After reading about a roadcut in Rossville, PA discovered in the 1970s online and in a book called 'Rockhounding Pennsylvania and New Jersey' by Robert Beard (ISBN: 9780762780938), some friends and I decided to make the drive and check it out.
The occurence was discovered when the road was widened, and has since been heavily picked through by collectors and passers by.
We set out a few weeks ago, when there was a break in the rain here in central Pennsylvania. The location was easy to find, it's in York County, PA. From I-83, take exit 35 and head west on PA 177 towards Gifford Pinchot State Park. Continue on PA 177 for approximately 9.1 miles to Rossville. Turn north onto PA 74 in Rossville. Continue north for approx. 0.7 miles and look East (to the right) for the roadut.
NOTE: The roadcut is considered by many to be 'unsafe' to enter, please use common sense and caution when exploring this area.
The spot was easy to find. My friend Donnie and I immediately climbed in the hole, and after a bit of moderate chiseling, yielded some decent pieces of malachite-coated matrix. I was a bit disappointed that the spot was so heavily worked, as I had hoped to find some Azurite (I love the stuff!) - but overall, we left satisfied with our adventure for the day. I would recommend a visit to this spot for anyone local enough to make the trip. You may not bring much home with you, but its amazing to see the geology of the area in a cut like this. I enjoyed myself.
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