Gobbling Up Some Crystals at Lake George Colorado #Amazonite #Smoky quartz #Lake George

In the last couple of years I have seen a slow but steady influx of critters into the Lake George area.  When I first got started prospecting at Lake George, it had been only a couple years after a large fire (Hayman) burnt out thousands of acres of forest land. Nearly 10 years went by until I started seeing large animals on a regular basis within the forest.  Today we had a turkey trot.  Seemed two toms were seeking the attention of one hen though they may have been a bit shy around us only displaying their plumage briefly.  Coincidentally I’ve had good digging results when I see out of the ordinary animals.  Eagles, bear, turkeys, elk and coyotes seem to foreshadow good crystal hunting days.  Deer are too common as we see them nearly every trip out except during hunting season. Today was no exception to the “correlation” between animal siting and good crystal hunting.  

I had been digging in an area exhibiting a fairly strong mineralized pegmatite but hadn’t much to show for my efforts during the last couple of visits, perhaps today a turkey siting or more probable persistence would pay off.  After digging on the pegmatite for a few hours I decided to move my digging up the hill a few feet on the same line as the pegmatite was running.  The pegmatite was still exhibiting shards of well-formed quartz with a few faces so I decided to work the new area awhile. As I dug I hit a spot that had numerous microcline crystals and some quartz but the matrix holding the crystals together and the crystals themselves were very fragile. I’ve run into this situation several times and it’s nearly impossible to remove specimens without breaking them.  The microcline cleavage planes seem exceptionally weak. Bob and I have called these crystals “half baked”.  The crystals fragment easily and we believe something was not quite right during the formation of the crystals within the pegmatite as they lack normal cohesion and fracture quite easily. I worked this spot until it was nearly exhausted with very little to show for my efforts.  Sometimes these areas of weakly formed crystals firm up but not this spot. Instead of continuing up the hill, the quartz seemed better formed and solid to my left so I dug down and left. I got a bit excited when I hit some quartz with a vug behind it, but the vug was nearly empty containing only a few quartz shards and scree. 

Empty Vug with microcline in hand

I continued digging along this rock wall when I was finally rewarded with a couple 3” smoky crystals.  It was at this point that I knew I was close to a pocket and decreased my digging tempo and deepened my approach into the hillside.  Soon more crystals were evident so I called my digging partner Bob over and he got in on the action by helping me remove overburden around the pocket hole.  As I was digging, a few amazonite crystals also began to pop up.  Getting some smoky quartz crystals with amazonite is the prize we always look for and I did manage a couple of small combination specimens this day.  

Pocket opening up with quartz crystals

The amazonite was small and paler than I would have liked but the amazonite also stood up nicely out of the matrix with sharp crystal edges.  While I don’t believe the Smithsonian will be calling me anytime soon for these crystals I was happy with this find.  Persistence, prospecting and careful digging were rewarded with some nice crystal. I’ve dug with folks who seem to jack-rabbit around a hill looking for a crystal pocket near the surface.  I check on these folk’s progress and wonder why they quit digging on a good pegmatite.  Of course I have all summer to dig and I know others can only get out a few times a year so time for them is a limiting factor. I may dig two holes in one day while I’ve seen others dig 10 with no results.  

Amazonite plate in hand (cold day)

Little combo cleaning up nicely

Key to crystal hunting is finding a good pegmatite and sticking with it. I recall I used to ask my mentor and I’ve had other diggers ask me too, “how long do you dig in a quartz seam?”  There is no set answer to this question except I would say if the quartz is exhibiting faces I would dig on it until I had to go home.  Of course there is the other extreme too where people dig all day in dirt, scree and fine grained granite wondering why they can’t find anything.  When I first started digging it took me several trips to find a pocket.  As time goes on I find pockets more frequently due to my digging knowledge and overall experience. Of course knowing where to start digging is the most important part.  Snowing here today... so cold I can't even clean the crystals I just found.  It's 4PM and 31F.