By Bill Hirst.

 

Each year, tens of thousands of meteorites hit the Earth. They are worth a lot of dollars to the finders. In fact, they are worth more than gold. You might say they are black gold. This is your chance to find one. You will also be able to say that you have entered the Twilight Zone.

Did you ever go on a strange vacation? Well, this one is out of this world. When you come to Truth or Consequences to see the new space station that will launch tourists into space, do a little walking to find space junk and meteorites on our ranch. Hunting for meteorites does not have to be a bone-chilling adventure to the Antarctic, where the temperature is 50 degrees below zero F, and the winds are 50 miles per hour. Meteors enter the Earth’s atmosphere everywhere. They impact everywhere. The trick to finding them is to look where they have had a good chance of impacting, or where natural forces of the earth have concentrated them, and they have not been destroyed by weathering.

This means deserts are a good place to search for meteorites. Deserts can change over the centuries. But deserts don’t always have major weathering. Thus, if you want to find meteorites, you may want to come to our Truth or Consequences Ranch. It is located in New Mexico, adjacent to the Chihuahuan Desert. There are trillions and trillions of terrestrial rocks for each meteorite that could be in this area. Many professional meteorite hunters around the world use metal detectors. Metal detectors can easily distinguish between ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Since not all meteorites are ferrous, only the ferrous meteorites will be found by the metal detector. Modern metal detectors can balance out dominant background rocks. This helps the detector find meteorites. Metal detectors create a constant hum. The volume and pitch of this hum increase as the detector passes over the metallic object. There are hot rocks that produce a signal, but are false positives. Thus, detecting requires concentration, and you will see lots and lots of hot rocks.

You must also keep an eye out for other interesting rocks, which can be meteorites. It seems that the best way to find meteorites from this area is to use a combination of metal detecting and good old-fashioned shoe-leather foot searching. The weather is not hard to predict for the Truth or Consequences area. Don’t bother to bring a raincoat; it only rains 10″ per year. The winters are mild, as it is Southern New Mexico. It could get to 10F, but not for many days of the year. A clear sky with a gentle breeze is the norm.

You can see Bill’s website for unusual travelers at http://www.huntingrelics.com

 

©2005 Bill Hirst, updated March 2026.