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Opals and Agates near Burns Lake
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by Diana Roberts
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What does jewellery and Burns Lake have in common?
To find out, let's go visit the opal and agate beds just outside the Village of Burns Lake. It's an easy walk and...you never know, you might find a valuable opal.
To get to the beds from Burns Lake, you cross the bridge, south of town, then drive about 1 km. until you see the Eagle Creek road on the right. There is a sign indicating the opal beds.
If you set your speedometer to 0 when you turn off the highway, you can find the your way quite easily. At .5 km, you turn right onto a well-used gravel road. When you get to 3.8 km, take a left onto the Eagle Creek Forest Service Road.
Continue until you have driven 4.3 km., where you will find, just off the road, on the right, a water fountain, made with stones from the opal/agate beds. The water comes from a spring and is piped down from high on the mountain. It's in a bit rougher shape than it used to be, because of vandalism, but it's still an interesting stopping point.
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The old water fountain
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Years ago, before Burns Lake municipal water came from wells, I, like many others, used to go to this fountain to obtain clean drinking water.If you keep traveling along this road, you will come to a 'Y' at 5.3 km., where you will take a right. There is a little brown sign at the 'Y', which shows where to go to get to the opal beds, but it's easily missed.
You can print out this page and take it with you.
At 6.6 km. there is a sign for one trail, but if you continue on to 7.5 km., you will come to a campground and the start of two other trails. There are about 8 campsites here, each with their own fire pit and one communal outhouse.
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