Rockhounding Arkansas!!!

All those beautiful crystals and fossils in south dakota put an ich in my bones to go collect; and Arkansas is the perfecct place to do such a thing!
I drove south on tuesday- my first stop was the town of Galena, Mo- south of springfield- where I had read of mound of gravel and mine trailings from which metallic Galena crystals could be collected. The directions on the webpage I'd found said that one such pile was accesable two blocks west of the county courthouse in Galena.-- It wasnt there.
I found a park, instead, and walked across an old historic bridge over the ozarks James river.
It was just a slight milky color, but way clear! On the bank of the river was a giant gravel bar and a small outcrop of exposed rock. It was a dark blue/grey-like the stuff you find in swope park. I found a small group of quartz crystals and a little prism of calsite.
When it was time to get back on 71hwy, I found myself on hwy 60- about 14 miles east of the town of seneca, Mo. It was in this location that I began to notice something very wrong with the landscape; mangled and bare trees everywhere- most of them flat on the ground and a few with such things as crumpled sheet metal or torn fences entangled in their remaining branches. For about 1 mile- just before I hit hwy 59- was the worst of it. There were barns and houses and sheds and even a truck spread all over the naked fields. the ground was littered with heavy debris and several fallen oaks looked more like balls of foil than trees. It was like the aftermath of a bomb and the only sign of life was a single stone foundation busy with constrution workers. The handful of people were re-building the house and had completed only a wooden skeleton. It was the aftermath of one of the dozens of tornados that ripped through the area in early may.

From the time I drove through the warzone until I hit the arkansas city of Ft Smith I was able to see the results of another natural disaster. Every tree in this part of the world is sick-looking. Leaves grow only very close to the main trunk and do not grow on the outer branches or limbs. Every tree is growing a whole new set of leaves directly from the trunk from the ground to about 3/4 up. I assume it is from the nasty ice storms they suffered or a late freeze?
I started to get excited when I hit the town of Mt. Ida- In the heart of the Ouchita mountains., west central arkansas. From there it is only a couple of miles south to owley road and a few minutes from the NFS Crystal Vista site- an abandon quartz mine made public property by the forest service. It is legal to collect small amounts of rock and crystal from the site.
I packed a small back-pack with a camera, a knife and lots of baggies and vials. Its a steep one-mile trek up the mountain from the parking area. The trail edges up through tall pines and open understory. The pines were unusually still this tuesday- When the pines arent' whispering, the only sounds up there are you and an occasional far-off airplane.

I walked around the shallow, red quarry. It started to get hot. I basked in the sun until the fence lizards felt that it was cool enough to join me, when I moved to my favorite part of the mine. On the far, west corner is a steep wall of red sandstone. You can see the white and pink veins of quartz that decorate it. On the very top of the wall is a small terrace. It is hard to get to, but Ive been digging at it since the first time we visited the mountain. The air smells of heated pine- it reminded me of similar habitats in colorado and california.

I started goin at my hole- and found very little. I worked at it, removing each rock and crystal like a puzzel piece so not to hurt any valuable ones. Still, I found very little and gave up when the sun ducked over the far side of the mine. I moved to the left- only a few feet. After clearing a small spot of any sharp rocks, I laid in the red dirt and began the proces all over again- It was no time before I got myself into a new vein! I dug and dug and before I knew it, I was digging in the dark! I wrapped each crystal and placed them in my pack. I had no flashlight, but I knew the mine and trail well-enough.
I racked my feet on a few good rose vines and rocks on my decent, but got down in good time. I set my tent up next to the truck- dont know if its legal, but I had seen or heard no one in the time I had spent there. It took me a second to get to sleep- A pair of VERY LOUD owls were perched directly above me- It was pretty cool to loisten to them go on, though they never got into any of those screaming matches that a barred owl would. I listened to some critter go through my stuff, in between the truck and my tent.

I spent the few hours during and after sunrise on the mountain. The sun lit the floor of the area well- too bad its all that nasty lespedisia ! I dug in the new hole I created in the sandstone wall, and by the time I had a chipped knife and two torn-up hands, I had a nice collection of excellent quartz points. I had removed about 3-4 sq. ft. of material from the wall, and about ten pounds of clean, quality crystals. Points as long as two inches, and clusters that filled both hands.(though my favorite was a thin yellow point only about a half-inch long. The yellow is from a coating of iron that grows on the cyrstals here- it can create spectacular rainbows!!! The flawless point was growing alone off of a huge rock I found siting outside the mine in the forest.
I picked up an incredible amount of clothing, broken tools, empty bottles and even an umbrella on the way down.... Indiana Jones, too! The toy I found on the mine has insired me to create a movie of our favorite action-historian dude and something to do with crsytals.... I'll figure it out!

