Montgomery County Streams

Over the past two weeks I have been spending my spare time after work researching some local streams in Montgomery County MD.  I always make sure to have a few key items with me each trip.  I bring along my camera, rock hammer, jewelers loupe, small buckets, big buckets, shovel, back pack, flashlight, and my gold pan.  I have sampled a few areas in search of some interesting minerals.

Seneca Creek @ Route 28

My first stream was Seneca Creek.  Sneca Creek runs thru the north and western county from Lake Seneca (Seneca State Park), the Boyds Resevoir (Black Hills Regional Park), and near Damascus MD with many tributaries, all the way to the Potomac River at the C&O Canal Seneca Aquaduct.  It is the main stream from Gaithersburg/Germantown, and has many easily accesible areas.  This shot was taken of a gravel bed near the Rt. 28 bridge near Poolesville.

I like to get in the streams and walk the beds and banks looking for interesting samples.  The bed had many fine examples of Milky Quartz with mineral Iron intrusions.

Milky Quartz Boulder with Iron and Copper Intrusions

Moving further upstream to Seneca Creek @ Old Blackrock Mill (Blackrock Road) in Germantown.  About 1/8 of a mile upstream of the mill, I saw this large quartz boulder (4 ft tall x 2ft wide) with an interesting oxidized copper sheen on it.  The boulder is Milky Quartz with lots of Iron mineralization (brown tints common to the area), but I had never seen the green copper oxide on one.  The boulder is too large and naturally pretty to try and sample, so I just took some pics.


The majority of my time was spent looking for small sample rocks to break or take home to show Stacy (my lovely wife).  I also took a coffee can sized sample of sand to pan from behind a boulder in the stream.  We were very surprised to find many different colors of snad sized gems in the stream.  Once I have set up a decent Microscope, I will take pics to show you.