The United States’ Overlapping March Hunts

Buckle up folks, with two falls of of background data, personal thought, a recap of my Wadsworth Ohio hunt and plenty of finder Q and A from folks in both strewnfields I think this is my longest article so far. The answers to the Q and A I found impressive, I tried to cast a wide net  from first time finders, to my first time having an international contributor, this one is a long read!

For those that stalk American bolides, March started like any other, watching the American Meteor Society’s Event Log for early signs of a brewing meteorite hunt. March proved itself to be quite an exciting month of bolides.

The elevated level of long duration bolides with spectacular fragmentation in incandescent flight didn’t go unnoticed. The sentiment was quite evident by how often it came up as a topic of conversation while walking alongside other meteorite hunters in Ohio. The sentiment was echoed in private chats, and on social media too.  Everyone everywhere was wondering aloud what is going on? The uptick “feel” expressed by those who watch AMS, was the subject of a great quantifying analysis towards the end of the month by Mike Hankey. The analysis covered the entire first quarter of 2026 but focused on the especially intense March period. A lot of chasers are accustomed to an annual minor boon in activity in February. This year however, we traded in that February boon for full blown March monsoon of stones. If you are data driven like I am the analysis is available here and is a great read.

Wadsworth Ohio (Eucrite Monomict)

Since the 26 June 2025 fall of McDonough Georgia, the US has gone fall-less. That is 264 days for those counting. The bad luck of a fall dry spell changed on March 17^th, so I like to think it’s the luck of the Irish that changed it.  On Saint Patty’s Day a bright daytime fireball ripped across the morning sky at 8:56 local time. It was observed by folks in 14 U.S. states in addition to folks in Ontario Canada as it headed south to terminate flight over Ohio. The Bolide was reported on AMS by 223 individuals and was caught on several doorbell and dash cameras. A high level of reports (25 of the 223) for this fall indicated sound associated with the event too. Unrelated to AMS, a video was posted online showing a pair of dogs getting spooked in Fairview, Ohio as the sonic boom reached ground level. This spectacular bit of media preserved a transient aspect of the bolide often not available to be enjoyed by those who weren’t physically present at the time. The preliminary data was strong enough that the general consensus was there were definitely rocks on the ground and this was a big fall. In short order NASA added a page to its ARES website for the fall, titled Windfall, OH providing a strewnfield map and preliminary information on the asteroid being approximately 2 meters across and weighing approximately 7 tons at time of entry.

The media hype for possible meteorites on the ground for this fall started like many others. Blurry shots of things found on driveways, that happened to be magnetic and weren’t there the day before began showing up on the news and social media. It didn’t take long however for a non-blurry photo to make its way onto Reddit that was, without a doubt meteoritic and was an achondrite to boot. I wanted to touch on some interesting notes from this fall “from afar” before I get into the “afield” accounting. I found it humorous that so many early on “meteowrongs” were being claimed to be “the meteorite from Ohio”. This all with no credible validation being done before publishing that the fall out from that was the fine print warning of “potentially this is a meteorite” started getting slapped on literally everything. That doubt filled label even made it onto some of the best finds of the fall. It was hilarious at least to me, to see a picture of one of Roberto’s finds, a solid candidate for the short list of most amazingly oriented meteorites found tagged as a “possible meteorite” as it made its way around the news and the internet.

A second observation I had during the Ohio fall was that there was way more AI usage go around on this fall than I have ever seen in the meteorite community. Both generative AI images and text “facts” posts festooned my social media for weeks and to be honest it was just about all trash in quality, and obnoxious in its quantity. Generative AI is as good as what it feeds on, and let’s be honest, the broad trained models are indiscriminately fed offal. It showed by how far AI missed the mark on what a meteorite looks like almost every time. Both the bad generated images, and the “good advice” had a negative impact in my opinion when it comes to novice hunters new to the field. Likewise, with the “just curious” general public who saw the news and wanted to try their luck at finding a meteorite who poked their heads into the meteorite community groups to learn more.  Hopefully some of them stick around as fledgling meteorite enthusiasts. Half right info and bad images undoubtedly lead to more folks wasting time picking up and keeping meteowrongs. AI can certainly be a good supplement to learning, the danger lies in not validating its output through critical reasoning and having an independently developed knowledge base to pick out when it’s just plain wrong. The AI used during this fall was not without its merits; its comically goofy images made for a great April Fool’s Day full of “I found the main mass” posts which was a good counter-balance to the instant-experts armed with AI arguing with community veterans online over their meteowrongs and junk info posts.

My own hunt started as so many do, with me in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  For a few weeks leading up to the 17th I had been getting excited to be back out west on work travel in the vicinity of some dry lake beds.  I haven’t been dry lakebed hunting since 2019, so I was looking forward to some short evening searches after work. Being away meant, with my luck, it was the ideal time for the cosmos to send the largest fresh-fall huntable bolide to the Northeast since I started my obsession with meteorites. Getting home on the 19^th I immediately dumped my work travel bag and reconfigured it for meteorite hunting. While packing I was scheming on how I was going to convince my wife that having been gone for a week, and  back home for less than 24 hours, I should be in Ohio as soon as possible. All things considered, I figured I would be extremely lucky to get solid two days in the field if I got anything at all.

As they say, shoot for the stars and you might end up on the moon. What I ended up with was a window of opportunity that eclipsed 36 hours door to door. Just a bit over the 24-hour mark of being home I was strewnfield-bound. This would be my shortest time spent on a chase, so the pressure was on. A find would be my first achondrite personal recovery, something I was enthusiastic about checking off my to-do list. That wasn’t my only lofty goal for this trip however.  My second goal wasn’t just a personal, it was to my knowledge something that hasn’t ever been done before and had benefits to both hunters and scientists alike. That goal was to make a thin section in the field. That meant in addition to the usual fall hunting stuff, I packed up things I never contemplated taking on a hunt. Things like a portable lapping setup, a re-sectioning saw I made, premixed epoxy, slides and my microscope. I took care of all the last-minute dad/house/husband things that needed doing and started the clock ticking on my 36-hour hunt.

