Everything was absolutely amazing. The staff was extremely knowledgeable about the gems, the area and everything involved. They were so kind and courteous and respectful. The area itself was beautiful. Me and my family had such a blast. Highly recommend this to anyone of any age. Absolutely worth every penny. read more

One of our favorite places to go during the summer! We love going down to the creek to see what we can find. We always walk away with some awesome stones and memories we will never forget. Make sure to wear water shoes... it's slippery lol. Employees are always nice and fun to talk to. read more

We came a bit late in the day but managed to try Digging and shifting in the creek. We ended up sluicing with a Watkin's Emeralds Salted Rock bucket to get an Emerald Matrix and Flashy Labradorite to get Lapidary to cut into cabochons. Lovely variety of gemstones and minerals at the Lapidary shop. We loved the experience and will be going back again. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Digging for Emeralds - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

Took my son here for his birthday with all our friends. Toddlers up to 3rd grade and the adults, we all had an absolute blast! Caleb is the manager, he is friendly, playful, and full of knowledge. We had so much fun and can not wait for our return. Definitely anew family favorite. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Gem mining - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

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So fun just to go down to the creek and find gems and rocks. Enjoyed the staff. You can fetch your own buckets too and head over to the sluice and pan your own dirt. read more

Went creek mining and found nothing in creek. Not worth paying 25 per person for nothing. The older male parking attendant was very rude and condescending.. He was yelling at everyone who was trying to park and use restroom. read more

Plan on spending a whole day! Pack your lunch, there is no food there. And a change or two of clothes. Bring some towels too. Great restrooms considering it could be portajohns. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The operations seemed well organized. It's definitely dirty but it's because you're there to play in said dirt! We dug our own dirt for a long time, then cleaned it. Then went to the creek- that water was ice cold! So we didn't last long there. But then we bought a bucket and I can say the bucket didn't have as many rocks in it as I would have thought. However it was all a blast we spent an entire day and honestly I'd go back and do it all over again. read more

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recently went and had watched lots of YouTube videos of the place prior. All of the videos show people digging up stuff, err well.. sifting out stuff -they make it appear they found everything while digging. I talked to a few other families there and none of them found anything until they purchased a pre-filled bucket. From what I've been told and seen, the GOOD areas are the areas roped off. Basically, the public (in my opinion) are the ones digging the 'prospect holes'... not sure if I'll every go back read more

Have been going to the mine for MANY years and had tons of fun and still have boxes of gems from years past. Having moved further south we haven't been back in a few years, we own a cabin in west Jefferson and have been telling our daughter for seven years about emerald hollow mine and finally at the end of our trip find out.... 75 dollars just in permits to wash pre-screened outrageously priced buckets of dirt and to step a toe in a creek they fill with shards and such. Funny they say on their website they don't pre screen buckets HS know someone who was let go for telling the truth. Oh and they are great to tell you rudely if you don't want to pay for these outrages permits and bucket prices you can stand in the shade. Why to ruin many years built up excitement. Just to rip People Off. read more

Fun place for your tiny geologist!! You can sluch buckets, play in the river or even mine for raw gems. The value of the fun is in the adventure. It's a very shanty chic looking spot. It's very down home fun. You'll get muddy. It's a good old rustic North Carolina tourist stop. The parking lot is small. The bathrooms are clean but small. The spot is remote and off the beaten path. But honestly my kid loved it!! read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Muddy fun - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

Visited in July 2020. Creeking was fun and we found lots of small gems and rocks. We didn't find much digging and the walk down the hill with buckets was tough. I'd skip that next time. But what surprises me is that my son found obsidian in the creek (confirmed by employee). My understanding is that you can't find obsidian east of the Mississippi. Do they seed the creek? It was a fun day regardless, but that would be good to know. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Obsidian found in creek? - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

This is not my first experience here, but it was a special one for me! First off if you've never done this and you like hanging out at the creek! This is a must do because you never know what that creek will spit out at you. The other times I went there, I was always on a time limit. This time I had all day from 8:30 till about 6. It gets dark quick back in the woods making visibility to see stones very difficult! This weekend was amazing. When we got there we got our equipment and a young guy by the name of Daniel Coleman kinda pointed us in the right direction and gave us some helpful tips that came in handy. I most say excellent customer service. Top notch... I think I remember him saying he was a volunteer. Thank you Daniel! I'll be back!! The payoff for my trip of digging in the creek a 21 carat Ametrine!! read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - 21 carat Ametrine Very rare stone found naturally. It is a gem quality - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

