Wow! That’s all I can say. What a great meteorite hunting adventure! My girlfriend Jaime and I took a trip out to Arizona to hunt for meteorites in the Franconia and Gold Basin strewn-fields in January 2008 and we both found our first meteorites from each respective field! I've hunted and found lots of meteorites in Arizona but the Franconia meteorite still eluded me and I had never hunted Gold Basin before. Skunked more times than I care to count Jaime beat me to it in Franconia. But I caught up the next day with my first find from the Gold Basin strewnfield. These two days were absolutely fun, and the experiences hunting meteorites in these two meteorite strewnfields are something Jaime and I will never forget.
I want to start out by giving a BIG THANKS! To Mike Miller and Wayne Holmes for their great help in the hunt. Without their help this trip would not have been possible. Thanks also to Ruben Garcia for the coordinates great advice on where to hunt. We really appreciate it.
The planned hunt was for two days, in two major strewn fields, one day at Franconia, and one at Gold Basin. We had been planning on heading out to Arizona to hunt the fields for a couple months and finally got a chance to go so we grabbed it. We emailed Mike to let him know we would be coming out his way and he graciously invited us over to his place, and offered to put us up for the weekend so we wouldn’t have to spend the cash on hotels. What a guy!
After ironing out the details with Mike for the Franconia part of the hunt, We contacted Wayne Holmes and let him know we were coming out to his neck of the woods and asked him if he wanted to meet up in Gold Basin that Sunday. He was excited and glad to hear we were coming. Wayne and I had been working together on his meteorite website and mine for quite some time and after months we were finally going to get a chance to meet and hunt for meteorites together for the first time. This trip was lining up to be great!
We hit the road about 1:30pm on Friday from San Diego, CA. We took the 15 North to Barstow and headed out the 40 East across the Mojave to Kingman, AZ. Jaime and I were now well on our way to our first meteorite hunt together and were seriously excited about it.
We arrived in Kingman around 6:30pm AZ time and were welcomed into Mikes home for dinner and some great meteorite talk! We talked for some time about all kinds of meteorite stuff, and after having some of the best darned beef stew we ever ate, we hit the sack early. Not only had Mike offered to put us up for the night, but he also let us borrow his Gold Bug 2 metal detectors for the Franconia part of the trip since we didn’t have our own equipment yet. Wow!
We awoke to a crisp and cool AZ morning. The temperature was 28° and a promise of 55° as a high with clear blue sunny skies. Perfect weather for meteorite hunting according to Mike! We were on the road around 6:45am headed toward Franconia. We joked about finding the BIG one but knew our chances were slim since the field has been hunted so hard over the last few years. Especially recently considering the MASS FRANCONIA hunt the month before in December where more than 20 people hunted for 2 days. We were hoping there might be some left for us.
Later we would find out…
We got to Franconia around 7:30am local time and proceeded to the North side of I-40. There was lots of activity on the railroad tracks so we decided to go back over and hunt the South side for a few hours first. After finding a good area to hunt we set up the equipment grabbed our dig tools, tracked a couple coordinates, and set out across the field. We started swinging the detectors like people on a mission, I was determined to find a Franconia meteorite after being skunked 3 times before. Mike had warned that it was not easy to find anything out there any more, and to not be surprised if we didn’t find anything. We weren’t discouraged and were very much looking forward to simply doing some serious meteorite hunting. I know some people have probably been to the Franconia strewnfield way more than me and know that feeling.
We worked the area pretty thoroughly (I thought) and found lots of hot rocks, .50 cal bullets and a few casings. Also found a few pieces that looked like small irons and threw them in my pouch. Some time and around 12pm we decided to take a quick break and grab a bite to eat. We hiked back the mile or so to the Jeep and made a couple sandwiches and talked about our next move. After lunch we would head over to the North side and try our luck there.