Six hours later, at around 11 PM I was pulling up into the strewnfield. I shook hands with Craig Zlieman for the first time, said hello to Carl Dietrich (and Piper!) who I love running into while hunting and do so often, and got to say congratulations to Brett Cohen in person on his first finds. With a third of my time being tied up in transit I didn’t plan to spend much of my time in Ohio sleeping, thus the night time meetup. Who needs rest anyways when you have great company and high lumen lights? We wrapped up the search of our first location, and it was an ideal time to hedge my bets on my second goal, the thin section in the field. Should I find only a whole individual (super positive thinking me), or worse, nothing at all (realistic me), I picked up a tabular little .29 gram fragment off Carl before he departed for the evening. Nothing shady at all, just some guys in a dark parking lot, exchanging a small baggie for cash after carefully weighing things out on a gram scale…

Brett and I pushed on till 2 AM before calling it quits that evening. I graciously gave myself the luxury of a three-hour nap and then was back out before the sun was up to start exploring the northern “small end” of the strewnfield. Hunt meteorites long enough, and you will have encounters of the law enforcement kind. This hunt provided me my second such encounter. It happened right after finishing my sweep of the first neighborhood I chose to hunt. I was sitting in my car at the end of a cul-de-sac searching google maps for where I wanted to head next, when a cop car pulled up behind me. I knew instantly some of my precious limited time would be spent answering questions. For anyone thinking about hunting, or just getting started and who hasn’t had such an experience I recommend you be prepared. And for that I have a few pieces of advice: 1) ID at the ready, 2) scale and sample baggies, the innocent but suspicious stuff out of sight, 3) don’t expect friendly vibes but be prepared to give them, 4) don’t be surprised to be talked to about previous encounters try to leave a good impression, it can be a community service towards other hunters, and 5) be a science ambassador if the opportunity presents itself.

The officer I encountered was a bit “just the facts” which wasn’t unexpected.  At a little past 6 AM it is either early in the shift to be investigating things, or late in a shift to be investigating things. “Can I ask you what you are doing out here?” was asked while a visual scan of my vehicle’s interior was simultaneously being conducted (clean uncluttered car interior, rule 2, check). That was followed by “got ID on you?” (already out and sitting next to me rule 1 check). “Another PA person, there are a lot of you out here, you weren’t stopped the other day?” I explained that it wasn’t me, I had just arrived a few hours ago (rule 4 check). After explaining I was looking for meteorites and had stuck to walking up and down the public road (contrary to the call of suspicious individual trespassing), and even had checked the no parking before 6 am sign to make sure I was doing everything legally. The encounter ended with the cop confirming I had done nothing wrong and was free to go about my business. I headed to my next stop, a community park, when low and behold a cop car pulled into the lot. Talk about giving me weird vibes, I made the best of it (rule 3) and I made contact this time just to make sure things were copesetic. We talked for a decent bit, and he was more friendly this go around, he mentioned he had bought a magnet for his son to help him look for pieces and that being the case, I saw an opportunity to execute rule 5. I gave him some advice on what to look, showed him pictures of legit finds and the pieces of slag that were meteowrongs, and the link to the ARES strewnfield map so he was looking in the right places. Down a bit more time but glad I had been able to provide him with good information and insight that might help him and his kid find a piece I got back to searching the park. I know of at least three police encounters from this trip, with no adverse results for the individuals involved, point is a meteorite hunt is a lot of extra activity in an area. Be prepared for the potential scrutiny of your activity and try not to adversely affect the overall hunting conditions by making a bad impression of bolide chasers.

At the park I ran into Jason Bliss, it is always fun to meet new folks you know online for years but have never run across in person. After that I made a quick jaunt down to the large southern end of the strewnfield to meet up with Carl as we had discussed the night prior. After some hard thinking, I decided I needed to spend the precious little time I had remaining back north in the small individuals territory to increase my chances of making a find. To put the length of the field into perspective, it’s about 20 minutes’ drive from one end to the other if you are doing the speed limit, and I had just done it twice, time was ticking away.

Around 10:30 am, I checked goal 1 and found my first achondrite. Find #1 for me was a bit of an anti-climactic moment. I noticed the undeniable look of a highly fragmented smashed stone from about 4 feet away. Not the perfect little undamaged pea I had been dreaming of, but a meteorite is a meteorite, and I had just found one meaning I wasn’t going home skunked. The rest of the hunt day for me was spent more in wonder of how beautiful the weather happened to be that day. This was in stark contrast to my previous overly warm or overly cold hunts but certainly was not the experience of all the hunters before or after me. As this fall had hail, snow and tornado warnings for those who stayed longer than I did.  Midafternoon John Divelbliss, another PA collector and friend of mine met up with Roberto and I. Together we went to hunt the small end and that’s when I found my second piece around 2:30 PM. The second stone was about ¼ of an individual and was a 1/3 of a gram, despite extensively searching the area I could not find the rest of the stone. By 5 Pm I was tired and figured it was a good time to call it quits hunting and to start focusing on goal 2 making a field thin section.

The Pennsylvania Hunters All Assembled

Up to this point, hand specimen shots have been what was available coming out of the strewnfield. Sometimes field images are helpful when in focus and of high quality with scale items and details. Other times low quality images add to the confusion on what type a new fall might be. Though hand specimen photos are useful, they fall short of the usefulness in learning about a meteorite’s characteristics like shock and composition that a thin section provides clues on. Thin sections are still a cornerstone aspect of many classifications, and the time it takes to get a slide made can often be a substantial idle time that slows down the classification process. Thin sections have grown a collector following, but are for the most part, still the laboratory diagnostic/analytical tool they were first intended as.