If you like sluicing buckets of salted dirt, and you're a kid, this place is for you. If you're a rockbound like me with a degree in geology and 55 years of collecting under his belt? Not so much. Based on the reviews I wasn't expecting much. And not much was what I found. I wasn't treated very civilly by the money-taker outside the sluicing area. I told him "I'm not buying a pig in a poke...I want to see what's what." Nope. Big Giant Nope. "You might just put stuff in your pocket and walk out." Nothing like trust. I talked with the mine owner (pure blind luck, that) and found out he is paranoid about liability exposure. My reaction to that is that you shouldn't be running a tourist mine if you are scared of getting sued. I saw people working the hillsides in the red soil/clay that's the overburden. I don't know what they were finding. I heard of one gal working a vein getting the odd bits. At the end of day (which is when we were there) it just didn't seem worth it. I'm used to spots that have some decent pickings and aren't salted. So...like I said...if you're a kid or adult looking for a fun time and don't care about where the mineral you are looking at came from, knock yourself out. If you are looking to do some real mineral digging... good luck. We won't be back. (An aside... the mine owner was nice and we had a good conversation. I don't agree with how he's running things, but, hey, it's his business. I guess he gets enough of the tourist trade that it makes thing come out OK.) read more

Pretty disappointed. We planned a vacation with a 7 hour drive around the excitement of Emerald Hollow Mine. This is not our first mining experience so we thought we knew what to expect, but honestly from the time we pulled in it was a bit off putting. There was not very clear directions on where to go to park, pay, & the employees seemed less than enthusiastic to be there. The digging & creeking part was almost completely unproductive. We gave it all all day shot, but most likely will not be revisiting. If you have children, it may be more exciting, but for 5 adults with experience mining it's a no go. Lucky for us we found other mining in the area (Spruce Pine) and it made our trip from Ohio totally worth it. read more

Used to come here years ago and it was so much fun. You'd find lots amethyst and other pretty rocks... This weekend we drive 7 hours to repeat the experience. What we find is ridiculous prices for buckets, and a bunch of your average rock. For $50 I was expecting, I don't know, maybe a small amethyst at least? And don't start me on the creek. The new owners have taken away all the fun and ruined the experience. If you expect me to spend money, I expect you to provide the experience. If I wanted to dig for rocks, I would just go to the creek behind the house. In short: if you've come here before and found lots of fun rocks, expect to find very little or nothing at all. I'm sorry to be leaving such a disappointing review, but we built the whole vacation around this place and it was horrible. They do have nice clean restrooms though! read more

This is a great place to go have some fun my husband and I drove up to Emerald Hall mine and bought a bucket of dirt and sluice it was pouring rain so we decided not to go out digging. The staff are so knowledgeable and wonderful to talk with! we had a great time and I know this would be fun for families too!! read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - I found a nice size emerald! - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

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If your kids like some sort of thrill sluicing or creeking for seeded "gems", then this place is for you. You can easily tell that they prefilled and sorted these stones inside 2 or 5 gallon buckets before your sluicing activity. The seeded stones all have jagged and sharp edges in the creek a short walk from the sluice area. On the website, scroll down to the bottom, beside the bucket fees there are separate fees for a permit to enter the mining area. So, adults are $20 and kids 4 and above are $10 to sluice and creek. Everybody pays. This is on top of the bucket prices (assorted prices) and shovel rentals ($3 each). The kids (10 and under) enjoyed it. It was fun to see my kids enjoying it, but they mostly enjoyed just playing in the creek. $100 later with a baggie mostly of crushed quartz, will I come here again? Most likely no. However, I do have to say that Steve who assisted us in admissions and sluicing was super nice and informative. read more

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This place is amazing, most of the time you can't find anything in the dirt but if you buy a bucket for only five dollars you are guaranteed to get a gemstone. All the staff are so kind and really know what they are doing. I defiantly recommend this place. read more

We had fun with the children, but the surprise of the "mining license" was not appreciated or planned for. We had researched the web site for prices and made plans accordingly. After telling the children and the long drive we were committed, so when the extra fees were explained we felt as though we had been mislead. If it weren't for the circumstances and the children's excitement, we would have driven away. Much of the adults who were planning on participating decided not to because of the hidden fees. The gems were fun and the kids enjoyed it, but we will not be back until they change this policy. We found another Gem Mine in the area that never heard of this "mandatory" charge. read more

