Prospecting February

Posted on March 14, 2016 by davealex

Was able to pull off some winter prospecting this month! Typically rockin’ season doesn’t start here in the Colorado Rockies until April timeframe, sometimes a bit later when the snow is all melted and the ground good and thawed. But this winter is a little different and I have been out prospecting several times since early February already! Yes, there is snow to contend with, but not enough to keep me indoors!

I was able to hit three different spots so far this winter. All three spots had snow, but there was enough good southern exposed area to have limited snow and somewhat thawed ground.

The first prospecting trip I found signs of quartz and feldspar leading up a hill and followed it. In several cases I found signs of other digging; good news is I was on the right trail; bad news I was on it after others were…but the signs were good and I suspect there are other areas to check out, so chalk this area up to needing another trip!

The second place I started finding some float about 6 inches under the surface. Heading uphill I was able to find several cool crystals (and many more quartz with faces) so I feel confident they did float downhill; but I haven’t found the source yet. Either the original pocket was above present day ground, or there is more searching to do. I’m trusting the latter will yield results and plan to hit this spot again this spring.

interesting quartz crystal coated with hematite giving a very sparkly luster to the stone.

Large five inch smoky quartz float crystal. This one had a fracture and rehealed; must have busted during formation a billion years ago!

This crystal is awesome, the best one I found. It is double-terminated with several coatings, one of white quartz and the other of hematite.

Same crystal as above showing the double terminations and multiple growths.

The third area was one I have visited before, before long I was back into the pocket mud which was very sticky and messy! I found some neat fluorite crystals and some rather odd and interesting quartz. None of these have been properly cleaned but will show you the parallel growth and unique crystal clusters.

I love the larger quartz crystals around the edge, and the elestial growth in the center!

This quartz cluster were terminated everywhere (thousands of times), and differently terminated on both sides. Probably my favorite find of the day! This side has white quartz in parallel elestial growth patterns.

This side had the one larger quartz crystal with the smaller points adjoining it. Can’t see it much here, but it has a tint of green throughout!

I love this fluorite, fairly gemmy and has some purple, otherwise clear. As you gaze into it, it sucks time from existence!

Several pyramid fluorites came out of the this spot. This is the smallest, and gemmiest…I immediately came up with this idea for a photograph, so I carefully wrapped this in newspaper and to my delight it was clear enough to pull off this shot! Fun!

Got my itch to do some prospecting early this spring which was fun! Look forward to heading up again here soon, hopefully! Spring has not yet arrived!

Pikes Peak Batholith Colorado Amazonite Colors

Posted on March 31, 2015 by davealex

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!

Pikes Peak Batholith Amazonite location map

Rampart Range Prospecting

Posted on September 16, 2014 by davealex

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…

Prospecting Topaz near Pilot Peak

Posted on July 31, 2014 by davealex

I was invited to prospect Topaz with an experience prospector, James, on his Topaz Claim near Pilot Peak about half way between Tarryall and Lake George, Colorado. Pilot Peak is likely one of the best Topaz localities in Colorado! I have found topaz in this area before and was excited to learn more about prospecting topaz in the hopes that I can utilize this information to find that elusive stone in my favorite collecting areas around Devil’s Head.

Looking towards Pilot Peak, this area is jammed pack of claims. The only one (periodically) open to the public is the Topaz Mountain Gem mine. On the eastern face of these peaks is the Lost Creek Wilderness.

Here are some links to prior topaz days around this area:

We started the day finding the claim’s corner points (and posts, which are required on all active mining claims) and James showed me some areas of interest that he had in his earlier prospecting trips. The first spot we happened upon was where there were nice signs of pegmatite on the surface, some rocks had quartz with flat sides which is always a great sign! We dug here for a little while but couldn’t find anything interesting in the area. We dug uphill a little ways but still nothing similar to what we found on the ground. Perhaps this was a little seam left over from long ago that was then above the surface level and has been sitting on top of the ground since? Perhaps we just missed the small area? Regardless, nothing was found in this area although I definitely feel that the area is worth more consideration and putting down test holes.

