Crater of Diamonds

Theresa, my westbound road trip buddy - suggested that we visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park while driving through Arkansas. It was a little out of the way, but when she mentioned the possibility of finding a diamond - I was definitely game! It just so happened there was an Earth Cache there and a couple traditionals on the way.

This is one micro we grabbed. It was a film canister hidden in a Magnolia tree in the center of town.

The next one we got was behind a house/ business under a tree. I believe it was a bed-and-breakfast but I honestly can't remember... and I didn't take a picture!

When we got into the park we went after the next cache. It was a large ammo box, chained to the roots of the tree. Odd, but I guess it prevents someone from walking off with it!

Considering people don't hide caches back the way they found them, the chain was probably a good idea. As you can see it was pretty visible.

The Crate of Diamonds State Park is is the world's only diamond-bearing site open to the public. Which means there is a big plowed field - that cost six bucks to enter.

You can bring your own searching tools, buy some there, or rent theirs and dig all day. We each bought a small hand tool and dug for about an hour. I think Theresa could have dug all day - but I was overheating! I kept anything that was shiny or white - while Theresa kept rocks she wanted to know the names of. She found some pretty neat looking ones, but most of them were Jasper. I had picked up a lot of Quartz and Calcite.

For the Earth Cache we had to snap a picture with our GPS while digging, and answer a question that required us to do some sign reading.

Disappointed we didn't find any diamonds, we got back on the road and headed for a geocache to brighten our spirits. We ended up at a cemetery - which may seem a bit ironic... but now that I geocache and often visit cemeteries, I've gotten quite used to the setting. It was a very peaceful place on a back road. Roy Cemetery was situated on top a a hill and was a rather cute little cemetery.

Here is the cache.


From here.... we took a $hitload of gravel roads back to the highway.

P.S. - GPS companies - please make gravel roads a different color or something so I can AVOID them!

What is Geocaching? Click here for a little explanation!