Scott nice crystal!  Did you collect this out of a pocket?

Disturbed, interrupted, mayhaps inhibited -- indeed, but I'll just call it wizened quartz.

Nice crystal!

So, a few weeks ago I found myself trying to get lost on
some of the backroads of Randolph County. I like to "get lost"
in order to find possible new collecting sites. If you take the
same roads all the time there's no telling what you are missing.
Anyway, that day, all I found was the North Carolina Zoo.

So I'm heading north on Zoo Rd, in the right lane, because I'm
planning on taking a right on Hwy 64 to head for home. As
I'm nearing the intersection with Hwy 64 I see a
panhandler on the side of the road. There's a lot of traffic
going the same way I am and so I'm just creeping a long
waiting for my turn at the light. I'm watching the panhandler
and checking him out, and I says to myself, "Ya kno', just
looking at this fellows clothes, he could be a rock digger."
I know I've seen a few, and maybe even once looked a little
like one too.
Well, I notice not too many folks are handing anything out
their windows to this poor guy, and then I finally get close
enough to read the sign he's holding.
It says, "Rock Crystals for Sale", and I notice this cardboard
box on the ground next to him.
Well, just having spent the last hour trying to get lost I'm
not in much of a hurry, and I really want to see what this
guys got, so I point to the parking lot on the corner behind
him to let him know I'm going to pull around and park.
Besides, it's a MickeyD's and I could go for a chocolate shake.
I pull up and park as close as I can get to him and he picks
up his box and comes on over. He says he's been down in
Montgomery County digging crystals and his car is out of
gas on the side of the road not far from there and he really
just wants enough money to make it home. I said "Well,
let's see what you got."
He opens the box and my eyes light up! Never had much of
a poker face when it comes to quartz crystals, but he's got
some real beauties. I could see the clarity immediately,
and then, as I look a little closer, I see all these shiny little
black crystals of Anatase covering most of the crystals.
I ask him how much he wants and he says, "just enough for
gas to get home. Twenty bucks."
Well, I told him I didn't have a whole lot of money but I'd
happily give him the twenty and treat him to a milkshake, too.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Here's some pics of what I found in the box.
The last three pics are different angles of the same crystal.

Just the facts, Jack...er,I mean John.

Another hematite (red) included quartz.

Here is my first piece from Shingletrap, i cant wait to get back there for more than just a day.  Sometime this winter i will be making a several day endeavor to Shingletrap in hopes of finding the ever illusive anatase.