Float that was worth checking out.

Some “sides” in the pegmatite in the float; that is a great sign

In another spot we found a seam of finer grained granite (aplite) with some pegmatite. Following the aplite seam around we found a couple of spots that opened up; one into a small pocket (that someone before us had cleaned out). Although we didn’t find anything worth keeping, it was great to see these signs. I also experienced that pounding with chisel into granite is a lot of hard work!

Seam with pegmatite. We found nothing, but did some screening of the dirt around this.

Here was the small pocket (with iron/red dirt). This vein flowed for about 100 feet.

Pegmatite lined this solid granite boulder, once part of the massive granite outcrop. White quartz with no signs of crystals.

We did quite a bit of hiking around the 20-acre claim area, which includes steep terrain filled with bushes and aspen trees, boulders big and small are everywhere. There was a lot of up and down traversing the claim and by the end of the day we were exhausted, good news is it was awesome exercise! The greatest part of climbing these hills was the magnificent views–part of the fun when prospecting the Colorado Rocky Mountains!

Cool cliffs in this area

Looking south west towards the South Platte River

Large balanced boulder!

Cool balanced rocks

Looking East. The Front Range is out there somewhere…

Again thanks to James for all the information and fun day on his claim! I learned quite a bit about topaz prospecting!

Topaz Prospecting in the Rockies

Posted on July 13, 2014 by davealex

I was able to attend a Lake George Gem and Mineral Club field trip to a private claim near Tarryall Mountain, one of the premier Topaz Prospecting areas in Colorado! The area is steep and rocky which makes a good hike; with the side benefit of having an outstanding view! We ventured up the mountain and I started a good day immediately in finding a topaz laying in the ground on the hike up the hill, albeit very small. Then just a few minutes later I found another clear topaz, this time larger and clear enough to be a cutter stone!

Small piece of topaz found on the hike up.

Alluvial clear topaz I found on the hike up the hill. Good enough for a small cut gem!

Once settled in near the top of the hill, I started to dig in an area that was previously dug to try and figure out what to look for. I know that Topaz forms in standard pegmatite like the smoky quartz and microcline/amazonite that I dig in the Pikes Peak Batholith, but I usually don’t dig in such rocky places. I dug a little uphill and in between two large rocks about 3″ deep in the sand out popped another topaz! This is the first one I have ever “dug”; everything else has either been on the ground or from excavator diggings at the Dorris’ Topaz Mountain Gem Mine. I dug for several hours more in this location and only pulled out a gemmy smoky quartz which was under a large (probably 100+ lb) rock I pried away.

Started digging and immediately pulled this out of the loose gravel. Definitely a cutter!

I proceeded downhill and started digging in more clay filled dirt. I found a couple of smoky quartz (not very good ones however). I was meticulously going through the clumps of clay and I found a topaz completely concealed in one. This was the last topaz I found, but it was a fully euhedral crystal with a slight blue color. It wasn’t gemmy like the others, but specimen quality!

This topaz was covered in red clay/mud and the only reason I found it was I was thorough in checking each clump of mud.

Throughout the day I found some very small but ultra gemmy smoky quartz and Hunter found a topaz on the ground (during the rain which illuminated it) on the way out, so we both had a great day! I used a screen all day long but that didn’t produce any topaz; luckily topaz when exposed from the ground typically “pops out” at you and it is obvious what you’ve found. I did have the one covered in clay that did not “pop”, however, so obviously screens and working clay is still necessary when prospecting for topaz.

Small but gemmy smoky quartz crystals

I have been invited to visit another private claim in the area later in July, so hopefully I’ll have some more “wild dug” topaz stories soon…and of course later this summer/fall I hope to find my first Devils head topaz too!

The finds of the day…all relatively small but my first “hand dug” topaz I’ve ever found!

A Selection of Photographs

Posted on May 7, 2014 by davealex

I was going through some photos that needed processed and found some that I really liked, so I thought I’d share them.

