My dad and I are both new members with the Lake George Gem and Mineral club and were able to go on this great trip. The New Hope Amethyst location was claimed by the Canyon City Geology club and on BLM land, but you had to pass through multiple private parcels of land to get to it. As with any claim, you MUST have permission from the claim owner to collect; even though its on public land. The Canyon City club arranged with the owners to let us pass through their land and we headed out to the claim. There were a lot of horses on the first property that were running around curious of what the procession was all about!
Once we got to the site my dad and I went straight to the old mine area and started working on a slightly exposed vein. There was a lot of hard-rock work; pounding and using chisels and pry bars for this trip. I was very sore the next day! 
The Canyon City club members there were awesome and taught us much about how to expend effort wisely using the hard-rock mining techniques. This was great information and something as a novice rockhound you can only really get going on these club field trips with the experts! Thanks! We ended up working with several folks to expose a nice vein. The vein of crystals were pretty brittle and would break apart along terminations easily if the vein was not excavated correctly. We ended up with a couple of pieces with the vein intact, but mostly just smaller crystals. All the terminations were coated with a white milky quartz. The crystals all had smokey quartz with the amethyst; so they were absolutely beautiful multi-colored purple/black with white veins! These are not like the amethyst you see in rock shows or shops, but they are unique and beautiful!
Extra thanks to both the Lake George and Canyon City clubs for this awesome day! It was great pulling purple crystals out of the ground!!! My favorite part is many of these crystals are in the shape of tornadoes; I know–pretty geeky–but makes the day extra special!
You can see the Smoky, Amethyst and Milky quartz in this fine crystal!
These veins were hard to get out whole! Beautiful smokey, amethyst and milky quartz!
This was the largest crystal of the day! Notice the quartz layer on the terminations
We had a great time and found some beautiful crystals!
Only been a couple of times thus far this summer; hope to make it up a few more times. I went back to the spot from July 13th as something told me I missed something; and missed something I did. I ended up finding a very light smokey that I thought was topaz at the top of the seam; but further downhill there was more to be uncovered! All crystals were very black (morion) and attached to nothing just sitting in the dirt. There were two seams; one right underground and another about a foot or 18 inches deep. The crystals and parts were pretty etched but it was a nice seam…found two small topaz as well! I dug that area up and I’m pretty confident that I got everything…learned a lot with this area about how to prospect and dig as I missed the main seams on the first day.
I love the multi-color capped Microcline crystal!
I'm pretty sure this is Topaz; not a crystal per-se; I've never seen this before!
Finally, everything found on the second day at this location near Topaz Point Picnic Area…which by the way has a terrific view of the Pikes Peak Batholith area!
Found some wonderful crystals today! Morion Smokey Quartz, multi-colored capped Microcline, and Topaz!
It is always a treat to visit one of Joe Dorris’ mines; this day I took the kids and I up to the Smoky Hawk Mine as part of a Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society field trip. My daughter had watched the New Crystal Hunters video of this mine and wanted to see it in person!
Joe had some safety fences to put up before we could see the pegmatite vein he had dug up with the excavator, so the kids and I hit the tailings piles. We found a bunch of great smoky and amazonite crystals!!!
Hunter and Daphne found these crystals in the tailings piles
Amazonite crystals from the tailings piles
Once we were able to enter the pit, Joe showed us a pocket that he found. He was pulling beautiful small plates and white-capped Amazonite crystals out of this. Daphne and I worked that for a while and then gave it up to another rockhound so he could experience working in a world-class pocket! Daphne and I worked along a perpendicular vein that showed amazonite but very little crystalization. We did find this tiny fluorite with amazonite and I was able to get this whittled down for Daphne!
Daphne's fluorite and amazonite micro-crystal
Meanwhile Sharon (the club’s editor) dug into a lower pocket (maybe 5 feet underground) along the pegmatite vein that produce a LOT of really nice smoky/microcline plates! She worked this pocket all day long and it produced some incredible plates!
Sharon's pocket of Microcline/Smoky plates
All this time the pocket Joe found was producing material, and it started to open up. But, Yam also broke into some red clay and found yet another Amazonite/Smoky Quartz pocket. I helped go through the pocket looking for excess crystals; there were a lot that came out of this pocket.
