Rockhounding: How to Dig For Quartz Crystals - What To Look For & How To Clean Them (Vlog & Photo Journal)
Crystals are amazing treasures of the earth.
They're formed deep in the ground when the conditions are right. There are a few places, notably Brazil and certain parts of the USA where they form in abundance. We live about 4 hours north of one of these places, which is located just west of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
An amazing and huge clear quartz crystal cluster that I found!
This is a really incredible area for its hot springs and for its abundance of crystal mines!
“Arkansas Grand Canyon”
My friend and I went earlier this week.
For $20, you can get admission to dig in the trailing piles that they bring up from the mine. When Ini and I went 3 years ago, a man had found a crystal worth $10,000 that was recently brought up on a dump truck from deep in the mine.
Of course, the most amazing and whole crystals, and even walls of crystals, are located deep in the mine, but there are some fantastic crystals that are brought up in the dump trucks. That's what we search through.
This is the collection of crystals I brought home to sort through. This rich clay color is a good indicator of quality quartz. I like to leave it protected by the clay and then clean it once home.
Each time I go, it's like my inner child is awakening and so so happy to be digging in the earth finding these amazing treasures.
When I was a girl, I would rockhound obsessively. I think I've always had a rock collection. Not much has changed at 31 and when my friend and I decided to take a short trip, I knew I wanted to stop and dig for crystals again!!
One of my favorite crystals I found. Nearly perfect! I luckily found an amazing vein and found dozens of quartz around this size!
We woke up early and blessedly it was an overcast day - we weren't being beaten down by the sun the entire time.
I started digging, looking for the rich red clay (as that's where I found the most last time.) Yet this time, I was foiled. Pile after pile I dug and didn't find many crystals! I had noticed a group of people who looked semi-professional in long jumpsuits, knee pads, organized and working together and I wanted to join their pile... But it can be kind of territorial. Finally I decided I would go over there anyway, and I'm glad I did!
Quartz crystal in clay- this black glass like appearance is what you look for when digging. They’re actually clear, but reflect off the clay to look almost black!
The man next to me kept finding long perfect crystals over 7 inches long! We were digging in a gray/brown soil and the crystals were wrapped in red clay. They're so fun to find!!
I've created a video to show what to look for when you're digging.
You'll want to find the crystals that appear almost black through the clay- these are the water-clear crystals (See picture above.) You can rub them a bit and reveal a smooth face... then you know you've found the good stuff!!! I like to bring them home still wrapped in clay for protection and then put them under water and see the reveal! I found some amazing stones.
Crystals that have been washed and scrubbed, but still will be soaked in Oxalic acid to get the clay out of cracks.
It can be difficult to get the clay off. In this case, use a little Oxalic Acid in a wash and let them sit overnight.
It's amazing to see the process of transformation!
We will likely use many of these in our sauna that we'll start building in the next month and I also have a dream to create a grotto one day with an amazing crystal wall.. a place to sit, meditate, have an alter as refreshing water flows through.
Have you ever been rockhounding? What rock were you looking for? Did you find any?
It's one of my favorite activities and I'm happy to share it with you!
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Oh wow what a bounty ....
Wow, I can't believe you found so many stones! They must have weighed 100 lbs :) Do you have plans for them? Perhaps you can use them in your future home? Glad you had such a wonderful trip ox
hahah they were quite heavy! by the end of the day i was beat! you can imagine... literally i am still sore... i am hoping to display them, include them in the infrastructure of the sauna (to increase the healing vibes) and in a future grotto of mine ;) it was definitely a good time with a good friend! xoxo
It's going to take forever for me to dig to find a single Crystal here in my place. Is that quartz?
yes, these are from one of the major veins just south of us in Arkansas.
Wow! What a treasure! I've always been fascinated with crystals and gems. I went to the Harvard Natural History Museum and they had a fantastic collection. I've never been in an area where gems are located but I use to go hunting for fossils and found a few neat ones. There was a recent discovery of diamonds in an area a couple of hours drive from our place. When the news first came out about this find I was planting trees close to the area and I kept a close look out for diamonds but alas nothing. I didn't really know what I was looking for. That's great knowledge you shared for knowing what to look for. Thanks for sharing!
The treasures of the earth are indeed wondrous! Fossils are always a fun search item as are artifacts like projectile points (we've found a few on our land). Diamonds are also near this are in AR but the reality is many ppl dig ALL day (like giant pits) and find nothing. The abundance and beauty of the quartz is certainly appealing. Glad to share and hope you get a chance to check out some rock hounding sites one day.
Very cool, I'd love to go on a crystal hunt sometime. I've been learning through folks like Nasiem Haramien that the the molecular structure of quartz can resonate with the fractal geometric structure of our universe. They can restructure energy I believe. I have been wearing one for about 4 months now around my heart and have been doing more meditations focusing on the heart. Being trained as an engineer I think I'm in my head most of the time, but I am working to connect more with my heart.
I can relate to being in the head, me too. Inhabiting the heart is crucial, I'm glad you're focusing on it more, YAY. We ALL could use more of that heart space.
The nature of the crystals are truly a mega awesome super-duper blessing. Just looking at something that grows naturally like that is phenomenal. They are just so dang awe inspiring.
-ini
Amen brother! love y'all!
It used to be one of my favorite past times. We actually have a mountain here made of quartz. They started mining the mountain back in the 40's but haven't for many years. When I was a teenager-20's we would go up there and mess around at night. It's cool with the lights off, as you walk around the quarts under your feet would throw sparks... It used to be a joke taking someone up there and letting the sparks fly...
Also rocks that went off the cliff on the back side would create amazing displays of sparks and light.
We've seen quartz mountain and they are amazing! The one we saw was in Nor Cal and was mainly mined for radios pre WWII.
Never thought of the spark potential, that's neat! I'll keep that in mind if i ever get to visit that site again. Thanks for sharing.
Yep, that was exactly why they were mining on this mountain. They basically tore most of the top of the mountain off, the county recently turned it into a park and Paragliders now launch from there most weekends. I loaded a couple shots from there to steepshot, it has a great view.
I have a few not great crystals in my polished rock dish by the sink. I've never been much for rocks, that's my sister's purview... I lean more towards shells...
You sure found some beauties though!
you need some good ones in your rock dish! if you look at it every day, at least they should be good :) you sis is a rockhound?
for sure! i went kinda crazy and dug all day. many good stones to be had!
She used to be. Since she moved across country, I think she doesn't collect any more. If I remember right, some of her collection might be in my attic...
i love ya'll so much!!!! coolest peeps on steemit!!! truly....YOU INSPIRE!!! i dig your adventures...and lifestyle! it's pure joy alllllll the way!
awww. I'm blushing over here... Much love right back ATCHA <3<3<3. Pure joy, learning, growth and a healthy dose of hard work behind the scenes ;) We only get one shot with this body suits so why not live it up?
Nice haul! That is much better than we did at our last dig!
Ya, this was a great harvest. But the dig is part of the beauty too. Where do you dig?
We went to Twin something... Ridge maybe? One of those mines around Mt Ida. We only had one day to dig and it was so lousy we left after a couple hours - knowing we will probably never get back there. Still was not worth the effort, heat and humidity! Our next planned dig is probably not happening until next summer. We hope to go do some sunstone mining at Dust Devil mine and then hit the Peacock / Virgin opal mines at the Oregon / Nevada border.
That is so cool!!!!! They will look amazing in your sauna. X