Last year I published an article How to Find Crystals that detailed some of the techniques I use and general prospecting tips, hoping to give several tips and hints to aid in expediting the learning curve of digging crystals. I’ve gotten some great feedback from that article and appreciate all the comments.
One of the things I tried to cover in that blog posting was what to look for on the surface and how to know if you are in a good spot and should continue digging, or bury the hole and continue the prospecting elsewhere. I knew it would be difficult to share that experience, as I’m still learning myself and it’s one of those things you can read about all day long but you don’t “get it” until you actually can see and experience how it is done. The pictures and text in that article were helpful I feel; but it still left me with questions after reading it–knowing that I had a plan for this year’s prospecting trips…
That blog posting was just the first of many postings I plan to do sharing what I’ve figured out on finding pegmatite crystals. I was able to get out digging late this spring and my goal was to take some video while I was on the hunt, hopefully showing what I look for on the surface and what I look for as I follow the pegmatite trail to the crystals (assuming I find crystals, which many times I don’t)! This video hopefully will provide some tips and hints of what works for me in the toughest part of the process, the initial prospecting and test holes.
Unfortunately due to leaving the camera in the sun too long, the pocket extraction video was corrupt, but the good stuff from a prospecting perspective was saved showing progress as I was hunting for the pocket. You’ll see that demonstrated in the video below.
I would love your feedback, questions and suggestions. I plan to do other videos showing different techniques.
The small crystal pocket I eventually hit I’m calling the OneTwo. It was mainly Microcline crystals, most were Carlsbad twinned! On these, once cleaned up, opposite faces had a blue tint of Amazonite to them; not as deep of green color as you find elsewhere in the region, but still really nice and a lot of fun. The smokey quartz I found all had secondary coatings of a darker colored quartz which will be very difficult to remove.
Interesting cluster of Amazonite / Microcline joined at a ~45 degree angle.
Carlsbad twinned Amazonite (light blue) with a small amount of cleavelandite sprays.
Nice little pair of Carlsbad twinned Amazonite with a bit of cleavelandite.
These are the largest crystals from the pocket, each about 3.5 inches tall. They had to be repaired as they came out in 3 pieces, the cap to the larger crystal was cleaved off and the two crystals had been separated and were found about a foot from each other in the pocket.
Smoky Quartz showing the secondary quartz growth. These have been soaked in a heated chemical bath for several weeks and look at lot better than they originally did; but this is as far as I will clean them as the quartz underneath is not worth the effort.
Some of the nicer twinned amazonites from the OneTwo pocket.
Examples of the coated smoky quartz from the OneTwo. The larger crystals are nearly 3 inches long. There were mostly microcline crystals in the pocket; which is opposite of what I typically find in the region.
I often get asked “How do you find crystals you have posted?”. Which techniques to use is a very subjective question, but certainly there are standard ways of prospecting for pegmatite crystals here in Colorado. I will try to cover some of the techniques I use in this blog post.
UPDATE: I have posted another blog post showing examples of these techniques here.
It has taken me years of prospecting, tons of reading, and networking with other prospectors and rock clubs to figure out what I’ve learned to find crystals so far, so I’m hoping that if you are new to this hobby this article can help expedite the learning curve and take away some frustration…i.e. not coming home empty handed as often! Note that I sometimes STILL come home with nothing to show (and I keep even the littlest crystals)…I think of it like fishing, sometimes the fish simply aren’t biting. My other hope is that folks having successful techniques can share their wisdom so I and others can continue to learn (the comments on this article is a great place, hint hint !!!). Note I am self-taught and have no formal geology schooling or experience, so my descriptions in this article may be scientifically inaccurate; the goal of this article is not to explain the science as much as for tips to helping you learn to find crystals! Of course the science is helpful and very interesting, if you have anything to share or correct (or have further questions), please leave comments, I would love to hear your techniques, opinions and knowledge on the subject!
Hitting a crystal pocket gives you a tremendous high! This was my first crystal pocket!
How to Find Crystals
There are three standard ways I prospect when searching for crystals; I may use only one way on any given day, or may use all three:
Searching the tailing piles of other digs
Finding float and following it
Digging in the source pegmatite
Prospecting Tailing Piles
When I’m prospecting I always check out old and new digs. There are several reasons for this–to learn what the other prospector was into when (presumably) they find crystals themselves, to perhaps continue where the previous prospector didn’t go, and to search through their tailings to ensure the weather didn’t reveal something that was missed or discarded!
Mount Antero double terminated Phenakite my son found laying on the surface, would have been great to have more of that aquamarine attached!
If the prospector was into a pocket or seam of crystals, they may have had mud or iron coatings on the crystals so the prospector tossed aside because they couldn’t see the sides or simply missed it…it happens, I’ve gone back to my digs before and found incredible crystals that I somehow missed! After a good rain or season of snow Mother Nature may help to reveal crystals that were left behind! This is the easiest form of prospecting. I also find that some prospectors are not interested in “boring” or imperfect crystals; another person’s trash may be my treasure! I have found many great crystals by searching the tailings of previous digs!