Crystals waiting to be plucked out of the ground
Crystals we were pulling out of this pocket: notice the shovel handle for reference.
Nice amazonite plate from the pocket - 8-10 inches long
Given that this was a combo pocket, Joe gets to keep it; but I did get a nice consolation parting gift for working on this pocket with Yam and Dave; a nice small (lighter colored) amazonite plate! Awesome! This has cleaned up nicely.
I was able to keep this awesome (but dirty) amazonite plate out of our pocket
We had a wonderful day (as always) at Joe’s mine, and some great stones and crystals as souvenirs. Joe gave us each choice of a really nice crystal as we parted; I chose this white-capped Amazonite that he found earlier in the day. Also, more from what we found in the tailings piles!
White cap amazonite crystal gift from the mine
Hunter's nice combo he found first thing
Smoky Hawk Tailings: One man's trash is another man's treasure
Headed up to Devil’s head today. Decided to dig around the Topaz Point picnic area as I have not yet dug around there. I went about 30 yards from the car and saw a cool mushroom on a tree stump; after looking at that I noticed the graphic pegmatite laying on the ground so I started digging. Immediately I started seeing some shapes on the pegmatite so I was pretty excited. Here are some of the examples of what I was digging up…
Shaped pegmatite I was digging up immediately after starting...
More shaped peg...
I was getting pretty excited for what I may find...
I ended up finding a couple of small smoky quartz and a couple of nicer ones; but the pegmatite was no longer graphic and produced no more shapes or crystals after searching about 10 feet in diameter around. So I picked up and took a walk…
I came across some good looking pegmatite on the surface so I started to dig. Immediately I found a couple of pieces of white quartz with one side faceted and then I found a nice pink microcline crystal. I started to dig up hill and ended up finding a long-gone seam…just quartz and microcline in the dirt (to start with); all less than 1 foot deep. I played here for a while until I had to leave.
Cool clearish smokey...should be a cutter...!
Found this one less than an inch below the surface...
I liked this microcline because of the way the crystals formed together. The bottom crystal in deeper on the right side because of the crystal on top of it. Found several other pieces of microcline too; include a full nice sized crystal.
Stacked microcline crystals Notice the space for a smoky on top!
Friday the 13th's Devilshead stash!
Had the opportunity to go on another open dig this year at the Topaz Mountain Gem Mine operated by Glacier Peak Mining. As many know we’ve had some serious drought this year and has aided to many forest fires. We have gotten some relief with an early monsoonal flow pattern with the weather and have had several days of heavy rain; one day which was at this mine. I got there at 8:30 and a few people were already there. We all were just walking (crawling) around and looking for topaz that were laying on the top of the soil that had been washed off; in the early morning sun they were pretty easy to spot. I found several small fragments and others found some killer stones just laying on the surface; but after about 30 minutes of combing the area I decided to start digging…because that is what I do.
I had to move off a muddy layer (about 4-6 inches) on a pile to get to dry gravel to be able to start raking. The first 90 minutes or so was simply to get “set up”. I did not find anything raking so I tried my hand at sifting. I was going through a lot of material but still nothing! So I decided to start working like I do when I dig for Smoky Quartz and Amazonite and use a shovel and scrape small amounts off into a hole and watch the dirt as it falls. I immediately started having luck with this technique and found a nice stone. So I did this in combination with raking and sifting the rest of the day and found a good stone about every 45 to 60 minutes. I had a great day; this is uncommon to find so many nice stones but I was moving through a lot of dirt too–which I found is the key.
I found the following topaz next; it was a shiny object in the wall of the hole I was digging. This one was cool because it appeared it had grown around a Smoky Quartz crystal originally. It had several fractures and would not be a cutter; but it is beautiful none-the-less. Of course, holding it is memorizing and the picture doesn’t do it justice!
This beautiful specimen had great facets and indentation from a smoky quartz.
I continued and found a couple of more stones; one that *may* be a cutter. It started to sprinkle and you could hear the mean thunder echo through the valley of storms that were forming and passing directly to our Northwest; I assumed we’d have rain and the day would be cut short so I didn’t want to stall and take lunch so I kept digging. About 3:00 or so I dug into a another nice clear topaz that had mostly faceted sides. It is simply beautiful and although it could be a nice cut stone I’m going to have a hard time giving it up for cutting as it is just too spectacular as Gaia produced it!
