01/24/2025
What was the most amazing thing you found, saw, or discovered that wasn’t a rock while you were out rockhounding?
We're looking for stories (and pics if you have them) toshare with our Community Voices segment. So often when we're out, the best things we find or see aren't rocks at all and we'd love to hear what you guys have encountered.
Here’s my (Craig McClarren's) story: the wife and I were traveling across the western US on the super cheap almost 10 years ago, camping on public land most of the way. In Idaho, we went way out of our way to visit City of Rocks to do a little rock climbing and hiking. That night, we didn’t bother with the tent and just slept on a rocky outcrop under the stars.
As we were lying down, a bright light pierced the sky over the far western horizon. It streaked crazily fast across the sky. I woke my wife and she grabbed my glasses off of my face so she could look. I let her have them for a few seconds and then grabbed them back, lol. About half way across the sky, it broke into 2 pieces: one seeming to fly upward and yellow in color, breaking into a trail of objects that slowly blinked out, and the other a radiant green color that continued on.
That was July 27, 2016. The following link has the story about the Chinese rocket that came in and a link of its own to someone else’s video of that event. We didn’t get any pics or video, we were too stunned and fighting over who would wear my glasses to see it in focus! This pic is of my gorgeous wife trying to sleep in the next morning. Being married to a geologist isn't for everyone! https://www.space.com/33581-amazing-fireball-from-chinese-rocket-space-junk-video.html