Franconia is an interesting strewn-field area because it is said to be the site of more than one actual strewn-field from multiple meteorite falls (still being researched). It is a subject of debate right now, but the fact is that more than one type of meteorite has been found in the area and this includes some iron meteorites and a few different types of chondrites. This leads people to believe that there are at least two, perhaps more strewnfields overlapping one another. This makes it a great place to hunt even if it is harder to hunt than some places.
After we finished our lunch we were re-energized and ready for more so we headed over to the North side of the field, found a place to park since you can’t really take vehicles on over the tracks and hoofed it out into the north side of the strewnfield. We only had a few hours left to hunt in the afternoon so we didn’t want to go too far. We moved east along the tracks for about ¼ mile or so then headed north about ½ mile until we found a small wash lined with larger tree. We followed the wash for about ¾ of a mile swinging the detector the whole way.
I was amazed at all the “hot rocks”, since this was my first trip to Franconia with a metal detector. It seemed that every two or three sweeps of the detector it was sounding off. I wish I had a dollar for every hot rock I kicked over, I could buy a brand new detector.
After about another hour or so, we were ready for a break. The detector I was using had a massive 14” coil and I had decided not to mount the box on my hip because I figured it wouldn’t make that much of a difference on a short day trip. My mistake! I was tired, my arm was sore, and my back hurt, but I was having fun and it’s way worth a slight back ache to me just to be out hunting.
We had been working our way north-north-east from where we crossed the tracks for about an hour and covered quite a bit of ground. Every now and then I would glance up from my detecting to get my bearings and slowly noticed the freeway getting smaller and smaller. We were probably about 3 miles from the road and I was tired and hungry. I found a very nice rock to rest my backside on, and after checking for snakes I promptly plopped down to rest my weary bones.
As I was looking around I noticed the little creatures I had missed while determinedly searching for meteorites. There were lizards, grasshoppers, beetles, and fortunately for us, no snakes. It was too cold for them anyway. 30 degrees in the morning and the high was now just around 60 or so. A little too cool for the rattlers. I fiddled with my cell phone and tried to make a short phone call to my cousin to gloat a bit about being on a meteorite hunting trip but to no avail, I only got his voicemail. Then as I was taking pictures of the surrounding area Jaime called out to me. “Hey, I think I got one!”
“Huh? Really?” Where?” I asked excitedly.
“Right here!” she exclaimed. Holding up a small stone.
I reached down, snatched up my detector and made a bee-line straight to her. She was holding the stone, rolling it over in her hand and asked me “Do you think it’s a meteorite?” I took a close look at it and sure enough, I said “Baby you just found a meteorite!”
“Are you sure?” she questioned. “Sure!” I said. “I’m fairly certain you just found your first meteorite!”
Boy she was happy about that. “But.” she said. “Look at it, it’s so small…” These aren’t really words a guy wants to here from his girlfriend. Good thing she was talking about the meteorite!
Jaimes 4.7g Franconia H5 Meteorite |
“Baby… I said. “It’s a meteorite!” You just found your first Franconia meteorite, on your first trip! The only problem is that you found one before me!”
We both laughed and she was happy. I was happy for her, she had done something I hadn’t done yet. She had found her first meteorite, on her first trip meteorite hunting in the Franconia strewnfield. Now how cool is that?
After we celebrated a bit, we decided to get back to it. I was renewed with hope for my first Franconia find so off we went swinging our detectors like people on a mission. I had to find a meteorite. I had to. We hunted a while longer and after another couple hours or so it was starting to get late. We had to meet Mike back at his place for dinner. His wife was cooking Lasagna and I sure wasn’t going to miss that!
We decided to head back toward the Jeep. We hunted all the way back to the tracks with no finds. Lots of hot rocks, and hopefuls, but nothing like her little find. It took us about another 1 hour to hike back to the Jeep, during that time we would sometimes stop and look at her meteorite. It may have been small but goodness it was pretty. We knew the chances of finding a meteorite, and that we were hunting the same general area as the big Franconia group hunt a few weeks before, but it didn’t deter us one little bit. We loved it! Jaime was happy, I was happy and we were both having a blast.