A major divide in the world of geology is the split between field work and lab work. Meteorite hunting is solidly field work, and up till now, thin section making was firmly lab work. But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if the delay factor slide making often entail could be cut out and at least some of scientific information gleaned from a thin section could be  available almost immediately by closing the physical gap between find and section making? My goals for section making in the field were pretty simple, create an optically acceptable slide, getting microphotographs and distributing the shots I typically like to share in a matter of hours after a find, instead of several weeks to months which is typical. Getting a look inside from the field helps hunters stay motivated to potentially stay and hunt longer equating to more finds. It also benefits scientists with some early on visual indicators of type before type specimens are in hand. The caveat to the whole slide in the field concept was I would consider it a failure if cut loss for the field processing wasn’t close to that of my standard process. This wasn’t about trading time for materiel; it was about maintaining the same standards while eliminating time and not relying on several pieces of high-end precision cutting and grinding equipment used when I am making slides at home. As far as loss, in addition to the one completed slide I got finished, I had .2mm of material mounted on two additional slides ready for grinding, and the tiniest bit of an end cut left on the epoxy and glass mount ready to be adhered to a fourth slide, so definitely no excessive material loss.

Two and a half hours later I took some quick shots and hastily packed my section making tools back into the car as I was already running late for dinner. Meteorite hunting dinner gatherings are by far my favorite part of hunting (with a few finds under my belt over the years, dinners are more exciting to me than making a find to be honest with you). This dinner exceeded expectations, as it was by far the most well-attended one I have been to.  I got to hang out and catch up with folks I haven’t seen since previous hunts in Georgia, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Canada along with seeing other folks I haven’t run into since my last trip out to Tucson far too long ago. Equally as fun was getting to meet in person some more folks I talk to online but have never run across, like Steven Dixey.

Seeing as we had the whole back room of the place to ourselves and everyone was showing off their finds, I figured it would be interesting to break out the scope and let everyone check out the thin section firsthand rather than looking at the few photos I had taken. I happened to have a whole slew of slides with me I was dropping off to two other hunters, so in addition to the new fall, just about all the fun achondrite types were there for viewing. The scope in the field proved to be a great time. It got a whole lot of usage at dinner, and I think it will become a standard packed item for future hunts. Dinner was, however, just getting going, and there were a few bigger surprises for the evening. Sharing shots of a section from the field is neat, getting asked if it can be used for classification while in the field was the absolute pinnacle of my concept of expedited sectioning helping science. The other surprise of the evening was that while we were there, the world’s newest fall had just been dethroned of its title. Wadsworth had become the world’s second newest fall, with the confirmation that a meteorite had hit a house in Houston Tx. My trip ended with a stop off at Marissa’s to take extinction photos of the new fall to help with classification and with me getting home in time to put away my St Patrick’s day meteorite finds and go enjoy our town’s St Patrick’s Day Parade with my family.

Houston (P) Texas

The Houston Bolide was another bright daytime event. 186 individuals reported the bolide to AMS, of which 37 reported audible effects.  Unique to this being a Texas fall, and Texas being as big as it is; unlike most other events where 100 reports would typically span several states. In this case all the reports on this fireball were from within Texas. Pinpointing the location of the fall was not hard considering a ~1 Kg fragment went through the James family’s roof and was immediately discovered upon investigation of the calamitous noise in the house.

The NASA ARES page puts this bolide right at the meteoroid/asteroid dividing line, 3 feet across.  It is estimated that this second bolide started its entry at round one ton, and the predicted strewnfield was much more compact than the Ohio fall. Initial looks at the interior of broken pieces of the stone look to be a higher petrology ordinary chondrite.

It was nice to see a few things from the Houston fall. Even if I was only reading about them from afar.  Mark Fries, who puts together the NASA ARES pages, was out and at it again finding meteorites. His posted maps make him in a big way responsible for getting information out to the masses and help get stones recovered quickly. That part wasn’t much of a surprise, but it was nice to see an LPI post that a large contingent of other scientists from LPI, Rice University, and other NASA employees were taking part in a systematic search of the area and finding success.

A second aspect of the Houston fall I found refreshing was a collaborative effort between a local rock shop (Katy’s) and Bell Geospace, allowing finders to bring in their potential finds for confirmation. With microscope and XRF on site, it looks like the filtering of meteorites vs meteowrongs was done quite well, with three pieces confirmed, and lots of wrongs properly identified as such. In turn for validation, the information on find locations helps to solidify strewnfield mapping and also ensure find information like total know weight is more accurate.

The final interesting aspect to me of the Houston fall was the importance of documenting the details surrounding a find.  In this case the recounting of the house smashing hammerstone sheds some light even if only antidotally on the huge amount of energy retained by a decent size meteor as it terminates flight. Much like the Titusville NJ fall of a few years back, this stone left three distinct bits of damage in the room it came to rest in.  First, it proceeded to smash through the ceiling to make entry, then after rebounding off the floor, it retained enough energy to make it all the way back up to the ceiling to create an additional damaged spot before falling a second time and coming to rest.

This is the part of the article where I turn over the reins to the other finders, so you can enjoy the highs and lows and insightful things learned by walking endless miles. Supplemented with a healthy dose of finder photos this is the part of these article I like best. I did my best to reach out and get input covering as diverse a cross section of the population of finders as I possibly could, starting with the Ohio hunters and moving to the Houston hunters, hope you enjoy!

Brett Cohen:

How long have you been chasing bolides?

I’ve been chasing meteorites for 6 years.

How many hunts have you been on?

I’ve been on 6 hunts.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

I heard about it the morning it happened and was on the road that same evening.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

It took me about 8 hours to get from PA to Ohio, with multiple stops along the way to charge the EV.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

I found a total of 5 stones weighing a total of 14.04g.

Was this your first ever find? If so, did the find go as you had envisioned?

This was my first meteorite find, and it went as envisioned.  Thanks to the help of those who built the maps for us, I was able to do a lot of research the night-of, which helped with planning the following 13 days to come.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

It was a sight to see because it was when we all started to realize these meteorites were not ordinary chondrites, but beautifully crusted and shaped Eucrites.  The more I found, the more excited I would get as I viewed them closer since each one was unique in their own special way.

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

I was fortunate enough to find one of the rare spikey meteorites, with stunning spikes circling 360 degrees around the entire stone.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

The comradery was especially present during this trip, with many of us finding meteorites and sharing the excitement together.   It’s always fun to meet the people you’ve spoken to for years, finally face to face during such an exciting moment in time.