Tips include
to find crystals it helps moving around the pile to get a reflection of sunlight from a flat shiny surface of a crystal…you should train your eyes to focus on any flat sided rock
getting down closer to the ground for a different perspective; I find many crystals this way that I missed standing up
look for color, some crystals are coated with iron-based minerals and may look rusty
poking around the sides of the hole to see if the prior prospector left part of the pocket
looking for float from the pocket (talked about further below)
dig through the tailings to see if other crystals are slightly buried
Finally there is a lot to learn from studying what others were into. This is how I’ve done much of my learning. What did the rocks they were pulling out look like (note to self, keep an eye out for these signs in my holes)? Are there other digs along the hillside along the same “zone” that I should also check out? What did the other person see that kept them digging? The bigger the prospector’s hole the more likely they found something good (otherwise that is a lot of effort for nothing), so explore those big holes/trenches for sure!
This Milky Quartz and Fluorite plate was found discarded by the original miner on the dumps, cleaned up it is awesome, good enough for me! Just wish I could find the other material which made this trash in comparison!
These Fluorites were covered in pocket mud and then again in dirt. Always examine “dirt balls” !!! Needs some more cleaning, but examples of what you can find in the dumps. Fluorite and other crystals are heavier than other rocks, so pay attention to the weight of the rocks you are extracting!
Prospecting Float
First of all, what is float? It took me a while to get my head around this concept. My definition of float is simply any rocks or crystals that have weathered out of their original location — in other words Mother Nature has moved them via some process over time.
What could have moved the crystals? Glaciers, wind, rain, etc. Glacial movement is pretty easy to spot on the crystals, because they are broken, cleaved and/or have rounded corners like they’ve been in a rock tumbler. These crystals have been potentially moved long distances and there may be no correlation in where the crystals are located to where they originated from–in other words they may be randomly displaced and you may not find other related crystals around them. However I have found several times that pockets were moved (relatively) together by glaciers and there are concentrations of crystals that are completely worn in a somewhat small of an area.
Float coated smoky and milky quartz crystals found in a 10 foot diameter area about 6 inches under the ground. The left smoky is ~10 cm.
Wind and water (and ancient glaciers too) are common forces that move crystals from their original location in the seams/pockets they were grown in. Over the hundreds of millions of years (or perhaps just thousands, or even last month’s torrential rains?) the land has been eroded and the original locations of the crystals may have been partially or completely eroded away. If on a hill, the crystals are likely displaced downhill as they are eroded out of their original pocket. If on a flat area, crystals can disperse radially away from the pocket (which may at one time long ago been above you).
One misconception that I originally had about float was that the crystals would be laying atop the ground easy for the prospector to see. It took me a while to realize that float can be (and often is) buried. The layer of topsoil / organic matter is a recent addition to the ground (decomposed plants, trees, etc) in the perspective of geologic time. Most often I’ve discovered float that is buried in the boundary between the top soil and the granite gravel layers which can be visible or buried many feet deep. Note that with the hundred plus years of prospecting occurring in popular areas, it is very unlikely you’ll find crystals on the surface; but there is still plenty of float to be discovered!
Now that we’ve reviewed what float is in theory, how does one utilize this float concept to actually find crystals? When I find good signs on the ground I dig test holes (more about what are good signs in a minute). I try to dig deep enough so I’m at (or below) the boundary layer between the topsoil/organic matter and the gravel–the steeper the hills the likely this layer will be more shallow. I will also dig about a foot or sometimes two deeper to see if what I’m seeing at the surface continues in situ underground–signs of a pegmatite outcropping.
As I continue to explore the source of the float, I will dig an area of several feet in diameter, left and right, up and downhill. If I continue to find signs, then I will follow those signs in whatever direction they lead me, which typically trends uphill. The hope is that this investigation leads you to the originating crystal pocket or seam still in the pegmatite rock!
If there are no signs on the surface but the area in general looks or “feels” good, or if I’m feeling lucky, I dig test holes in best-guess locations and if I find nothing interesting within a 2-3 foot diameter, I move on to another spot.
I have also seen videos of folks using dowsing rods–the concept is they loosely hold L shaped rods in each hand and as they walk over an area with a crystal the rods will move. I keep thinking I should try this but I have no experience nor have done any research on this technique yet. Chime up in the comments if you’ve had success with this method!
A float dig. I was following signs up the hill (probably 10 feet here) digging only about 3-7 inches deep. Notice the pile of dirt on the right, this makes it ultra fast to fill in the hole once I’m done…literally 2 minutes. I often backfill the hole as I’m following the float. Notice the rocks on the surface above my digging, these are what you want to see, but in this case they are likely from another dig up the hill as they are not partially buried like Mother Nature would do.
What are good signs to follow? What do you look for on the surface to start digging there? How long do you follow the trail of good signs when they are not panning out? Well, that IS the trick, these are all the million dollar questions of prospecting! I’m still perfecting this myself and likely will be forever, but for now my answer is many things. Here is where joining up with a Crystal Club or digging with other prospectors is very helpful. I have found that even though I’ve read a ton on the topic and talked to many experienced prospectors, I didn’t really “get it” until I’ve gone and and moved some rock and dirt–experienced it; sometimes it even takes many times before what I’ve read or been told clicks. That said, however, I’ll try to give you some tips and rules of thumb based on what I look for.
