🎉 Faces of the WCRA
Over the years our membership has grown to include rockhounds of every age and background — from retired schoolteachers to high-school science-fair winners, from lifelong Jerseyans to visitors who drove up from Virginia for a weekend outing. Below are some snapshots from our digs over the past few years. If you have photos from a WCRA outing you'd like added to this gallery, please email them to our webmaster Ed at wcra.diggers@gmail.com. Hi-res JPEGs are fine — Amy will downsample for the web page.
🌻 Spring 2025 Dig — Site #2 (Pohatcong Ridge)
Foggy 8am arrival — Pohatcong Ridge
Priya and her daughter with a "fairy cross" staurolite
Amy at the post-dig sort session at the Grange
🍁 Fall 2024 Dig — Jenny Jump State Forest
Screening the creek at the base of the ridge — early-fall water levels perfect for alluvial garnet
Priya's daughter's 9/10-inch almandine — the find of the day
Ed at the lunch break (he still comes to every dig)
Walter B. at his favorite screening rig — 26 years with the club and still smiling
🌞 Summer 2024 Dig — Site #3 (Old Harmony Quarry)
The Summer '24 crew out in the creek — 11 of us screening alluvium that afternoon
The big amazonite chunk pulled from the Old Harmony spoil pile
A selection of cut-and-polished specimens from the Summer '24 haul
📄 From the Archives — Fall 1997 at Jenny Jump
Ed asked us to keep a few photos from the very first digs on this page. Here is his favorite: the October 1997 outing at the (then brand-new) Thaw Cut, the one that produced his record 1.8" almandine. Marge says the coffee thermos in the bottom left is the same thermos she still uses today. We believe her.
October 1997 — the very first Thaw Cut dig
Ed's 1.8" almandine — find of the year, 1997
👑 Meet The Field Guides
Ed Vanderlan
Founder & Field Guide Emeritus
Member since 1987
(still at every dig — just no longer carrying the heavy gear!)
Marge O'Donnell
President & Senior Field Guide
Member since 1989
Hank Pulaski
Vice President & Field Guide
Member since 1992
Amy Vanderlan
Co-Webmaster & Junior Field Guide
Member since 2011
(Ed's granddaughter — the reason the website still gets updated)
🏆 Find of the Year — Recent Winners
| Year | Member | Specimen | Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Priya M. | Almandine garnet cluster, 1.4" (from her daughter!) | Jenny Jump (Fall) |
| 2024 | Raj N. | Smoky quartz point, 2.1" | Jenny Jump (Spring) |
| 2023 | Amy Vanderlan | Fluorescent willemite in calcite, UV stunner | Site #3 |
| 2022 | Hank Pulaski | Staurolite "fairy cross" twin, 3/4" | Site #2 |
| 2021 | Walter B. | Pink calcite cleavage fragment, 4.2 oz | Site #3 |
| 2020 | Jamie K. (now Jamie K.-Pulaski) | Apatite hexagonal crystal, aqua blue | Jenny Jump |
| 2019 | Marge O'Donnell | Confirmed rhodonite specimen, 5.0 oz | Jenny Jump (Spring) |
🏅 Find of the Year — Historical Archive (1991-1997)
| Year | Member | Specimen | Site |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Ed Vanderlan | Almandine garnet, 1.8" in schist | Jenny Jump (Fall) |
| 1996 | Carl Pulaski (Hank's brother) | Fluorescent willemite cluster | Site #3 |
| 1995 | Dottie Vanderlan | Pink rhodonite, 3.2 oz | Jenny Jump (Spring) |
| 1994 | Daniel O'Donnell | Almandine garnet, 2.5" (club record, still stands) | Jenny Jump (Spring) |
| 1993 | Jimmy Stokes (age 12) | Staurolite fairy cross, well-formed | Site #2 |
| 1992 | Ed Vanderlan | Confirmed zincite specimen, 0.6 oz | Jenny Jump |
| 1991 | Marge O'Donnell | Apatite hexagonal crystal, pale blue | Jenny Jump |
Finds from 1998 through 2018 are logged in the club's bound record book, which lives in the Grange meeting hall. Stop by a Wednesday evening meeting if you'd like to browse it — Marge keeps the records.
Next outing: Saturday, May 9th at 2:00 PM