A Return to Lake George

Now that all the snow has melted and the frost is out of the ground we decided to check out some of our crystal sites at Lake George. The winds had blown hard the previous week, so we came prepared with chainsaw in hand to clear the roads. Nobody seems to maintain these forest roads, most folks just try and find a way around down trees and create new roads. I'm not looking for a thank-you from the Bureau of Land Management or the National Forest Service, but I would think some of the folks who live in the area would bring a chainsaw instead of continually driving around the trees making new roads. On the other hand there are probably some rules prohibiting folks from cutting trees in the National Forest with out a permit whether they are blocking a road or not; however, there are also rules about staying on the road, so there you go. A couple of years ago we took out over 20 trees blocking the road. Today it was only about 8 trees fallen over the road. If you go to Lake George on a breezy day and venture out onto the forest roads, you may want to take a chainsaw or at least a sturdy rope if you plan to get home.

Looking up the road towards my SUV

I think Bob enjoys doing roadwork as much as he does finding crystals

After clearing the road we found we still have time to look for crystals. While prospecting the ground for crystal forms and pegmatites, one can not help but see the beauty of nature. It seems there was snow here only a couple of weeks ago, but the cactus are already in full bloom

Best Gems I Found This Day

Anyway, I finally found a promising seam of amazonite to prospect. I followed it for a couple of hours, but none of the crystals really panned out as they were all subhedral. Still it was good to get out and I guess we freed up the roads for everyone else.... you're welcome.

Subhedral Amazonite and Quartz Crystals From Pegmatite