Any funny or interesting details from the field you want to share with the readers not directly related to your finds?

Standing on top of Steve Arnold’s back to search roof gutters for meteorites, as well as almost renting an airplane to circle the strewnfield to find “the big one”.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

Watching Mike Kelly in my Airbnb make a thin section of the Ohio meteorite just days after it fell, which was located in the strewnfield!

Carl Dietrich

How long have you been chasing bolides?

Since 2022, almost four years now.

How many hunts have you been on? If you don’t know the exact number what is the ballpark number?

At least 20 if not more by now.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

Maybe three hours? I had a vet appointment to take my dog to, so I left that night. If I’d had an open schedule I’d have left within an hour of finding out.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

It was 9 hours, about 500 miles from SC. Not the worst but driving does more or less eat up a whole day.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

I found 2 individuals, broken into about 1,000 pieces. One had hit on asphalt, and because they’re so friable it just burst into a pile of dust.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

“Wow! Hard to miss those,” was most of what I felt finding these.

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

I’d never found a (stony) achondrite before this fall, so that was really cool for me. It’s a really gorgeous Eucrite, and it’ll probably be the only fresh achondrite I find for quite some time.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

First achondrite! Lots more locals hunting this one than most times.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

Just getting to hang out with everyone at dinner, I love when we all get together on a hunt.

Jason Bliss

How long have you been chasing bolides?

My first was Hamburg, Michigan – January 16th, 2018. Which unfortunately I was unsuccessful on my first hunt.

How many hunts have you been on? If you don’t know the exact number what is the ballpark number?

Medina, Ohio was my second real hunt.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

I originally heard of the fireball through the Facebook group Meteorite Club when it fell on St. Patrick’s Day. I waited till the first strewnfield maps came out to consider driving down to look but after the first finds by Roberto Vargas were posted, I knew I had to go. After being involved with meteorites for 10 years and multiple classifications, finding a meteorite myself was the last thing that I hadn’t achieved yet. 

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

I traveled 200 miles from Howell, Michigan with my wife and 4 daughters 3 days after the fall.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

We searched all Friday with no success but on Saturday I finally found one! It was on the very north end of the strewnfield. It weighed 0.4g.

Was this your first ever find? If so did the find go as you had envisioned?

There was so much asphalt roads in the area which made it difficult to hunt on them due to the dark color similarity. I decided to look for an area with lighter colored pavement hoping it make it easier to see. I found a light-colored residential street which was rare in that area. We parked on the side of the road and after about 50 ft of walking, there it was sticking out like a sore thumb.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece?

The moment I saw it, I knew it was the real deal. I picked it up yelled in excitement and bolted running to our truck. I was shaking and all smiles. I immediately called over Michael Farmer to confirm my find. And within a couple minutes he arrived and confirmed it as authentic and congratulated me. I was so happy the rest of the day. I said to my family nothing could bring me down from my happiness.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

Later that evening many meteorite hunters and finders all got together for a dinner party showing our finds and stories, an experience I’ll never forget.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

I’d say probably one of the best and memorable things of the trip was finally meeting all the people I had been Facebook meteorite friends with over the past 10 years. The hunting was exhausting and fun, but it was the people in the meteorite community that really made the experience amazing.

Mark Lyon

How long have you been chasing bolides?

My first fall was almost immediately after I got involved in meteorites, Aguas Zarcas, a rare CM2 that fell in Costa Rica in 2019.  It was a huge fall with pieces everywhere, but also a bit difficult to hunt because you were either in the rain forest or in people’s private fields.  I quickly decided it was easier just to buy pieces from the locals who literally formed a line to sell them, and I very quickly accumulated several kilos of stunning pieces. I thought all falls would be like that, but there has never been one like that again.  In fact, the one that resembles it most closely would probably be this Ohio one – interesting meteorite (some pieces are the most beautiful I have ever seen) and, at least in the first few days, people were finding them everywhere.   In fact, many of the people who were at this hunt (Roberto Vargas, Mike Farmer, Dustin Dickens, and others) were at the Aguas Zarcas hunt.

How many hunts have you been on? If you don’t know the exact number what is the ballpark number?

I’ve probably been on about 10, only about 6 of which people have found anything.  There are a lot more dedicated hunters out there than me, and these days I usually tend to only go if there is something exciting about it (rare type, large fall, etc) and usually only after people have found something.  The way I feel it, is there is benefit to being one of the first ones there (to find road-smashers or meteorites just obviously exposed in the middle of the grass,) but, failing that, it doesn’t always hurt to wait a few days until people have a more clear idea of where and how to hunt.  It might not be the most romantic strategy, but it’s a pragmatic one.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

I heard about it the morning that it happened, and it was immediately on my radar because I heard that it was big.  That afternoon, Professor Laurance Garvey at ASU sent me a photo of a piece of one, and once I realized it was not just a eucrite but an insanely beautiful one with very distinctive shape and features in the fusion crust, I knew I had to go.  I was on a plane at 8 am the following morning.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

From Mesa, AZ.  About 7 hours of flying if you include the layover.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

In total, I found around four small pieces, and I acquired about 15 total through the finds and purchases from locals.  What was great about this fall, though, wasn’t just me finding stuff but the fact that I got to be physically present hunting with three separate friends of mine for whom this was their very first find.

Was this your first ever find? If so did the find go as you had envisioned?

It wasn’t my first find, but to me it was my best one.  I tend to only care about historic meteorites if they have a distinctive appearance (am not a huge chaser of OC’s that all look more or less the same) and, as I’ve said before, this is an amazing meteorite.  In terms of whether the find went as I’d envisioned, this is one of the first times I’ve been hunting really small pieces (except for fragments of meteorites that have been smashed by hitting stuff) and also my first time hunting a non-magnetic one.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

The day I flew in there was about 20 minutes of daylight left during which I found my first tiny individual – so my first thought was “wow, this is going to be easy.”  It was like 5 days until I found another one, a bigger one but still only around 4 grams, and my feeling then was relief that I seemed to be finding them again.

