Crystal Park is a very interesting place. For $5/ car you can dig all day in hopes of finding crystals. From the park's website:
"Quartz crystals are scattered liberally through the decomposed granite of the unique 220-acre site that's been reserved by the Forest Service for the popular hobby of rockhounding. Quartz crystals are hexagonal (six-sided) prisms, with a pointed "face" at each end. The crystals found at Crystal Park can be clear, cloudy, white, gray or purple. They can be smaller than your little finger or up to several inches in diameter. Gray, purple and other colors are caused by minerals within the quartz. Gray crystals are known as "smoky" and the highly prized purple ones are called amethyst. Single crystals are most common at Crystal Park."
The place looks like it's been bombed or perhaps inhabited by giant gophers
You pick a hole someone else started or decide where to dig your own "fresh" hole
Click on these images for an explanation of crystals
Fruits of her labors - our granddaughter would have dug & sorted all day
We met a man who has been coming from northern Montana to dig in Crystal Park for 19 years. He was wearing a necklace with a huge purple crystal he found there. It's amazing that nature can produce such straight lines and sharp angles. We found some very pretty ones - nothing huge, but nice sizes.
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