Arrowhead Hunting in Arizona

One year my wife and I went arrowhead hunting, and rock hunting, in Arizona. We were spending some time at a hot spring, camping in our conversion van, when we met Felix, an old Mayan Indian living in an old RV. After sharing meals and campfires with him for a week, he took us into the desert to show us how to find metates (stones once used for grinding grain or mesquite beans) and arrowheads.

Irina, a nineteen-year-old self-described "rainbow kid," who had been traveling and living in her van for months, rode with Felix in his old pickup, while we took our van. We spent two hours at the first stop. It had rained recently, and as Felix had said, this made the rocks and artifacts stand out. We were mostly just hunting for rocks. They were literally laying all over on the ground, having been washed clean by the rain.

There were Apache Tears, Fire Agate, and various quartzes. Felix was intent on filling his pockets, explaining that some of these stones were worth several dollars per pound (and some could be collected by the pound in a short while). We kept a bagful to take home.

We found a few pieces of pottery, again just laying out in the desert sand. Both Irina and my wife Ana found some odd pieces of rock that might have been arrowheads. Felix was off on his own for a while, and came returned with half of a pot that had an intricate design and was probably hundreds of years old. He had been out in this desert for years, and repeatedly saw things that we missed.

Many mile later, at our second stop, Felix showed us the ruins of an old Pony Express station. It was unmarked and forgotten, but the grass-and-mud-block walls were still partially there. Up to this point in the day, we still hadn't seen a single other car (later one drove by in the distance). There are some truly isolated areas in Arizona, and this is one of them. We began arrowhead hunting around the ruins, because Felix insisted that the building would have been fired upon by arrows.

We headed up the hill behind the ruins, and found rocks that had six-inch wide holes drilled in them a foot deep or more by residents long gone. They were perfectly round, and filled with water, which was their purpose, according to Felix. We like our water with fewer bugs, but he and Irina drank straight from the water collected in them. We rested there for a while, because it was a very peaceful spot, overlooking the valley below.

We moved up and over the hill, and had some luck in our search for pretty rocks and arrowheads, and also found hundreds of pieces of broken pottery (no exaggeration), but all very plain looking. Felix found ancient pottery that had beautiful designs on it. He found metates. He found a tiny clear quartz arrowhead, perfectly made, that had been used to hunt small birds perhaps two hundred years earlier.

Each of us wandered our own way at some point. Ana and I were the first to make it back to the van, and when Irina and Felix returned, we cooked beans and instant rice with our camp stove.

With or without somebody to guide you, you can have a great time exploring and treasure hunting in the deserts of the southwest. We found more interesting rocks than we wanted to carry. There are designated "rockhound" areas in southeastern Arizona. The BLM office in Safford can give you directions and more information. Go out after it has recently rained and you can see Fire-agate and Apache Teardrops laying on the sand. These you can keep.

As for arrowhead hunting, and finding ancient pottery or other artifacts, enjoy yourself, but it may not be legal to keep them. Of course. you can take photos. Felix admitted to allowing at least one of his metates to be taken from a yard sale, and receiving a $200 "donation" later, but he claims there are special rules for Native Americans.