Smoky Quartz at L George Colorado with lightning

  

Wood chips from this tree were embedded like daggers

in the ground 50 ft away from the base of this tree

Well I don’t buy that lightning never strikes the same spot twice, even when I’m digging next to a tree that nearly exploded with lighting a few days prior. I’ll still run for cover when lightning starts to crackle.  Admittedly, one can rarely rockhound past 2PM in the Rockies before the thunderstorms start popping.  As I poked around the dirt north of Lake George I knew it would be another shortened dig day due to thunderstorms, so I worked somewhat hurriedly.  Found an old bush below a dug up area that looked pretty healthy.  I decided to probe in the ground uphill from the bush to see if I could find some float backstopped by the roots of the bush.  Sure enough, a 3 inch smoky, with a very much intact tip lay only an inch from the surface.  Time to unload my gear and make myself busy digging up the hill from the bush.  I didn’t have far to go.  While white quartz shards littered the hill no apparent smoky quartz chips were visible. As I prospected with my pick axe I noted this wasn’t the only crystal below the surface.  Several small crystals started popping out of the dirt.  I took another close look at the surface and still no good sign. Oh well, sometimes it’s just fine to be lucky. 

As I dug I noted the stream of quartz crystals was expanding but staying very close to the surface. My old friend goethite also began to appear and seemed to be clinging to many of the quartz crystals. Too bad there wasn’t any amazonite. It was getting close to 2PM and of course the thunder started to rumble and the clouds began to darken.  I knew thunder and lightning would be cropping up nearby soon. As a batch of clouds directly to my west started to rumble I began to pick up the digging pace. If there had been amazonite in this dig I would have buried it for another time, but with only microcline I didn’t concern myself with nicking a few crystals (heresy I know).  None of the specimens are outstanding mineral examples, but still fun to collect.  

Mixed bag of smokies with goethite and a couple microclines

I finished the pocket up and scurried back to the truck just before the rain began in earnest. I noted I had a few healed quartz crystals with goethite. Anytime that happens you have a chance of getting some of the quartz crystals rehealed with goethite inclusions (onegite). Didn’t know it until I cleaned a few specimens, but sure enough I got some onegite. Overall a somewhat odd pocket just inches below the surface. I probably only walked across this spot 20 times or so.  :-)

Onegite is quartz with goethite inclusions

.

.

Rock Hounding the San Juan Mountains #epimorphs #quartz #fluorite

Rock Hounding the San Juan Mountains (Photo Courtesy Austin Cockell)

We decided we needed a break from Colorado’s front range mountains and the Pikes Peak batholith so Austin planned a trip to the San Juans.  Austin has been eager to go back to Silverton, Colorado area since his big score of last fall (see post 10/28/2019).  Since I planned our spring trip to New Mexico (see post 5/8/2019), Austin took on the planning for the San Juan trip. On our way to the San Juans we stopped at the mineral show in Durango, CO.  I brought a few duplicate minerals that I had, and hoped I could trade or sell for something else to add to my collection.  I first tried selling some of my stuff, but nobody wanted anything for cash.  All the vendors who had some interest in my material said the show was going poorly for them and they just weren’t making much money.  I sometimes wonder with a dozen shows in Colorado alone how competitive it must be for the dealers.  I decided maybe I could work some trades.  Most of the vendors didn’t have anything I really wanted.  Finally I noted a gentleman who had an interest in my material and had some fluorites that caught my eye.  I did a trade and I felt satisfied in getting something for my duplicate minerals. Austin also picked up a couple items from one of his favorite dealers and off we went to Silverton.

View from the camp site

We arrived at a campsite we used last year and found the dig site nearby had been worked quite heavily over the winter.  The mosquitoes were exceptionally hungry and despite Deep Woods Off we were both bitten several times before we realized the bug spray appeared to be some kind of attractive pheromone for these pests. We decided to skip this site and moved on toward Ouray, CO. 

Austin knew a guy in Ouray who might be able to get us on to the Amphitheater claim.  Austin’s friend said the owners of the Amphitheater mine were not allowing rock hounds on their claim but he suggested another site for us to visit.  We got a map with direction to the Crystal Cavern.  Well that sure sounded promising!  This site is not claimed but I am loath to give directions to the site out of fear that publicity will cause this site to become picked over.  After walking about a half mile we got to the Crystal Cavern and met other folks already there hard at work. 

