Devils Head area *** Open to the public. ***

General Info The Devils Head area is a great collecting area if you want to find smoky quartz or amazonite. The collecting area is on both sides of Rampart Range Road from the campground (to the north) to Long Hollow (to the south). Collecting can be done whenever there is no snow on the ground. Also known as Platte Mountain or Devils Head Mountain.

Minerals Click on the image(s) below to see a picture of that mineral from this location. Amazonite - Crystal color is usually pale-green to a greenish-white and they can get up to 6 inches long. It is mostly inferior quality, compared to other locations in the Pikes Peak batholith area. Cassiterite - Small, imperfect crystals to 1.8 cm across were found in a pegmatite pocket filled with limonitic mud, according to Raines. Fluorite - Crystals are uncommon, but Scott reported purple crystals with transparent albite crystals at the Kremmer pegmatite in the area (Raines). Hematite - Obtuse rhombohedral disks measuring 2.5 cm across were found by Adams and were associated with topaz (Raines). Hollandite - Reported as 5 cm long black acicular crystals in 10 cm wide groups of radiating sprays. (Raines) Manganite - Smith reported that radiating crystal growths of loose acicular crystals were found in a pocket with microcline, fluorite and quartz (Raines). But this may be a misidentification of hollandite. Smoky Quartz - Can be opaque or transparent, but most are fractured. Generally, the larger the crystal, the more fractured or opaque it will be. They are often quite dark, but have a second generation of quartz growth, says Raines. Topaz - Some crystals have weighed hundreds of carats and the largest was 11 cm long. Color can be pale yellow, reddish-brown, cinnamon, sherry, bluish or colorless. Many will be found in a reddish mud, so it is difficult to see its true color until it has been washed thoroughly. Crystals at the Long Hollow pegmatite can reach 1 meter long, but are opaque, color zoned and have a sugary texture, according to Raines. Murphy and Modreski (2002) say that the largest well-formed Colorado topaz crystal came from this location. It was fist-sized and 2.3 pounds. Tourmaline - Kappele reports finding black tourmaline with white quartz. Zircon - Variety cyrtolite. Other Notable Minerals Albite, Allanite, Cyrtolite, Euxenite-(Y), Fergusonite, Gadolinite, Goethite, Microcline, Monazite, Orthoclase, Samarskite-(Y), Yttrofluorite Field Trip Reports REPORT #1 REPORT #2 REPORT #3

Looking for a place to dig at the Devils Head location. These microcline and smoky quartz crystals were removed from this pocket at the Devils Head location.

References S. Voynick, 1995, Colorado Rockhounding (ISBN 0-87842-292-7) W. Kappele, 1995, The Rockhounds Guide to Colorado (ISBN 1-56044-331-6) J. R. Mitchell, 1997, Gem Trails of Colorado (ISBN 0-935182-91-8) E. Raines, 2001, "Rocks & Minerals" (Vol. 76, September/October, pgs. 298-325) J. A. Murphy and P. J. Modreski, 2002, "Rocks & Minerals" (Vol. 77, July/August, pgs. 218-238) 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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