we did a lot of research in finding our new dig location but this is our first dig in Colorado and we are looking for some advice. we are digging in the granite near pikes peak.
we found smokey quarts on the surface up hill along the line that we expected them to be. we also found the pegmatite exactly were we thought it would be, there is an extremely hard 3 feet thick quartz under the surface of the sediment. the quartz layer changes from milky white to an extremely dense gray/clear.

we did not find any pockets or indications of pockets in the hole. do we need to get under the quarts and work around it or should I start sampling sediment up hill closer to the sediment smokey find. I am not sure of the indicators of a pocket? I know we are close but I don't want to dig too far to figure it out.
being new to digging minerals, I will take any advice given in techniques to narrowing down locations to dig or what rocks we need to look for to indicate where pockets may be.

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Sounds like you're digging in the right spot, just gotta keep following the quartz vein until it pockets out.

When you need a break from digging, keep walking around; I've found almost as many cool things on the surface as I have digging.

ok, thanks

You found pegmatite right where you thought it would be, that's awesome! I was up at devils head the other day and was not having much luck.

What indicators of pegmatite do you look for? What areas are they common in the granite? Any help would be much appreciated!

I knew of a couple of active gem site claims from 2 different people working extremely close along the same layer of pegmatite. I then marked the sites on google earth, then studied and marked all the layers showing lines protruding in the area which formed an easy to follow pattern.
after walking the line, it turns out that the lifts there went on for miles, you could measure between the 2 major lines and the quartz comes out in the same line every time it crosses another valley. the indicator we found on the surface is a white and creamy white pieces of quartz approximately 1" to 12" pieces in addition to finding a couple of smokey quartz on the surface.
in addition to working the line that i am on, i also chose the spot because a fault line runs through it, that will give us the chance to possibly find larger pockets.

we are in the pikes peak area, it has gems in all 360 degrees, it also has a small volcano on the back side but there are a lot of claims around it working the vugs etc. from what i understand, some gems formed in clay and some formed in under water pockets.

sorry, i can't help much, i am learning as i go