Field Trips

A list giving details about the mineralogy, geology, and location of all the field trips are on this website or can be downloaded as a pdf: approved Foord Symposium field trips.

A mineralogical summary of the key minerals in the pegmatites is listed here: mineralogical summary of approved Foord Symposium field trips.

Field Trips - all approved

Field trip descriptions

With an anticipated attendance of 80 to 150 people at the symposium, the concept is for the field trips to not be overcrowded. Accordingly, numerous trips are being planned simultaneously. Field trips will be limited to not more than 20 people. This may be altered by the field trip leader. Be aware that these are not the sort of field trips where high-value, showy specimens will be acquired. They are the sort of field trip where good pegmatite geology will be exposed as well the opportunity to obtain rare and exotic minerals, as well as research material, some of which have never been studied or documented.

The following trips are planned for Monday, 18 July 2016. With each trip is provided on an associated table 1) an anticipated departure time from Golden, 2) travel time to the locality or to a meet-up location near the locality, 3) Meet-up location, 4) whether 4WD or 2WD is needed, 5) Field trip leader, 6) approval status - confirmed approval, expect approval, approval probability unknown, and 7) end trip location with possible towns to stay in, if you choose not to return to Denver that day.

Trip 2:  Eight Mile Park district – This trip will visit the western end of the  Meyers pegmatite, the Mica Lode and School Section pegmatites – The Meyers pegmatite is the most lithium-rich pegmatite in this district with excellent exposures of a core margin cleavelandite unit containing lepidolite, elbaite, montebrasite, zircon variety cyrtolite and columbite. The Mica Lode pegmatite also had a reddish albite zone, which might still be exposed, with prominent white alkali beryls. Outside the albitic zone was found crudely formed triplite crystals and large columbites. At various times green gahnite, and fluorapatite have been recovered. The School Section pegmatite has been historically known for it triplite and schorl in quartz specimens. Travel time from Denver: 3.0 hours. 2WD on paved roads to within the last 400 feet. Walk into the quarries and outcrops.

Key references:

Hanley, J. B., E. W. Heinrich, and L. R. Page. 1950. Pegmatite investigations in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, 1942-1944. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 227, 125 p.

Heinrich, E. Wm. 1948. Pegmatites of Eight Mile Park, Fremont County, Colorado. American Mineralogist, v. 33, nos. 7-8, p. 420-448, 550-587.

Trip 10: South Platte district - Big Bertha, and possibly adjacent southern part of the district pegmatites. The forest service has agreed to open the dirt road to this pegmatite. The Big bertha pegmatite has been known for its large allanite masses and xenotime associated with fluorite. In general, these characteristic NYF pegmatites have in the past contained an abundance of exceptionally rare minerals – allanite, synchysite, yttrium-bearing fluorite, gadolinite, zircon variety cytrolite, xenotime and other rare-earth minerals. Access to the Dazie Bell and adjacent pegmatites may also be allowed. Travel time from Denver: 2.0 hours. Only a 2WD vehicle is needed for access to within 2 miles of the pegmatite. Car pooling will be done at the forest service gate to travel in 4WD vehicles.

Key reference:

Simmons, W.B., and Heinrich, E.W. 1980. Rare-earth pegmatites of the South Platte District, Colorado. Colorado Geologic Survey Resource Series 11,  131 p.

Trip 11: St. Peters Dome District - Alkali granitic pegmatites. These pegmatites, known since the 1880s contains some of the best examples of cryolite, other difficult to identify fluorides, riebeckite, zircon (which is sometimes gemmy) and world class examples of astrophyllite. Travel time from Denver: 2.0 hours. Only a 2WD vehicle is needed for trailhead access. Hiking access is about 2 miles via an old railroad bed at an almost flat level. The field trip leader is in discussion to obtain permission to use the railbed road with vehicles and reduce the walking to less than ¼ mile.

Key references:

Gross, E. B., and Heinrich, E. W. 1965. Petrology and mineralogy of the Mount

Rosa area, El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado. [pt.] I. The granites: American Mineralogist, v. 50, no. 9, p. 1273-1295.

____1966a. Petrology and mineralogy of the Mount Rosa area, El Paso and

Teller Counties, Colorado. [pt.] II. Pegmatites: American Mineralogist, v. 51, nos. 3-4, p. 299-323.

____1966b.  Petrology and mineralogy of the Mount Rosa area, El Paso and

Teller Counties, Colorado. [pt.] III. Lamprophyres and mineral deposits: American Mineralogist, v. 51, nos. 9-10, p. 1433-1442