I had an amazing time today (November 27th 2020) but the guy(I didn't get his name) Was extremely rude to me 3 times. He pretty much called me dumb and said I was over complicating everything in front of everyone Just because I was asking questions to get more knowledge since it was my first time there. Other than that it was a great experience. I put 3 stars only because I had a great time mining for gems. read more

Loves the trip. We didn't find much digging, I do wish there were better instructions there, but we found a few nice quartz stones and had some luck finding pretty things in the creek. I even found an emerald. My fiance made up for it by buying a bucket and was thrilled with what she got. The employees were extremely nice and knowledgeable. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Emerald from the creek - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

Went there and paid, we wanted to dig and find our own rocks, not from a salted creek or bucket. This is not our first time rock hunting so we know what we are doing. We found absolutely nothing. We dug 6 holes, one had a beer can 3 foot down. Quite frankly the dirt there has been shoved around so much, most of it has over burden on it. I'm not going to say it's been mined out, I'm sure there has to be something left somewhere. Save your money, go out to a road in the National Forrest Road and dig, you'd have a better chance in our opinion. read more

Don't not waste your money trying to dig on your own , we spent 87.00 trying to "find gems and crystals... we would have had a better time finding a needle in a haystack , ending up trying to save the day by buying a bucket of sand and stuff for 150.00 still absolutely a rip off . They definitely took advantage of "dumb" tourists who had no clue what was involved in "Mining " read more

We needed a destination for spring break and happened upon their website--quite by accident. What a wonderful accident!!The location is rustic and and beautiful. It's very much "no frills," but who needs frills when you're digging for semiprecious stones? It's great for people of every age from little kids to old farts (like me). Every employee we dealt with was fantastic!! Daniel, Jordan, Raelee (sp?), Sierra, and Lilly were knowledgeable, helpful, and enthusiastic. They chatted with us, and were so great with my teenaged boys. Lilly even went and found a piece of obsidian for one of my kids who really wanted to find some but didn't. Daniel hung out with us and told us about nearly every rock we had. Raelee got us settled away from the school group that was there. Jordan helped us with our equipment and helped us up and down the hills with a smile. Sierra got our buckets and was generally just a kind and enthusiastic helper (she gave us a cool few rocks someone had left behind). It was very apparent that they actually were interested in the 'rocks' they helped people find. All of them knew what we had found and helped to identify them. It was such a great experience that it made the 600 mile trip absolutely worth the long drive. If we're ever back to the Carolinas, we'll make the detour to go back! read more

Very cool place to mine gemstones. I picked up dirt for mine in there and everybody was so incredibly accommodating. Daniel and Ryan really know what they're doing and talking about. It was great to listen to them. Everybody was so helpful. Such a great place. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine. I will return. Fun day for family, young, old, I met a couple on a date 20 somethings. The people that work here are longtime and helpful. No amusement park just a calm day.They have overnight campouts for SCOUTS onlly. It was POURING rain, I didn't expect they'd be open. They were and busy. We drove here recently from VA beach it took about 6 hrs. I think that was due to a Garmin, they no longer say "RE-CALCULATING" but that is another review another site. adventures. Suggestions take: good water boots (wellies), change of clothes and shoes to replace muddy ones from creek or grounds in general, picnic basket, raincoat, towels. Gloves if you get to dig. I had no Cell service for couple miles. Choises of sluicing, sand screened thru water in trough,or a creek search or dig in a site..We arrived about 10:00 later than I planned. It's placed on a small back road off a highway through some great scenery past a small town. In Red Clay that runs and stains everything especially when wet. Boots Important. When asked what we wanted to do we asked "Which were we more likely to find anything in the creek or dig?" Answer "the creek we salt there it's just down the hill, the dig site is a couple football fields away your responsible for carrying your own bucket in and you bring it back here to sluice it out.". Guess what, we choose sluicing a bucket included in price and creek. No bubbles were burst we knew about the salting appreciated the honesty,I will be back with a wagon to go dig sometime and start earlier.They rent digging equipment. I feel the fees are fair. When sluicing covered area, the staff are hands on they come around continually to help you identify any gems from the buckets so you don't wash them away, Also show you physical examples of what you may find ex. different quartz, jasper, moonstone, unakite,rubies etc. not just a chart and walk away. For a fee of $5.00 up. you can choose as many extra buckets small or large as you want to do. Some marked sapphire and ruby. After our given bucket was emptied we then went to the creek, yes still pouring our screens and shovels in hand, The canopy of trees kept the rain to a drizzle. A stretch of creek is blocked off but large enough for everyone to separate from other groups. Everyone was friendly and pointing out where, and what If they found anything. Rocks are very slippery, I have the cut elbow to prove it, Relatively shallow but a few holes in the bed where large rocks may have been moved by miners. A baby crawfish was seen ducking back under a rock. Butterflies go by. Lined by beautiful tress and a path for non miners. Dogs are welcome 1 was there helping, in the creek. I accidentally burst someones bubble with the honesty on salting storey. Who knew an adult my age didn't know? I felt bad. She had found a couple large gems, (l didn't know) It's bonding time. Even being soaked enough from rain I'd discarded the raincoat then fallen in the creek and the weight of wet jeans balanced me out, so walking in the water till I found a good rock to sit on for a while digging but my Feet were dry.I had good boots. When it started to get dark we went back for a couple more buckets of sluicing, I looked at the chart realized I'd thrown a couple minerals back into the creek. Enjoyed food we packed in the cooler, and headed home. Still pouring rain. We found some sapphires, agates, garnets quartz, rubies and some others. Not large or expensive but We found them. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Boots for red clay and creek - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