Lake George Fluorite with a red heart (needs an acid bath)

Fun bicolor smokey quartz

Mount Evans, downhill of Deadman’s Curve above

Deer in the yard in Larkspur

Smokey Quartz – Bi-color double terminated crystal

Saccocoma tenella from the upper Jurassic

Elk herd near Larkspur

My only bobcat sighting in the neighborhood

Garden of the gods owls

Grand Lake flowers and bee

Grand Lake flowers

Grand Lake Moose

Grand Lake Moose – Looks like a horse

Grand Lake Moose

Mount Antero Phenakite double terminated crystal with Aquamarine

Mount Antero Phenakite double terminated crystal

Lake George Fluorite with a red heart (needs an acid bath)

Colorado Amethyst

July Rockhounding

Posted on August 2, 2013 by davealex

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!

$Gemmy Fluorite - a couple of fractures but clear and purple!$

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…

May 2013: Goethite and Onegite

Posted on May 29, 2013 by davealex

May was a fun month for rock hounding adventures. I visited the Lake George area several times in May, the first was to prospect and find the claim borders / corner posts, I went with my son and his friend. We had a fun hike and I found a couple of spots that looked interesting. I then came back and the first rock I turned over had a small spray of Goethite on it. I have never found Goethite before and so I was pretty excited. Ended up digging at this location for two days and pulled out a lot of Goethite and related Onegite sprays, some combo pieces, and many Smokey Quartz crystals and small microcline clusters. No amazonite, however, but that is okay as I had a wonderful time with what I did find.

Looking at these sprays under a loupe I discovered that there are small citrine, smoky and amethyst quartz crystals all over these things. I guess that is by definition the Onegite — Goethite with these small crystals. I read online on how to clean these and have soaked them in soapy water for days and then used water spray to avoid breaking the delicate crystals. On some of the onegite I was able to use a soft toothbrush. They didn’t clean up 100% yet; I don’t know if some ever will. Note you can’t put them in Iron Out since this is an iron based mineral.

I will post some of the microcline and smoky quartz in a different post when I have them ready; but here is a slideshow of some of the pieces that I found. What a cool mineral!

Amethyst, onegite and goethite

Some amethyst in this onegite/goethite crystal

This one is great!

Adventures at Topaz Mountain Gem Mine, May 2013

Posted on May 26, 2013 by davealex

It’s always a fun adventure to visit the Dorris Family’s Topaz Mine here in Colorado. They allow the public to come by and dig several times per year as well as most of the Rockhounding clubs as well. Due to the late snow this spring this was the first dig, May 25th, 2013. I rounded up a group of adults and kids and we made the bright and early trek to the mine.

Joe and Krystle were telling us that they are working their way uphill a bit on their claim and that the stones are not as frequent as they have been in the past. I have been visiting for several years and I concur, although it seems (just an unscientific observation) that the stones that are being found are getting a bit larger. Perhaps that is not the case…

Anyway, we started digging on some fresh piles that were pretty wet and within about an hour I found my first topaz. It was completely covered in mud; usually they pop out and look gemmy/glassy and are very easy to spot; but this morning due to the conditions was different–making it more difficult to go through as much dirt as in the past.

People digging at the mine

Meanwhile, they were also working a section of the mine with the heavy machinery. Was cool to watch the big machines at work!

Big machines at work getting new piles to go through!

It is beautiful up here in the Rocky Mountains in spring time! Here I am raking through my part of a pile…

My friend Jim wanted to try out digging for Topaz and brought his daughter who is friends with my son. My daughter Daphne also brought a friend that was in my Rockhounding enrichment class at the Larkspur Elementary school. There were several other kids digging as well; unfortunately they didn’t find all that much topaz; again I think luck had some to do with it but also the amount of dirt one must go through as well. They did have a blast though!

Jim and the kids attacking their pile of dirt

We ended up getting our days fill about 2:00 and drove home, made a pit-stop and had had some orange cream soda and a beer at Bierwerks in Woodland Park, and headed home to sift through the bags of dirt. Here is where the kids got to find and keep some wonderful stones….and they wondered why they had to dig all day when it was this easy!!!

