This article originally appeared in the Feb. 2007 issue of Meteorite magazine
By Ruben Garcia
Me and my 732 gram individual, found only 5 minutes into the hunt.
Like a child anticipating Christmas I couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving to arrive, but not just for all of the usual reasons. While I do love spending time with my family on Thanksgiving, this Thanksgiving was different. This year I had just discovered a small strewn field, and the day after Thanksgiving I was going to go back to hunt the area. I really believed that my discovery the week prior might lead to a very large area strewn with meteorites.
I set out bright and early on Friday morning in eager anticipation of the days events. I had invited three friends to join me that also happen to be expert meteorite hunters. If there were more meteorites to be found in the area these were the guys to do it, and I felt good about our odds. The entire time I spent driving to the location was devoted to two things. Those two things were, day dreaming about the possibilities of a giant strewn field, and calling everyone to make sure they were all going to arrive on time.
I had arrived at the area first, but only seconds ahead of one of my very experienced meteorite hunting friends. I choose a place to park and after a brief greeting we begun unloading our supplies. As anyone that has ever hunted with me will tell you, I am a little impatient, so it was no surprise that I was ready first. I had unloaded my four-wheeler, supplies, and the rest of my gear all before my partner had even unloaded his quad.
I tried to sit still atop my quad, and as we chatted, he very meticulously checked all his gear. We talked about “the odds,” you know the conversation, it goes something like this. There must be a large strewn field since the odds of happening across a find like mine merely by chance was small. What was about to happen next would convince us at least for a short time that we were right.
My partner had barely began untying his quad when I started mine, the soft purring of my four-wheeler made me want to begin the hunt. Instead of just watching him, I decided to slowly roam around the general vicinity and begin checking suspicious looking rocks. I had only driven around for about five minutes and was about one hundred feet from our vehicles when it happened again! There it was, an absolutely beautiful meteorite resting precariously on the side of a small hill.
My 732 gram meteorite insitu
Jim's meteorite finds for the day
Looking like some kind of “sign from above,” it was much larger and prettier than any of last weeks meteorite finds. Sitting in plain sight, this individual was solid, completely intact, and just waiting to be found. “Found one!” I screamed just as my partner had finished unloading his quad from the back of his truck. “No you didn’t” he called out in a nervous tone. “Did you?” “Yup, right here!” I replied. “Come look, I haven’t even touched it yet.”
He walked over as fast as he could, confirmed it was a meteorite, and then without a second thought began checking neighboring rocks.” They’ve got to be everywhere!” he exclaimed. I agreed and after some very brief congratulations we continued the search for yet another meteorite.
We had been visually checking rocks in the area for only about half an hour when the rest of the team arrived. We quickly filled them in on the news and we all agreed that there must be more meteorites in the area. After deciding to meet back at a certain time the four of us split up and begun searching. Three of us hunted visually from atop our quads while the other, Jim Kriegh, hunted with a metal detector.
Imagine our disappointment when hours later the three of us reconvened and no one had found even the slightest, smallest, most insignificant fragment of a meteorite. “What gives.” I said. “I thought someone would have found something by now.” Not willing to admit defeat after only a few hours of looking we set out to hunt once again.
We hunted all day, and when the sun set it did so without another meteorite having been found. We all sat around the camp fire that night and again talked about “the odds.” Could I have been so lucky as to find the only meteorite in the area within just a few minutes of looking? We wondered what all this meant and turned in early, hoping the following day would be better.
Morning came and brought with it renewed energy and optimism. We wished each other luck, split up and once again resumed the search. Unfortunately, the positive spirit that we had begun the day with didn’t last long. Hours later when we met again each of us had grown more and more pessimistic about finding another specimen.
Jim listens carefully to his metal detector then uses his magnetic rake to collect the specimen
The day ended, and with the exception of Jim Kriegh, none of us had found any more meteorites. Jim, being much wiser and more patient than the rest of us had found himself an area that he liked very much. It was the same area where my son and I had gathered over four hundred meteorite fragments the week before. He had very painstakingly searched the area with a metal detector and magnetic rake and had found some very nice small meteorites. Jim’s largest find was a pretty individual that weighed just over ten grams, and the total weight of all of his finds combined was one hundred and twenty seven grams.
As we packed our gear in preparation to go home we talked. We all reported seeing many obvious signs that another meteorite hunter or hunters had been in the area. We wondered if “my strewn field” wasn’t mine at all, and in fact had already been discovered by someone else. After last weeks finds I had done some research and found that there had been a meteorite found and classified from the same area years prior. Maybe someone had very quietly hunted the area for years and inadvertently left two untouched areas that I had accidentally stumbled across.
We may never know exactly what happened, but I did know one thing for sure. I knew that I had been very lucky indeed to have found that meteorite Friday morning, as well as the small strewn field one week earlier. I could have easily come home empty handed which happens more often than not as a meteorite hunter. The experience proved to me that even though the odds may be stacked against you, it is still possible to go home a winner.
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