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

I already discussed this a bit, but this meteorite has some of the best orientation and fusion crust I have ever seen, as well as some very unique features to the fusion crust for which I think Roberto Vargas coined the term “crusticles”

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

This isn’t really “unique” about this hunt but this hunt is where I noticed it most clearly.  Throughout my 7 years of meteorite hunting, one of the great joys has always been getting together with fellow meteorite hunters, but although I felt that although there used to be also a more “cut-throat” competitive element I feel meteorite hunting has been becoming more and more a cooperative experience.  I’m not sure why I am so obsessed with Roberto Vargas today (I’ve mentioned him three times) but I think he has had a big hand in it, organizing daily “hunter” dinners where people discuss the day and make plans for the next one.  He has also chosen not to hunt with a singular “clan”, hunting instead with different groups each day, being shown and sharing new ideas for engaging in the particular hunt, and I think others increasingly are starting to emulate his example.

Any funny or interesting details from the field you want to share with the readers not directly related to your finds?

After I flew out to Ohio, I met up with Johnathan Wald, who co-founded meteoritestudies.com with me.  I believe it was his first meteorite hunt (or at least his first find) and, as we hunted, we were making videos for our Meteorite Studies YouTube page.  Rather than posting the intended video, I accidentally posted a video I had made where he thought he’d found a meteorite (I wanted to document it) but it turned out to be some sort of animal feces. The video got roughly 20 times the number of views as any other video we had made.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

I was hunting with Jana Becker in the nature reserve and we’d both gone about 4 days without finding anything.  Although she had hunted old strewn fields and found stuff, she had never hunted a new fall before, and she was getting kind of down because she’d been so excited about the possibility of finding her first fresh meteorite and now it looked like she was going to go home empty handed.  I called her up to remind her that the nature preserve we were on closed at 6pm, and we had to leave if we were going to get our car out of there, but before I had a chance to say anything into the phone I heard her gleeful scream of “I just found a meteorite.”  It immediately transformed the mood of the remainder of the hunt.

Marissa Fanady

How long have you been chasing bolides?

Never. This was my first time.

How many hunts have you been on?

I’ve only been on two hunts.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield

I heard about it from my sister. She called while I was sleeping and told me that a meteor happened. As soon as I knew potential meteorites survived, I made plans to go asap.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

Only twenty minutes away from my home.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

I found ten pieces totaling 7.224g

Was this your first ever find? If so did the find go as you had envisioned?

No.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

I felt overwhelming joy. Most of the finds are fuzzy in memory because it all felt like a dream. The joy I experienced finding my first one was just as strong as all the others.

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

Yes, this will likely be my only fireball chase because I don’t have the means to travel. This meteorite also has the characteristic spiky fusion crust.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

Only that it was my first fall.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

The best memory I have is meeting up with my fellow hunters and friends for dinner. I was excited to see my meteorite family and see what they found, but I was the only one who had made any finds at our table. I found eight in one area, so I was very surprised that nobody else found any.

Kryspin Kmieciak

How long have you been chasing bolides?

I have been interested in meteorites since 2012, I became interested after my first trip to Oman. As you know, I’m from Poland. I found the first Polish Antonin meteorite in 2021, only one specimen. 350 grams. Also in 2025, I found the Drelów meteorite, 77 grams and 290 grams. I’ve searched for the Polish Morasko meteorite many times, with success. I live in Śrem, so it’s close to the ellipse. I’ve searched for the Łowicz meteorite, without success, and the Swedish Adalen meteorite, without success. I’ve been to several meteorite falls in Germany, even in Koblenz. also In Germany, in Ribbeck I found specimens of 57 grams, 16 grams and the main mass weighing 225 grams! I’ve also hunted for meteorites in Spain and Peru. In Russia, I found the Ozerki meteorites in 2018. two pieces.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

I found out about the fall in Ohio via the internet in our online groups.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

I didn’t arrive at the fall site until March 27th, even though the fall itself occurred on March 17th. Ten days is a long time. The most difficult challenge of those eleven days was arriving at the site itself – a journey filled with excitement but also uncertainty. I’m from Śrem, so the route was long: first by bus to Poznań, then a five-hour train to Krakow, an overnight stay in Krakow, as a flight to Munich was waiting the next day, and from there a ten-hour flight to Chicago. From Chicago, it was another six-hour drive to the site of the fall. The route took us through three states: Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, all the way to Cleveland, specifically to Medina.

How many pieces/grams total did you find?

It took me four days to find the first specimen. With each passing day, my hope of finding anything diminished. Local searchers focused on easily accessible locations, such as parking lots near large factories and golf courses. They found very small fragments there, which would be virtually impossible to locate in a dense forest or meadow with tall grass. After my arrival, I checked these areas, but they turned out to be empty, and the golf course was already off-limits to searchers. I had to think of a plan B. So I focused on cultivated fields—places where no one had searched before. So, after four days, I found the first specimen in the field, weighing 1.3 grams. I found a total of eight specimens, weighing 22.4 grams.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

Finding something billions of years old and flown from space is an extraordinary feeling, full of euphoria and even tears of joy. Being able to touch such a space rock and being the first human to come into contact with a meteorite is incredible—an experience that must be experienced.

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

This meteorite was different from the Ribbeck and Antonin meteorites, as I mentioned earlier. In the case of the Ribbeck meteorite near Berlin, everyone initially searched for black stones for five days. When I arrived at the fall site, the first aubrite was discovered. It was characterized by a white-gray color, was very brittle, and had a transparent fusion crust. Only this discovery showed that it was time to look for “white stones.” I also remember seeing mounds of discarded white rocks by the roadside, collected by amateur scavengers in the hope of finding a meteorite. I picked up the Antonin meteorite by accident – ​​it was an ordinary chondrite. It was light-side up and looked like terrestrial basalt, the kind you might find along railway tracks. Only when I looked closely did I see a darker crust underneath and a bright center. That’s when I knew I had a meteorite. These meteorites are very specific. They have a glassy, ​​ridged, almost black shell that sparkles in the sun as if sprinkled with glitter, like tiny pieces of glass. They’re striking, clearly out of place in their surroundings. When you pick them up, you can see the glassy, ​​hardened fusion crust—field stones or flints don’t look like this.

