Crystal Park

Some of the gear needed to mine for crystals at Crystal Park include a bucket, shovel, digging tool and a sifting screen.

We found that a quarter-inch mesh works best.

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As I turned yet another shovel-full of dirt, I thought about a comment made long ago by the millionaire, Andrew Carnegie: “Men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold; but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt—one goes in looking for the gold.”

We were on a family outing at Crystal Park, Montana, and moving dirt—looking for quartz crystals instead of gold—was what we were all about. But like gold mining, we had to move a lot of dirt to find a single decent crystal.

Crystal Park is a somewhat unique area on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. It is a rockhounding park set aside for the public to explore and dig for quartz crystals. It is located 2 hours and 45 minutes north of Idaho Falls. Here are specific directions: Three miles south of Dillon, take the Highway 278 exit and continue West for 22 miles.  Turn North onto the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway Road 73 and continue for approximately 17 miles.

I had no idea what to expect when we headed out to explore Crystal Park. My oldest son and his family had been there and gave us some instruction on the types of tools we would need (only hand tools are allowed), but they gave little indication of what it would be like.

It turned out to be a beautiful drive, especially once we turned onto the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway Road 73 which takes you through Grasshopper Valley and past a Maverick Mountain ski resort. As we entered the national forest and climbed to the final elevation of 7,800 feet, there were 10,000 ft granite peaks to the east with meadows and forests all around. This 49-mile byway continues on to the town of Wise River and also accesses the Coolidge ghost town and an abandoned silver mine. In the winter, much of this road is closed to cars and becomes a snowmobile trail.

The park itself, while officially 220-acres, has only a small portion developed where digging for crystals is allowed. There is a picnic area and two pit toilets (word to the wise: take your own toilet paper) with the digging area above the picnic area. There are two parking lots and you access both using the middle road. The end roads are exit only. We were there on a Monday, and the parking lots were about three-quarters full. I would suspect that on a weekend you would want to arrive early. There is a $5 per person fee and children under 10 are free. And, Price Creek Campground is only 1.5 miles away if you want a longer experience.

The area is covered in lodgepole pines and the digging occurs among the trees on a slope. A trail leads to the upper area and toilet. You can dig anywhere within the designated area and at least five feet from the trail, but tunneling is not allowed.

You might be thinking that it must look like a disaster area and you would be partly right. Within the digging area, there are holes everywhere and it does look like a war-zone. However, the disturbed area is relatively small. On Google Earth, I measured the entire perimeter of the digging at 34 acres, but the vast majority occurred in half that.

We did find crystals. Small pea-sized ones were common and could often be picked up off the surface. Each of us found a trophy of some sort, but my grandson, Logan, came home with the top prizes: an amethyst crystal the size of my thumb and a smoky quartz crystal marginally smaller.

It was a fun day doing something unique. I doubt that it is something that would appeal to everyone, but it was a good life lesson as well. We ignored a lot of dirt to find these little gems and it reminded me of a comment by James Goll that relates to Carnegie’s philosophy: "Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one who finds the gold (crystal).”

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Help Idaho Wildlife

When we traveled across the state in October 2017, most of the vehicles we saw using the wildlife management areas did not have wildlife plates. Buying wildlife plates is a great way for non-hunters and hunters alike to support wildlife-based recreation like birding.

C'mon folks, let's help Idaho's wildlife by proudly buying and displaying a wildlife license plate on each of our vehicles! 

See below for information on Idaho plates. Most states have wildlife plates so if you live outside Idaho, check with your state's wildlife department or vehicle licensing division for availability of state wildlife plates where you live. 

And tell them that you heard about it from Nature-track.com!

Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.