You are looking for the following, above and/or below the surface as float or in situ:
Anything with flat sides. Train your eyes to see flat surfaces; having flat surfaces means there was enough room for the rocks to start to crystalize which is evidence of a crack, seam or pocket in the host rock. Finding flat sided rocks is integral in the hunt for crystals.
Quartz. Pegmatites are partially composed of quartz, so you are looking for chunks of quartz either by themselves or mixed with Microcline / Feldspar.
Microcline. Like quartz above, microcline or amazonite is a good sign.
Graphic Granite. Granite by definition is composed of small crystals of quartz and feldspar. Pegmatite is when the crystal sizes get to a certain size. Graphic granite / pegmatite is where these crystals get bigger TOGETHER. Often in just one rock sample you’ll see the crystal size increase from one side to the other! (see image below). This sometimes means you are getting closer to where the crystals can grow better (i.e. a pocket).
Combinations of above. This means that all the right ingredients of a pegmatite seam are floating out of somewhere.
Crystals. If you’re finding whole crystals or multiple sides, well, you’re there! Congratulations!
Here are some good examples of graphic granite from one of my digs. Notice the quartz crystals getting bigger in size and consistent through the rocks. Click the image for a larger picture with more detail.
These pieces of quartz are great signs with many sides–but none are totally faceted which tells me they came out of massive granite. Also notice the microcline. Follow these!
Example of a good mix of quartz on feldspar, almost (but not quite) starting to look like a plate of quartz crystals. The upper quartz has a several flat sides! This chunk definitely kept me on the hunt!
One other technique I use digging float uphill is when pulling out quartz or microcline chunks I leave them on top of my tailings pile close to the spot I found them. If I’m not finding the source of the float or lose track of the good signs (or when I take a water break), then I’ll often step back, take a break and review what I’m finding from a distance (which is possible because I left my findings consistently in sight on top of the tailings). This technique will let me analyze my current prospecting situation from a different perspective. While analyzing the rocks as I have dug up the hill, I will also analyze the surrounding hillside for clues like other digs, surface rock, contour, etc. Sometimes I get overzealous in my digging and forget this simple step-back-and-analyze step which can be really helpful in minimizing the search for the source of the float!
Another way to find crystals using the “float technique” is to start at someone else’s dig and start to explore around (if a flat area) and downhill of that prospect/hole. It’s likely that there is float around or below that pocket that someone else has done all the hard work and located for you! Many times the crystals are really nice and have just rolled down the hill a little bit!!! The original prospector was only interested in the pocket material and left all the easy float finding to someone else! I’ve found some really nice crystals using this technique!
Prospecting Pegmatites
Of course, the best place to dig is in crystal pockets. This is where the crystals will likely be the best quality and most plentiful (but not always, ask any experienced prospector and they will tell you stories of hours/days of work in fabulous looking pockets with junk, crushed or no crystals). Whether you happen upon a seam or pocket in the pegmatite using float prospecting techniques, or you find the peg right away and dive in, this is the goal of prospecting–to hit the mother lode!
First, a little bit of theory from what I have discovered in the field and also from reading and talking to other prospectors. I think of pegmatites as basically a lava flow of harder rock that when forming had the right (and larger) concentrations of minerals we are searching for. Because it is a flow, it often will be long and extend across or into the hillside and will often be somewhat straight. This is helpful to know as you often can follow the pegmatite as it trends in a somewhat straight direction across the hillside.
If the conditions were right at that instant of time millions and millions of years ago, you have highly mineralized fluid that was flowing through the cracks in the rocks. If there was room in the host rock’s cracks then it would give the fluid a chance to crystalize in that “open space” in the rocks. Because we’re talking about an extended “flow”, the pegmatite can open up (i.e. crystals!), then pinch out, and follow that pattern again and again along faults or cracks over its length. You sometimes see this play out when following the pegmatite getting pocket after pocket along the length of the peg! This is something to remember as a previous prospector may have found a great pocket but didn’t finish it or follow it as it opened up into even a larger pocket along the length of the original flow!
The great Blue Cap Productions video on Rhodochrosite at the Sweet Home Mine in Alma Colorado details that pockets were often found at the intersection of faults. I have found this to be true in some cases with pegmatites pockets I’ve found, as two pegmatites intersected there was a pocket. Additionally, Joe Dorris of Glacial Peak Mining has documented that when the pegs bend they often form pockets (which were eddies during the liquid phase?). This is also something I’ve experienced and definitely keep an eye out for.
Pegmatite is currently often surrounded by gravel or dirt. Over geologic time, the surrounding rock may have decomposed into gravel while the harder, more mineralized material is still in place. So once you are upon the pegmatite you’ll likely know its boundaries by gravel. Knowing this, I don’t spend much time when digging test holes if there is just gravel, but if there are chunks of peg, quartz or microcline then I continue as I may be digging into a pegmatite; and if I was into the peg and then enter into just gravel, I change my direction as I likely have found a border of the peg. When finding bigger chunks of rock, ensure they are pegmatite and not just solid granite. You won’t find many crystals if you are not in the pegmatite!
