Looking for diamonds, Crater of Diamonds State Park, AR

The sun peeked out this morning and I was able to catch the sunrise on my phone from within Millie. But it was soon obscured by clouds; the rest of the day was cloudy, cold and windy. I did not think the weather was conducive to diamond hunting which was what I had planned for the day. Since I could not think of anything else better to do, I drove out to the Crater of Diamonds State Park after breakfast with the intention of checking out the visitor center.

When I got to the State Park's parking lot, it was almost full! I had to park in the overflow lot. A lot of families with children were loading up wagons with shovels, sifting trays, pails, etc. to go diamond hunting despite the weather. I would be a wimp if I did not follow suit, so I put on extra layers of clothes, my winter jacket and boots, went into the visitor center and paid the $10 fee to enter the mine field.

The photo above is one of two sheds for wet shifting where soil dug up by a visitor and hauled from the field was washed off so that the remaining gravel can be checked for diamonds. I did not have the gear nor the inclination to rent gear to do that. Instead I had bought a little hand shovel from the gift shop and walked around the churned up field, poking into the soil to visually search for diamonds. There were a lot of interesting rocks including agates and quartz, but no diamonds in the ground that I covered. However, I could have walked over some tiny diamond bits and never knew it. It was also back breaking labor, squatting on the ground (although some people were sitting), bending/squinting to see if there were any sparkling glitter (which was difficult since there was no sun). There were posted signs scattered throughout the mine field showing where significant diamonds have been found by visitors in the past (visitors keep what they find). No doubt this encouraged current visitors to dig around those areas. Kids of all ages were having fun digging in the dirt.

After two hours of unsuccessful effort and the beginning of a sore back, I gave up and left the park. On the way out, I stopped at a corner of Murfreesboro that had a few colorful stores, hoping to get takeout so I would not have to cook. Unfortunately there was only a tiny crowded sandwich shop, the rest were gift/antique shops.

I went back to the campground and drove through the other part of Lake Greeson where the new section of the campground was located. I like this section better although the sites were closer together, it has shower facilities. I would camp on sites 19 or 20 if I were to return in the future. Returned to my campsite, cooked ramen with veggies and an egg inside the minivan using the induction stove because of the gusty winds outside.