Most of Colorado’s tourist trains today were originally constructed in the late 1800s to serve the state’s lucrative mining operations. They are all scenic and provide an enjoyable day’s outing. If you are a weekend rockhound, a professional geologist or something in between, a few of those excursions need to move up on your bucket list. So, get your rock hammer, collection bag, camera and travel piggy bank ready to ride the rails of the Colorado.
CUMBRES & TOLTEC GEOLOGY TRAIN
The Cumbres & Toltec Railroad offers Geology Trains twice a year in June and September. Participants pay for whatever class of car they choose as their permanent seat, but they are free to roam to the outdoor platform cars as they wish. Everyone joining this excursion receives a geology booklet prepared especially for the trip. Another special feature of this excursion includes several guest geologists who roam the train to provide commentary and answer questions.
Be sure to bring your camera and collection bag because this train stops several times along the route to point out geological features and even lets the passengers disembark to walk through the Toltec Tunnel, collect specimens and watch this gorgeous train emerge on the other side.
This train ride is a geological treat. The Cumbres & Toltec travels between Antonito, Colorado and Chama, New Mexico. It travels through geologic time from the Precambrian to the Ice Age. You will see alluvial fans, dormant volcanoes, ash flow tufts, as well as the dramatic spires and pedestal conglomerates as you round Phantom Curve. There is metamorphic and igneous rock at the Toltec Tunnel and Gorge.
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2023 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
In California, there are very few places to collect semi-precious stones. Many locations from the past have been either exhausted of the material or the land has been developed.
THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
HOW TO PUT A PROTECTIVE CAP ON A CAB
To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
The Resilient Revival of Anne Brontë & Her Stones
For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
Amazing Women with Rock-Solid Careers
Explorers, Geologists, Educators & Jewelry Makers...
The Case of the Bleeding Glacier
It's a gory sight called Blood Falls. Ever since British geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor first noted it in 1911, it has been a mystery.
Asteroid Samples Are Said to Hold Invaluable Secrets
If Only Scientists Can Pop the Lid!
Paleontologists Embrace a New Method for Seeing Fossils within Rock
Fossil bone can be delicate. Attempts to remove it from a hard rock matrix by picking and scratching or etching with acids can be time-consuming and/or may end up obliterating that which you hope to study.
Need a Map of the Ocean Floor?
Call in the Seals!
A Step Closer to Hydrogen, the "Climate-Friendly Fuel"
As I reported last June, the world is racing to find sustainably renewable, nonpolluting sources of energy to replace our carbon-based reserves of coal, oil and gas.
