mikhen
oley, pa
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Anyone ever have luck there? Thinking of making a stop here on an upcoming trip. Any reports?
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camping Pa...win free camping
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Mr. Camper
ARKUSA
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If you have kids it's a fun couple of hours. If not, not so much.
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vladen
Louisiana
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Probably a lot less luck going around than the adverts would have you believe. Expect to work hard, get dirty and sift thru alot of dirt for any hope of finding anything. But they got a good gift shop and info/instructional thing going.
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All hope is gone
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boogie_4wheel
SLC, Utah
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Had family near there. Been there a few times as I grew up and none of us ever found anything more than dirt under our finger nails.
Hope you have better luck than any of us did!
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Drbolasky
Allentown, PA
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mikhen:
We stayed there on one of our cross-country trips back in '06. Two days/three nights. Day 1 was digging for diamonds. Yes, I'm still working for a living. Kids had a blast and learned a lot. Be sure you take old cothing/footwear that you don't care about; the kimberlite soil stains clothes real good - even bleach didn't cut it. It gets very hot out on the diamond field during the summer days. Day 2 was just a "hang out at the campground day" and we spent the majority of the time at the waterpark they have there (our kids were 11 and 14 at the time). There are also movies at night and other activities for kids. Hiking trails and fishing in the Little Missouri River.
I understand the park has been upgraded so sites now have full hook-ups. Sites are nice - not terribly roomy but you are separated from your neighbors by forest growth. There is really nothing else to do in the area. We loved it there and hope to go back someday.
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tatest
Oklahoma Green Country
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What would be luck? Finding a gem grade stone of a carat or more, and recognizing what it is? Having diamond dust wash through your sieve, but not recognizing what it is?
The first is a pretty rare occurrence, the same couple feet of weathered stone gets picked over again and again by thousands of visitors. The latter is more likely, because a large proportion of visitors get their hands on diamonds of silt size or smaller, don't recognize them, throw them back into the mud.
Playing in the dirt aside, it is a pretty nice state park. But for hunting in the dirt activities, my kids had more fun looking for shells or fragments on a beach.
Tom Test
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Drbolasky
Allentown, PA
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On average one diamond per day is found by patrons of the park. True, there are not enough gems there to make this a viable commercial venture but the State or Arkansas has a "gold mine" in this place. We left with a clear understanding of the hard work involved and the enormous odds against those who do this in the hopes of striking it rich. Lessons like that aren't taught in anybody's classroom.
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alliemac9
Colorado
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We were there in late-September. The campground and park had nice amenities. We were impressed by the water park (hadn't expected that at a state park), but it was closed so we didn't see it in action. We arrived in the afternoon, and they allow you to purchase an entry ticket to the diamond field one hour before the park closes, which allowed us to go watch the instructional videos and get the lay of the land. Then we came back in the morning to mine for diamonds the next day. It was incredibly hot for September the day we were mining. So much so that it wasn't long before we sought refuge in the water sluice area as the open field in the sun was just too hot for our dogs (and uncomfortable for us).
It would've been fun to find something, but really I think the experience and learning about the geology, etc. is more the attraction - finding something would be an amazing bonus. It was a cool SP to visit...how many people have ever mined for diamonds? I also thought it was really cool that our dogs could be on the diamond field with us - most of specialized activities at parks don't allow for that.
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