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We got back to the Jeep, loaded up, ate a quick snack before the 45 minute drive, and took off towards Mike’s Millers house and hot, simmering, tasty lasagna. I love lasagna.
We got to Mike’s place, unloaded the gear and showed Mike our find, uh-hem, Jaime’s find. Mike confirmed what I already knew and we celebrated a bit on Jaime’s first meteorite find ever. After Jaime and Mike teased me about not finding a meteorite in Franconia yet, we all sat and talked about the day, meteorites in general, and where best to hunt next. Mike showed us some places to hunt, and gave us some tips on hunting the Gold Basin strewnfield the next day.
Our plan was to hunt Franconia, come back, stay the night at Mike's, then head out to Gold Basin first thing in the morning to meet Wayne Holmes at Gold Basin. He had invited us out and we were really looking forward to meeting him. Wayne and I had never met but had been speaking on the phone a lot over the last few months or so about meteorites. He said since we don’t live that far away we ought to come out sometime and hunt. We took him up on the offer.
I wanted to get there between 6-7am, just at sunrise so we could get as much hunting in as possible since we had to drive all the way back to San Diego that afternoon. So at 5:30 we were out of bed, packed our gear, and were on the road 30 minutes later after refueling and grabbing a bite to eat at the local McDonald’s.
I don’t remember how long it took us to get to Gold Basin from Kingman, AZ but it wasn’t long. It did seem though like it took a little while to get across the valley by Red Lake but we got there just in time to see Wayne drive by in his white Geo Tracker and turn onto the road leading to Gold Basin. We flagged each other down, found a spot and parked along the shoulder of the road. Jaime kept asking me, “Is that him? Are you sure that’s him?” I retorted, “If it ain’t we’re both gonna feel real silly.”
It was Wayne alright, and what a character. He’s the kind of guy that you just can’t help but like. He’s a very personable man. Talkative and very knowledgeable about the desert country and surrounding area. I didn’t find out till later that he was once a guide and these were his old stomping grounds. At first glance he’s not a big man, average height and build, but the first thing you certainly notice his big white mustache and beard. Hopping out of his Tracker I recognized him right off. Unmistakably I told Jaime. “That’s Wayne!” I smiled and promptly hopped out of the Jeep and walked quickly over to greet him. “Howdy Wayne!” I said, “Hello there.” He said in one of the most jovial voices I’ve heard. We were now officially friends.
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Wayne Holmes & I At The Famous Gold Basin Street Sign Not Far From The Strewnfield. |
After standing in the icy cold wind talking about meteorites for about 10 minutes or so we decided to get back into our warm vehicles and trek on over to the “hunting spot” he had picked out for us. After about another 20 minutes of driving we were there. We got out and readied our equipment, which consisted of a couple meteorite sticks, and fanny packs. We left the food and water in the Jeep since we weren’t going far from the road. I asked Wayne where he figured we should start looking and he quickly said “Just about anywhere… We’re right in the middle of the strewnfield…” He pointed in a direction and Jaime took off with her meteorite cane in hand.
Wayne and I walked slowly through the area and I scoured the ground with my eyes for the elusive Gold Basin L4 chondrite meteorite. L type meteorites are harder to find than typical H (high iron) meteorites, simply because they have less iron, therefore they are harder to find with a metal detector.
We hunted for about 30 minutes or so and Wayne asked if I wanted to use his detector. He had a nice Whites VSAT with a 10” elliptical coil. The VSAT is a great metal detector to use for hunting meteorites. It’s an oldie but certainly a goodie, and a favorite among meteorite hunters. I said sure, and he helped me hook it up on a chest mount since I had never mounted the box like that before. He explained to me that the VSAT is very sensitive and it’s finicky when ground balancing and the settings had to be “just right” or your could go right over a GB L4 meteorite that is sitting on the surface and you would never know it was there.