Note that have seen instances where all the surrounding rock is completely gone leaving just a trail of crystals in the gravel or dirt! So again none of these techniques is absolute each and every time!
I categorize the peg in a couple of ways, as described above (chunks) and also as solid masses (this digging takes the most effort). Sometimes I get into a peg that is still holding together as more massive rock and there is a seam sandwiched between top and bottom plates of granite. In that seam, especially when it has the opportunity to widen, I sometimes find small pockets of crystals. Following these openings the trail of crystals sometimes dives deeper; and that is where things can get interesting as you may be into a pocket. Note that these chunks of pegmatite can be quite large and heavy, requiring pry bars and even chisels and hand sledge hammers to extract, so ensure you are employing safe leverage and lifting techniques (a hurt back doesn’t allow one to dig for many crystals) and always wear eye protection! In these cases I follow the peg in all directions as the crack/seam may be rather long and wide but not very thick, but eventually it could widen and form a pocket. Here is a video example of this (these are HD video, so change the resolution if you have the bandwidth!).
So these are the techniques that I am currently using to find crystals. I am fairly successful in finding some crystals, but finding the great crystals or pockets is still somewhat elusive to me! My thought is it’s all about moving dirt and rock to maximize the chance of getting lucky. Comparing it to the lottery, you have to play to win! Regardless, employing these techniques has brought me success and hopefully will aid in your success too! As stated before, I would love to hear your techniques and ideas in the comments or by emailing me; I’m looking for any ways to improve!
Here are some videos showing me finding crystals out of a pegmatite pockets or seams. Pay attention to what is surrounding the areas with crystals as that is what you will be targeting when you dig! Additionally, I have accumulated a playlist of people extracting crystals from around the world, you’ll want to check it out!
For more articles on my prospecting adventures click here.
You should also check out the other blogs I follow with great information about prospecting in Colorado:
Went up to Devils Head with the Lake George Gem and Mineral Club to do some pickin’ today. Last week the Fire Watch Tower / Campground area was hit with a EF0/EF1 tornado (max wind 90 mph, 500 yards long, 100 yards wide max) and is currently closed due to all the snapped trees. Luckily we didn’t go to that area and could continue with the field trip.
We went to the area east of the Topaz Picnic Area, near the old topaz mine and claims. I hadn’t had much luck in this area in the past, but it was good to hang out with like-minded folks and give it another try. I prospected an area that was level on the hillside with many other digs (this area is heavily dug) about 40 feet away, and about 40 feet or so below a really old dig. My goal was to either hope to find the pegmatite dike or perhaps find some float.
Immediately I found a clear quartz that was healed. I had to look carefully because it was amazingly clear and gemmy like topaz, but the growth lines on the crystal faces were perpendicular to the axis through the point and it had a quartz shape, so no go on my first topaz at Devils Head.
Dig area, following the float uphill
For those that often ask me what I’m looking for, this is something I didn’t find much online or in the books. This technique is just what I’ve figured out and there could be much better ways to prospect, but this will at least give you something to try the next time you are up digging if you are looking for things to try…
I scrape off the top soil to see what is at the boundry of the top soil and gravel layers…or “float”.
Clear Quartz in the sunlight makes it look like Topaz…
I continued to dig uphill (in the picture above I ended about 10 feet above the trees at the top of the photo) and as I got close to the old dig the quartz started to get larger. I was finding float, or quartz that is below the organic layer of dirt and above the gravel, or about up to 6 inches below the surface. Once I hit the clear quartz I started to dig around that, and then when I hit the first double terminated crystal I was able to form a trajectory up the hill and continued in that general direction. It took a little while to figure out the direction but once I did the area I had to prospect was smaller making the process quicker.
The double terminated smaller quartz was the second I found, and the larger double terminated quartz was the last I found at this location. Not pictured are all the shaped pieces of quartz (but not fully euhedral) that kept me on the chase up the hill.
Milky quartz crystals found while digging the float. The large one on the upper right was double terminated and so was the one in the lower left. The two in the middle show gemmy smoky quartz under the milky coating.
Double Terminated crystal shows several periods of growth. Original was likely to the pegmatite ceiling or floor, then it broke off and was healed (you can see this clearly on the other face).
Other folks were also having luck so it was a great day, the folks next to me pulled out a nice 4 inch smoky quartz! After my hole was filled in I got up to check out the finds of other folks, but most folks had already left, no wonder it had gotten quiet! I chatted with one other person who was in a small pocket in a very large dig and he had some nice crystals too.
I decided to try another spot and started to dig again after having lunch. Here I was able to find a small seam in harder pegmatite that produced some nice twin smoky quartz and some light blue amazonite crystal faces.
Overall a fun day pickin’ at Devils Head!
Smoky Quartz found in second location. The 4 crystals at the right were sidewall type crystals (the backs on a couple are not terminated). They were all found in a seam of pegmatite, not a pocket with sand, so it took a while to excavate from the small area.
You can see the white overgrowth on the otherwise gemmy smoky quartz
Amazonite found in the second location. More bluish than traditional green in color.