This is a spectacular faceted clear topaz!
The sun went away behind the storm clouds and it started to get darker as the storm clouds bellowed and became more dense. I kept thinking “just one more” and I’ll be done; you know how that usually goes! I decided since a few folks were still there I’d continue as long as I could. A bolt of lightning struck withing 1/2 mile and I decided it was time to go; but immediately after I was shook by the bolt a found the find of the day. What a perfect ending to such a fun and lucky day! It was a 105 carat sherry stone. This stone also had remnants of being grown against other crystals and it had a nice area that was fracture free and likely could be cut. Upon checkout, Krystle didn’t want to give this stone up but luckily I took some extra cash and she was gracious enough to let me have it! I definitely will get this cut and will post a picture when I receive it…it *will* be beautiful!
Fantastic Sherry Topaz
One other great part of the day is that I was able to find many smoky quartz crystals too; a couple were large points and one really nice crystal! All in all, was one incredible day at the mine; I met a couple of really great folks and hopefully will get the chance to dig there again this year! Krystle was correct; I did have a productive day (and year so far for that matter!); hopefully future visits will yield one or two of these and I’ll call it a successful day!
Found some great smoky quartz points today too
This pile includes stones from the bag of topaz I purchased as well; the kids got to sift through the bag when I got home!
Topaz Mountain Gem Mine - July 7th, 2012 Open Dig! I did quite well!
Did a bunch of prospecting this trip with my dad; we started by finding some nice large float pieces but could not find the source of these; which could have been a road. We ate lunch and then ran upon this spot which had been excavated prior; but we saw a couple of signs of Amazonite so we decided to dig. I was finding “okay” Amazonite crystals and my dad was working the larger pegmatite next to an existing hole. Dad finally ran into a small side pocket off of the side and pulled out some of the nicer, large smokeys of the day!
I found relatively few crystals but several faint Amazonite parts and so was having a good time. The Amazonites came from the hole above my head shown in the next picture. A few days later I came back and found a bunch of smokys in the unearthed area above my head into the side of the hill. The grey circle is where I finished the day and found the nice plate shown below.
Excavating Devilshead smokey crystals and Amazonite
Amazonites (uncleaned) from the first day at this location
Devilshead smokeys
Here is the plate from the small seam; it was neat to see how the seam opened up and the signs in the rock as that happened. Thanks to my dad for uncovering much of this evidence! That was hard work! The piece needs clean and trimmed; currently it is about 10 inches wide!
Find of the day, this plate with Amazonites and Smokies
I had the opportunity to visit the famous Smoky Hawk claim with Joe Dorris with the Fort Collins Rockhounds club. Joe allowed us to dig in some recently excavated material and also in the piles of tailings.
Beautiful view from up here; Haymen Fire burn boundry
A look up at the reclamation area that was on the New Crystal Hunters video
I right away started digging on some quartz in a pegmatite vein and found some small pockets; filled with small coated Amazonite, Smoky Quartz and Fluorite crystals. Even though these were all very small (probably biggest Fluorite was an inch) it was fun playing in the small pockets and collecting mostly Fluorite and Amazonite which both have been elusive for me!
Some of the Fluorites found in the small pockets
Went on to dig in the tailings piles and found many cool Amazonite crystals for the rock garden and also a nice Fluorite!!! Had a great day and learned a ton!
Small Amazonite clusters from inside the pockets
One of the nicer Amazonite crystals from the tailings
Killer Fluorite crystal found in the tailings
I had a earned day off on Friday of Father’s Day weekend and so I decided to go crystal hunting. Hunter and his friend Trevar have always wanted to go with me so I figured with they being off for the summer it was a perfect day. We left at 7am and headed up to Devilshead. The plan of the day was to try and find a hole that had long been abandoned and check out the bottom to see if there was anything left. Then once it got warmer we’d head back to where I had luck last year. Well, that plan never worked out…
We never found the hole I was looking for and we hiked quite a bit, so I decided, since it was on the way, to hit a spot where we could likely pull some “scraps” from other digs–give the kids a chance to get “in the mood” and then get them digging! While they were checking out the tailings, I decided to check out a pit where I found my first two crystals ever to see if there was anything. The hole had been worked since last year so I figured it was stale; but after about 10 minutes I hit a little “mud”. That is where I stayed all weekend! 
