Topaz Mountain Trip

RexB · Topaz Mountain Trip

Well,

I went out to the Topaz Mtn. area yesterday. It had been about six years since I had been there. At first, I couldn’t find any topaz, not even the sand impregnated ones lying around. Boy, this wasn’t how I remembered it. I met a few people and asked them if they had found anything. Each time they would say this is the first time we’ve been here, we don’t know what were doing. Anyway, I wandered around and first found some chalcedony, a piece of druzy quartz, and some low quality geodes, but no topaz.

With only about three hours left I decided to take a road around the left side of the range and as I drove I thought fewer people would be around, but the further back I went the more people were lined up camping out. It was a little like a circus back there and with all those people looking I imagined they must be finding something. So, I got out again and finally did find some crystals. From the photos you will see a good many are the sandy type and all are colorless, having been exposed to the sun, except for two that retain some of the “sherry” color.

Rex

Reno Chris

Irradiation can restore the sherry color as it was originally induced by the traces of natural uranium and thorium in the rhyolite host rock.

Surround them with ground up rhyolite sand and keep them int he dark for a few hundred thousand years and they'll be as good as new!

Chris

RexB

Heh, heh,

I guess throwing them in the microwave isn't going to cut it... Laughing