Nevada Adventure, On The Rocks You never quite imagine a hobby like rockhounding may creep into your life and steal all your free time, then you discover a world of garnets, turquoise, opals and beyond right in the heart of the Silver State. Fortunately, there are good spots outside of Kremmling that well detail below. Cherry Creek was one of the first places early prospectors found gold in Colorado. The rarer material is what most people are looking for in Colorado. Now featuring over 90 locations (with 27 new sites) where collectors can explore, the beautifully assembled guide is hard to beat for a state as diverse and treasure-filled as Colorado. With the influx of miners and prospectors into the state, it wasnt long before the rich deposits of the San Juan Mountains were discovered, leading to the creation of towns such as Breckenridge, Creed, Telluride, Ouray, and Cripple Creek. Apache Tears, properly known as black obsidian (Ruby Mountain in Chaffee County), were named for the Indian legend that they are the petrified tears of Apache women mourning the slaughter of their men in battle. Jack Buckner, owner of the Two Point Mine, holds a beautiful specimen just completed. Then pack a pick and shovel and head out to those beautiful, productive areas that are open to collecting. For examples of rocks and minerals that occur in our region, its a good idea to visit a rock shop. Mining Amazonite for FREE in Colorado! The pocket opening within a lens of this size could be up to 2 meters in diameter and 10 to 20 cm high. The former would suggest the pegmatites postdate the magma cooling event. The eastern part of the state is generally more accessible and, despite its lack of mountains, produces many rock and mineral specimens as float transported by rivers and streams. Many pegmatite lenses contain no vug opening. The pocket also produced 100s of single amazonite crystals and small amazonite groups. The quartz created a stunning association with the deep blue-green amazonites. Pegmatites are common on the Two Point and constitute the pocket-bearing structures. Crystal Peak is a USGS named summit in middle of the northern Sierra Nevada Diamond Mountains, on the border of Lassen and Plumas Counties, roughly between Reno and Susanville as the crow flies. No kidding, this thing is around 3 feet long! Once the newbie hound is hooked, it helps to understand the terms rock and mineral, and how the two are related. Though effort continued beyond 1997, only the first two years are summarized here. Though many weekend prospectors have combed hillsides digging with hand tools, few have had the resources to mine these valuable specimens with mechanized equipment. The pocket was mostly collapsed, the roof having fallen in, perhaps, millions of years earlier. The best of Al Ordways pieces is on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Once youve found a good spot to start rockhounding, its time to start collecting! Story and Photos by Mark Leatherman. Used with permission. Its been a while since weve posted an update on the Detroit City Mine project at the Sweet Home deposit [], Collectors Edge Minerals Inc. recognizes and thanks Rocks & Minerals for permission to use portions or all of their original [], The 2020 Denver Gem and Mineral Show was a Success! Regional map of the Pikes Peak batholith after Gross, 1962. Jasper The McCullough Gulch Trailhead is our proposed primary route access point and can be reached by most passenger vehicles. These pockets all lay within a horizontally oriented pegmatite dike which is intersected by a narrow vertically oriented north-south fault (the fault is the smooth feature in the center near the pry bar). Many promising locations are difficult to access without a capable vehicle. Not all Amazonite is jewelry-quality, but even the worst sample is going to make a vibrant, colorful part of your collection. Back at the Collectors Edge cleaning lab in Golden, Colorado, Bryan Lees reviews the contents of the Tree Root Pocket. This will help you avoid damaging the specimens. Colorado offers an abundance of minerals, gemstones, crystals and fossils to anyone willing to go out and look for them. In October, Graham Sutton drills, blasts and deepens Pit B, yielding nothing. Somewhere in your bag of rocks and equipment, be sure to have a proper print guide along with you. Then, the dip changed to a near-horizontal position and the pegmatite began to widen into a lens. Over another 40 million years other magma intrusions, containing minerals different than the original intrusion, pushed their way into the existing granite, remelting it and forming cores containing the mineralization we see today. Two of the most popular for rockhounds to dig in this state are topaz and rhodochrosite. Head for the Black Rock-High Rock County and scout for agates, fire opals, geodes, obsidian, topaz, malachite, or malachite. amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; Smoky Quartz is often found alongside Amazonite in Colorado. Plus, its a lot of fun! Two distinctly different granite textures have been identied at the Two Point Mine. Pit B after reclamation. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. And one of the best resources is membership in the Colorado Mineral Society (CMS). Devil's Head Rockhounding (Let's Go) Disclaimer 0. The area around Pikes Peak seems to be the hotspot to find the stone in Colorado, but its found in many places across the state. Specimens of calcite, agate, quartz, topaz, diamond, gold, and more can be found in the mountains and mining prospects surrounding Fort Collins. Pikes Peak is another place where topaz can sometimes be found. Unfortunately for rockhounds, the law prohibits them from publishing their names or contact information online. Located at the mountainside in the Pike National Forest, Colorado, is Devil's Head, famous for rockhounding. It was here, in Pit C, that the first correlation between north-south trending fault systems and their intersection with pegmatite dikes was observed. The vast mountains of public lands, while daunting to some, illicit a newfound sense of exploration and discovery for others. Colorado ranks among the most strongly mineralized areas in the world, and its especially noted for alabaster, amethyst, lapis lazuli (blue sapphire), topaz and turquoise. A few individuals have resorted to more aggressive mining techniques using mechanized equipment, including bulldozers and backhoes. Rockhounding is a great hobby for people of all ages. For the casual collector or the obsessed amateur, theres a little something for everyone, just about everywhere. Well, and the other minerals scattered about! The locations and information contained in this article are primarily derived from academic papers, online resources, and other outside sources. The state has thousands upon thousands of old mines and prospective rockhounding locations. The Crystal Peak Mine is a surface and underground mining operation. Once youve collected some rocks and minerals, its time to clean them up. The areas marked A, B, C and D are pits excavated during 1996 and 1997. James says: June 10, 2014 at 2:11 pm. