Normally I go rock hounding 2-3 times a week. The past two weeks I have only gone once a week due do to other commitments. Last week I found a small but productive pegmatite towards the end of the day with many small smoky quartz crystals. Seeing as it was the end of the day and I had a HS graduation party to go to I buried the pegmatite. I had not been able to get back until yesterday and probably won't go again this week due to my rock club (CSMS) having its rock and mineral fair this weekend. At the fair, I will display petrified wood and my digging friend will show off his Lake George finds. I think people will be surprised at the quality of the crystals Bob will display, but that is for another entry.
I dug out the pegmatite yesterday and once again found many small smoky quartz crystals. Most of the crystals were less than 1" in length. The crystals were very gemmy, but never attained any length or girth. I was somewhat puzzled by the availability of pegmatite quartz and lack of any larger crystals. The pegmatite was also very close to the surface. After digging out the pocket I decided to dig below the pocket (down the hill) and work up to the pocket. Hoping to catch some float crystals. This paid off. Despite the slope being very shallow (maybe 5 degrees) there were float crystals that were better than anything I found in the pocket. Hoping that there was another pegmatite that I might have missed between the float and my pocket up the hill, I continued to dig up the hill and work down every time I found a crystal. Unfortunately it appears the float did come from the original pocket. Still I was glad I had taken the time to go down the hill and work up to the pocket finding some nice gemmy 2" float crystals with very nice terminations. Often float crystals are more damaged than crystals you find in pegmatite pockets, but this was not the case with the float I found.
As the day winded down, I took some time to prospect the area more and almost immediately found smokys. These crystals were also small and hooded (see example below). I also found a nice piece of amazonite on my hike out. I'll have to prospect that area as well. Much to do at this site, may keep Bob and myself busy all summer... stay tuned.
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| Float Crystal 2" Chisel Point |
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| Float Crystal Drill Bit Point |
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| Odd Hooded Crystal |
I'm hitting similar conditions as you on one of my claims. Don't be afraid to go further down the hill for float. Looking forward to the pics from the show.
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