Garnet Hunting - Emerald Creek
by bl1899 on 08/04/08 at 8:27 pm
My friends and I had decided to go garnet hunting so we all got together one summer day and headed over to Emerald Creek. I stepped out of the car near the garnet area and saw a sign “welcome rockhounds”. Although I do not consider myself a rockhound, I was there to do some hunting for garnets. Once we had gathered our gear we walked up the ½ mile road to the visitor’s tent and applied for our digging permits from the US forest service. For $10 each we were allowed to remove 5 pounds of garnets per day, up to 30 pounds a year. I knew we would not be exceeding the daily limit but I was excited to see how much we would collect. We were given a quick explanation by the ranger on duty regarding how to use the supplied buckets, sifting baskets and the sluices, where you clean the rocks, and most importantly what the garnets would look like. We grabbed two buckets each and headed towards the rocky dirt, hopefully garnet filled, and began to shovel some dirt into one of our buckets. A word of caution, be careful when loading up your bucket as you will have to carry it back to the sifting site. We all made the mistake of overloading our buckets in our group and needless to say we had some slight back pain the next day!
The sifting site was filled with many people, sitting on stumps, shaking the sifters back and forth removing the unwanted dirt from the rocks. Once all the dirt was removed we would dump the rocks into our empty second bucket while continuing to sift the first bucket of rock and dirt. Once we were ready to clean our rocks we took them over to the sluices. We had three people in our group and it was very hard for us to get a spot next to each other. I found a location near the top of the sluices, which I would recommend so that the water you are using is cleaner than what is below because the waste flows down the sluice, the more people above you, the dirtier the water is. To use the sluices, you dump a little of your sifted rocks into another sifting basket. You then submerge your rocks into the water, cleaning off the rocks as you shake the basket back and forth. Once you have removed most of the dirt you can pull the basket out of the water and start looking for the garnets. I found that it was easiest to see the garnets with the sun facing towards you. The garnets for the most part are pretty easy to find as the dirt that is provided is rich with garnets. It makes for a great experience for all ages since you will not have to deal with a lot of frustration in finding these gems. Once we found our garnets we each placed them in our own zip-lock bags that we brought along with us. Once you have picked out all the garnets you can find, you dump your tailings into an empty bucket and discard them in a location designated by the Rangers.
We spent about 3 hours there and I found 8 ounces of garnets. I was pretty pleased with my find and was already planning my next trip. If you would like to hunt for garnets, Emerald Creek Garnet Area is open from Memorial day to Labor day from 9am to 5pm, Friday thru Tuesday. They are closed Wednesday and Thursday. Things I would recommend to bring with you would be drinking water, snacks or lunch, sunscreen and a ziplock bag or sealable container to collect your garnets. A set of clean clothes is also a good idea since you get pretty dirty. Buckets, shovels and sifting boxes are provided by the Forest Service. You have to have a permit in order to dig, which is $10 for adults and $5 for children 6 to 12 years old. There is also a campground near by if you would like to stay for more than one day, about 4 miles away from the site for $6 per night. .
To get to the Emerald Creek Garnet Area from Coeur D’ Alene head south on highway 95 to Plummer. Turn left at the stoplight onto hwy 5 to St. Maries. Continue through St. Maries on Main Street; just after a curve on Main Street it will dead end. Take a left and continue straight through the 4 way stop, you will be on hwy 3. Take a left at the Y to Bovill, passing Santa and Fernwood. 5 miles from Fernwood will be Country Road 447, turn right at the Emerald Creek Recreational Area traveling down the road for 4 miles to a Y, take the left for another 2.1 miles to the Emerald Creek Garnet Area.
