Trip to Topaz Mountain

Topaz Mountain is a wonderful place for a family outing. It is about 35 miles west of Delta, Utah at the south end of the Thomas mountain range. I became acquainted with this wonderful place when our mineralogy class led by Revel Phillips (BYU mineralogy professor) went there one Saturday to collect topaz. We didn't collect topaz at Topaz Mountain but drove past it after collecting topaz and garnets earlier that afternoon in the northern part of the Thomas Range.

We tried it once as a family when all of the girls were home about 10-12 years ago. I couldn't remember where it was exactly where we collected the clear, colorless gems, but everyone who collects topaz goes to the BLM collecting site at Topaz Mountain. So, we followed the advise of all of the mineral clubs and went to Topaz Mountain. It was one of those trips that Meagan, Shawna, and Jackie thought dad was nuts trying to get them to collect and find topaz. What is topaz any way. It isn't my birthstone and it isn't pretty and it is too hard to find, so who cares. With that attitude we didn't spend much time looking and we didn't find any thing.

This summer I was wanting to visit the Thomas Range area again and take the remainder of my family out and see if we could find and collect some topaz. Shawna and James met us there and we camped out at Topaz Mountain Friday night and collected Saturday morning and afternoon. Again, we weren't able to find the BLM's excavation pit where people do find the elusive pink or smoky topaz crystals, nor were we able to find any topaz crystals around Topaz Mountain where we were camped. We did figure out the secret and drove aways to the north and started picking up crystals that have been washed out of the mountain range over time. These crystals are all over. They are clear and show the orthorhombic structure and crystal faces. They are mostly clear and colorless. Occasionally, light pink or smoky ones can be found in blocks of the ryholite where they grow in cavities formed by gas bubbles as the ryholite magma cooled.

Other minerals that can be found in the ryholite are almandine garnets and titanium minerals such as Bixbeeite. Red beryl has also been found but it is extremely rare.