Gem Mining at Emerald Village

This morning my kids and I headed off on a rock hunting adventure. We had heard that the Crabtree Emerald Mine in Little Switzerland is open (for a fee) to anyone who wants to come in and dig around to see what they can find.

We headed to Emerald Village where I signed waiver forms for the three of us and paid the fee. It is $20 a day per person, BUT it’s FREE for kids 12 and under. Since my kids are 9 and 11, I was able to get a bargain! Of course, I didn’t think to bring tools, so I wound up renting a set for another $20. The set included a bucket, goggles, shovel, pick axe, hammer, two trowels, a hand rake and a pick.

The women at the counter cautioned about copperheads in the area and also advised me that the mine site, while only about 4 miles away, was truly out in nature — no bathroom facilites or food services out there.

We spent about 2 hours digging around the pit to no avail. A seasoned rock hound who was digging at the site showed us some emeralds he had found in order for us to see what we were looking for. The kids got hot and tired before we found any. I think their enthusiasm waned the longer we went without finding anything.

So, we headed back to Emerald Village and bought salted buckets of gemstones to sift and wash in the flume. Now, this was really fun! My kids found a wide range of gemstones in their bucket: amethyst, sodalite, rose quartz, smoky quartz, garnets, rubies, emeralds, tourmaline, adventurine, rainbow moonstone, jasper, sunstone, and others that I can’t recall at the moment.

My 9-year-old daughter wanted to find a tiger’s eye stone. And she did. It’s small, but it’s her prized possession of the trip.

I found the act of sifting through the stones truly relaxing and it put me into the “now.” I became focused on the act of searching for stones and any other thought (or worry about deadlines, etc.) simply dissolved.

The sky was an amazing lapis lazuli color. The weather can only be described as the ultimate summer day — not too hot, not cold, not humid, not buggy. Just bliss. Simply bliss.

I rank the day as one of our most fun ever, and it gave me a top ranking from my kids who said: “You’re the best mom in the world for bringing us here.”