Greetings from Crater of Diamonds State Park! Most people come to Crater of Diamonds to search for diamonds, but the park has a lot more outdoor activities to offer, including camping, fishing, and even geocaching! Geocaching is an outdoor scavenger hunt that people around the world participate in. It is a great way to get out on a trail and explore a new area you wouldn’t normally explore. Crater of Diamonds has several caches hidden within the park boundaries for you to find!
Geocaches are hidden items ranging in size from micro to large. They can be hidden in plain sight along trails, in cities, and in every Arkansas State Park. Each cache contains a logbook and if large enough, may contain items left behind by other finders, called swag. Swag can include trinkets, playing cards, keychains, etc. It is encouraged that if you take an item from the cache, you also leave an item of your own. Sometimes there is no physical cache to find, just coordinates that lead you to a unique geologic feature. These are called EarthCaches.
There are many tools you can use to find geocaches. The geocaching website, www.Geocaching.com, lists coordinates to free geocaches that you can put into a GPS unit or the map app on your smart phone. You can also download geocaching apps to your mobile device, ranging from free, for limited use, to subscription-based apps that unlock coordinates for “premium” geocaches. The park has five “premium” geocaches.
Crater of Diamonds State Park has two traditional geocaches and one EarthCache to find. One geocache, called Crater of Diamonds ParkCache, is part of a series with 51 other caches that can be found all over the state! This Arkansas geocaching adventure is based around visiting all 52 state parks. Once you find all 52 ParkCaches, the clues inside each cache will give you the coordinates of a secret 53rd cache located somewhere in the state. To participate, you can download the clue sheet at www.ArkansasStateParks.com/activities/geocaching.
If you have never geocached before and are curious how it works, the park often offers geocaching hikes on the Little Missouri Trail. Hike dates and times can be found on the Events calendar at www.CraterofDiamondsStatePark.com.
Geocaching is a fun outdoor activity for all ages. So, the next time you’re out searching for diamonds, think about heading out on the trail and searching for a geocache!
Most recent significant rainfall: March 1, 2023
Diamond highlights (100 points = 1 carat):
February 27- Scott Kreykes, Dierks, AR, 47 pt. yellow, 2 pt. white; Linda Kreykes, Dierks, AR, 1 pt. white; Jeff Peek, Lonoke, AR, 51 pt. brown; Jamie Randt, Anoka, MN .5 pt. white
February 28- Dave Rhodes, Hot Springs, AR, 1.09 ct. brown
March 1- David Anderson, Murfreesboro, AR, 6 pt. yellow; Colton Joyner, Little Rock, AR, 29 pt. white
