CelisKissel491

Rock gathering wasn't area of the plan. Neither was arrowhead hunting. Then we met Felix. He was a Indian, he told us, whose family had moved from Mexico. Now he was residing in a classic RV. He was there to enjoy the hot springs, like us. The Arizona desert has significantly more than just hot springs hidden inside it though.

We shared meals and campfires for per week, and he then took I and my wife Ana to the wilderness showing us historical metates (grain-grinding stones) and arrowheads. In addition, we discovered Apache Tears, Fire Agate, and hundreds of other beautiful stones of every sort. These were just sleeping scattered in the desert after he showed us the proper places.

Irina, a self-described "rainbow kid," who'd been living in her vehicle for weeks, rode with Felix in his old pickup. Ana and I used in our truck. Two hours at the initial end yeilded several beautiful stones, and a couple of items of old pottery. The recent rain had made the stones and artifacts be noticeable, washing them clean.

Ana and Irina found odd pieces which may have been arrowheads. The old pottery pieces I discovered could not compare with Felix's half of a pot decorated with an elaborate design. Almost certainly, it had been more than 100 years old. Felix was constantly seeing things we missed.

Arrowhead Hunting

Felix showed us ruins of an old Pony Express station. Long-forgotten and unmarked, the grass-and-mud-block walls were still partially standing. I looked aound, and understood the we still had not seen one other car. There are several isolated places in Arizona. Because Felix insisted the building could have been fired upon by arrows, we began arrowhead shopping across the ruins.

Behind the ruins, and up the mountain, Felix showed us stones with six-inch wide holes in them. They certainly were a foot deep or more, completely round, and full of water. Water storage had been their function, he explained, and he and Irina drank the water collected in them. We like fewer insects in our water, so we watched the valley below, and just enjoyed this peaceful spot.

We'd some luck searching for arrowheads and rocks, although not like Felix. We did find a huge selection of pieces of art, but all very plain looking. Felix found pottery that had beautiful designs about it, and metates. He also found a small, perfectly made, clear quartz arrowhead. It had probably been employed to hunt small birds 2 hundred years earlier.

We each wandered a little, and later, one at a time, returned to the van to cook beans with immediate rice on our camp stove. Then we said our goodbyes, and dealt handles. while we went another way with bags of stones, an antler, and two broken arrowheads, felix and Irina returned to the hotsprings.

Notes:

You can look for arrowheads and ancient art, but it might be illegal to help keep any items today. Venture out after a rain and you can view Fire-agate and Apache Teardrops sleeping on the sand. There are a few selected rockhound areas in southeastern Arizona. The BLM office in Safford can give you more info on where to go for the most effective rock collecting. advertisers