Austin wrapping crystals in the Crystal Cavern

The cavern was once filled with calcite crystals but then a secondary infusion of mineralization coated all the calcite crystals with druzy quartz. Evidently many collectors put these crystals in HCL and remove the calcite providing an eggshell of druzy quartz.  The end product is a man-made epimorph. An epimorph is a type of pseudomorph where one mineral replaces another and the original mineral (calcite) dissolves leaving a hollow cast of the old mineral (calcite) surrounded by a different mineral (quartz). Not sure about homemade epimorphs but I was up for something different. You had to hack the crystals off the wall with chisel and crack hammer so there was some work involved. We enjoyed the company we found at the cavern and soon had enough crystals to make us both happy.  It was great to be inside a cool cavern with temperatures outside in the 80s.  We decided to camp near Ouray as Austin knew of a fluorite site that he’d had some success at when he was a geology student at Ft Lewis College.

We camped at a no fee, improvised campground near Ouray that seemed to be a small village of like-minded frugal vacationers.  We were greeted by a deputy sheriff in the morning, which I believe Austin correctly assumed to be a welfare-check of sorts--making sure nobody was doing anything illegal.  Sheriff was cordial enough and quickly moved on. Off to the fluorite site.  Austin had found some covelite at this site when he visited a couple years earlier.  I was happy with the fluorite and quartz I found in the tailings.  Most of the fluorite was broken but I still got some fairly large pieces which I may either cleave into octahedrons or polish. Getting to the tailings piles of the old mine was an adventure in itself. We had to cross one stream at least 4 times. 

Tailings piles contained fluorite and quartz (Austin's photo)

At one point the stream was about 6 feet across and a foot deep.  I quickly realized why the hikers we had encountered were wearing water shoes.  I managed okay on the trek in, but on the way out I had too many heavy rocks to make the jump and trudged through the stream with water up to my calves. The first tailings piles we hit had both fluorite and quartz.  Finding intact crystals was nearly impossible, but the green color and size of the fluorite made them seem collectible in my mind.  The second tailing pile was more of the same.  Austin scored a covelite (copper sulfide mineral). The mineral has a very lustrous blue metallic color.  We found many broken bottles, old cans and even a crucible. We took pictures and left the material for others to enjoy. On the hike out I noticed something flying off a vehicle as it zipped through a hairpin turn.  I walked to the road and picked up an I-phone just before a truck rumbled by.  The phone seemed intact, probably because it had a hard shell case. The owner of the phone eventually called it, so we waited for them and eventually met up with them in Silverton returning their phone. They seemed grateful and we got a hearty thank-you and hopefully some good karma (haha). We set up camp once again and decided to do some prospecting.

Water rushing under snow field

If we go back to this site I think I will have to look for a covelite. We also explored what appeared to be the miner’s dump area.

While prospecting the next day I discovered a quartz outgrowth that looked promising.  After about an hour or so of slugging through the quartz I made it into a vug and started pulling out some small quartz plates.  Austin came along and said he had found a more promising site and urged me to join him.  About a 5 minute walk through the mosquito infested area we found another site that others had been working. 

Snow avalanches contributed to this late season snowfield

There was a narrow hole that appeared to be the source of several crystal plates lining the edges of the dig.  We decided to leave most of the plates where they were and try our luck in the hole.  Somebody had put a lot of work into removing these crystal plates and we thought they might return, so we left them alone. Austin decided to have a go at the hole.  Most of the crystals around the opening had been removed.  The hole/vug continued into the ground at least 8 feet and had 6" or so of ground water at the bottom. The first 5 feet or so of the vug angled into the ground at 45 degree. Then the vug flattened out for another 5 feet. The initial opening was pretty well picked clean of crystals. This is where a tall skinny guy has the advantage. 

With Austin’s 80 inch height and 42 inch reach he was able to get well into the vug where others couldn’t reach. Out came the plates, one after the next. He got a little bruised up squirming in the hole not much wider than himself. The skeeters seemed excessively hungry here so I went on bug patrol while Austin crawled into the pocket.  The hole, now referred to as the Mo’Skeeters pocket, was lined with crystals that

Mo Skeeter

that were solidly intact with the sides of the vug. Austin managed to spear his elbow with a one inch crystal.  He plucked that one from his skin and said it was my turn to crawl in. I told him I would give it a try but didn't plan on removing any crystals with my elbows (haha). I did the best I could and found a side chamber about 4 feet into the vug. I managed to glean a few crystal plates from that tube.  By the end of the day both of us had the scars and bloody hands to prove we had gone after some difficult to get crystals. 