One thing about Devils Head crystals is they almost always need a bath as they have iron oxide staining, especially the amazonite/microcline. These photos above are of the crystals just rinsed of with water, showing exactly how they look when fresh out of the ground! The photos below are after a week of heated oxalic acid bath.
Soaked in a chemical bath for a week. Still some staining, but looking nicer!
Twin Smoky Quartz with lots of iron staining…needs a bath! Looks like it could be gemmy!
Nice etched polka dot patterns on the point!
Needs a good cleaning, but this Smoky Quartz is gemmy and also has some nice small crystal growth on the point. The back side is also terminated..really close to being a double terminated crystal!
These were some of the smoky quartz that would fall out of the pocket when I shook the tree roots. Some of the bigger quartz from the pocket
It has been a while since I’ve been up in the hills, but recently I _finally_ had a free day and I was able to hit the hills and prospect for some crystals. This year has been somewhat slow for me so far, I’ve ventured up to dig for Amazonite and/or Smoky Quartz two times before and I had found just a small crystal or two in those days. I also was prospecting way away from my normal places too, but you never know until you check it out!
This last outing, however, I went back to a spot I had luck with in years past as I wanted to dig down deeper. I’ve been told by numerous folks that digging deeper around a seam or small pocket in the pegmatite often yields huge rewards, so I decided this was the day to expend some energy and find out. I arrived at 6am and it was nice and cool so I started to trench out diagonally from where I had luck before. I went about 3-4 feet deep working through some very hard rock to find nothing but gravel on the other side of the pegmatite. I continued elongating the trench and was able to find some peg that was looking okay but it was producing nothing but hard work. After 5 hours of digging I decided that down was not the source at this point and started to fill in the large hole.
One thing I also wanted to try at this spot was to follow the peg past where it appeared to pinch out when I was onto crystals in years past, so I went about 10-15 feet beyond in the general direction of the seam and started another probe hole. Immediately I was pulling quartz chunks out but none with euhedral sides; they appeared to be float as they were in the deep organic matter. I went down about 3 feet and finally started to hit the pegmatite! It continued and I was happy to see it! I trenched it for a while perpendicular to the peg and was pulling crystals out in the past, some some graphic peg appeared but nothing at all with facets. The peg was rather thin at this point and nothing was in the gravel below. I ended up with my trench into the roots of a tree and since there were no positive signs I decided to give the tree a break and not damage any of the roots. So I filled in that hole and took a break as that was another 2 hours of hard work!
This was the other quartz crystal in the center of the pocket. Neat double terminated crystal that is completely gemmy inside! Love that root beer smoky color!
Heart of the pocket, double terminated crystal all cleaned up.
While eating lunch and taking a break, I noticed a rock that was on the other side of my tree that appeared to be buried pretty deep. After eating I tried to pull it out but it wouldn’t give. Interesting that on its side there appeared to be some quartz chunks so I got out the pick and dug it out. It definitely had better shape than any of the peg I was in before lunch, so I started to dig around it. The next rock had some green and I knew I was in the right spot. In just a little while I was in the start of a seam with some nice smaller partially euhedral quartz and amazonite shards. The peg was definitely different than the one I dug in previously so I continued uphill.
About a foot further down and up hill the peg opened up a little and in that opening I started to get more green shards of microcline and a larger quartz chunks. One of the first quartz pieces I found was what looked like a tip of a larger crystal. I see this all the time and I realized that I likely had a really big crystal in store up hill! It was nearly at the other side of the seam/pocket, so it had fallen downhill several feet in the seam which was very interesting…Upon hitting a stump of an old burnt out tree I then discovered the small pocket. Unfortunately my phone died and I didn’t have my regular camera so I can’t share any pictures of the digs, but as I dug through the large roots crystals started to appear. The microcline was light amazonite and some crystals fit into the palm of my hand. Upon shaking the roots crystals would fall into my hole below! It was a quite fun pocket but it receded as quickly as it opened up. Still I was able to get some good sized crystals and amazonite including a couple double terminated (one healed) smoky quartz. I was dead tired by after 5pm (almost 12 hours digging) so I filled in all the holes completely and headed home. Who knows, there could be more there (maybe dig down like the experts say?), I’ll have to check it out again some other time.
Uncleaned, straight from the Earth, some light colored Amazonite crystals
Soaked for a week in a hot oxalic acid bath, the powder blue color is nice–but no where as nice as the green further south.
As in nearly EVERY pocket I dig, I find a broken tip. This time, I was digging up hill and found the tip first. I knew that was a great sign and that I’d find its adjoining large crystal which made an exciting dig!
Smoky quartz cluster that came out of the center of the pocket. Uncleaned.
I have found Amazonite now in several locations throughout the Colorado Pikes Peak Batholith. After soaking many pieces of amazonite in acid for about 3 months to try and pull some of the iron oxide staining out of the crystals I got to wondering if finds from different locations in the Pikes Peak Batholith zone were consistent. Regarding the iron oxide staining, I have had varied success with this winter’s cleaning; some the staining is embedded deep into the stones.
