Embedded Files
Driving south from Skull Pass to Fossil Mountain and then beyond, the desert seems like a continuation of brown mountains and sage brush plains. Hitting a junction of our dirt road and another and looking at the map for which way to go, we looked to the west and saw this sight. A stark contrast to everything around. A crystal white mountain. Was is snow covered? This was desert country. What they heck was it?
The map at right shows Skull Pass on Highway 50 at the blue square and Crystal Peak at the red square. The road to Crystal Peak follows a north south route east of Skull Pass. See https://www.mindat.org/loc-238814.html for specific directions.
After several miles, the road twisted up a slope and we arrived at the mountain. It wasn't snowy. It was rock. Was this some white granite outcrop?
We got up close and climbed the shoulders of the giant. From our interpretation it looked like a mound of tuff that had embedded sharp, highly silicated rocks. It appeared to be the remains of a giant pyroclastic explosion where the surrounding rock was trapped and frozen in place. It was a mystery mountain!
It turns out that is a fair description of the quartzite chunks in. the eroded tuff. It is interesting how it became a mountain that stands alone in the desert, however.
If you pick early summer to visit, the area jumps with wildflowers.
There are some trilobites in the rocks to the north of the mountain, but they are a bit elusive. The layer is a fine brown shale-like rock that is easily broken. Look to the slopes to find the outcrop of this layer.
Odd inclusions, carbon chunks, empty vugs and an assortment of small rocks permeate this tuff.
Page updated
Report abuse