Any funny or interesting details from the field you want to share with the readers not directly related to your finds?

One of the funniest situations was when I was running away in my wellies through the mud from a raccoon that started running towards me!

Also, the weather was changeable: one day it was rain and frost – sleeping in the car that night was a real challenge – and two days later it was summer, with temperatures reaching 27°C. Searching in the rain and wind, in the mud where the ground in the field caves in and sucks in rubber boots, was the hardest part. Furthermore, wet rocks, seeds, and pits – everything glistened with water, looked black, and resembled a meteorite, making identification difficult. The locals are quite distrustful, so many fields and private gardens haven’t been searched. This is frustrating because the meteorites lying there will be lost forever. As for the physical fatigue, my legs are a bit sore, but I’m used to walking from dawn to sunset. Moments of doubt creep in but hope always prevails. Even if I don’t find a specimen in the first few days, my motivation stays with me until the very end, until the last hour spent in the field. You can’t give up – that’s how I am.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

These meteorites are relatively lightweight. The most remarkable is the last specimen. It was 6:00 PM, the last day of the search, with about an hour left until nightfall. Furthermore, a storm was approaching, and sirens were warning of a possible tornado. I was eager to find something to end the expedition. I wandered around the field until, at 6:23 PM, I found a beautiful, oriented, mushroom-shaped specimen weighing almost 4 grams (3.95 g to be exact). It had an unusual black, very glassy shell and, in some places, traces of gas bubbles, giving it a somewhat slag-like appearance—something truly incredible.

Shawn Kashay

How long have you been chasing bolides?

I am new to the chase, but I have been cheering from the sidelines for many years. Anytime I would see a report of a fireball, I would hope my fellow meteorite friends and hunters were able to recover material if there were indeed rocks on the ground.

How many hunts have you been on?

This would technically only be my second hunt in a strewn field. There was a promising strewn field on August 8th, 2011, just 15 minutes from my home that I put some effort into, but nothing was recovered.

This fresh fall gave me a much better understanding of how truly difficult it is to hunt a projected strewn field. It also made me realize just how improbable it would have been to recover anything from that earlier hunt after more than a decade of weather and vegetation growth.

How did you hear about this fireball, and how long after did you head to the strewn field?

This brings back a lot of emotion. My girlfriend Jenna texted me just minutes after the boom was heard over Cleveland, where she was working. What’s funny is that about a week before that, the Germany hunt was going on, and I had literally prayed for the universe to bring one close to me. The irony is that when I heard about this, I had just packed my car for a long road trip to explore the Carolina mountains and then headed to Naples, Florida, to visit my brother.

I suddenly had a dilemma. Do I stay and hunt what might be my closest chance at a fresh fall, with all signs pointing to stones on the ground, or do I continue with a trip I had planned to experience new places, climb mountains, explore towns, and face unforeseen challenges? The trip was something I had been looking forward to deeply, especially ending it with my twin brother, who I missed dearly.

In my heart, I felt I had to see the road trip through, so I drove in the opposite direction. It was a hard decision, and it followed me the entire trip. I tried to block it out, but the noise was loud. Every time I opened social media, I was flooded with updates, with friends and colleagues traveling to the strewn field and recovering some of the most wildly oriented meteorites ever seen. I couldn’t wait to get back home and try for myself.

So, to finally answer the question, I arrived at the strewn field on Tuesday, March 24th, around 4 a.m., exactly one week later. I drove straight from Florida directly to the field before even going home. It was 20 degrees, the ground was frozen, and it was pitch black, but I still tried my best. It was a tough start and probably one I rushed, but it marked day one in the strewn field.

How far did you have to travel to get to the strewn field?

The simple answer is that the strewn field is only 64 miles from my home, just over an hour away. The more comical answer, considering the trip, is 3,008 miles over 7 days.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

My first find was on April 17th, a 0.63 gram fragment. That same day, I recovered seven more stones, one of which had some of those out-of-this-world spiky features. On my next trip, I recovered three more, which brought my total to just over 11 grams. One of those had a beautiful, fat, rolled-over skirt orientation. Most recently, on April 20th, I found five more stones. In total: 16 stones recovered, 22.45 grams.

Was this your first ever find? Did it go as you had envisioned?

This was my very first meteorite that I have ever found. Like most things in life, it didn’t go exactly as I envisioned, but I did know I wasn’t going to stop until I was successful. That being said, I was not prepared for the challenges and the reality of hunting meteorites, especially this one.

This meteorite came in fast, and the angle it came in with, combined with the winds, made this strewn field very long. The friable nature of the stone caused it to break apart even more than normal, making it rain down very small pieces. I believe the friability, speed, and size are what made this fusion crust and its features so unbelievably striking and unique.

This led to many obstacles. Easily accessible locations were very quickly and thoroughly hunted. Each passing day of spring coming into full bloom made it harder to see those small, precious space treasures. The weather brought heavy rain, wind, and even snow. There was also a lot of gatekeeping around where stones were found, which is understandable, even if it was frustrating at times.

Gaining permission to search fields gave you hope, but at the same time, a bit of dread. I spent days on a 48-acre field and found nothing, even though the ground conditions were perfect. I marched through swamps and woods, crossed logs over streams and rivers, got covered in ticks, dealt with sunburn, and put roughly 150 miles on foot, scanning everything in a grid pattern.

It took me 25 days to find my first stone, and by then I was at a low point, very close to quitting. It became easy to get in my head about it not working out. The drive home each time got tougher, and my morale was wearing down. I kept asking myself how much more I could take and how much time I should keep taking away from my life and family to chase this goal. It even started to feel like I had made a mistake going to Florida.

All I can say is this. After 8 years of searching for meteorites, two strewn fields, one fresh hunt, and years of being in this space, follow your heart, trust your instincts, and think intelligently before giving up. If you want something badly enough and you have the means to make it happen, it will happen. Those 25 days of experiences I will never forget led to one of my biggest personal goals being achieved.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your pieces? Did that change with later finds?