Two different quartz habits, both needle and blocky crystal plates

We slathered on some Neosporin and looked forward to the next day. Day 2 at this site we continued our mission and managed to get a few more crystal plates.

A nice pale colored amethyst

Austin noticed that some of the crystals had amethyst in the plates so we scoured the leavings of others and found a couple broken plates with amethyst crystals on them. While surveying the site we found another hole dug out some time ago with several crystals near the bottom of that vug as well. We left that spot for someone else to burrow into. We'd had enough of the mosquitoes and had filled our crystal storage bins. So we decided to call it a day.

Next we headed down to Durango. Austin wanted to continue the journey all the way home but I was thinking Pagosa Springs at 7:30PM would be a nice place to spend the night, than traveling half the night and arriving in the Springs at 1AM.  After nearly hitting a few deer and having a very close encounter with a large brown bear during our night time drive, Austin relented. We stayed in Salida prior to bringing our rock hounding trip to it’s conclusion by driving home the following day. Overall a successful, enjoyable trip with plenty of specimens to add to our collections as well as some valuable trading material.

All these specimens will need cleaning and then acid to create the epimorphs of quartz after calcite

I will post pictures of a few cleaned specimens in a couple weeks

Cleaned epimorphs of calcite with quartz overgrowth

. 

Crystals amidst the wildflowers at Lake George, Colorado

Getting ready to do some prospecting amongst the Penstemon

My digging partner Bob and I have been digging the side of one hill on and off for almost 2 years.  Between our digs and the ones preceding our efforts it’s getting harder to know where to dig. This spring’s rains have helped some by revealing a few potential spots by eroding the top soil. Rains have been tremendous in enhancing wildflower growth as well as nourishing the local aspen and buckberry bushes.   

Colorado state flower the Columbine

This day I finished up a spot I had dug on a previous visit by double checking the bottom of the pocket.  There was just a slight crease of clay I had missed at the bottom of the pocket so I went to work extricated the mud and quartz wedged down in the crevice.  I was rewarded with a couple smoky crystals and satisfied myself that this dig was done.  As I scanned the hill for an undug area I noted a spot devoid of vegetation and old digs.  I carefully scanned the surface and very quickly spotted a complete smoky quartz crystal.  The crystal wasn’t large, but the termination was intact.  A solid crystal termination suggests to me that it’s source and potential crystal pocket can’t be far up the hill. 

Pocket opening up with crystals spilling out

I continued to slowly work up the hill digging deeper as I went.  Quartz crystals continued to tumble out of the dirt as I watched the black dirt become yellowish with clay.  Finally I decided it was safe to have Bob come over and take a look.  We both thought this could be a significant find.  As Bob watched more crystals tumbled out of the yellow dirt and pieces of pegmatite with microcline began to emerge.  Unfortunately no amazonite.  I didn’t really expect amazonite as there were no amazonite shards in any of the scoopfuls of dirt I had extricated. I was hoping for some nice plates with microcline and quartz but none were found.  The largest quartz crystal I found was about 3” in length and the microcline plates were fairly ordinary. There was one microcline plate that has a central double terminated crystal and is crowned by two Carlsbad twinned crystals at the top (see pic below).  A keeper for sure. I finished this spot though was somewhat disappointed there wasn't more. I dug up the hill a bit to see if there wasn't something else above me, but no quartz shards suggests nothing nearby. So I determined I was done with this dig. At least I know there are still some hidden crystals on our hill.

