Rockin the Rockies

Rockin the Rockies
Rock Hounding

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Crystal Pockets at Lake George

Warmest day of the season up at Lake George this year with only a few mounds of snow in the deep woods, the ticks, spiders and ants appear to be thriving in the mid spring sunshine. While earlier in the week I found a nice starter pocket today was a little more exciting. We walked for about a mile or so into the hills and I reworked the pocket I had found a couple days earlier. I worked the downhill portion of the old pocket and after picking up a few crystals I determined the spot was finished.  I prospected a little further around the hill probing a couple of old digs when I noticed someone long ago had dug a narrow trench up a hill and stopped.  At the point where they stopped there appeared to be a fairly quartz laden pegmatite. I stuck my pick axe in a few times and decided to continue up the hill as the pegmatite seemed promising.
A new dig begins!
 After about 15 minutes I started picking up small crystals and a few poorly formed plates with microcline and smokys. I liked the way this pegmatite was running up the hill and the crystals seemed to be without the iron mineral deposits present in the previous pocket. As I continued along the pegmatite I noticed red dirt/clay appearing and was sure I was running into a pocket. The scree and clay started to give way to larger rocks which revealed themselves to be crystal plates.

Smokys appearing in pocket wall
I continued finding crystals for the next 3 hours along with approximately 8 plates of smokys and microcline.
Plate #1
Plate #2

I found a couple of nice plates and one interesting bevino microcline with an attached smoky quartz crystal which proved to be the find of the day
Bevino microcline with accompanying smoky quartz
When crystals show up rock hounds swarm to the area :-)
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3 comments:

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    1. Glad to see that Mr. Rockhounding the Rockies ois finally getting out to the field for some collecting. I am certain that his collection could use a few more pieces of microcline and quartz :)

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    2. Glad to see that Mr. Rockhounding the Rockies ois finally getting out to the field for some collecting. I am certain that his collection could use a few more pieces of microcline and quartz :)

      Delete