In the beautiful Pioneer Hills of SouthWestern MT lies a park devoted to families finding or digging crystals in the ground or all around.

     This has been a long time established state park that is available for all ages. When you park in the parking lot you can scale up paths to this hillside with giant human gopher holes. People have been digging in them for years.

     As we approached we looked around and picked our spot. It was under a tree for shade and loose dirt all around. Savannah kept saying, “Oh, I found one!” I would stick my hand out and see what it was. Soon I was digging around me and knocked dirt down the hillside while talking with families and couples coming to dig.

     One boy was happy as a lark to be out prospecting and he was singing, “Skippity do dah, skippitey aye.” Happiness is prospecting.

     My cousin, George Martin, who hasn’t ever gone prospecting got into the act of discovering what the earth had to give forth. His pick ax was a swinging and we filled our bucket with rocks loaded with crystals embedded in them.

     One holes below us had a young girl in it that we could not see from our decent. She soon poked her head out to let us know we were there.

     Many people from all over come to Crystal Park for the fun of picking up crystals from the ground or digging up a dandy one.

     Picnic tables abound and bathrooms are available. But the parking lot fills fast as it isn’t very large. You can have family fun and get crystals for sure. Bannack State Park is nearby and you can prospect there as well.

     The Hills are alive with holes of your choice to dig in. There could be one for each member of your family. Some of your late Aunts and Uncles could have dug there as well.