Pooua

I decided a month ago to take a trip this weekend to Crater of Diamonds State Park. Of course, the chances of finding a diamond in a day are slim and I wanted something to bring back from my trip, so I planned a few other things along with it. I went crystal mining in Mount Ida and bald eagle watching with a rented 50-500 mm Sigma lens. When I wasn't doing anything else, I was tent camping.

I started my trip 11 hours late, so I arrived at Kirby Landing Campground about 2 a.m., in drizzling rain. At least it was reasonably warm, considering this is Winter. The wind picked up and tossed my tent around. I finaly collapsed my tent about 8 a.m., to give the wind less to grab. I've never staked my tent, before, but I finally put down some stakes to hold the rain fly. Then, I went driving around for gas (my tank was nearly empty) and breakfast. An hour later, I figured out that the loose rain fly was letting rain into my tent through the screen, so I put logs on top of it to hold it down. My tent looked sad as I left it, shivering in the wind, but it looked even sadder when I returned after dark and found it covered in an inch of icy water. My sleeping bag, a spare blanket and other items were soaked.

While that was happening, I drove up to Mount Ida. I missed my turn and almost reached Hot Springs, but I took a cross-road over. The first mine I reached and recognized from my research was Fiddler's Ridge. As I paid my admission fee to the mine, I overheard the radio in the shop announce that a tornado watch was in effect for the area until 2 p.m. The mine owner said that no one had been up to the mine in a week, and with this heavy rain, I ought to find some good stuff. I could only stay an hour, because I needed to get to Crater of Diamonds State Park before it closed at 5 p.m.

The crystal mines are not underground, but are open pit mines, generally on top of hills. I drove a few hundred feet up to the top of the hill to find the mine, as the rain became stronger. I quickly set out to look for good-looking crystals, only then realizing that I really didn't know which rocks around me were valuable and which were junk. I put a few in my bucket, hoping that I selected some good ones. I almost stopped what I was doing when I heard thunder, and actually did stop when I started seeing lightning nearby, but then I went back to collecting rocks. The rain and wind hit so hard that that trees sounded like a freight train. I would have photographed it, but I was afraid it might damage my camera. I finally gave up about 3 p.m. and headed down to Murfreesboro.

In Murfreesboro, I found that the rain had just let up and the sun occasionally peaked out from behind the clouds. I was able to hunt for diamonds for about an hour. The clay soil was so thick that when I stood still for a few seconds, my feet stuck firmly to the ground. I sank only a few inches, but the glop almost pulled my galoshes off my feet. I brought back some of the glop in a bucket. If there is a diamond in there, it is small.

I took photos of a big bird, probably a buzzard. The locals said that the bald eagles normally were thick in the area this time of year, but they were slow arriving this year, for some reason (probably the storms). There are 2 eagles who are permanent residents at Lake Greeson, but I did not see them.

I went to bed about 8:30 last night. At 9:30, I awoke, freezing and shivering and wet. I decided to take a shower and think about my options. Fortunately, the shower room and water at Kirby Landing is hot, all night long. Also, the storms had passed, so the weather was mostly calm and quiet (and cold). I decided to stay up most of the night to put everything in order, then sleep just before sunup. I went to bed about 1:30 a.m., then awoke about 6 a.m. Soon after I awoke, I heard heavy footsteps slowly crunching the frost outside, deliberating walking directly towards my tent. Then something large slowly sniffed the side of my tent. It stopped for a few minutes, then did it, again, over and over. I knew it wasn't another camper, because I was the only tent camper in the whole campground. I was absolutely alone, with this thing right outside my tent. I pulled out my pocketknife and waited a few minutes. Then, in a loud voice, I ordered it to go away. I shone some lights through the tent, then cautiously peaked outside. My car was parked there; wonderfully, I found my remote key fob a few weeks ago. Now, I used it to activate my car's lights, on and off, hoping to scare away whatever I had heard outside my tent. Then, I stepped outside, to confront whatever I found. But, whatever had been there was gone. It was probably a dog, though one of the locals had said that he liked to go bow and arrow hunting for bear. I guess that's what the other hunters were shooting all day, today.

I went down to the lake and photographed the lake and shore as the sun arose. After a few hours, I took a nap, then packed up and returned home. My right thigh hurts a lot, partly because every time I walked down the hill behind my tent, I slipped and sharply bent my foot up behind my back, no matter how careful I was.