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

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