Amazonite is crystallized feldspar microcline with trace amounts of Lead (Pb) giving the green color, normally microcline is a pinkish/salmon color and up on Mt Antero is it white. There are a couple of examples of white capping and white striping (inclusion of orthoclase) shown here which I’m excited to have–the Amazonite in the Smithsonian museum is completely white capped/striped coming from the Two Point Claim–which is incidentally immediately between the Smoky Hawk and April Fools–the claims where I have gotten most of my Lake George stones. Amazonite and Smoky Quartz combos are highly sought and somewhat valuable. There are a couple of combos in the center of this picture from finds in the Lake George area. Although I have found many smoky quartz and some Amazonite at Devils Head, only a few combos have been unearthed. I can see why the combos are sought as they have been rare for me too.
There definitely is a different intensity of color throughout the different zones of the Pikes Peak Batholith. You can see that the darkest (most desirable) color is from the Lake George area in Teller County, although I have found some paler color in that area, I have not found any pink microcline. The few pieces I have from the Wigwam district in Jefferson County are lighter green but have fantastic crystal formations; I have also found pink there. The Devils Head variety is more bluish and definitely paler, but many of the stones I have found have signs of the white capping/zoning in the crystals; most of the microcline at Devils Head is pink for me. I have some Amazonite from the Pine Creek area which is more green than Devils Head but still paler than Lake George.
A comparison of amazonite color from throughout the Pikes Peak Batholith of Colorado (click for larger image)
I have not yet searched out the entire list of known locations for Amazonite throughout the Pikes Peak Batholith, so someday perhaps my color observations can be more thorough. The following map is an arial view (courtesy Google Maps) of the areas I have searched and locations are color coded to match the above specimens. Would love to hear your experiences, knowledge and thoughts on the topic in the comments!
Did some digging today on the Rampart Range area on the Northeast side of the Pikes Peak Batholith. This location is known for mainly Smoky Quartz but also sometimes Amazonite and Topaz crystals. I started off prospecting a new area and did not find much so I wandered off to an old pegmatite I have worked in the past and went further into the zone I had found some crystals in previous years. I was lucky today and found many smokey quartz including a couple of small plates, and some weak colored and shaped Amazonite.
I originally came upon this area as I saw some loose pegmatite upon the ground that was somewhat graphic. Graphic granite is where the crystallization gets more pronounced and starts to get shapes and facets on one or many sides. I was pulling large (50+ pounds) chunks of pegmatite out of the ground and then I came upon a zone that was much smaller chunks of rock. After pulling out a couple of pieces smoky quartz started to fall out and then I saw a ceiling plate with a crystal intact. This plate was about 20 pounds so I left it; but I did bring home two plates intact and was able to find 5 crystals that fit back into place…which was worth the haul of these very heavy rocks to the car.
I plan to hit this site one more time as I want to ensure the pocket pinched out, which it appeared to do; but the previous seam of crystals I found along this pegmatite did the same thing, so it obviously opened up a couple times.
Part of the top plate of the small pocket. This crystal had fallen off but I was able to repair it.
Another view of the top plate in the main part of the pocket!
This was along the bottom of the pocket
These two were repaired back together
I love the point on this one.
Nice crystal
This crystal is mostly gemmy inside.
Kinda odd facets, but awesome crystal.
Nice large crystal.
Love this point!
Some of the repaired and larger crystals; many or gemmy
These are mostly gemmy
Smaller but gemmy crystals!
Part of the larger bottom plate near the center of the pocket.
Some light colored Amazonite crystals.
These will require a long soaking; but I kinda like them as is…
Went up picking as tradition on Cinco De Mayo and had some luck eventually finding blue amazonite and smoky quartz crystals. I was prospecting an area I’ve never been to before and wasn’t having much luck, after about 5 hours of nothing (and many miles of good exercise) I decided to check out somewhere else. On the hike back to the car I found some float pegmatite that had a shade of “green” and I started digging (you’ll see examples in the video similar to what I saw). After about an hour of digging test holes (about 2 feet deep) I hit some peg that looked promising and so I started to follow it.
I continued to hit color but only in what looked like a small crack. The color didn’t seem to follow anything specifically, but generally the color was in a certain area so I continued to follow it. Eventually I started to find crystals, most just sidewall or partial crystals with one or two flat sides, but that is a great sign so I continued.
I was about 1-2 feet down and following the peg when a seam started to open up and produce more traditionally shaped crystals. The video shows several spots along the way including the largest opening in the seam which was probably a good 5-6 inches tall and a foot or so wide. The seam continued producing smaller crystals and 1-2 sided microcline/amazonite for another 10 or so feet before it completely pinched out. I continued for several hours in all directions but didn’t find anything else worth while.
The crystals were double-coated with iron oxide and a thin white milky quartz type coating. This proved to be very difficult to clean up. I started with Iron Out for 72 hours and then I used a 10% Phosphoric Acid solution in a low heated crock pot for over a month along with a water gun to chemically soak and chip away the coatings. Several stones I was able to get most of the coatings off, but the blasting of hot chemical through the millennia in this pegmatite took its toll and etched many of the smoky quartz crystals and stained the amazonite. Where it has etched them the coating is very difficult to remove.