This was very helpful information considering I had been using a Fisher Gold Bug II that is very loud and twice as sensitive. I know I would have used the VSAT just as I used the GB2 and probably would have wondered at the end of the day why I hadn’t found anything. Thanks to Wayne I was able to hear the slightest difference in ground noise, and be able to tell what a meteorite sounded like. I would find out first hand in a little while what that would be like.
We hunted on one side of the road for a bit longer, then hunted the opposite side for another couple hours with no luck and decided it was time for a break. We walked the ½ mile back to the Jeep and had sandwiches while deciding where to hunt next. Wayne had found a couple nice pieces the weekend before in this very area and had marked them so he could navigate back to the area. After having a bit to eat we all headed in the direction of the coordinates.
We hunted around for quite some time, as we hunted we talked about meteorites, hunting, fishing, and all kinds of things. We were all having a most enjoyable time, and I was amazed at the knowledge Wayne had of the area. He knew everything about Arizona it seemed. I would quiz him about this or that and he knew right where I was talking about. Impressive.
I was getting tired after 4 hours of swinging the detector and would find myself swinging too high. Every time I would swing the detector too high Wayne was like a drill sergeant.
“Lower…” he would say. “Lower…”, “Keep it scraping the ground.”
Sheesh! I was exhausted after hunting all day the day before and half of this day. Okay, I’ll swing lower… I had remembered reading that it’s wise to check the bushes for meteorites as many people who had been hunting for gold in this area has found funny looking "hot rocks" and simply tossed them aside into bushes and on top of old dig holes. Wayne was quick to remind me. “Swing over near that bush there. Get that one again. Now try that one…” “Lower.” It's always good to check the bushes!
After a while I was beginning to think I might not find a meteorite at all this trip. This kind of gets discouraging. Then you remember what you are looking for and somehow get a sense of renewed hope.
Especially when…
All of a sudden! Brrr, brrrrrrrriip, brrrip, brrrip, went the detector. Wayne said “Wait! Swing that way again. I did as I was told… Brrip, Brrrrip, Brrrrrrrip. “What’s that?” he asked.
“I don’t know…” I replied, “I guess it’s something.” It sounded different than the brrr brrr brrrr whine of the detector as you swing across hot rocks. This was very different. I wasn't familiar enough with the VSAT yet to say what it might be, but the signal was certainly different than all the "nothings" we'd been finding all day.
“Try it again.” he said more intently. BRRRRIP BRRRIP BRRRIP it ripped again. “I think you might have something there.” I was already down on one knee scraping around the surface gravel. I had been swinging the detector in amongst this little group of scrub bushes and this signal was the best one yet. I looked down and could not see under the bush because the branches were in the way. I pushed them to the side with my hand. Then I saw it! Laying right on the surface!
My First Gold Basin L4 Meteorite |
I set the detector down, reached out and plucked up very nice 14 gram Gold Basin L4 meteorite. My first Gold Basin meteorite! Wayne had probably seen it before me but was gracious enough to let me be the one to pick it up since it was my first Gold Basin meteorite find and all.
The meteorite was unmistakable. Chondrules were protruding from the sides and it was partially crusted on the other side. Longish in shape and slightly gold in color… What a nice piece. I yelled out to Jaime that I found one. Wayne congratulated me on my first Gold Basin meteorite, and I promptly thanked him profusely for inviting Jaime and I out to hunt.
We had an excellent time hunting both the Franconia and Gold Basin strewnfields. Two strewnfields, two first finds from each field in two days! Meteorite hunting the way it should be. It was an experience we’ll never forget.
Thanks go out to Mike Miller, Wayne Holmes, Ruben Garcia and all the other hunters out there for all the great advice and tutelage they gave us and of course for allowing us to use equipment we could not yet afford. Since then we have grown our collections and purchased the much needed equipment and are ever ready for the next meteorite hunting trip.
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Maybe one day I’ll be able to pass this knowledge on to someone else and share in the experience of another first find.
