| > | | | | fired upon by arrows. |
| | | | Up the hill behind the ruins, Felix showed us rocks with |
| We weren't planning to go rock and arrowhead hunting | | | | six-inch wide holes a foot deep or more, and perfectly |
| in Arizona. My wife and I just liked that hotspring in the | | | | round. They were filled with water - their purpose, |
| desert. It was agood place to escape the Michigan | | | | according to Felix. We like water with fewer bugs, but |
| winter for a while. | | | | he and Irina drank the water collected in them. It was a |
| Then we met Felix, an old Mayan Indian living in an old | | | | peaceful spot, overlooking the valley below. |
| RV. After sharing meals and campfires for a week, he | | | | Arrowhead Hunting Success |
| took us into the desert to show us ancient metates | | | | Over the hill, we had some luck searching for rocks |
| (grain-grinding stones) and arrowheads. We also found | | | | and arrowheads, but not like Felix. We saw hundreds |
| hundreds of beautiful rocks of every type, including | | | | of pieces of pottery, but all very plain looking. He found |
| Apache Tears, Fire Agate, and various quartzes. | | | | pottery that had beautiful designs on it, and metates. |
| Irina, a nineteen-year-old "rainbow kid," who had been | | | | He found a tiny clear quartz arrowhead, perfectly |
| living in her van for months, rode with Felix in his old | | | | made, that had probably been used to hunt small birds |
| pickup. We took our van. We spent two hours at the | | | | two hundred years earlier. |
| first stop. The recent rain had made the rocks and | | | | Each of us wandered a bit. Ana and I made it back to |
| artifacts stand out, washing them clean. We were | | | | the van first, and when Irina and Felix returned, we |
| mostly just rock collecting. | | | | cooked beans with instant rice on our camp stove. |
| Irina and my wife Ana found odd pieces that may | | | | After the meal, we said goodbyes, and traded |
| have been arrowheads. We found old pottery pieces | | | | addresses. They went back to the hotsprings, while |
| too, and Felix came back with half of a pot painted | | | | we headed the other way with bags of rocks, an |
| with an intricate design. It was probably hundreds of | | | | antelope antler, and two broken arrowheads. |
| years old. Felix had been in the desert for years, and | | | | Notes: |
| kept seeing things we missed. | | | | For interesting rocks, go out after a rain and you can |
| Pony Express Ruins | | | | see Fire-agate and Apache Teardrops laying on the |
| At our second stop, Felix showed us ruins of an old | | | | sand. For the best rock collecting, visit the designated |
| Pony Express station. Unmarked and forgotten, the | | | | rockhound areas in southeastern Arizona. As for |
| grass-and-mud-block walls were still partially standing. I | | | | arrowhead hunting, and ancient pottery, enjoy yourself, |
| realized we still hadn't seen a single other car. There | | | | but it may be illegal to keep any artifacts now. The |
| are some isolated areas in Arizona, and this is one of | | | | BLM office in Safford can give you directions and |
| them. We started arrowhead hunting around the ruins, | | | | more information. |
| because Felix insisted the building would have been | | | | |