I want some diamonds!

[lonesumdove]

I am a geocacher from Jackson, Wisconsin! I was watching the Discovery channel tonight with my husband and we saw about the diamond hunting there. We are of course, not familiar with the area and wondered if you could help us a little? If we decided to come, what hotels are there nearby that you would recommend? How far is the closest airport and in what city? How far would the airport be from Murfreesboro?

We sure appreciate any help you can give. If we don't find diamonds, we plan on at least getting a few caches while there! Thanks again. :D

Lonesumdove and Mr. MagOO

[Q]

Murfreesboro, Hope, Nashville should have hotels. All close to Crater of Diamonds. Texarkana would be the closest airport, if there is one there? I would suggest Hot Springs which is worth visiting also. I know they have an airport. If you enjoy the remote more than city life, ignore that suggestion. Of course all of this is only 2 or 3 hours drive from Little Rock.

I can tell you nothing of caching down there as I live in the north of AR and have done no hunting there.

http://arkansas.com/

Have you looked at that page? Diamond mine is a state park, if ya didn't know

I don't know much about the caches in that area, I've picked up one in Murfreesboro when passing through on a kayaking trip and that's it, but I did notice that the park contains Arkansas' only earthcache.

As far as the airports, as far as I know the both of the ones mentioned are small regional airports, the kind when you fly in on a small turbo-prop plane. I'm not even sure they have regularly scheduled flights.

My personal choice would be to fly in to Little Rock and rent a car from there (~2.5 hour drive) then cache my way down and back.

AR_kayaker

[cajunbat]

Hot Springs has a flight in and out twice a day to DFW...I believe that the expert on cacheing in that area would have to fall on cachemates...could be wrong.....

Hot Springs has a flight in and out twice a day to DFW...I believe that the expert on cacheing in that area would have to fall on cachemates...could be wrong.....

In that case I'd go through Hot Springs. It's only about an hour and half from there and it would be a lot more scenic. Plus there are more interesting caches along that route than the way down the interstate from LR.

AR_kayaker

[lonesumdove]

Thanks for all the great tips. Seems like this is getting a bit more complicated that I originally thought. We will have to see which airports our city flies to and go from there. Caching on the way down is a great idea, but you folks have SNAKES down there don't cha? HA!

[Q]

Snakes??! Did you mean short ones, long ones, big ones or venomous ones?? Answer is.... all of the above. Don't see many this time of year. When you comin'?

[cachemates]

We responded to lonesumdove's request for diamond hunting by email. Maybe they can make the trip as planned in June.
As for the Snakes we do have some. We even have some with Diamonds on their backs. DiamondBack Rattlers.
You will not be bothered with snakes in the Diamond Mine Field. It is a plowed field. Just Diamonds and other Rocks.

I remember reading a log from a Lady cacher from Ohio that hoped she saw a Snake while visiting Arkansas. She got her wish. You can read the log on the "Way upon the Mountain" cache by Hotrod on Foot and Bike.
Some people like snakes, Others like myself don't care that much for them, But they don't keep me from Caching.

[mbell72901]

Snakes??! Did you mean short ones, long ones, big ones or venomous ones?? Answer is.... all of the above. Don't see many this time of year. When you comin'?

LOL! When I went thru boot camp in Ft. Polk, LA, my drill sargeant said...."Gentlemen, remember we only have 2 kinds of snakes down here. Big one and little ones. I hate them both!"

ps. Heard on the news in the last couple of days, someone found a 2+ kt diamond in Murfreesboro.

[Rusty_da_dog]

As for airports, Texarkana Regional has flights in and out daily to Little Rock, and DFW I know. As for hotels, I have to agree with the post above on Murfreesboro, Nashville, Hope, Texarkana. They all have hotels some better than others. When it comes to eatting Texarkana has the best choices, but the others all have good places to eat. If you are gonna be looking for diamonds I would suggest bringing a pair of rubber boots, or at least a good pair of hiking boots that you don't mind getting muddy. Last time I was there it was a mess, didn't find any diamonds but my wife had fun, and we found several neats rocks.

Several caches around that area also, if you rent a car in Little Rock or Texarkana you should be able to find plenty of caches in addition to getting to check out the diamond mine. As for snakes, come anytime in January or February and you won't have to worry about that, as it is too cold for them for the most part.

[Neos2]

We are also planning to visit Murfreesboro, and would also appreciate tips for good hotels and great places to eat. :)

Looking at the online information on hotels in the area shows very few choices--so if you know of any places that really are better than the rest, I'd like to hear about them.

Thanks

[Sylamore]

"Oct 21, 2006 A Wisconsin man visiting a state park took home the ultimate souvenir: a 5.47-carat canary diamond."

"The largest diamond this year was found by a Texas couple. Donald and Brenda Roden of Point, Texas, found a 6.35-carat brown diamond in September."
These are just two clippings from an October issue of an Hot Springs newspaper.
The web address is www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com (http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com) it should have the information you need.