July 9th Smoky Hawk Claim trip with Fort Collins Rockhounds club

by davealex
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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