The first stone I found was surprisingly calm. I knew once I saw one, I would know, and sure enough, I knew immediately. I called Jenna, and she said, “You don’t sound as excited as I thought you would be.” But the truth is, I was extremely excited. It just came in waves. I started processing everything I had gone through to achieve it, the years in this field, the years searching, going to Florida when the hunt was in my backyard, and then the last 25 days of pushing through some of the toughest challenges I have faced. Once I worked through that wave of emotion, I celebrated.

Within an hour, I found seven more. After that, every stone I found felt electric. Like picking up cosmic treasure. I am a small-time dealer, but my business name is Fallen Treasure Meteorites, and it felt even more fitting than when I first came up with it. There is no feeling quite like it.

Any particulars about this meteorite that set it apart from others you have found or in your collection?

I touched on this a little, but out of the thousands of meteorites I have owned, I have never seen fusion crust and orientation like this. I have had many HEDs with very fresh, glassy, rippling, lipping crust, but these are different. The crust is thick, and the way it flows into these spikes, along with how pronounced the lipping is, makes them truly unique. They look alien. They look like art. They evoke emotion.

While this is a rarer fresh fall, it being an HED or eucrite is not what makes it rare in itself. Compared to some other types, they are not the rarest. But it is these wild orientation characteristics that, in my opinion, make this a very special and ultra rare meteorite.

I love that it happened in my home state, that it became nationwide news, and that there was so much provenance and collaboration. It made it feel like a truly historic and once-in-a-lifetime fall and hunt. Many congrats to others who found some as well.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

Considering this was really my first hunt, I would say all of it felt unique. But what stood out most to me were the people. I have been in the meteorite world for a while but had never gotten to meet many of the people I had interacted with over the years in person. The first hunter I met was Tony from Michigan, then I ran into Larry in the woods, and finally I picked up Steve Arnold, who introduced me to Carl. It was truly a pleasure picking Steve’s brain, spending some time with him, and getting inspiration and motivation from him. I owe him credit for planting seeds of curiosity and showing me new ways to think about where to search.

I also teamed up with Ron, who I can honestly call a friend. He put many miles on foot in with me and is a huge reason I was able to cover more ground efficiently. I was also fortunate enough to help lead him to finding his first meteorites.

To all the locals, I had nothing but great experiences. I was almost always greeted with a smile, curiosity, and a willingness to give permission, offer advice, or share what they knew had already been hunted.

There was also a lot of collaboration from my friends who had already left the hunt but still took the time to share what had been thoroughly searched. That was incredibly helpful in narrowing down places to focus, which is ultimately one of the only ways to find stones in a hunt like this.

So a big thanks to Jim for the KML files for Google Earth, and to Matt, Roberto, Brett, Fred, Marcus, Blair, Kryspin, Mathew B., Chris, Jason, Kazimierz, Jeff, Rogan, and anyone else who took the time to help online.

Lastly, I want to be sure to thank Daniel Sheikh for making sure that 11 of my 16 stones were cataloged as part of this classification. I think his work and approach to the new Ohio meteorite made this extra special and fun to be a part of.

Any funny or interesting details from the field not directly related to your finds?

Some of the funniest moments came during peak exhaustion, when my eyes had simply had enough of looking for small black objects. The number of times I poked animal dung, picked up nut shells, or checked leaves was unreal. Those were the moments I realized my eyes needed a break.

The more interesting moments were how close I got to wildlife, the variety of animal skeletons I came across, fossils dating back hundreds of millions of years, a possible artifact I was lucky enough to notice, and all the interesting rocks I picked up along the way. Nature is incredible, and so is the past.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

Aside from finding meteorites, my all-time favorite memory was getting to hunt with my son on two occasions and the love of my life on three. Their support, encouragement, and involvement are the only reasons I was able to have the space and freedom to achieve this goal. I truly believe that without them, this would not have been possible. I will always remember our time together in the field, and I hope the future brings many more hunts like that.

Roberto Vargas Wadsworth and Houston(P)

How long have you been chasing bolides?

My first bolide chase was in 2019. Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica.

How many hunts have you been on?

If you don’t know the exact number what is the ballpark number? I actually don’t know the exact number. I can remember 24 fireball chases. I am sure there have been a couple more.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

I heard about the Ohio fall the morning it fell. A collector, and friend, in Brazil reached out to me an hour after it fell. I decided almost immediately that I was going to hunt it. I live in Connecticut, and Ohio is a driveable distance. The fireball was an impressive daytime event, and there was good radar data.

I heard about the Houston fall the day it fell. I was in the Wadsworth strewn field with hunters. However, I did not go to hunt it right away, as I did not feel it was smart to leave Ohio to go hunt Houston, which looked like it would be an ordinary chondrite. It was not until I had been home for a week that I decided to go to Houston. I made the decision on April 4th and arrived in the strewn field on April 7th.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

The Ohio strewn field is 8.5 hours from my house. I arrived in Sharon Center before sunrise the morning after the fall.

The Houston strewn field required a flight from Connecticut to Detroit, Michigan and then from Michigan to Houston. I left at 5:30am (EST) and arrived in Houston at 10:51am (CDT) and I was in the strewn field by noon.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?

For the Ohio hunt, I made a total of 12 finds, totaling around 25g. For the Houston hunt, I made a total of 3 finds, totaling 6g

Was this your first ever find? If so did the find go as you had envisioned?

This was not my first find. I made my first find in 2022.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

For Ohio, it had been a rough day, making that first find in Ohio replenished my spirits. My second find left me in awe. Every find after that was great!

My first find of the Houston meteorite was not very satisfying. It was fragments of someone else’s find. My second and third finds in Houston were very rewarding.

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

Wadsworth was my first non-ordinary chondrite find. I see the rust on my Houston find as a testament to my decision to wait two and a half weeks to hunt it.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

For the Ohio hunt, there were so many hunters there that the hunters’ dinners were extremely well-attended and served as a great place for hunters to exchange information and finds. For the Houston fall, there were very few hunters there. It was basically just me and Steve, with another hunter from Texas showing up one day to hunt with us.