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Its found primarily in a few mountain ranges in central Colorado. Bryan Lees poses to show its total size: over 2 meters long. ROCKHOUNDING 101. Mohawk Lake to Pacific Peak and Crystal Peak. To get started, you can check out my recommended gear page which contains my full reviews for every Geologists favorite rock hammer and the best hiking backpack Ive ever owned. Careful pocket documentation and repair work will yield higher percentages of ne specimens than ever before. Collecting activity began in the Lake George region during the 1870s. To get to Wolf Creek Pass, the driver must be wide-awake as the road can deceive you. But, hey, you dont know whats going to turn up when youre out in the woods. A catalog number was permanently afxed to the back of each specimen along with a small label marked repaired. Using a backhoe, Jerry would open up potential holes in the pegmatites on their property and allow folks to dig in them. Just be aware that its going to take even more planning than most rockhounding adventures. All of the road construction and removal of trees and overburden for the buildings has uncovered ample ground for searching and rockhounding. The granite is of a finer grain, containing crystals of quartz, feldspar, and mica less than 0.6 cm. You can also read through my free rock identification guide and mineral identification guide which are filled with useful information and tools. The many area pegmatites, old mining dumps, and area streams contain fantastic specimens of minerals such as agate, fluorite, zircon, and fluorite. In the past, because most amazonite pockets are collapsed and the crystal groups disassembled, few amazonite and smoky quartz groups survived. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Again, no material was found. Petrified wood can be found in many scattered locations across the western U.S. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. Rockhounding In Colorado Starting with the rich gold and silver deposits which were the starting point of so many Colorado towns, the Centennial State. In the tight connes of the pocket, the roots created extensive damage to the amazonite groups; the quartz terminations received the worst. Recreation Activities. [5] Consequently many crystals have detached from their matrix. But, even when putting the pieces side by side, it was very difcult to tell the difference between one which formed near the pockets edge and one formed near its center. Sometimes occurring alongside white albite, these gemstones are highly sought after by mineral collectors. And rocks are the preservers of fossils that once lived when Colorado was a vast sea. All of the space left over after the collapse has filled with clay. Follow posted signage and always get permission from the landowner to collect. Before repair work, photographs were taken of each group. The mine area is crisscrossed with faults, joints and pegmatites. I encourage you to check them out if you are curious about the legalities of rock and mineral collecting. Once a discarded byproduct by an early silver mine, it has now become highly sought after. White caps are an unusual white albite coating on the terminations and/or sides of amazonite crystals. They are generally lighter brown in colored mounts that line the hillside. amzn_assoc_region = "US"; Carol Watson stands near a pocket discovery in Pit A. It was already over 1 meter deep. On a typical crystal, a slight etching covered a few of the faces while others showed a brilliant luster. Jerry Hurianek with his hand on a large amazonite specimen. For the most part, Topaz in Colorado seems to be found in granite formations. A rock pick or folding shovel is a great idea. Two kilometers northeast of the Two Point Mine lay the 10 Percenter claim, site of the famous Key Hole Pocket mined in 1985. Amazonite with smoky quartz, Two Point Mine, Teller County, Colorado. Its No Croc: Visit The Best Alligator Farm In Colorado! The Crystal Mine is in Dog valley (there are actually two separate locations) both of which can be reached from the Dog Valley side or alternatively through Verdi although I would be hesitant to head up right now with the snow, the roads can get pretty hairy and the closer to the mine the worse they get. amzn_assoc_asins = "B01IEX2TEO,B0002YWWVE,B08N41884X,B01CV1XW5K"; Important Disclaimer: I have not been to these locations myself, and I do not know if they are currently open for collecting. The great thing about rockhounding is that it doesnt require much in the way of equipment or supplies. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. There is a relationship between the frequency of pocket-producing pegmatites and the north-south fault structures mapped at the Two Point Mine. on a small mining claim in Teller County, Colorado, approximately 65 km west of Colorado Springs, Colorado near Lake George. Though most weekend prospectors did not stake claims on the public land on which they found specimens, some did stake and file claims to prevent others from encroaching on their property. Line drawing of a microcline crystal. It is up to the individual to identify these boundaries and seek permission before attempting to prospect on the claims. After the Denver Show, an effort to excavate below the Tree Root Pocket was undertaken. This area was filled and reclaimed. Due to its location, its often found alongside other gemstones in Colorado. A few miles north on County Road 2 accessed via Highway 40. This pegmatite did not open into a pocket. The lens soon discharged thousands of quartz and blue green amazonite fragments. This is the most common microcline form found at the Two Point Mine. Hahns Peak is a summit in Routt County, Colorado, in the United States. Rockhounding, Rockhounding end of March. Photo by Bernie Kowalski. State Symbols. Much of the potential prospect area in recent years has been placed under claim. The collecting site, which is just below the mountain's 14,269-foot-high summit, is the continent's highest gemstone locale.

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