Diamond Hike

“I want to go here! As many 'treasures' as I pick up along the trail I would never be so fortunate to find a diamond! LOL


Teen finds 2.93-carat diamond along path Wed Jun 6, 6:41 PM ET
Walking along a path taken by thousands of others at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, Nicole Ruhter noticed something everyone else had missed — a tea-colored, 2.93-carat diamond.

Ruhter, 13, of Butler, Mo., said she would name her find the "Pathfinder Diamond" after pulling what she described as a broken pyramid from the ground. Her parents, grandparents, brother and two sisters had already spent the day digging in two other fields before heading down the path just after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

"We were walking through the path and I just walked and saw this little shine," said Ruhter, who has just finished the seventh-grade. "We wrapped it up in a little dollar bill and took it back and showed them."

Ruhter said both park rangers and her vacationing family got excited about the diamond, found along a service road. So far this year, visitors to the park have found 332 diamonds, three of them Tuesday alone, said Bill Henderson, assistant park superintendent.

While the park does not do appraisals, Henderson said experts appraised a 4-carat diamond found previously in the park between $15,000 to $60,000. Henderson said Ruhter's diamond did have chips and several imperfections.

"It's a nice diamond," he said. "It looked like it had been broken off at one side."

For now, Ruhter and her family said they'd keep the diamond for a time and find out how much it is worth before attempting to sell it.

"I was kind of praying to God. I was saying, 'I don't care if it's worth whatever it's worth, I don't care if it's a tiny little sliver of something, I just want something,'" Ruhter said. "Ten minutes later, I just found it."

Crater of Diamonds State Park is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public and visitors are allowed to keep the gems they find. On average, two diamonds are found each day at the park.

The largest of the 25,000 diamonds found since the state park was established in 1972 was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found by a visitor from Texas in 1975.

[b]”

“I've been jonesing to go there for years. Maybe we should bolster the trips page and make this a TT trip? ;D”

“Isn't there somewhere down south we can hunt sapphires too? We could have a gem finding expedition!”

“There's a guy here in Mecklengerg county who digs up 200+ carat gen quality emeralds around here.”

“Most of the diamonds at crater of diamonds are small, and recognizing them in the rough is a skill.”

“However, having said that, I wouldn't mind taking a TT trip there.”

“I've got a good eye for sparkly things. Just ask HPM. ;D


So when should we do this trip? Early October sound good?
last edited: 6/07/07 9:11:56 AM”

“I read the thread title, saw who posted it, and knew immediately what this was about,  LOL”

“So Tilt, are you in on this trip?”

“OK...Tiltster...just HOW did you know what it was about???? Hmmmmm???

Tree...where does he mine the Emeralds? I know gem mining is big in Franklin and in there are big Micca mines up in Spruce Pine (Yancey county)but I didn't know there were gems in Meck. Co.”

“BTW Diamsonds ARE my birhtstone!”

“Mine's topaz, but emeralds are my favorite.

The guy's mine is not open to the public, alas.

So, are we going to try and have a diamond mining trip this autumn?”

“Nope!   (I avoid Midnight Madness sales, too!)


I caught part of the story on the news and thought.... some Crazy Woman is going to post a thread about this,   LOLOL     But I didn't figure on the Trip Planning angle.”

“I was just reading this and thought ,Dam*, I'm hiking on the wrong trails!”

“Party pooper!”