My favorite part of this dig, however, was that the sky blue Amazonite. Not the typical green that you find in the area. I have not yet invested time in creating cabochons but I suspect this amazonite will be gorgeous if used this way. Thus, I didn’t clean but about 1/3 of the crystals I brought home figuring someday I’ll be grinding away the coatings and not worrying about the specimen quality of the stones.
This was a cool crystal, obvioulsy needs more soaking but will give you an idea of what has come off the rest of the crystal
This was a cool cluster that was in the center of the largest part of the seam/pocket. Most of these are gemmy, and flipping it over they are mostly double terminated.
The smoky quartz “teaser” from the video.
I suspect this is amazonite, but I really liked the coating without any cleaning!
This Amazonite / Smoky Quartz combo was one of the several I found. This was at the bottom of an opening that was not in the video. Unfortunately 6 weeks in a hot acid bath didn’t clean it fully.
I like this one as it shows the quartz and amazonite starting to separate and form euhedral sides from the host graphic granite rock.
This was the largest smoky quartz I found as seen in the video. I love the termination!
I really like this stone for the natural facets and the gorgeous sky blue color!
Largest amazonite of the day, about 3.5 inches.
This parallel/stepped growth smokey quartz pair had a chunk of amazonite attached.
Many of the smoky quartz are gemmy, which I absolutely love the root beer color of this kind of quartz. Likewise, I have saved many of these stones for faceting if I decide to pick up that part of the hobby. I also procured many garden rocks.
Hiking out in the twilight it had been a very long day and I was exhausted, but deeply satisfied!
June 8, 2014. I had the opportunity to visit a private claim with the Lake George Gem and Mineral Club in this famous Colorado locality in spring 2014. The area and drive to the locality is beautiful; a stretch through the Hayman Fire burn area which occurred on this same date twelve years prior in 2002.
Wigwam area is in the heart of the Hayman Fire burn area. This is 12 years later (to the day).
Hayman burn area, June 2014.
The area is typical pegmatite digging; although it is several feet deep. I ended up digging a few test holes but found no peg and only found float type material that didn’t pan out. I started checking out natural washed tailings from previous digs and noted there was some amazonite in a certain area, so I started to dig in that general area. After a while I started seeing stepped/parallel growth on top of quartz chunks mostly anhedral with some faces. I tuned into where these were running finding a general seam and out popped some amazonite and quartz crystals that were really cool, in the soil no more than 8″ deep. That seam pinched out but I came home with some really unique crystals.
The first crystal I found in this spot which prompted me to spend 5 more hours in this area!
Cool capped quartz with multiple growth periods, terminated on both ends. Before the acid bath.
After the acid bath, about 3 inches long.
Awesome shaped amazonite euhedral crystal, about 4 inches wide!
My second visit was to see if I missed this seam going in any other direction. After digging many hours I didn’t find any further remnants of the seam but in the general area there were many types of crystals–some partial amazonite crystals, some more quartz chunks with parallel type growth which in some cases grew bigger as the seam opened up slightly, and more clear quartz growths on other crystals or host rock. I even found a fluorite crystal! I pulled out very few euhedral crystals but there were some amazonite and milky quartz.
Awesome parallel growth crystal cluster from Wigwam locale.
Shard of quartz with parallel growth tip.
Awesome parallel growth where the seam opened up just a little bit allowing larger crystals to form.
Cool clear fluorite!
I call it “The Right Foot” (due to it being found in the rightmost foot of my dig, among other obvious reasons), awesome unique quartz crystal!
It was fun to meet other members of the club and to visit this locality I’ve been meaning to pay a visit for years!
Went up to Devil’s Head again as the weather was supposed to be gorgeous (and it was!) on November 10, 2013. I am prospecting in a new area and wanted to go back and check out a couple of signs I found on my way out the last trip. I dug up the area and found some partial microcline and a few smoky quartz crystals.
My next spot was based on a float rock I found. You’ll see it in the video, lots of white quartz in the pegmatite so I dug directly below. Ended up finding a cool seam which turned into a small pocket. The crystals were decent sized (1 to 4 inches) and the microcline was euhedral.
The euhedral amazonite (faint color, common for Devilshead) including some Carslbad twins
The seam and pocket extended for about 24-30 inches (a couple of directions) and had easily 20 pounds of microcline crystal fragments (many came back as garden rock). As you can see, there is a greenish tint to the microcline making it amazonite (that means it has traces of lead in the mineral). This is the second time I have found amazonite at Devils Head, here is the account of the first. There are several smaller Carlsbad Twins in the find too! Amazonite is much more common (and deeper color) as you head southwest further into the Pikes Peak Batholith, so it was a treat to find this day!
The largest faint amazonite / microcline euhdral crystal
The smoky quartz was very interesting out of this pocket; I’ve seen milky quartz coated smokies in the area before, but never “granite countertop” coated smokies like this! It is really a neat color/texture! I have noticed that soaking these longer the outside coat is slowly coming off; so I have a few crystals that are going to soak for a while to see what the quartz looks like underneath.
Great color, texture and shape to this smoky
This point was right next to a large root that found the seam and followed it
One of the smokies from the video
This shows the “granite countertop” coating that was on all the smokies
Cool smoky quartz from the video, love the coating!
