On August 14th, 2026, at around 12:49am local time, a meteor was spotted over Sims Corner, Washington. It was a large fireball with what looked like multiple fragmentation events, the event was caught on camera and radar, and people reported hearing/experiencing sonic booms. When I heard about it, I got a little excited. I reached out to some people and decided not to hunt it right away. I needed to get ready for the Denver Gem and Mineral Show, and the NASA report said it was a “low mass fall.” A quick look at Google Street View was all I needed to see that if anything made it to the ground, it was going to be a nightmare to hunt. There wasn’t much public land, it was remote, and it was on the opposite coast.
“I don’t need to be the first on this one,” I told myself. I figured if anything was found, I’d reconsider. I did, however, stay in contact with Rob Wesel and Allison Scalese, who, along with others, went and hunted it within days of the event. Unfortunately, nothing was found.
Then, on September 8th, I learned that Anton Clemens had found three pieces. I wasn’t surprised. He’s a very good hunter! (https://ab186ddb-43a4-40e6-8d61-c435429bb236.filesusr.com/ugd/14181105b42bdb380a49b0_a800920494ce7bec.pdf)
Stones had been found, but I was scheduled to go to Denver on the 9th, so I decided I’d wait and see if anything else was found. I’m a U.S. witnessed falls collector, so I NEEDED a piece of this one for my personal collection. Hopefully, more would be found and I’d be able to get one.
So, I went to Denver and hung out with Mark Lyon, Craig Zlimen, Ashley Leonard, John Humphries, Jonathan Wald, Carl Dietrich, Blaine Reed, and Thierry Monter from France. Thatwas so much fun! If you’ve never been and you get the chance to go to the Denver show, I highly recommend it!
No other stones were found while I was in Denver, but I kept thinking about it. I brought it up to Thierry and Carl. Carl was dead set on cold hunting, but Thierry, who was planning on doing some hiking and camping after the show anyway, was interested and we basically talked each other into it. We were going to hunt the Sims Corner, Washington fall.
We were originally going to fly into Seattle on Monday the 14th, drive the three and a half hours to the strewn field, and start our hunt on Tuesday the 15th. Thierry was working for Mark and didn’t want to abandon him. When Mark learned that was the only thing stopping Thierry from hitting the road, he assured Thierry that he could manage without him. After all, he still had Ashley, Chris, and his son MJ, who were doing a great job.So we ended up leaving Denver for Seattle on Sunday the 13th, rented a truck, and started driving to the strewn field. Another hunter, Richard Kimbell, whom I first met on the Muskogee, Oklahoma, meteorite hunt, would meet us there. Richard lives within driving distance and had already been to the strewn field shortly after the fall. He had done a phenomenal job getting permissions, so as a team, we were well prepared for the best chance of success.
Two hours out of Seattle, an hour and a half from the strewn field, our rental truck’s tire blew out! We had to pull over. To be fair, we were also exhausted. It was 2am and we were in the middle of nowhere. Roadside assistance didn’t show up until 8am. Within half an hour, we were back en route!
We met Richard on private land he had gotten permission to search. We also scoped out another area that looked very promising based on the NASA trajectory. Mark Fries had been gracious enough to help me with a downloadable version of the map that he had posted on the ARES website: (https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-falls/), so we went to work.
Richard went into town to get us permission for the promising-looking land. Thierry and I finally started walking along the main road that runs through Sims Corner at 10am. I was on the left side and Thierry was on the right, heading north. At 10:23am, I looked left and saw a black rock!
I dropped to the ground and screamed for Thierry. In disbelief, he looked at it and immediately confirmed. I found my first piece of this fall. I was only the second person to find one, and it was on the month-iversary of atmospheric entry. This was the fourth stone found of this fall. It wasmore than just a meteorite; it was VERY VALUABLE information. Anton had provided encouragement and was very helpful, but nobody just gives out coordinates. Now, half an hourinto the strewn field, we had coordinates of our own! Richard called five minutes later. He had gotten permission. It was timed, limited, and strict, but it was permission to hunt great ground. We told Richard about the find and he was thrilled. We had agreed to split finds so that we would either all walk away with something or all get skunked. With one find so soon, we were sure we were in a great spot. “There must be tons!” we told ourselves. The stone was beautiful: 21.7g at the time (21.5g dry), fully crusted. A BEAUTY! Richard came back with written permission, so we started working the land. We gridded it systematically and went hard, logging 30,000 steps in the remaining hours of sunlight. We made no more finds that day. Frustrating. That night, Thierry and I camped out under the stars. Washington State is such a beautiful place.
The next day, we started a little after sunrise. We went to where I had found the first one the previous day and started gridding. Thierry was to my left and Richard was to my right, about 6 feet apart from one another. Within an hour, I spotted our second stone! The stone was right on top of the hard ground, secondary fusion crust up. It was a beautifully broken 16.3g stone with primary and secondary fusion crusts and a late-stage break with no fusion crust. Unmistakable and probably unmissable, had anyone walked past it. This was good ground.
Again, an early find was followed by a hard day with no other finds. I couldn’t camp out again. I was tired and needed a shower, so we decided to get rooms in Coulee City, about half an hour from the strewn field. Literally the only place within miles.
I decided that Wednesday would be my last day on the hunt, since I had other commitments I could not reschedule. That morning, Richard left. I also got in contact with Derek Fischer and his dad, Scott, who didn’t live too far away and also had permission to hunt good land. Unfortunately, no other finds were made that day. I had to go. I had found two stones, and that would have to do.
Thierry and Richard were gracious enough to let me keep my first stone intact. They each took half of the 16.3g stone, even though that fell a couple of grams short of the agreed-upon 40/30/30 split. Anton also very generously agreed to provide the classification sample. Had he insisted I contribute, I would have had to cut my first find, which would have been heartbreaking. I owe him one, for sure!
In all, it was a great hunt! Hard as heck, but a forever memory. I didn’t make any money, but I didn’t get skunked, and I got a beautiful piece for my personal U.S. witnessed fall collection. To date, a total of 5 stones have been found, with a current total known weight of ~135g. As a bonus, my flight got delayed and I got the coolest tour of Seattle from an old-time collector/dealer/hunter from Seattle.
