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Found these smoky quartz float crystals about 10-20 ft down hill from an old dig
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After last months digging on the "Old Road" pegmatite, I decided to do some prospecting. I found an old dig that had some nice looking debris (amazonite chips and smoky quartz bits). The dig looked old and I noticed a dead tree about 6 feet down hill from the dig. I figured the tree was probably alive when the old dig occurred and there might be something salvageable mixed up in the dead tree roots. Sure enough quartz was gathered around the tree and I got a couple crystals. I decided to prospect about 10 feet further down the hill and found float quartz with faces there too. I then moved another 5 feet or so down the hill and started removing the top 8 inches or so of organic matter to find float quartz. As I went up the hill I found a lot of float quartz pieces with a few complete smokys mixed in. There were also a few float amazonite crystals in the soil from the dig up the hill. After checking the ground a few times at depth below the float. Seeing no pegmatite, I surmised that the float indeed had come from the dig up the hill. Below are some of the floater quartz crystals cleaned up.
I spent a few hours digging the float til I got near the dig and noted about 3 feet down hill from the dig the soil and chunks of pegmatite had been dug so I quit at that point. I thought about digging out the old dig, but it looked fairly large and it was another hot day.
Next time I went out I found a few amazonite along the side of the dig, but no quartz. I decided to do
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A very fine golf ball size amazonite floater crystal
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more prospecting on the hill. I found another very strong quartz pegmatite and dug out numerous chunks of quartz with faces, but there was almost no collectible crystals. It didn't help that Lake George was blanketed in smoke from the Pine Gulch and Grizzly Creek fires. I left 2 hours earlier than I normally would with a 1PM temperature of 87F... almost unheard of heat for Lake George. I tried this spot one more time but never found more than a couple small amazonite crystals wedged in the massive quartz.
Went back to Lake George, CO to prospect another site. My digging partner Bob thought he was on to something as someone had dug into a fairly large pegmatite but there were only shallow digs. That was me... lol. I had been to the spot 4 or 5 years earlier and was concerned that I might be encroaching on somebody else's claim so I steered clear. Subsequent to that time we found the correct boundary lines and it was apparent we were safely on our claim. I had forgotten about that pegmatite and Bob rediscovered it. We soon both determined the pegmatite was primarily feldspar with little in the way of quartz. The amazonite was also very pale so we decided not to spend time on it. Maybe I can rediscover the peg in 5 more years. I left a little early that day despite finding a promising hillside. The heat combined with wildfire smoke made it intolerable. I have decided to take the last 2 weeks of August off until things improve. I usually rock hound 9 times a month or so but only 5 times this August. Too much heat and smoke! This last picture shows some of the pale amazonite crystals found near the large pegmatite we keep rediscovering. Haha.
Fairly large pieces but lack of color makes this a yard rock if I take it home... maybe leaverite.
I got no leads for September and there is snow in the forecast for 8 Sep... Incredible. Hope i have something better to report on next month.