Any funny or interesting details from the field you want to share with the readers not directly related to your finds?

For the Ohio fall, all of the big finds were made by locals or first-timers. We joked around that the locals were showing us meteorite hunters how it was done.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

My best memory was the hunter’s dinner at Great Oaks Tavern, on March 21st. Michael Kelly made a thin section of the meteorite and broke out his microscope at the dinner. Everyone was able to get their first look at this meteorite under magnification and cross polarized light, in the strewn field, just 4 days after it fell. Coincidentally enough, another meteorite fell that same day in Houston.

David Gonzales Houston (P)

How long have you been chasing bolides?

This was my 3rd time trying to find meteorites based on ground reports and radar returns and my first success.  I had learned a lot from Dr. Marc Fries’ pioneering work on finding meteorites via radar over the years.  I keep a series of tools in a computer folder called “Meteorite Hunting Rapid Response Kit”   It includes links to fireball observations, wind data, sources of radar data, software and analytical tools that I pull out when I see an interesting potential fall, especially one close by.

How did you hear about this fireball and how long after hearing about it did you decide to head to the strewnfield?

I heard about it the same day it happened.   I saw multiple videos of the bright daytime fireball along with reports of sonic booms.  When I saw that a hammerstone had struck the roof of a house, I knew this would be a good candidate to hunt.

How far/long did you have to travel to get to the strewnfield?

I live in San Antonio Texas. The strewnfield is 221 miles away, a 3 hour and 45-minute drive.

How many pieces and what total grams did you find?  Was this your first ever find? If so, did the find go as you had envisioned?

I was able to recover 3 different meteorites from this Houston fall.  The first one struck a public parking lot and shattered into a few chunks.  I was gridding out open areas under radar returns when I spotted it.  I immediately recognized the jet-black fusion crust and grey interior.  As I got closer, I noticed it was a breccia with impact melt between chunks of lighter material.  It was my first time finding a meteorite, so I was super excited.  I put on some gloves and loaded pieces (and crumbs) into one of the clean ziplock bags I had brought in case of success.  Luckily it had landed in a non-parking zone in the lot so was spared from the destruction of weekend vehicles.

I spotted the second one about 3 hours later.  By this point I had been picking up lots of meteowrongs to examine.  Some included asphalt chunks, pieces of trash bags, tar chunks, random black rocks, acorns and pieces of dark plastic. Funny enough when I picked up the second meteorite, I was initially a bit annoyed, expecting a meteowrong. As soon as I rotated it, I immediately noticed it was a meteorite with deep regmaglypts, a real beauty.  It was fully fusion crusted and had a great shape.

The third one would come a few hours later. I was walking along a road when I spotted the jet black fusion crust of a fragment along with the same highly contrasted interior. I picked it up, documented it with photos, bagged it with gloves and continued the hunt. After a bit more walking I came to the realization that it might have fragmented on impact rather than in air since there was no secondary fusion crust on the broken surface. I went back the same spot and started finding more fragments scattered around.  It turned out this meteorite had actually struck high up the side of a building, likely leaving a visible mark before pieces had fallen down onto the road.  This made it a hammerstone! A couple of pieces had been run over as well and I recovered these as well.  Some dust was even on the underside of a tire on a parked car.

What emotions and thoughts went through your head when you found your piece(s) if you found multiple pieces did your emotions/thoughts change with subsequent finds?

Hunts are definitely a roller coaster. The first day I searched I didn’t find anything. I stayed overnight at a friend’s house then found my first meteorite within 15 minutes of going where I thought the best chance to find them would be. This was an exciting moment, and I think I yelled out “Let’s go!” Anyone nearby would have wondered what was happening with me. It was also uplifting to know I was in the right spot. I was still on a bit of a high from this first find, listening to music when I found the second one. The periods between finds make you start to question things. Am I still under the radar returns? Did the wind move the meteorites? Is this fall low density? This bit of uncertainty builds with each step until the next find.    

Any particulars about this meteorite that sets it apart from the others you have found or that are in your collection?

This meteorite is by far the freshest find I have in my collection, discovered less than 48 hours after falling. The fusion crust is super dark and the interior matrix is pristine with zero rusting or oxidation. It’s also special to find this meteorite in Texas, my home state.

Anything unique you experienced on this hunt that set it apart from other hunts?

I hit a lot of firsts on this hunt: 1) Found my first meteorite. 2) Found my first fully fusion crusted individual. 3) Found my first hammerstone that had hit a building. 4) Donated my first material as a type specimen for classification to Rice University in Houston. 5)  Got to watch the scientific electron microprobe work as the sample’s minerals and composition was explored for the first time. Thanks to Linda Fries for arranging this. The classification results might surprise some people as well.

Any funny or interesting details from the field you want to share with the readers not directly related to your finds?

While hunting, I took time to meet and speak with other meteorite hunters. It was fun having different conversations and collaborating on find locations. I hoped as much as possible could be recovered before the first rains. In these conversations I ended up getting interviewed and put on the national news. I did about a 20-minute interview but only about 20 seconds made it on. After doing this I kept hunting and made my 3rd meteorite find. One thing I wasn’t expecting is that a reporter ended up hiding near my car awaiting my return. She popped up out of nowhere and ran up to me just as I was backing away to go to another spot.  She was hoping to catch me to film the actual meteorites. I pulled back in and was happy to show the fully crusted individual I had found earlier.

Got a best memory from the hunt?

One interesting discovery I made on later days happened as I was checking out ground near Meyer Park. I was gridding the area looking down and picking up anything that caught my interest. A nearby woman asked me if I had lost my pet snake. I informed her that I had not in fact lost any snake. She then let me know that my snake was over near her. On walking closer, I spotted the snake she was referring to. In front of me was a snake with orange patterning and a copper-colored head. It was a venomous Copperhead. I took some pictures from a safe distance while nearby walkers and runners had entertaining hoots and reactions upon seeing it.   Exploring out in nature always has its surprises.