Trip 67 Northern half of the Crystal Mountain district, specifically the Wisdom Ranch, Big Boulder, Bull Elk Beryl Crystal and Crystal Snow pegmatites. The Wisdom Ranch pegmatite on private land, is the only pegmatite in Colorado that was actually mined for opaque chrysoberyl. Since it has not been legally visited since 1942, the dumps will be overgrown and probably contain chrysoberyl and beryl specimens.  The Big Boulder, Crystal Snow and Bull Elk beryl pegmatites are all accessed by the Crystal mountain road via Buckhorn Canyon. The Big Boulder pegmatite is well zoned, and contains phosphate nodules, altered spodumene spears in the core and at one time, micromount-sized blue fluorapatite crystals in vugs. The Bull Elk Beryl Crystal pegmatite contains a now poorly exposed cleavelandite core margin unit. This unit contains uraninite alteration minerals, zircon variety cyrtolite, thin columbite plates, apple green chrysoberyl, opaque white beryl and fine-grained muscovite after schorl.  The Crystal Snow pegmatite is optional with an 800 meter walk from the Big Boulder pegmatite. Travel time from Denver: 3.0 hours. Only the last 1 mile to the Wisdom ranch pegmatite needs either a high clearance 2WD or a 4WD vehicle. Carpooling will be done at the gate from the bitumen road. Only a 2WD is needed to get to the gated National Forest Service road, which is 2 miles from the pegmatites. The last 2 miles to the pegmatites behind the gated National Forest Service road requires a high clearance vehicle or a 4WD. The Big Boulder pegmatite is on Colorado State School land. The Colorado State land board access permit as been obtained and a land board manager will be participating in the trip.

Key references:

Hanley, J. B., E. W. Heinrich, and L. R. Page. 1950. Pegmatite investigations in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, 1942-1944: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 227, 125 p.

Jacobson, M. I. 1986. Field Trip Guide to the Granitic pegmatites of the Crystal Mountain District, Larimer County, Colorado. in: Colorado Pegmatites. Abstracts, short papers and field guides from the Colorado Pegmatite Symposium, published by the Friends of Mineralogy, Colorado Chapter, Denver, Colorado. p. 152-156.

Jacobson, M. I. 1986. Pegmatites of the Crystal Mountain district, Larimer County, Colorado. Mineral News, Part 1, V 2:9, p. 5-10, Part 2, V 2:10, p. 5-8.

Thurston, W. R., 1955, Pegmatites of the Crystal Mountain district, Larimer County, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1011, 185 p.

Trip 1: Trip description- Crystal Peak miarolitic NYF amazonite-smoky quartz pegmatites in the Pikes Peak granite, Florissant, CO – Smoky Hawk Claim of Joseph Dorris. Joe is planning to try to have fresh bedrock exposures to view pegmatites that have been intruded into the Pikes Peak Granite. Collecting may be allowed after signing Joe Dorris’s combination liability and collecting release. Travel time from Denver: 2.5 hours. 2WD possible on paved roads with maybe the last three miles on dirt. If 4WD is needed for last three miles, car pooling/ferrying can be arranged. Field trip permission with guide has been confirmed.

Key references

Foord, E. E., 1982a, Part C--Amazonite-bearing pegmatites of the Lake George center, in Cerny, P., and others, Trip 12--Granite pegmatites of the Black Hills, South Dakota and Front Range, Colorado: Geological Association of Canada Guidebook, p. 51-59.

Foord, E. E., and Martin, R. F., 1979, Amazonite from the Pikes Peak batholith: Mineralogical Record, v. 10, no. 6, p. 373-384.

Kile, Daniel E. 1999a. A brief synopsis of the petrology of the Lake George Ring Complex and surrounding host granite. p. 35 in:  Simmons, Wm. B.; Karen L. Webber, and Alexander U. Falster. 1999. NYF-type pegmatites of the Pikes Peak Batholith. Field trip guidebook at the Eugene E. Foord memorial symposium on NYF-type pegmatites, Denver, Colorado, September 11-14, 1999.

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The following trips are planned for Tuesday, 19 July 2016. With each trip is provided on an associated table 1) an anticipated departure time from Golden, 2) travel time to the locality or to a meet-up location near the locality, 3) Meet-up location, 4) whether 4WD or 2WD is needed, 5) Field trip leader, 6) approval status - confirmed approval, expect approval, approval probability unknown, and 7) end trip location with possible towns to stay in, if you choose not to return to Denver that day.

Trip 5: The southern part of the Crystal Mountain district - The Hyatt and Storm Mt. pegmatites. These two pegmatites are phosphate-rich pegmatites with opaque beryl. The phosphates that have been found in these pegmatites so far include lithiophylite-triphylite, ferrisicklerite-sicklerite, graftonite-beusite, alluaudite group phosphates, purpurite-heterosite, and vivianite in fractured zones of the phosphate nodules. Other minerals that have been found are beryl, zircon variety crytolite, uraninite, and various uranium alteration minerals after uraninite.  Travel time from Denver: 2.5 hours. Only a 2WD is needed to visit the Hyatt pegmatite. The last 2 miles to the Storm Mt. pegmatite is along a gated National Forest Service road which officially should be open but required a high clearance vehicle or a 4WD. The forest service has stated in an email that the road should be open by July 1, 2016.

Key References:

Hanley, J. B., E. W. Heinrich, and L. R. Page. 1950. Pegmatite investigations in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, 1942-1944: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 227, 125 p.

Jacobson, M. I. 1986. Pegmatites of the Crystal Mountain district, Larimer County, Colorado. Mineral News, Part 1, V 2:9, p. 5-10, Part 2, V 2:10, p. 5-8.