Good fun all around! My biggest tip is to get familiar with the different stones before you do anything (there are lots of rock identification charts around the creek). I waited until the end and found out I tossed aside or ignored a bunch of good ones and definitely a few emeralds. Digging might sound like fun, but lugging buckets of dirt back and forth along the long path with little to no reward isn't. So I say, go creeking! Now, the creek is certainly "maintained" because it's more than easy to find good stones but it's also a lot of fun and the creek is big enough to claim a spot or keep going. Flip flops are good, water shoes would be better. We were happy to find they were dog-friendly as long as they're on a leash. They also cut your stones for you with a 3-8 week wait. I'm getting a pair of 2.5 carat emerald earrings for $150 and that's a damn good deal. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Emeralds - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

Don't come expecting to get rich with awesome gems! But do plan on having a good time playing in the river finding neat rocks! We panned in the river for about three hours before some of us started getting ready to go. We had a really good time. Found several pretty little rocks and the kids loved it read more

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My new husband and I extended our honeymoon to check this place out, and it was worth it. So much fun! Creeking was most enjoyable. We could have stayed out on the creek all day! It's shaded, cool, and refreshing wading in the cold water. Very beautiful and peaceful. Bring a lunch and gloves. We only paid $20 per person for the all inclusive package...creeking, digging, and sleucing. Awesome bargain for the experience! The digging was a little daunting because it's a pretty far walk with a heavy bucket full of wet clay! My hubby got a workout getting the buckets back to the sleucing area. This is why I gave it 4 stars. They really should provide wagons. We found some good gems of a large variety. Pretty rocks we thought were gems lol. My tips: Bring lunch Bring gloves Be prepared for squating (your legs will be sore the next day...in a good way) When creeking move the bigger rocks around, we found some of the best gems under them. read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Fun fun! - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

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So, this place is a joke unless you are just entertaining your kids, then it's fine. But they advertise themselves as this old mine and you can dig in virgin soil or mine in a creek ... Well the reality is, if there's a potential spot for anything, it's closed off. What you are left with is digging and re- digging in more then a decades worth of other peoples digs. Let me put it this way, they say there's 4 acres. Part is roped off for their stuff, a lot of trees takes up space, then there's 'holes' that others have started. Well, you think you're going to continue in Virgin dirt, the dirt was even compacted and hard to dig, until you start digging up garbage, rotting leaves, etc. so we asked a worker if they refill the holes and he kinda admitted to it. I mean if you do the math, how many years they e been open, times the amount of people digging, you'd see a much different landscape after even a decade! The creek is a joke. They seed it on one side 'for the kids' the other side of bridge for adults is basically anything they don't find that makes it's way down.... We didn't find ANYTHING remotely worthy, not even a crystal after 4 hours. We got a workout, that's about it...also, all those videos of 'John' on YouTube is their advertising, your welcome, do NOT WASTE YOUR TIME HERE read more

