Greetings from the Crater of Diamonds State Park! After a cold winter, spring is a great time to go outside and enjoy warmer temperatures. Every year, families from all over the country spend their spring breaks at the world-famous Crater of Diamonds State Park. For those who plan to visit the park this spring, we have a few helpful tips to make your trip even more memorable!

One of the best ways to improve your chances of finding a diamond is to spend more time at the park! The park opens daily at 8 a.m.; arrive early for the best parking and to help avoid long lines. To spend more time searching and less time traveling, pack a lunch and a reusable water bottle. There are picnic areas located throughout the park. Water fountains are located at each building and at the washing pavilions.

During spring, the search area can be very muddy due to frequent rain showers. Check the weather forecast before your visit and plan accordingly. Wear rubber boots or shoes that you do not mind getting dirty. Even if it has not rained the week prior to your visit, lower parts of the field may still be muddy. Due to high amounts of clay in the search area, it takes several days of sunshine and warm weather for the soil to completely dry. For this reason, it's also often difficult for park maintenance staff to plow the field during winter and early spring.

Learning how to search for diamonds can also give you more time to enjoy the search area once you arrive. The three most popular methods to search are surface searching, wet sifting, and dry sifting. You can watch instructional diamond searching videos on our website or check out our calendar of events to attend a Diamond Mining 101 demonstration, where a park interpreter will discuss different diamond searching and what real Crater diamonds look like.

Due to weather and wet conditions in the search area, you may not be able to successfully dry sift during your visit. If you plan to wet sift for diamonds, please note that the water tanks for wet sifting are not heated. Prepare ahead and bring thick rubber gloves and an apron to stay dry and warm on cold spring mornings. Surface searching requires no tools but your eyes. Many visitors find diamonds while walking up and down the plowed rows of dirt looking on top of the ground.

Finally, you can save money and time at the park by bringing your own tools to search for diamonds. The park rents tools for diamond searching, but rental equipment may sell out on busy spring break days. Many visitors bring buckets, shovels, and screens from home. Businesses in Murfreesboro also rent or sell mining tools. Find the tools you need before you visit, so that you can spend more time searching!

Park staff are excited to meet thousands of visitors and see dozens of beautiful diamonds that will be found when the weather warms up this spring! We look forward to seeing you in the months to come.