Crater of Diamonds State Park
Location: Murfreesboro, AR
Dates: Oct 11-13th, 2024
While I obsess over travel, it’s important to note that my budget, in fact, very much does not. In fact, my budget would much prefer I stay at home and read books all day- although that can get expensive too (ask me how I know). So one day when I got the itch to see somewhere new, I started scouting lesser known (*cough**less expensive*cough*), out of the way places to take my family for a little weekend getaway.
After googling in several different directions from my home, I happened upon the site for the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Family-friendly? Check. Within driving distance? Check. Not expensive? Check.
Let’s Do This.
And it absolutely lives up to the hype. The Crater of Diamonds State Park is located in Pike County, Arkansas. We were able to get there in about 4.5 hours with 2 kids in the back. My friend drove separately with their 3 young children from the same city and they made it in about 6 hours-they take lots of breaks. So be sure to plan accordingly for the third child factor or very young children.
Lodging Options:
There are not a ton of options or chain hotels for lodging in the area, but I will say there is something for almost every budget and level of adventuring desired.
Camping
The Crater of Diamonds State Park has its own campground that is tent and RV friendly, with electricity and water hook-ups available. You can find more information on this site: https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park/camping This is on the same grounds as the state park, so it is the closest and most convenient option. Unfortunately, the campground was completely booked when I was looking, so we weren’t able to stay here this time around. For reference, I booked about two months ahead of time for travel in October, so I recommend looking at least 4-6 months out depending on when you’re planning on going. The summer months book up pretty quickly at most campgrounds, so the earlier you can book your lodging, the better.
Glamping
The friend that I traveled with is not much of a fan of basic tent camping anyway (we don’t have an RV yet), so we opted for Diamond Glamping. Just a five minute drive from the State Park, this place was overall quite fabulous. They have several lodging options to choose from, from the more solid cabins, to sky domes to sturdy glamping tents. We booked two tents next to each other-both were very spacious with a table, couch, comfortable beds, linens, towels and electric outlets provided. Unfortunately, the one that my family was supposed to stay in did not have working electricity when we showed up, but the staff was extremely accommodating. They let us use the tent during the day and stay in the treehouse at night. My boys were thrilled with the treehouse option. It was quite sturdy, and had a larger bed and a single bed. Plus it had working electricity.
The staff at Diamond Glamping was very responsive while booking and while we were there. There were two bath houses, both kept very clean and in good repair. The area also had a small garden area and a lake, which the kids loved. When we returned from hunting for diamonds, we were able to grill out (we brought our own grill) and start a campfire in the campfire pit. We toasted marshmallows and made s’mores and the kids had plenty of room to run around and hunt for bugs.
The only things missing from this place was a small playground for the kids (not that they needed help entertaining themselves) and somewhere to get snacks and firewood from. I would definitely stay here again though-we all had a great time! Even my camping avoidant friend.
You can see more about Diamond Glamping here: https://www.diamondglamping.com/
Hotels
There are a few hotel-level accomodations scattered in the nearby town of Murfreesboro as well.
The closest is Diamond Oaks Inn, a bed and breakfast just a 4 minute drive to the State Park. With an average of 4.6/5 rating on TripAdvisor, this looks like a very comfortable and close option.
Other options include Queen of Diamonds Inn, Diamonds of Old West Cabins and Samantha’s Timber Inn. There are others as well, although these three also have great ratings on TripAdvisor and all are within a 15 minute drive of the State Park.
If you have stayed at any of these other lodging options, please let me know how they were!
Crater of Diamonds State Park
The park itself is easy to find and navigate. The parking lot leads directly into their gift shop (very strategic), where you can buy your entry tickets. You will then walk down a winding walkway to a pavilion with an informational video that you can watch if you would like. The kids didn’t have the attention span to watch the whole thing, they were far too excited, so we continued down to the covered area under the pavilion. Here, there is a station to rent excavation tools for the day, and a station where someone is available to identify all of the (fingers crossed) valuable gems you have found.
Things to Prepare For:
Although surrounded by a lovely dense forest, there is no significant shade in the mining area. The actual area where the mining occurs is one giant, open field of dirt that is plowed roughly once a month. A large beach umbrella, or pop-up canopy will go a long way here on a sunny day. We didn’t know to bring one, but at least all had hats, sunglasses and sunscreen.
While there are mining kits that you can rent for a reasonable price, you may want to save the trouble and buy some to bring beforehand. At the bare minimum you will need a large bucket, a short shovel, and a screen set/sifting pan. We also brought a wagon which came in handy as the kids zoomed around to different spots in the giant dirt field, especially if one spot didn’t seem to have much to dig up.
When done mining you can bring your findings to one of the rangers. They will identify your findings-and you can keep them! Yes, even if you find a diamond. *Spoiler alert-we did not find diamonds. They also have a station at the entrance to the field where you can wash your shoes when you leave. The kids had a great time digging through the dirt looking for different gems. However, they got very muddy sifting out the jewels at the water trough. Prepare yourself. Two of the five fell in the mud. One laughed and rolled around in it, one ran away screaming hysterically. There is a lesson in this somewhere. But at least we could hose them down a little on the way out.
Overall, this was a great, family-friendly adventure. Honestly, it would make a great adult-only adventure too. I didn’t get enough time to dig through the dirt searching for diamonds because I was running after children for so much of it. I would 100% go back with or without the kids. In fact, I am determined to find some sort of diamond out there next time to help fund my future travels.
Happy Mining!
For more information on the park itself, including directions, please visit this: site https://www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/crater-diamonds-state-park
My list of essentials:
- Shade-large umbrella, small pop-up canopy
- Shoes that will wash easily, such as close-toed crocs
- Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen
- Mining tools
- Wagon to drag your loot around
- Water bottle-although they do have water and snacks for sale in the gift shop if needed
- Change of clothes and snacks if you have littles under the age of 5 (and bless you for making the trip)