Disappointed. Paid for a star sapphire bucket a d got ZERO anything. I think we were handed a bucket of dirt. Do yourself a favor and don't bother at the dig site because that's another rip off read more

If this place had good restrooms and maybe a snack shop I would give it 5 stars. It's rustic for sure, but I absolutely loved going. I went a few times and I was never disappointed with what I found. On hot days, I loved how the creek was cool and welcoming with it's canopy of trees. The staff was always upbeat and helpful. Digging for gems and carrying the bucket down to sluice is a lot of work but worth trying. Of course you can also buy a variety of different buckets to sluice for an array of prices. For me though, I found the creek the most enjoyable, peaceful and rewarding. One of my favorite places to spend a day. (they do have a picnic area, so pack a lunch) read more

Emerald Hollow Mine - Jewelry Near Me - Hiddenite, North Carolina

This place was exactly what we wanted. You get a fun, unique experience that is as entertaining as it is educational. My kids were tricked into learning and outdoor exercise which is a win in my book. We did get an enriched bucket for the fam to share after we sluiced all our own findings and the staff was super friendly and helpful in identifying our finds. If you're too lazy to walk and can't deal with getting some dirt on your hands, go to Disney. If you want an authentic activity your family will actually cherish, this is the place. read more

Went here a couple weekends ago and the girl who helped us was SOOOO knowledgeable! We paid for the 150$ bucket and it was totally worth it!!! I left feeling like I learned soooo much and expanded my crystal collection by a lot! Everyone was super nice and friendly, I want to go back already!! read more

This place is fun and I have a lot of memories coming here as a kid when visiting my family in North Carolina. The long dirt road with small wooden signs will eventually lead you to a small place with multiple shack like buildings, and probably some chickens, but no worries, you have arrived. The concept is simple. You can either dig yourself in the creeks, or buy the already dug buckets with prices ranging based on where they were dug up along the creek bed. We usually opt for the easier option, and buy the buckets to sift through. The sifting is usually done on a long bench with square seives with constant water running underneath, so just sit down, and sift and sieve, and who knows what you will find. This is fun for kids and adults a like and a nice way to waste day or afternoon. Who knows, maybe you'll be the possessor of the prized giant emerald like diggers beforehand. read more

Please note: If you think that you are going to load your pockets with enough emeralds and rubies to tell your boss to suck it and retire this is not the place for you. If you are a novice rock hound looking for pretty rocks and a great time for cheap, don't miss it! My Mom and I had the best time here! For $10 each we rinsed our free bucket of dirt at the sluice and spent the rest of the day splashing and digging in the creek finding tons of amethyst, smoky quartz, adventurine, sodalite and a gazillion other pretty rocks. Did we strike it rich? No. Did we have an absolute ball and enjoy a beautiful day together creating memories? YES! Things to know if you go: Take ziploc bags to store your "treasures", gloves if you want to save your fingernails, bug spray, sunscreen, and drinking water. Wear old clothes and old shoes because the creek bank is red clay... I wore water shoes and they worked great on the slick rocks and they rinsed right off. Get there right when the mine opens at 8:30am so you can find a decent place to park, and wander down the creek a ways to avoid the inevitable throng of poorly supervised, screaming school field trip kids...they like to throw rocks... We went all the way to the end of the creek and worked our way back up. If you don't want to play in the creek, you can just sit at the sluice for $5 admission that includes one free bucket of dirt and then buy extra buckets ranging in price from $5 to $100. You can also pay $10 to dig your own dirt and haul it down to the sluice to rinse. So there you go...it's cheap, you're gonna get dirty, but probably not rich. We loved it! read more

We started off by digging our own dirt. This was really the only down side to the day. After about five minutes of digging you realize you have no idea what you are looking for or where to dig. Parts of the area look the surface of the moon, holes everywhere. It's like digging for gold in your back yard, the chance of finding gold may not be statistically zero but it's darn close. It would have been nice to have some pointers from someone who worked there. Short of that, do some research before going. Second we went "creeking." It was a lot of fun if not a little cold. I imagine the creek is packed in the summer. The kids really liked this best and would have liked to have spent the whole day here. The kids had a great time, we will return. read more

