This spring I attended a four-day field trip to Graves Mountain, Diamond Hill, and Jackson Crossroads with about 20 other JGMS members. On day one and two, we went straight to Graves Mountain to dig different minerals, such as the highly sought mineral rutile. On day three we headed out to Diamond Hill, where most everyone went hog-wild for amethyst. Then, on day four, we went to Jackson Crossroads amethyst prospect. |
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My family, Koty, and I arrived at Diamond Hill, unloaded our gear, trudged straight to the amethyst pit where we started to dig for the highly valued purple stone. I was totally absorbed in my digging, but I hadn’t found more than a pebble of amethyst. Nobody had found much yet, for that matter. When I finally stopped my futile digging, I noticed that my mother was talking to someone I had never seen before. It turned out that his name was Lee, and he was part of a nation-wide rock club called MAGMA. Mr. Lee showed my mother, Koty, and I how to identify druzies. He also showed us around the skeletal quartz pit. |
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As I walked around the pit, I spotted a very large rock (almost a boulder!) lying among the dirt. For some reason it had piqued my interest, so I went over to take a look at it. As I leaned over to look at it, my eyes widened in surprise. It was partially covered in large skeletal quartz crystals. I called my mom over and she liked the boulder almost as much as I did, so we dragged this boulder over to the truck with some rope (I swear it weighed at least two-hundred pounds!). We collected some more very nice specimens from the skeletal pit, and then headed back to the amethyst pit, where my dad was still digging (what did I say about going hog wild over amethyst?). He had pulled out about 15 pieces of amethyst, measuring anywhere from pebble size to about four inches in length (not to mention weighing in at 13.21 Oz!). We left him to his work and went back to the truck to eat lunch, which consisted of sandwiches, mozzarella cheese (my favorite!), and chips. |
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Then we started off to the smoky quartz pit. Mr. Lee was sitting on a tree stump overlooking the pit. Next to him was a large druzy, with crystals coating the whole entire plate (the top, the bottom, and the sides!). As my mom and Koty were marveling over the druzy with Mr. Lee, I was looking around at the scenery, when I spotted a seemingly unimportant black rock laying rock. I looked again. It was another druzy! Granted, it was smaller than the one Mr. Lee gave us, but it was still a great specimen. I wanted to go down in the smoky quartz pit, where one of the other members of JGMS that came on the trip, Doug, found a most unusual specimen, a quartz filled geode, something unheard of for Diamond Hill. We all walked down to the smoky quartz pit and looked around, but only found some very nice quartz druzies (so nice I decided to take a few home!), and Koty found a rock with some beautiful quartz pockets in it. |
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After my dad did a bit more digging (for amethyst, of course) we loaded up the truck and headed back to the campsite. We all had gotten some very nice specimens out of the Diamond Hill trip, and of course lots of amethyst (thanks dad!). All and all, it was a great trip, with beautiful scenery and great weather (but even better rocks!). I can’t wait until the next trip up to Diamond Hill! Thank you Mickey for organizing such a great trip! |
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Photos by Mickey Cecil
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| JGMS |