Best Glamping near Chidester, AR

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is an exciting place full of rich history and, of course, finding lots of rough diamonds. The State Park is listed as the eighth largest reserve of diamonds in the world according to their website, and this park sets itself apart from anywhere else by allowing visitors to keep any diamonds that they find. Some lucky visitors have even found diamonds worth thousands of dollars.

This review will give you tips about the search area that are based on my firsthand experiences. It will allow you to develop a game plan of possible places to dig, as well as what indicators to look for before taking a trip to the famous Arkansas diamond mine. So, let us begin by identifying what type of indicator rocks that are mixed in with ordinary organic soil on the mine field. Minerals, such as Quartz crystals, calcite, magnetite, spinel, garnet, chromite, and diopside will be the main rocks you will want to look for while prospecting for diamonds. These rocks were created in a similar process during the heating and cooling process of the rock cycle.

Search Area Conditions

The best time to take a trip to the Arkansas diamond fields is after a heavy rainstorm, but keep in mind that you will get muddy during your visit so always wear the appropriate clothes and shoes while out in the search area. The Crater of Diamonds plows their fields, but the implements only turn over the top two feet of dirt repeatedly. Diamonds are found in gravel deposits within the mind field, but they will be below two feet anywhere on the search field.

Secondly, you must be able to probe correctly to understand what the ground is underneath. When probing things like vibrations and sound are your friends. Usually, a ground probe is a 10 ft. steel rod that allows you to hear and feel the vibrations. A 4 ft. rod will do for the daily visitor and a 10 ft. rod will be good enough for the most serious Rockhounds ready to dig deep.

Using your probe comes down to the noise that you hear and feel. The first step is to make sure the ground is soaking wet to make the probe pierce the ground easier. Next, as you push down the probe remember there are objects in the ground and not every time your probe stops its diamond bearing gravel Gravel deposits can be as hard as concrete depending on how old the deposit is. You will run into tree roots and layers of hard rock. Keep watering the hole, push down and twist on the probe handle to continue downward in probing until you have met your depth mark.

Once that you have found a promising site by probing the next step is to dig down to to your chosen depth to see for yourself. Other ways of searching are in the form of walking around and picking up anything that shines or simple strip mining one area and separating the dirt from the gravel before starting with your chosen final diamond recovery process to condense the heavy rocks and gemstones to the middle of your screen or sarucca.

For more detailed step by step instructions on probing or the diamond recovery process check out the eBook "How to Find Diamonds" learn more at www.EliteMinersClub(dot)com

The Crater of Diamonds State Park is an exciting place full of rich history and, of course, finding lots of rough diamonds. The State Park is listed as the eighth largest reserve of diamonds in the world according to their website, and this park sets itself apart from anywhere else by allowing visitors to keep any diamonds that they find. Some lucky visitors have even found diamonds worth thousands of dollars.

This review will give you tips about the search area that are based on my firsthand experiences. It will allow you to develop a game plan of possible places to dig, as well as what indicators to look for before taking a trip to the famous Arkansas diamond mine. So, let us begin by identifying what type of indicator rocks that are mixed in with ordinary organic soil on the mine field. Minerals, such as Quartz crystals, calcite, magnetite, spinel, garnet, chromite, and diopside will be the main rocks you will want to look for while prospecting for diamonds. These rocks were created in a similar process during the heating and cooling process of the rock cycle. Search Area Conditions The best time to take a trip to the Arkansas diamond fields is after a heavy rainstorm, but keep in mind that you will get muddy during your visit so always wear the appropriate clothes and shoes while out in the search area.

The Crater of Diamonds plows their fields, but the implements only turn over the top two feet of dirt repeatedly. Diamonds are found in gravel deposits within the mind field, but they will be below two feet anywhere on the search field. Secondly, you must be able to probe correctly to understand what the ground is underneath. When probing things like vibrations and sound are your friends. Usually, a ground probe is a 10 ft. steel rod that allows you to hear and feel the vibrations. A 4 ft. rod will do for the daily visitor and a 10 ft. rod will be good enough for the most serious Rockhounds ready to dig deep. 

Using your probe comes down to the noise that you hear and feel. The first step is to make sure the ground is soaking wet to make the probe pierce the ground easier. Next, as you push down the probe remember there are objects in the ground and not every time your probe stops its diamond bearing gravel Gravel deposits can be as hard as concrete depending on how old the deposit is. You will run into tree roots and layers of hard rock. Keep watering the hole, push down and twist on the probe handle to continue downward in probing until you have met your depth mark. 

Once that you have found a promising site by probing the next step is to dig down to to your chosen depth to see for yourself. Other ways of searching are in the form of walking around and picking up anything that shines or simple strip mining one area and separating the dirt from the gravel before starting with your chosen final diamond recovery process to condense the heavy rocks and gemstones to the middle of your screen or sarucca.

For more detailed step by step instructions on probing or the diamond recovery process check out the eBook "How to Find Diamonds" learn more at www.EliteMinersClub(dot)com

From our stay in Mar 15 2021. Lots of activities here, we stayed at the De Roche Ridge campsite area, love the view of the lake no matter which site you stay and enjoyed beautiful sunsets from ours. Full hookups, level pads, clean and well maintained picnic benches, fire pits and grills.

Enjoyed brunch at the Lodge's restaurant, beautiful view of the lake here. They had cleaned all play areas and set up toys for young kids.

We enjoyed paddle boating, horse back riding and disc golf. Each trail had a information board where you can scan a QR code to know more about the trail, what made it unique and what to look out for while you are out there. This was new to us and kept us curious.

Some trails were soggy but it had been raining for a few days making it difficult to get past. Some signs indicating this could have helped us stay off the trails.

This camp is ideally located in the Crater of Diamonds State Park with easy access to the Visitors Center by foot or car. The campsites are well maintained and adequately situated to afford some privacy. There are 6 individual bathrooms with toilet, sink and shower, in the bathouse nearest to us that are modern and clean. The shower was "almost" hot.

The only negative is that the adjacent site's fire ring is too close to our back window and the smoke from a fire could enter our window.

This is our second stay at this park and we would definitely return.

Nice state pro. Free admission for day use, nice picnic area, beach area with grills for day use. Tennis courts, disc golf course, 18-hole golf course, basketball courts, marina with paddle boards, rentals of kayaks and motor boats including pontoons with slides. They have several hiking trails. Three campgrounds with bathhouses. Yurts, lodge with a restaurant and a spa. The only thing missing is a partridge in a pear tree. Some campsites are on or near the lake some in the woods and some on the backside of the golf course. Lots of variety. No tent only area. All campsites are mixed use. Nice clear water. Very clean and large lake.

We visited over Labor Day weekend and really enjoyed our experience. The sites are all very well kept, level and offer plenty of space. We were able to have our small camper with the addition of a rooftop tent, and a standard size tent with no problem.

All sites are level, have a solid picnic table, fire pit with grill grate, a separate grill, and a large flat area for a tent.

We also visited the mining experience and spent an afternoon searching for diamonds. We did not come away rich, but enjoyed getting dirty and searching as a family. I would recommend bringing something for shade while digging. You can get equipment there, but a small shovel, small bucket and a sifter will save you some money.

We also visited the local lake for a day on the beach.

We plan on coming back!