When I was young, my dad got really into panning for gold. Seriously. We would vacation in the Sierra Nevadas, not far from Yosemite, and he would hike to a stream early in the morning and pan, and pan, and pan. I would go along with him sometimes to rock-hop and get attacked by mosquitoes. This is what my childhood was made of. These days, sluicing for gemstones takes me back to my days as a wannabe-49er's daughter, and Hiddenite is a great place to do it. The prices are reasonable (especially compared to the ones further west), and I love that you have the option of sluicing from buckets, going to the creek, or digging like one of the Seven Dwarfs. The reason I'm only giving them 3 stars is because of the lapidary. My husband and I took our findings to the lapidary to get something made, and the gentleman who helped us was very nice, but pretty much turned us away. He told us what each stone would look like and how they would make a nice ring or pendant, but when I pressed him for advice on settings and corresponding pricing, he told us to go home and look at their website! So now we have a plastic bag full of rough precious (okay, semiprecious) gemstones. Hi-ho well. read more

New staff = decrease in quality! My husbands family has been mining at Hiddenite for years. Every Spring break we would spend a week divided between Hiddenite, NC and Rose Creek Mine in Franklin, NC. Last year was the first year we only hit Rose Creek and did not get to Hiddenite so we made a point to get there this year. I was extremely disappointed. We did both creeking and sluicing and while the act of looking for gems was fun for all....what we found did not make the trip from Michigan worth it. Comparing to our experience in previous years at Hiddenite, the quality and quantity of gems was severely lacking. We started with sluicing so some of our family who drove down from Virginia, who have never been mining before, can learn what to look for in the creek. The "free" buckets yielded a small handful of gems, but poor quality and too small to work with. I put free in quotes because you actually pay 5 dollars for the bucket as Hiddenite charges a sluicing fee; most mines just charge you for the bucket you want. We decided to buy some specialty buckets figuring we would get better quality in them. We purchased a $250 bucket to split amongst the family. We did get nice sized gems and a variety that can be made into cabochons. However, again from past experience, the amount and quality of gems we got in the past would have been typical of a $100 bucket...not one that cost over twice that. My mother in law purchased the faceting bucket for $100. The purpose of this bucket is to get gems that are better quality and can be faceted for rings. Her bucket consisted of leftover pieces of gems that were cloudy and full of inclusions. Nothing from her bucket was faceting quality. Only difference between hers and the "free" buckets were the gems were bigger. My main reason for the 1 star as opposed to a 2 star was the $25 emerald bucket. My 17 year old son has been mining here for 7 years. Every year he buys himself an emerald bucket and this year was no exception. About halfway through the bucket he had yet to get a single emerald. When he finished the bucket he had one emerald and about 14 chunks of matrix with a little bit of green mixed in. I honestly felt like we were purposely being deceived. Someone who has never mined emeralds before may not know the difference but we did. We went to a worker to complain about the bucket and was informed new people were doing the buckets and they don't know what to put in them. It would have been nice to know this before we spent over $300 on buckets. They gave us another emerald bucket for free and it yielded only 2 emeralds. My son was very disappointed. We decided to leave sluicing and head to the creek. We stayed in the creek from 12pm to 6pm. The picnic table was nice to have lunch on and the water was refreshing on the hot day. But after 6 hours in the creek we walked away with a sandwich bag of gems, none bigger than a 50 cent piece. Again in the past the creek had been enriched/salted so those in the creek would come away having found at least something nice. The general consensus from our party was the creek was not being enriched anymore and we were fortunate to even find the few gems we did. Again, for someone doing it for the first time it will feel very rewarding, but having mined in the creek before, we noticed a marked changed not for the better. The physical act of sluicing and creaking was very enjoyable, but the fruits of our labor and money was severely lacking. For first timers, even the small buckets can yield happy outcomes, but for those of us who have been coming here for years and plan to spend large sums of money, Hiddenite has taken a turn for the worse. The quality of the gems is not worth the dent left in ones wallet and the quantity is laughable. There was 13 of us on the mining trip this year and unfortunately, that is 13 less customers Hiddenite will have in the future. Perhaps, the new people need time too work out their kinks, but for now we can not justify spending the kind of money Hiddenite is asking for when we can get better quality and quantity of gems at other mines for a fraction of the cost. Hopefully, there will come a time when we can once again visit Hiddenite and not leave disappointed but I don't suspect it will be any time soon. read more

Very big disappointment. Not really into sluicing when things have been put into the buckets as treasures. Seems as though not much to find . Did some creek mining but found absolutely nothing. read more