Central DT microcline (somewhat unusual)

Ah yes and summer has arrived.  The forecast was for a high of 74F and when we left the sun was scorching us, the flies were biting as Bob's Taco thermometer read 83F when we left.  We wonder where we should go next.  Our hill is pretty much dug up and has become increasingly difficult to prospect. I would never say we got them all (crystals) but finding them has become increasingly difficult. The surface has been pretty well churned up. As summer progresses I think we are both ready to find a place to dig in the shade :-)

Pocket contents.  A fairly small pocket about the size of a soccer ball... but fun

Indian Paint Brush Pocket #quartz #fluorite #goethite #Lake George

After a cool wet spring, flowers are in full bloom

This post is a continuation of the previous post.  I was going to list all my June trips out to Lake George together, but this visit was significant enough to have it's own post.  I was pretty sure that my previous visit to Lake George had exposed a fairly interesting pegmatite. I went back to dig in my spot. This particular grouping of Indian Paint Brush flowers (Castilleja Indivisa) marked my spot. I told Bob, my digging partner, about what I had found during my previous visit with Austin and despite the forecast for rain we set out.  Arriving at the claim I sat in the truck for about 10 minutes as a rain shower moved across the claim.  The rain stopped, I got out, walked back to my dig and went to work.  I mucked out the dirt and rock I had used to cover my hole and was soon digging again.  Immediately I found where I had left off and two fluorite crystals tumbled into my hole. The crystals were not as big as the previous visit but I really like fluorite.  Soon I hit some fairly large quartz shards with faces.  Large quartz shards don't always mean crystals will be found but it's a good sign. I found where Bob was digging

Large smoky quartz segment (1 of 3 pieces Rats!)

and he seemed more interested in the fluorites I had found than the quartz. Bob came over to see what else I could find. Bob said I might very well be the entertainment for the day. I told Bob I might have invoked the curse of overconfidence by showing him my paltry findings too soon. Seems like nearly every time I invite Bob over to see what I'm doing everything shrinks and disappears. Haha. This time that didn't happen. Goethite chunk after goethite chunk was taken from the hole. I occasionally find float goethite which has rounded needles but this batch was well ensconced in the pocket.  Very little damage or dings were visible on the goethite. Soon a couple of smoky quartz crystals appeared.  I had a fairly nice chunk of crystal quartz in one of the sidewalls but quickly noted it was fractured.  I still hoped for a nice termination on this specimen and carefully excavated around the spot. I noted more goethite in the side wall and pulled out what I thought was a chunk of country rock to get at the goethite sprays. Turned out I pulled out the only plate in the whole pocket!  Bob was shocked by the careless manner in which I had removed the plate from the sidewall and managed to not ding any of it's associated crystals. I thought it was

Favorite crystal plate from this pocket with Phantoms to 5"

country rock I was removing... As some fairly large quartz crystals came out of the hole, the goethite seemed less important to me.  Near the bottom of the pocket, near a large fractured quartz crystal, I found the termination of another crystal.  I carefully removed all the rock and dirt around it and gently pulled it straight out of it's position. Nice--a doubly terminated smoky!  I continued to work on the big smoky in the sidewall.  Slowly I pulled it out by pieces. Unfortunately it was broken in three spots (which I knew prior to excavation) but was hoping for a nice termination. Alas, it turned out to be yard rock.

Excavating the Crystal Pocket

Pit nearly 5 feet deep and ready for remediation

I continued digging some smaller smoky quartz crystals out of the middle of the pocket.  Most of the pocket wall was lined with goethite chunks except for that one plate of crystals.  Very odd.  Anyway, first I got fluorite, then below the fluorite was microcline and goethite and then mostly at the bottom was the smoky quartz crystals, then fluorite again. Around 1PM I noticed clouds were gathering so I sent Bob in to pinch hit for me in the dig while I wrapped 72lbs of crystals (goethite is heavy). Bob found one interesting microcline group down near the bottom of the hole.  The pit was now over 5 feet deep and despite the occasional crystal still coming up from the depths, I decided it was time to fill the hole and head home.
The rain began to pelt down as we meandered back to the truck. The temperature dropped to 42F and a bit of ice was mixing into the rain.  I wondered on this day if summer would ever get here. Bob added a few goethite specimens to his collection. We got 3.5 hours of digging in between showers and managed to clean out a fairly large elongated (beach-ball size) pocket. As we drove home we noted Pikes Peak had yet another coating of fresh snow on it. It's 23 June! This pocket ranks in my top 10 ever, which is significant as I've found close to 200 pockets of crystals in the 12 years I've been prospecting for crystals.

Goethite in process of getting cleaned

Light purple nearly clear fluorites from the Indian Paint Brush pocket

Large Smoky repaired.. nice yard rock ;-)

.