Above Kite Lake near Alma, Colorado, at 11,000 feet, on the trail to Mount Democrat, you can find a lot of small fool’s gold crystals and occasionally tiny fragile tourmaline. Note the mineral stained rock. After I took this picture a small blizzard hit and I worried I would be stranded.
I often travel to Denver to meet colleagues in the Rocket Software office. And on these visits I will go up in the mountains sometimes, to Buena Vista, to Kite Lake, to hike and look for fool’s gold and quartz crystals. And sometimes I am lucky to travel up when the Denver Gem and Mineral and Fossil Show is happening. I spent a few hours taking pictures of the gorgeous stones on sale at the show in 2016.
There is a lot to see outside and also inside the exhibit hall – people from around the world come to show their stones
Polished Pyrite (fool’s gold) from Peru. They were asking the same price per piece that I paid when I was in Peru!
I dug for trilobites, smaller versions than these, in Utah a few years back.
This woman said “All I have is $15” when he was asking $25. He sold the flat to her.
I have a statue made with this stone from Mexico I bought in 1990.
Books and Travels 