Sentinel Rock This location's collecting and accessibility status is currently unknown, so please ask for permission locally before doing any digging or collecting.

General Info Just west of Colorado Springs are two large granite outcrops called Specimen Rock and Sentinel Rock. This location has produced many fine pegmatite specimens (eg. smoky quartz and amazonite). Specimen labels for this area may say Tenney Crags, Tenney Peaks or Bear Creek.

Minerals Amazonite - Green color. Bertrandite - Thin plates about 2mm across were nested in sericite mica and associated with green elbaite needles that were coating and intergrown with colorless quartz. This was mentioned in Raines. Fluorite - Green color. Hematite - Crystal blades up to a half inch long. Microlite - Raines mentions that it has been associated with quartz, biotite, fluorite, goethite and hematite in one pegmatite. Rutile - Raines mentions that translucent, pale golden-yellow to black microcrystals of rutile are associated with amazonite and smoky quartz. Smoky Quartz - George Kunz reported that crystals up to 1.2 meters long were found. Now, crystals up to 6 inches are sometimes found and are coated with red hematite. Other Notable Minerals Biotite, Columbite, Elbaite, Goethite, Hematite after Siderite, Microcline, Phenakite, Pyrite, Pyrochlore, Quartz, Sericite, Topaz, Zinnwaldite Field Trip Reports Sorry, no trip reports for this location yet.

References S. Voynick, 1995, Colorado Rockhounding (ISBN 0-87842-292-7) E. Raines, 2001, "Rocks & Minerals" (Vol. 76, September/October, pgs. 298-325) Please see the reference(s) mentioned above for directions to the site if specific instructions are not given on this page.

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