Crystals of Arkansas | Optimizing Crystal Vista, Pockets, and Prospecting

TLDR: Comprehensive crystal field trip to see how abundant quartz crystals are in Arkansas. First, finding a fresh pocket at Crystal Vista. Second, prospecting within the same geologic unit but a few kilometers away (video correction: not 8km, actually 3km). Third, full send on the first tailing pile at Crystal Vista.
Actual description: I heard someone say, “Go to Arkansas, put a shovel in the ground, and make a bet with someone about there being crystals in the dirt that comes up. It will be a fair bet.” Needing to test the veracity of this statement, I picked up my feral chinchilla friend and away we went.
Somewhere between the lush mycology, waterfalls, and rolling Ouachita range, we found a forest floor that overflowed with geometric dew drops. Compared to Colorado pegmatite prospecting, Arkansas turns back the hands of time, making you feel like you are the first person to ever see the area. Yes, there are crystals everywhere, but you must be in a good zone.
Crystal Vista is one of those zones and it lies within a principal geologic unit: the Quartz Mountain Sandstone formation. In fact, we noticed that many of the largest Arkansas quartz crystal mine operations are near this public dig area. This Ordovician formation exhibits complex stockworks of quartz-filled fissures, deposited after the orogenic events that deformed and disassembled the strata. Structurally, stresses imparted on the Ordovician units were unevenly distributed, producing more fissures in some areas such as the Crystal Mountains. Topographically, a correlation is visible between the pocket-bearing zones and the east-west trending ridgelines in the southwest portion of the state. Notably productive regions fall within Montgomery, Garland and Saline counties, which is where Megan and I concentrated our efforts.
Venturing into the misty backcountry of Montgomery county allowed us to see that Crystal Vista is only one of the many productive zones. Evidence of crystal-lined stockworks appeared with regularity as we wandered through the Ouachita temperate woodland. Since five high-potential zones were marked and only one investigated, Arkansas beckons a second exploration.
Video Chapters:
0:00 Launch: Crystal Vista
0:13 First Impressions
1:54 Let’s Find a Pocket
4:31 Backcountry Prospecting
6:19 Crystal Vista: After the Rain
10:13 Mine Tailing Fever: Strategies
11:35 Afterparty: Crystals & Kittycats
14:21 A Dive into Blue Phantoms
16:10 Crystal Giveaway
Beats by Arcane
1. Elven Faerie Ball
2. Moonlit Rendezvous
I encourage everyone to venture into the forest to see what curiosities lie within the earth. Knowledge of active claims and regulations in your area will permit you the freedom to explore. Always reclaim your dig sites to keep the future of prospecting bright and beautiful.