Only an hour south of Crystal Vista is a State Park; Crater of diamonds is the eigth largest diamond mine in the world and is the only place where the public is allowed to mine. The state bought the property in '72 with 800 surrounding acres from a failed private mining company. I'd wanted to visit the park since I first heard about it!!
The policy is finders, keepers- I paid my $6.50 to get onto the plowed surface of the volcanic lamprolite formation. The 37? acre green field hosted about a hundred excited rockhounds- digging holes, sifting dirt, panning out the heavier materials in the parks' many sleuth box or just taking a break from the extreme heat on a shade island. I had a small piece of screen and my pocket knife. I began to walk out onto the field- found a comfy spot in the sun and bagan to search. I was very excited to see, touch (and stash) the lamprolit/kimberlite material that I had read so much about! The material is result of a volcano eruption and frequently holds things like garnets and peridots. My diamond hunt was soon distracted by a handful of crystals and rocks like calcites, quartz, amethyst and jasper. I took a break an hour or so in- explored the visitor center. It reported barite on the field- which soon became my goal- and later, my obsession!
I was going to find that little, blue crystal!
'paced the field, dug a while, and paced somemore. I first found a small, clear, shiny crystal I was sure was a topaz. Topaz was the only thing I knew that looked like that! A handful of colorful jasper and chips of calcite and clear quratz later I retired. The heat had begun to make me dizzy- the index was said to be 114 degrees F... too freakin' hot!!!
I got a campsite for the night. They have only sites with water and electricity, as the majority of park visitors travel in their nasty, comfy RV's. A weevil- came to viait me at the sleuth box. (above) and a sample of four exciting rocks at the park- top,right; kimberlite bottom;jasper left (green) tuff (volcanic ash)
I waded across the Little Missouri river for a few hours- It was cool and clear! the river is so cold because it coes from the bottom of a resevoir a few miles up stream- there is is stocked with trout. The sun began to set and I returned to my campsite. A blackwidow made his home under my bench- the bees swarmed my pop. I watched them for a while- six of them and a yellow-jacket at any given time. I chased them off to take a sip- when I was sure the bees were gone, I put the can to my mouth. BUUUZZZZ! there was a lost bee still in the can. 'didnt want to get stung-withouth thinking, I ripped the can from my face and put it on the far side of the bench- There he was! The stinker emerged from the soda can- wet and mad! He buzzed around me for a few seconds and returned to the can with the rest of'em.
In the morning I woke before dawn. I fished until it started to sprinkle- It was only minutes after it became light enough to tell that it was cloudy that it began to rain. The wether laster for only a few minutes and by 8:30 I was on the field again. I rented a box screen from the visitors center- .2 mile walk from my campsite. On the plowed volcano, I first walked the perimeter. A very colorful deer sat just inside the woods- it was almost red. he glared at me- though he never bothered to stand up. His deer face looked over his back at me- I continued walking.
After I made a full circle around the field, I found a spot and began to dig. The contents of my hole were piled onto the screen and sifted until only stones were left. I put the reduced contents of the screen into a bucket. When the bucket was half-full The sun popped out from behing the grey clouds. I felt it hit my neck and arms- then there was blue spots all over the sky. I had been so focused on the gound that I had not noticed how comfy the air had been. It got hot quick!!!!
I took the full bucket over to a sleuth box that had been left from an old commercial mining operation- still worked, thoughj the mud had not been empty in a while- I screened the contents in the water until there were only small, bright stones and crystals. I spread the stones on the ground and picked out the ones I wanted- After four or five buckets it was 11:30 and blazing hot! I had two handfulls of crystals, some small pieces of bright-blue barite, agates and jaspers. I was very excited to find the first small crystal of barite- there is nothing special about the crystals, which appear similar to calcite,- it was just one that I had not found until my trip to the park!
I took them, and the small bit of material I had kept from the day before to the parks mineral ID center- she told me I had the usual- no diamonds, a few bits of BARITE!, and a small polished stone from the giftshop.>>!?
She referred to the small crystal I thought was a topaz. She passed it around and nobody knew what it was, but several staff told her it was not from their giftshop. I said nothing of topaz, but I still believe it to be one!

My ride home was long- I got to a rec area on the Ouchita river just after one o' clock- Couldnt believe how small it was! the last time I saw it, It was a flooded, raging, muddy current that exposed nothing below the bathroom at the rec center. Now it was a trickling mountain stream- clear as a *crytsal*-- I fished and caught three black bass, a smallmouth bass and a tiny green sunfish that was MAYBE 1.5 times the length of the lure he bit!
There was a sub-metallic shale-lookin rock on the gravel bars- maybe a schist ?

The Arkansas river was WAAY up- The current ate at the giant mounds of sand set on the shore by a dredging company. cool!
I cant wait to get back to my two Arkansas rock spots-maybe when its like ~60 degrees cooler?
Ive noticed a group of six black scabs and lots of inflation on my left elbow- maybe recluse? it hurts and itches,... cool!