Thurston, W. R., 1955, Pegmatites of the Crystal Mountain district, Larimer County, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1011, 185 p.

Trip 12: The Platt pegmatite – This pegmatite is located 11 road miles north of the Colorado border, southeast of Encampment-Riverside, Wyo. All the mining activity has been done via a deep, now closed vertical shaft. Except for one older publication, the minerals from this pegmatite have not been researched, seriously collected nor properly identified. Although surface outcrops are few, collecting on the dump, especially if assisted with radiation detectors, will yield reputed euxenite crystals, monazite, columbite, zircons, ilmenite and possibly other never documented minerals. Travel time from Denver: 4.0 hours by I-25 to Fort Collins, then route 287 from Fort Collins to Laramie. Then from Laramie, use route 230, the same as route 127 to route 125 to Saratoga, Wyoming. The bitumen is left behind near Big Creek with only 1 mile of graded dirt road to the pegmatite. If the last 1 mile along the dirt road is dry which it normally is, access can be completely by 2WD. If wet, even 2WD high clearance vehicles can make the trip. Trip permission with trip leader confirmed.

Reference:  Houston, R. S. 1961. The Big Creek pegmatite area, Carbon County, Wyoming. Geological Survey of Wyoming Preliminary Report 1.

Trip 13: Quartz Creek district, Gunnison County – The Brown Derby pegmatite swarm and Bazooka pegmatites. The Brown Derby pegmatites are the most differentiated LCT pegmatites in Colorado. They contain the only occurrence of pollucite (still exposed in the stope), a cesium-bearing zeolite, columbite-tantalite, monazite, stibiotantalite, microlite (still found as brown blebs on the dump), fine-grained lepiolite, altered and unaltered elbaite in green, pink and watermelon colors, massive white topaz and other rare-earth, radioactive minerals (possibly euxenite but not studied). Travel time from Denver: 4.5 to 5.5 hours to Wood’s Gulch BLM-NFS access road where the graded dirt, 2WD road ends. From the BLM 802 route road to the Brown Derby pegmatites is about 5 miles. To the Trailhead only a 2WD vehicle is needed. For the last 5 miles a 4WD is required. A 2WD pickup truck with high clearance might be successful also.

Numerous references but the 2 key references are:

Hanley, J. B., E. W. Heinrich, and L. R. Page. 1950. Pegmatite investigations in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, 1942-1944: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 227, 125 p.

Staatz, M. H., and A. F. Trites, Jr. 1955, Geology of the Quartz Creek pegmatite district, Gunnison County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 265, 111 p.

Trip 3: Devils Hole district - Devils Hole and Chief Lithia pegmatites. The Chief Lithia pegmatite has been known for its significant cleavelandite replacement unit with massive white topaz, fine and coarse grained lepidolite, green elbaite, and rarely columbite, fluorite and possibly microlite. An eastern extension of the pegmatite contains a quartz core with rare blocky beryl crystals. The Devils Hole pegmatite has been known since at least 1908 for the darkest rose quartz in Colorado, opaque green beryls and euhedral ferrocolumbite spears. Travel time from Denver: 3.5 hours. The first 3 hours to Texas Creek, along the Arkansas River is on paved roads. The last 12 miles is on dirt roads that need either high clearance vehicles if the ground is dry or 4WD to reach the two quarries. The last mile to the Chief pegmatite definitely requires 4WD.

Key references:

Hanley, J. B., E. W. Heinrich, and L. R. Page. 1950. Pegmatite investigations in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, 1942-1944: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 227, 125 p.

Heinrich, E. W., and Vian, R. W. 1965. The Chief lithium pegmatite, Devils Hole, Fremont County, Colorado. American Mineralogist, v. 50, nos. 1-2, p. 96-104.

Trip 11: St. Peters Dome District - Alkali granitic pegmatites. These pegmatites, known since the 1880s contains some of the best examples of cryolite, other difficult to identify fluorides, riebeckite, zircon (which is sometimes gemmy) and world class examples of astrophyllite. Travel time from Denver: 2.0 hours. Only a 2WD vehicle is needed for trailhead access. Hiking access is about 2 miles via an old railroad bed at an almost flat level. The field trip leader is in discussion to obtain permission to use the railbed road with vehicles and reduce the walking to less than ¼ mile.

Key references:

Gross, E. B., and Heinrich, E. W. 1965. Petrology and mineralogy of the Mount

Rosa area, El Paso and Teller Counties, Colorado. [pt.] I. The granites: American Mineralogist, v. 50, no. 9, p. 1273-1295.

____1966a. Petrology and mineralogy of the Mount Rosa area, El Paso and

Teller Counties, Colorado. [pt.] II. Pegmatites: American Mineralogist, v. 51, nos. 3-4, p. 299-323.

____1966b.  Petrology and mineralogy of the Mount Rosa area, El Paso and

Teller Counties, Colorado. [pt.] III. Lamprophyres and mineral deposits: American Mineralogist, v. 51, nos. 9-10, p. 1433-1442