The Golden Rules of Rockhounding: \u201cResponsible Readiness\nReaps Rockhounding Rewards\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of our most successful rockhounding trips took place in\nthe mountains of Colorado around Devil\u2019s Head, which is near Pikes Peak. The\ndrive from Colorado Springs was over 2 hours, and there were no conveniences,\nof any kind, up in the mountains. Being fully prepared in advance, planning\nahead, and double checking before departing made this one of the most\nsuccessful rockhound trips yet, and actually was just the start to the day. Rockhounding\ntrips have little margin for error. An overlooked tool, forgotten supply, or\nmissing gear can cut short a rockhound adventure. Through trial and error,\nimprovement and correction, preparation and planning, the Colorado trip was\nwildly successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colorado is for rockhounds, as\nrockhounding is allowed on public lands. We were invited to rockhound in\nColorado by a friend who is a mineral dealer in Colorado Springs. The hiking\ntrails in the mountains are great markers for rockhounding. We were going to\nfollow the trails listed on the hiking maps readily available from on-line and\nfrom visitors\u2019 centers. After driving for more than 2 hours up into the\nmountains, passing no other car or person the last half hour, we arrived at one\nof the Devil\u2019s Head trail markers. I wanted to use my walking stick, we all\nwere grateful for wearing hiking boots, and with the dry air at that altitude,\nwe were grateful to have packed a gallon jug of water per person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We parked along the side of the\ndirt road at the marker for the trail, and we were able to hop out, throw on\nbackpacks, and start marching to find outcrops and stone exposure because we\nhad planned and packed in advance. For this trip we did start following the\ntrails, this was near the top of the mountain, lots of low overgrowth, and then\nwe spotted some exposed rock and veered off-trail. We were expecting to find\nsmoke quartz in pegmatite. This was a hand tool adventure as we did not know\nexactly where we were headed, and the igneous style pegmatite rocks where\ncrystals are found is generally able to be broken up by hand. We set our sights\non an exposure, set up our cell phones to start recording and taking pictures\nfor provenance and posterity, sat down on the ground, thankful for wearing\njeans, and using a hammer and chisel we started breaking apart pegmatites along\nthe seams, crevices, and cracks, and started exposing arrays of smoky topaz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We felt that some of the specimens\nlooked best remaining in the matrix stone, for display. We used the smallest\nchisel to remove many topaz points with minimal matrix around the base, as we\nwould clean up them at a later date. We moved from exposure to exposure,\nfilling the cloth totes that we brought, that had been folded up in our\nbackpacks. We took turns walking back to the car with our finds to make it\neasier to find the way back, and that way one of us was always digging and\nmining for more. We also kept taking pictures that we would review later as\nwell to record this discovery, the location, the environment, the group, and\nthe discoveries. When we all returned to the car, we decided to venture to\nanother location on the mountain. We were prepared, and the adventure\ncontinued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Golden Rules of Rockhounding: \u201cResponsible Readiness Reaps Rockhounding Rewards\u201d One of our most successful rockhounding trips took place in the mountains of Colorado around Devil\u2019s Head, which is near Pikes Peak. The drive from Colorado Springs was over 2 hours, and there were no conveniences, of any kind, up in the mountains. Being fully … <\/p>\n