You Never Know What You Will Find

by April Williams
As part of my life goals for the year, I have been working on getting more exercise. Last Wednesday, I decided to go for a walk before lunch. There was a natural area nearby, and I thought that would be a good place to go, since the different terrian will stretch more muscles than a sidewalk or asphalt track. 
The area is kind of a hilly nature preserve that is left wild, with a few trails added for walking and exploring. I have walked there many time, admiring the wildlife and natural scenery in an otherwise urban environment. 
On Wednesday, I decided to walk into an area I had not explored before. I found some some ephemeral stream beds in the area. Some had water, others were dry. While I was exploring those beds, I saw something sparkle up at me. At first I thought it was a chunk of glass. So I pulled it up from the dry stream bed I was in. 
It was clear like glass, but the fractures looked nothing like glass. When natural glass breaks or fractures, it will leave a conical pattern like this. This is a good tell if you are dealing with an obsidain by the way, as that natural volcanic glass will have these tell-tell marks. 
Image result for conical fracture glass
Anyway, back to the story. I looked at the shiny/sparkly piece and realized that it also had striations up the side. There is only one clear stone type, that I know personally, that would have straiations (lines) on one of its sides like this one: quartz crystal!
I had found a natural quartz crystal in the wild!
This is something that has never happened to me before! I was so excited. Plus it was a high quality crystal, due to the clarity and lack of internal fratures! 
The only thing that has me stumped, is deciding what this is. I can't decide if this is a smokey citrine or a golden smokey quartz. I asked a geologist friend of mine, but he was not able to determine it by site either. I could have it analyzed for traces of iron (that would make it a citrine for sure), but I don't really feel the need to do that at this point. 
Here is a photo of the stone. This is exacly how I found it, no washing or cleaning needed! This was a truely amazing experience, becuase you never know what you will find when nature decides to give you a gift. 
Wild Find Quartz
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