Here is my work environment with the large crystal in the vug
I worked in some mud and was finding some interesting crystals; nothing “perfect” but definitely 2 or 3 faced smokey quartz and somewhat large. I had some hard rock in the way of a crystal I found so I excavated that section and discovered the pocket was larger than I thought. I started to work on the right side of the pocket and discovered some flat sides on a “rock”. I worked this side of the pocket for the next couple of hours.
Here is the large crystal after at least 90 minutes of excavation work
For some reason the big crystal wouldn’t move; I finally was able to get it to move slightly and found that it was hung up on something behind the crystal. I removed some mud back there and discovered another crystal attached. I was able to pull the crystal out of the mud finally, and to my surprise there was a point on the other end! Wow, a huge crystal (I never dreamed I’d find) in my hand!
To my surprise a terminated crystal! HUGE!
After pulling this out, I figured out what it was caught up on, another small little crystal fell into my hand when pulling this huge one out.
The little crystal that was holding up excavation of the huge crystal
The kids were pretty impressed too but they decided to continue on their fort made with sticks and a hole. There were a couple of large (one larger) crystals in the same pocket so I with renewed energy started working on those. Ended up the biggest crystal hit the bottom of the pocket after about 4″, so it was huge in girth but didn’t do anything as far as a point. I have that in the rock garden out front as a momento. The other crystal in the back of the pocket looked promising and I worked on that the rest of the day; but didn’t get it out by the time we had to leave–working in that pocket mud/clay is somewhat difficult and you have to be extremely careful so you don’t break any other crystals.
Nice Microcline crystal
I found a couple of cool Microcline crystals this first day and also some neat double-terminated flat crystals.
Cool double terminated flat crystal
The pocket continued…Saturday AM.
We had a birthday party to go to at 2pm, so I woke up early and headed back up the hill to see what I could excavate in the 4 hours I had. Not messing around, once I booked it into the hole I started by excavating more area to work in so I wouldn’t have to lay down like the day before. That ended up being a good 30 minute investment for sure. I ended up pulling out a lot of the pocket and found some great smokeys and microcline crystals, including several funky double-terminated ones that were great. The large crystal ended up terminating into the granite so there was no point; but it was worth the effort for sure as I pulled out some great other crystals in the process!
Nice thin crystal from the left side of the pocket
Nice gemmy fatty! Part of a cluster that I have yet to fully excavate.
Another cool microcline crystal.
This microcline is the coolest one I’ve ever seen. This was sitting below the granite dividing the two sides of the pocket. Ultra cool crystal!
Ultra cool microcline beast!
The Giant, all cleaned up
This is the second big crystal that took a while on Saturday to pull out. Even though it isn’t terminated, it is really neat with lots of detail in every side!
Big crystal #2
Here are a couple of the double terminated crystals I found immediately behind the big crystal #2. It was time to head back, but there was a lot of cool stuff behind this crystal…ended up still home early so no damage done!
Sweet double terminated smokey
Super cool double terminated with tiny tip
I was pretty excited when I pulled this big guy out. Like a lot of the crystals I pulled out, they do not have very straight sides but instead have a lot of character.
Sweet large crystal
This one was nice and gemmy, but obviously had another rock at its tip…
Gemmy flat sided crystal; one of the few with flat sides
Here is the collection of nice microcline crystals I pulled out and cleaned.
Microcline collection from the pocket
There were several more really nice crystals, you’ll just have to pay a visit to take a look at them I also found more imperfect crystals like this one that were way cool; several that were thinner than glass and in a small “pane”.
Cool flat crystal, not terminated but interesting shape.
This is terminated on one side, very cool crystal!
Between the success at Devilshead, the Saturday birthday party and the Sunday BBQ, this was a great father’s day weekend! Thanks everyone, including you, mother earth!
Last time I visited my folks I took some quick photos of their crystals…
Smokey on Matrix from Devils Head, 2009 trip.
Nice smoky on Microcline from the same pocket as above at Devishead.
Another picture of this cool crystals…
And another picture:
A nice Amethyst cluster from Brazil (?):
A nice encrysted Amethyst:
Galena Crystal:
Awesome Pyrite:
