MUSR 10 Registration, Finally Open!! Options

[914Sixer]

I am here now. Got in yesterday. Rained all the way from Ft Worth. Rained most of the night but it is cloudy and foggy. No rain so far today. All of the weather is supposed to clear out Wed. Looking forward to the sunshine. Cell is 210-823-1721.

[ClayPerrine]

I am here now. Got in yesterday. Rained all the way from Ft Worth. Rained most of the night but it is cloudy and foggy. No rain so far today. All of the weather is supposed to clear out Wed. Looking forward to the sunshine. Cell is 210-823-1721.

What the heck are you going to do until Thursday???

[jt914-6]

He could get some good seafood at Cajun Boilers on 270 west, just down the road go to the Mid America Science Museum, or drive up east and west mountains......

[cooltimes]

I am here now. Got in yesterday. Rained all the way from Ft Worth. Rained most of the night but it is cloudy and foggy. No rain so far today. All of the weather is supposed to clear out Wed. Looking forward to the sunshine. Cell is 210-823-1721.

What the heck are you going to do until Thursday???

Maybe looking for and shoot pics of Bigfoot who lives near there I heard.
Wife or girlfriend who love 914's and lots of privacy may be the best silent answer.

[jt914-6]

Bigfoot lives in Fouke, about 120 miles away. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

Ok.. I just finished collating the tech quiz.. while under the influence of Hydrocodone...... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) So y'all will have to tell me if there is a screwup on the page order....


Everything is going great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Doctor told me that drinking beer was good for getting rid of a kidney stone!!! So I have a perscription to (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)


This should be FUN!!



(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif)


Oh.. and we are having a special visitor show up for the event. But I can't tell you who, I was sworn to secrecy!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[jt914-6]

Elvis??????MJ???????

[ClayPerrine]

Two days until we leave.......



(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

[dennisc]

Is there any agenda available? Inquiring wife wants to know.

[ClayPerrine]

Is there any agenda available? Inquiring wife wants to know.

Tell her that the Diamond Mine is on Friday....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[jt914-6]

[ClayPerrine]

Mail we received from crater of diamonds state park....




Diamond indicators at the Crater

By Waymon Cox

Greetings from Crater of Diamonds! A common question asked by many first-time park visitors is “Where’s the best place to look for diamonds?” Generally, we advise people to look anywhere in our plowed 37.5-acre field, as it includes the type of soil known to contain diamonds. But if you know about the “associates” of a diamond, you can narrow the search down a little more!
Certain minerals found at Crater of Diamonds State Park are known as “indicators” of diamonds. These minerals are helpful for geologists studying volcanic pipes around the world, and they are also useful for Crater visitors wanting to know whether they are digging in a good location.
Generally speaking, diamonds may be found anywhere in our search area, buried under the volcanic soil. However, as we’ve experienced time and again this summer, rainfall has a big effect on the search area through erosion. Diamonds are heavy for their size. Often they may be uncovered and left for some lucky visitor to find, while others are moved as rain washes through the field. These are then deposited in trenches and other low areas, along with other heavy stones including diamond indicators.
When digging in these low spots for diamonds, it is best to use a screen set and water to separate the gravel by size, then by weight, settling the “heavies” in the bottom-center of the screen. After the sifted material is dumped out of the screen, an accumulation of small, dense rocks and minerals can be found at the top-center of the pile.


Rocks and minerals are concentrated by weight when wet sifting.
When the material is thrown on a flat surface, diamonds and other heavy materials appear on top, near the center of the pile.

For many miners, the prospect of searching through this concentration for a diamond seems tremendous. But by looking closely, shiny, colorful treasures may be found which point the way to diamonds. Chromite spinel, chrome diopside, and pyrope garnet are all great indicators to look for!
Chromite spinel is the most common indicator mineral to find when wet sifting. Chromite is a black, opaque crystal with shiny irregular facets that formed in Earth’s mantle. Occasionally it may be found in an octahedral shape. Like other indicator minerals, chromite is fairly dense, with a specific gravity of about 4.5.
Chrome diopside is not as common as chromite, but it is easier to see. Chrome diopside is a diopside gemstone, with a characteristic lime green color. Like chromite, it is also found in very tiny pieces at the Crater. With a specific gravity between 3.25 and 3.55, it is closest to the diamond’s specific gravity of 3.52.
One of the best-known indicator minerals for diamonds is pyrope garnet. Pyrope is the only member of the garnet family to display a rich, red color in natural samples. Formed under similar conditions as diamonds, pyrope is often used by geologists when pinpointing the locations of hard-to-find lamproite and kimberlite volcanic pipes. Pyrope garnets have a specific gravity of 3.78 and are – once again – very small crystals at the Crater, transparent in appearance, with a reddish-purple color.


Minerals such as chromite spinel (black), chrome diopside (green), and pyrope garnet (red) have similar specific gravities to diamond.

All three of these serve as very good indicators for diamonds but should not be taken as a guarantee of a diamond find. Instead, they should be seen as what they really are – beautiful and unique tiny treasures from Crater of Diamonds State Park!

Search area last plowed: August 26, 2009

Diamond finds for September 7 - 8, 2009:

September 7 – Sharrol Frederick, Sherwood, AR, 9 pt. white; Denis Tyrrell, Murfreesboro, AR, 40 pt. yellow; Glenn Worthington, Springdale, AR, 4 pt. white

September 8 – Ryan Retzloff, Indianapolis, IN, 19 pt. white

(No diamonds have been found since September 8.)


209 State Park Road
Murfreesboro, AR 71958
Email: craterofdiamonds@arkansas.com
Phone: (870) 285-3113

[jt914-6]

The BEST time to dig for them is right after a rain!!!! Which we are getting now 'till early Fri......Let's go clean them out.

[hot_shoe914]

Hey Clay, I have secured the package you asked me to get.

[ClayPerrine]

Hey Clay, I have secured the package you asked me to get.

Thanks!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

Ok.. minor clarification..

I am doing registration, and I won't arrive until around 5pm. So registration will start when I arrive... sometime after 5 pm.

[7275914911]

Hotel check-in starts at 3. See any early arrivals in the bar on Thur... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

2mro at work will be an eternity....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

But then its nothing but a 3 day Arkansas Mountain High....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chowtime.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smoke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grouphug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/KMA.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) well maybe not that last smiley.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

Looking forward to seeing those I do know and meeting some new faces too...

KP

[cooltimes]

The BEST time to dig for them is right after a rain!!!! Which we are getting now 'till early Fri......Let's go clean them out.

Rain is good when hunting Arkansas diamonds but the blue clay thediamonds are found in is mostly Arkansas Gumbo so take rubber boots you can take off. Scraper too. When I left the crater diamond pipe area one time there was a steady drizzle. I was about 4 or 5 inches taller as I got back to the parking area than when I went in. My 914 looked lower to the ground from the new discovered height. I took a 100# sack of the blue clay home and screened it.

Please...Don't try driving your 914 with the gumbo mud still packed on the bottom of your footware. The Gumbo is slicker than grease and sticks better than Betty's 914 doing a autocross. Use an ice scraper. Everyone usually has one.

Plastic rain panchos (shorties) are cheaper where you live so take a couple of spare ones. Hey don't forget the Jalapeno Cheeto's either. Fire will be good as you drive back to the base for an evening of diamond professional who now chit chat.

I don't recommend anyone thinking of treasure in many of the creek trenches outside the park. I did and got lost for about 3 hours. Saw about 80 deer and a couple of what could have been "Bigfoot" near the banks of the river nearby. If you do venture and get lost, climb high in a tree and start yelling you found a big one and someone will hear you and rescue your diamond find. Being a liar is better than being some foul smelling and BIG hairy animal grub.

Have fun and find another " Star of Arkansas". Pictures are required if you want to show your feet to the ones who couldn't go and share the real fun cause nobody is going to believe, especially any short people (5'6" or so) who are almost 6 feet tall exiting from their MUSR Diamond Trek.

Remember, the term when night fell. It was likely 1st said there in that area of the South.
Leave well before dark and have fun. I sure did as this happened way back when the 914 adventures was still new to me.

914 memories outlast the rust.

MikeCool

[pcar916]

Thanks Mike! I've heard similar things from everyone that goes there.

[914Sixer]

Been raining every day. Had a little break this afternoon. Still under flash flood warning. I have already found the Cajun Broiler and done the Mid America Museum. Waiting for it to clear up enough to go up in the tower to see the country side. Went down toward Mt Ida looking for crystals. I brought my mining bucket from the house.