crystal Mine.

I guess the message here is to encourage you all to look for those treasures in life. Those treasures are all around you, and sometimes in the most unlikely spots – like a rocky hillside above the Oak Ridge Ditch.