The “keepers” from the day – reference is a gold dollar, not a penny
July was a good month for Rockhounding for us; we did only a couple of trips, however, due to a busy summer with many other fun things on the weekends! Both of my July trips were to Joe Dorris claims; the first was a makeup trip to the Topaz Mountain Gem Mine (originally with the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society, but with the Littleton club on this make up day) and the second was the famous Smokey Hawk claim with CSMS. Both were in the Lake George area. If you are interested in visiting either claim, contact Joe or Krystle. Here is information on Visting the Topaz Mine.
The Smokey Hawk trip was a lot of fun; I found a bunch of small chips of really great colored Amazonite. Joe stated that they had just opened a small pocket of incredible colored Amazonite but most of it was crushed. He was thinking chemistry must have played a role in the color and condition of the Amazonite. Perhaps we’ll see more in this year’s Prospector’s show.
I had recently tumbled some Amazonite chips I found in prior trips to the Smokey Hawk, so I decided to hit the tailings pile and see what I could find in the “trash” mounds. Others went up to the hills and did some prospecting, and some did quite well (see Kevin’s Rockhounding blog). I dug through rocks at the base of the piles (the stones tend to roll down to the bottom) and also walked around the piles themselves. Although I didn’t find anything super spectacular from an Amazonite perspective, I did find many really dark blue/green colored chips, many with a face or two intact. I also found a couple of larger chunks.
Dark rich colored Amazonite from the Smokey Hawk claim
I was able to find a couple of nice Smokey Quartz crystals as well. Most had a small flaw or two (mostly small chips). I did find this Goethite crystal. I’ve seen these in pictures with Amazonite/smokey quartz clusters. I think these are great crystals; always funky but definitely pronounced crystal structure! I’ve found 4 or 5 like this over the years; this one is one of the best!
Limonite after Stibenite crystal
The find of the day, however, came near the end of the day as a thunderstorm was encroaching on our fun! I was digging in the tailings pile where there were some small funky Smokey Quartz clusters that a fellow club member turned me onto. There was a small pocket embedded in an excavator bucket load that had some interesting items in the pocket mud/clay. After rinsing when I got home, most ended up being pink microcline clusters, but one was a awesome gemmy Fluorite. In the tailings nearby was also this small Fluorite cluster!
Back of gemmy Fluorite
The back side of this was interesting as it appeared to be somewhat etched away from an original growth/phantom. The color and gemminess of the stone is wonderful!
Gemmy Fluorite – a couple of fractures but clear and purple!
Near this I also found a small Fluorite cluster; what was interesting is the shape of the central crystal in this cluster…I will need to talk to an expert as this doesn’t appear to be normal shape for Fluorite.
Small Fluorite cluster
In late July I took the kids to visit Krystle and the Topaz Mountain Gem mine. Luckily it had a good rain in the days before the trip and we had significant luck just surface hunting. As a matter of fact, only a couple small pieces came from our hard work digging all day! My find of the day came as I was walking into the mine. Along the entry road was a eroded area from the rains that had this awesome blue topaz stone just laying there on the surface, on a pedestal of dirt that was about to collapse due to erosion…just waiting for me to pluck it from the ground. This picture doesn’t do it justice because it is very clear and you can mainly see the back side through the stone; but it is awesome to hold and stare into, and beautiful blue!
Alluvial Blue Topaz – 80 carat
I wandered around with the kids but their eyes just weren’t finding the shapes and glass within the mud. I pulled out several small chips and a few small stones; most were not cutters or specimens; but it was good that I was finding Topaz! I dug for 5-6 hours in one of the piles left by the excavator and found only a super small chip and sherry stone which could cut into a 1-2 carat faceted stone…not sure if I want to do that or not…
Hunter and Daphne had a system figured out which was great. Hunter was digging a hole in the top of the pile to create a volcano. As he excavated dirt from that hole he slid it down a chute where Daphne was going through the dirt looking for Topaz. Seemed like an efficient system; and they were making a volcano that later in the day was going to spit out Topaz all over for us to collect! Unfortunately they didn’t find any Topaz with their system, but Hunter did find a really nice Smokey Quartz!
Hunter digging for Topaz while making a Volcano
Daphne sifting through the volcano core’s dirt…
Hunter’s smokey with Topaz at the Sherry stone and blue to show the colorsOther than the Sherry this was the only other stone I found digging
The smokey was very dirty and we didn’t know until we got home that it had some topaz on it; so Hunter and Daphne were both really bummed they didn’t score a Topaz today. I told them both to just do what was the most successful and wander around and look for them on the ground. Daphne was done but Hunter decided to take my advice. A little while later he came running towards us; I knew he must have found something! He did; an awesome Topaz! All in all, it was a great day at the topaz mine.
Here are some of the other stones that I found.
Sherry stone and blue to show the colors
On the way to the mine I purchased a vintage Synthesizer from a family in Florissant. When I told her where we were going for the day; she stated she lived right in the area of the mine for many years. She told me a story that the original homesteader Matakat used to grow potatoes on the land and often found topaz in them when harvesting! Great lore for the area!
Another shot of Hunter’s topaz
I am looking forward to the rest of the summer and fall as I have many trips planned, including several locales that I have not been to before! Stay tuned…
