Specimen 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. Specimen Rock is located on a slope of Bear Creek Canyon.

Minerals Click on the image(s) below to see a picture of that mineral from this location. Amazonite - Green color. Associated minerals are smoky quartz, hematite, goethite, pseudomorphs after siderite, small colorless topaz, large books of biotite, small phenakite crystals and 3.1 cm pyrite cubes covered with limonite. Fluorite - Usually greenish in color. Hematite - Crystal blades up to a half inch long. 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. Often associated with microcline and green fluorite. Other Notable Minerals Bertrandite, Biotite, Columbite, Elbaite, Goethite, Hematite after Siderite, Microcline, Microlite, Phenakite, Pyrite, Pyrochlore, Quartz, Rutile, 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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