Digging for Selenite Crystals at the Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma

May 28, 2023

One of the things I wanted to do was dig for selenite crystals at the Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. It is the only place in the world that you can dig for hourglass shaped selenite crystals.

Now, we didn’t bother to look up what to bring, as we expected to find a station at the dig with shovels to rent and information on the crystals at the digging site. This was NOT the case!

We were smart enough to bring water to drink. We didn’t bring anything else. This turned out to be a good experience, as we meet some of camping neighbors who were very helpful.

We left the campground and drove to the west side of the wildlife refuge after looking it up on google maps. Two of the roads to get to the refuge were gravel. Near the gate were oil wells pumping oil.

We pulled off the road near the gate so we could climb to the top of the overlook. There was a crude parking area next to the road. We climbed to the top of the overlook and the salt flat extends for a long distance and then it turns into the lake.

We drove through the gate and decided to stop at the pit toilets. I was glad we stopped when we did as there were two bus loads of small children right behind us.

I checked to see if there was any toilet paper and there was none. Bruce had some Kleenex(TM) in his pocket, which he gave me, so I didn’t have to walk to the truck.

Once I was finished, I opened the toilet door to find a line of little girls and a teacher standing there. I warned the teacher there was no toilet paper and she sent someone off to get some toilet paper from the bus.

We have hand sanitizer in the truck and Bruce and I both used it before we climbed into the truck.

We proceeded down the wide sand and salt road that had large potholes full of water.

We drove past fence post with signs that warned this wasn’t a digging area. The signs changed to Dig Area. There wasn’t a parking lot; people parked along the road in parallel to the dig signs.

We got out of the truck and discussed how we might proceed since we didn’t have any shovels. We looked in the truck at the tools we had. Bruce got out the claw hammer, a screwdriver and two cat’s paws to use for digging.

I picked a random spot and we used the tools to start digging into the soft wet sand underneath the salt.

Not finding anything, Bruce decided to go and ask for additional information from a couple who had a lot of success. They came by our dig site and showed us their crystals.

They looked at our dig site and told us that they didn’t think it was a good site. She suggested we use their dig site.

She walked me over to their dig site and we talked about RVing. Once we were at the dig site, she pointed out a dark layer and said the crystals were just under that dark layer. Using a glove she provided over my hand, I reached in and pulled oout a handful of sand full of crystals!

I spent a bit of time scooping out sand from under the dark layer and finding crystals while talking with Laura.

After I had a good handful of blade crystals, I felt I had enough of the digging experience. It was fun and exciting to find the crystals, but we don’t have space for a lot of them.

We walked past old dig sites with salt crystals in them. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service brochure said, “Don’t worry about filling in your holes, they help wildlife and fill in naturally.”

We packed the sandy crystals in napkins we had in the truck and headed home.

Once home, I carefully put the sandy crystals wrapped in their napkins into a lunch bag and into the truck. This was to make it easy to give them away.

Many people were treating the salt flat like a beach. They had beach umbrellas, buckets, shovels, chairs, water and other drinks. They also had wagons to carry everything.

After we got back home, I looked up information and thought I’d provide some more information and links to additional information.

You can take 10 pounds of crystals and one cluster per day.

From the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service brochure:

“Crystal Digging Tips and Tricks
A single crystal is called a blade. A cluster is made up of several attached blades and is more rare. Blades can be found on the surface, but larger clusters are deeper.
Avoid having crystals sit in water, they will dissolve.
Be careful! They can be fragile and sharp.”

• https://naturallyoklahoma.com/great-salt-plains-crystal-digging-adventures/
• https://www.fws.gov/refuge/salt-plains/crystal-digging

The digging is open from April 1st to October 15th. It is closed in the winter and early spring to protect various birds. It is an area known for being central flyaway for sandhill cranes. There are many other birds in the area in the winter, such as bald eagles.