Sifting through our bags of dirt; the kids did quite well!

All in all, another wonderful day at the Topaz Mountain Gem Mine! I should have at least one more trip, probably more, back there this summer. Looking very much forward to it!

Here are what my kids found at the mine (the larger one is one of the many found in the bags of dirt!). Makes me think of some of the lamer parts of the Prospectors show on Weather Channel… guns and gems…

My kids findings...gems and brass

My findings from digging all day…

Nice smokey quartz; double-terminated; a cutter!

The best cutter stone I found

Cute blue faceted gem! Small but beautiful!

Finally, the best for last. One of the first time diggers there pulled this beast from the ground. It was absolutely spectacular. Joe stated that this stone was one of the best (upper 1%) stones he has pulled out of the claim; and is likely one of the best ever found in Colorado. Unfortunately the person that found it didn’t get to keep it (obviously!) as it was destined for the Dorris personal collection! This stone was (I’m guessing) 600 carats and nearly flawless. It didn’t hurt that it was Sherry and Blue bi-color! Looking at this stone was mesmerizing, every angle had a different look and “feel” to it. A special day to witness this being pulled from the ground next to us, and to view a stone of this caliber!

Absolutely gorgeous monster topaz found today!

Absolutely gorgeous bi-color monster topaz found today!

Bi-color Incredible Topaz found today

Monster Topaz - Showing the facets, perfectness, and sherry color

Thanks to Harold Alexander for some of the mine pictures, and thanks to Krystle Velasco/Joe Dorris for letting us take pictures of the mine’s wonderful mega-stone!

2012 Colorado Topaz

Posted on January 17, 2013 by davealex

This year was a great year for topaz; my family and I had a couple of wonderful days with the Dorris family at the Topaz Mountain Gem mine. See previous posts (1, 2) for details on these trips. On May 5th I found a really nice (300 carat!) beautiful blue specimen topaz that Joe suggested I have his son professionally clean and seal some of the fractures using pressure treatment. I went ahead and took advantage of this and the crystal came back just beautiful. I’m not sure how many fractures were actually sealed as it is still fractured up; but the color is wonderful and crystal clean (probably where the term is derived?)!

I am very happy with the results, well worth the investment!

I am also very pleased with the cut topaz that came back from Joe’s cutter in China. These take a while to process, but well worth the wait. This year was about 4 months quicker than last year as well; so I was pleasantly surprised to see these just after the new year!

I found a really nice sherry stone and had it cut. Joe thought that for sure one nice stone could be cut; but potentially 2. Was surprised to see three stones were cut from this! Here is the original stone:

And here are the cut stones it produced:

The right stone was the surprise; it had some inclusions which are really beautiful. The left gem was from another clear stone I found in July; these will make a nice pair on some piece !!

And another smaller stone was cut from the large stone. Here are a couple of other stones I received, a total of 30 carats for 2012!

Beautiful gem from 2012!

My daughter is in love with these stones and is now re-energized to spend the day digging for stones soon! Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to go back several times again in 2013! And I hope I finally dig an elusive stone at Devils head this upcoming year!

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Tag Archives: lake george

Prospecting February

Pikes Peak Batholith Colorado Amazonite Colors

Rampart Range Prospecting

Prospecting Topaz near Pilot Peak

Topaz Prospecting in the Rockies

Adventures at Topaz Mountain Gem Mine, May 2013

2012 Colorado Topaz

Topaz Mine: July 7th with early monsoon

Cinco de Mayo :: Colorado Tarryall Topaz

Cut Topaz finally arrives!

Topaz Mountain Gem Mine trip – August 14th 2011

CSMS Field Trip: Joe Dorris’ Topaz Mine 2010

July Rockhounding 2013

Topaz Prospecting in the Rockies

A Selection of Photographs

July Rockhounding

May 2013: Goethite and Onegite

Adventures at Topaz Mountain Gem Mine, May 2013

2012 Colorado Topaz