Where to go in Colorado

Hello, I'm a highschool student that is very interested in Mineralogy and plan to be in the Denver and Golden area of Colorado around June the 24th-28th to visit the Colorado School of Mines. Are there any open mines or collecting sites that I could take advantage of while I'm out there that people would recomend. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks,
-Zach

Zach,

Several places you could go depending on what you are driving. You could go up near Idaho Springs, there are a couple of tourist mines up there including the one the School of Mines runs. The other one is the Golden Phoenix Mine. They let you peck around. Up around Central City and George Town there are some mine dumps that you can get access to, also at Silver Plume. You might ask the guys at School of Mines if they know of anything near Golden. There are some okay black touramlines up Golden Gate Canyon in a road cut. Better collecting is further out in the Pikes Peak Batholith (west and north of Colorado Springs) and around Fairplay, Salida and Leadville.

Bob Hembree

There is a very good zeolite collecting location on the south facing slope of North Table Mountain in Golden. It is just a short hike from the parking area on the road nearest the base of the mountain and collecting is at an old quarry there. You will certainly need safety glasses and a crack hammer to get the specimens as the matrix is very hard and pieces can go flying around. I'm sure the geology department or the museum people can give you more detailed directions on how to get there.

Great, thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure to check out these places and ask about others while there. Does anyone know specific parts of Leadville open to collecting or is it all free?

Zach, are there minerals in particular you are interested in, or just anything? Table Mountain, while hot in the summer, is full of zeolites, but be sure to go to the southeast quarry. I never have had much luck at the other one. I think most of Leadville may be old claims, but I have never had problems looking around places that aren't posted. Lots of mines in the Idaho Springs, Lawson, Blackhawk area as well, although many are posted. They are mostly sulphide mineralization, so lots of pyrite, galena and iron stained stuff

Hey, Zach,

North Table Mountain is fun - a pretty steep climb up and down, but worth it. You can see the Coors Brewery from up there, but since you're just a high schooler, better stick to Mountain Dew!

Lots of pyrite up on the dumps outside Leadville - I was last there in 2006, don't know if everything is all claimed and posted now, with metal prices so high. Word of warning there or anywhere up high in Colorado: watch out for sudden afternoon thunder/lightning storms. We were up on the Adelaide Mine dumps in Leadville after a light drizzle, collected for a couple hours, and were just getting ready to leave when BOOM! It was one of those bolts where you see the flash and hear/feel the noise at the same time, indicating a VERY close strike. Standing on wet ground with lots of metallic minerals in it, and holding hammers & chisels, ought to make you nervous. Plus, the torrential rain makes the steep dirt roads very slick and treacherous on the way down.

This is no joke! Colorado leads the US in lightning fatalities by a large margin. Collect up high in the mornings and keep a weather eye on the sky. Then come down, have lunch and collect at lower elevations in the afternoon. You'll live to be one of those old rock collectors who slowly petrify...

Goog luck, have fun, and tell us all what you find.

Cheers,
Bill

Thanks, that's great to know.
I noticed that there are a lot of interesting pieces to be found in Mt. Antero, is this location open to the public, or must someone have a permit to search there?
-Zach

Mt Antero is almost completely claimed. Some claim owners didn't care too much if people looked around, others cared a lot, to the point of carrying guns. The Cardwells, who have the "saddle" and surrounding areas, used to let people look around, but the last I heard, that had changed, and they only let clubs come up(when I go) Unfortunately it is rare to see actual claim posts, so you don't know what is claimed by who. You may try the BLM to see if you can get some contact #'s to see if anyone will give you permission. You would have to have a decent 4WD vehicle to get up as well, or be willing to walk many miles up steep roads at high altitude.

A good place to go if you are willing to go as far as Mt Antero, is the Calumet Iron Mine. TONS of epidote, actinolite/tremolite, calcite, magnetite crystals and possibly more. You can't help but find good stuff there. The GPS coordinates are correct. You have to hike up from the lower road, the upper is closed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2012 10:41PM by James Christopher.

Ok, thanks for the warning, I don't plan on going to that extent for Mt. Antero.
How is Pike's Peak for collecting? Is it against park policy or claimed?
Thanks again,
-Zach

Zach,

Start your Colorado mineral collecting library with Richard M. Pearl's "Colorado Gem Trails and Mineral Guide".

Some access details are far out of date, but the localities are still there.

Bart

I haven't looked on Pikes Peak, but the Mt Rosa and St Peters Dome area have a lot of interesting minerals.

Zach. Antero is really a hard place to get to but between Buena Vista and Salida is Ruby mt. A state park that is as far as I know open to collecting and easy to get to garnets and topaz there. Dave

Zach; I forgot to mention go to www.salida.com click on best of box then rockhounding. Lots of info there. Dave

The South Platte pegmatites are very generous places to go collecting, they always yield good specimens. Unfortunately, one of the best quarries, The Little Patsy, is no longer accessible, because someone HAD to build his house on it.

Dave,
The western side of Ruby Mountain, which produces the garnets and topaz is now closed to collecting. The land was purchased a few years ago and the owner forbids any collecting. A shame since this site has been popular since pioneer days and a great and easy place to introduce kids to field collecting. I can't believe Chaffee County allowed this. I guess anything for more money.

What about the Stonehill blue barite and the Grand Junction colorless barites.

I suspect Stonehill isn't open, but maybe Grand Junction is.

Bart

You can still collect on the public eastern side of Ruby Mountain. There might have been a change of owners in the meantime for the western side as I talked to the owner last year and he said that I could collect as long as he was there just not rolling rocks down the slope etc. As I was short of time I didn't take advantage of his offer but did collect on the public eastern side and found some nice garnets that way. There are two other similar mountains of the same material nearby, Dorothy Hill and Sugarloaf Mountain but I don't know what the ownership status is for those.

James

Wow, great thanks.
Does anyone know where in Leadville there are good mine dumps open to collectors? And is Crystal Peak still available to the public?
Thanks again,
-Zach

I'm going to leadville tomorrow, is there any place that i could collect in leadville that would be worth it?
-Zach