The title is no joke! You can dig for diamonds in Arkansas and KEEP WHAT YOU FIND!
Arkansas is well known for it’s beautiful state parks (it ain’t called The Natural State for nuthin’!), but it’s also known for Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro.
ABOUT DIGGING FOR DIAMONDS
Admission to the park is $10 per person, per day for visitors 13 and over, and $6 for children aged 6-12, and free for the little ones. They also have a water park that’s open during the summer. Check here for prices on that.
You can bring your own equipment to dig for diamonds, or rent it from the park. Here is there price list for equipment rental.
Each visitor is allowed to take a 5 gallon bucket of washed gravel out each day. Gravel washing stations are provided, as are rinsing off stations before you exit the park.
WHAT TO WEAR
I’ll be honest and tell you I felt a little under dressed when the hubby and I walked up to the park in t-shirts, jeans, and tennis shoes! These people are SERIOUS!
Many of the regular visitors were wearing rubber rain boots, and were carrying rubber aprons, gloves, shovels, and 5 gallon buckets. I understood the rain boots as it had been raining for what seemed like WEEKS…but MAN! These people were PREPARED to dig for DIAMONDS!
Once I got in the park, I realized what all the gear was about. First of all, after a decent rain, the place is quite muddy. If you visit during the wet season (basically winter…November thru March/sometimes April), it will be muddy in areas. Especially so after a rain. If it’s anything like my backyard about 100 miles away, it’s hard as a rock by late spring and summer. Dress accordingly, and bring appropriate tools!
It’s best to diamond hunt after a good rain because the rocks just sit up on pillars of dirt. Many people just find diamonds on top of the dirt this way.
You can’t see the way the ground just glitters in any of my pics or the videos. It looks like someone has spilled a bag of super fine glitter all over the dirt in the park. I enjoyed just walking around in there!
PEOPLE WE MET
The park has washing stations where you can sift through your loot in water troughs. We met one man from West Virginia who comes down once a year with is brother. They each take home a 5 gallon bucket of washed gravel for each day they are there. He showed us a beautiful 1.3 carat diamond he found last year. Apparently, he finds quite a few diamonds when he gets home and digs through the gravel.
West Virginia’s 1.3 carat diamond from last year.
We met another man from Missouri who was a HOOT! You can find him, along with his 15 subscribers, on YouTube. I’m not sure if he’s ever found a diamond (he DID say he was quite proud of his trophy wife!), but he sure was entertaining!!! LOL!
Our Elvis impersonating friend from MO.
We were also told a story of a local man who used to frequent the park. He apparently paid for college for his 3 kids with Arkansas Diamonds!
Perfect illustration of AR weather from a local radio show. Click the picture for a bigger image.
My only real word of warning has nothing to do with the park at all, but more about Arkansas weather. It is notoriously unpredictable. Bring sunscreen and some sort of shade in the summer, rain gear in the other 3 seasons, tornado shelters, winter coats, and swimsuits! 🙂 …and that’s just for March…HAHA!!!
Just kidding. Be smart, check out a weather app or weather station before visiting the park and dress accordingly. This is a large, open field. You will be in full sun, or whatever the weather is all day.
CAMPING
Since it’s a State Park, they have 47 Class AAA sites with full hook-ups. Most of the RV sites have tent pads on them. The bathrooms were pretty big. Each one had 2-3 shower stalls. I’m sure during peak season, it could get crowded, but there aren’t many tent-only sites. I would assume most RVers have their own showers. One of the bathhouses has a laundromat in it.
We met a cool couple from Missouri that had just recently started traveling full time. They were so nice…HEY GUYS!!!…and came to our campsite to chill a couple of times! Lucky for me, they started following Home Is Where We Take It so we can hopefully reconnect at some point in the future! I LOVE making new friends! You can’t see their fur babies sitting in between them in this pic, but they were walking their babies.
Noteworthy to mention, we met these folks on the River Trail. It was a neat little partially-paved trail. The trail runs alongside the Little Missouri River. It was beautiful, even before all the trees bloomed!
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Let’s get to the review!
Pros
- Great park with large sites
- Plenty of room for tents, and trees for shade
- FREE DIAMONDS nearby, hello!!
- Clean bathrooms, each had 2-3 shower stalls
- A little pricey, but worth it
- Nice and friendly staff
Cons
- Not much of a cell signal
- 4G LTE internet was non-existent at our site
- Didn't try their wifi...so maybe I'm not being fair
- Not much to do besides camp and dig for diamonds
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