[meteorite-list] My expotition to Meteor Crater

From: tracy latimer <daistiho_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Sep 27 18:05:08 2004
Message-ID: <BAY22-F25X3qrB0Xn2P00011039_at_hotmail.com>

My husband and I set off in the early forenoon from LV to go to Meteor
Crater. The trip took us about 5 hours, not including a lunch break, but
allowing for driving through some thunderstorms the likes of which I hadn't
seen since moving from the mainland 15 years ago. We got to Meteor Crater
about 1 1/2 hours before sunset, 2 hours in front of the band of storms
which had been pursuing us since before Flagstaff, and Jon suggested we take
the time to visit the crater before dark, as we had no idea how long the
rains would linger. I am glad we did so, as the following day was cool and
rainy, negating the planned rim hike (too muddy, the guide said.)

There is still some bad blood between the present owners of the crater and
Nininger; although he is now mentioned in the guidebook, it is in, at best,
neutral terms. There were some veiled accusations of Nininger 'poaching'
Canyon Diablo meteorites after his agreement to search for them on Bar T Bar
ranch land had expired, and some other disputes over the American Meteorite
Museum vs. the gift shop and facility put up on the crater rim. He was not
mentioned at all in any of the other presentations or staff talks, and I
didn't bring up his name. The only spot in the 20 miles around Meteor
Crater that seemed to have cell phone reception was the highest lookout on
the rim, a great place when a lightning storm is approaching! I did go to
the remnants of the American Meteorite Museum, which has a big handmade "No
Trespassing: violators will be jailed" sign in front of the ruins; I decided
they could spare 15 minutes and half a dozen photos anyway. Arizona
hospitality at its finest, maybe provoked by the 2 burned out cars dumped on
the vestiges of Route 66 in front of the ruins, though the ruins themselves
did not seem to be vandalized beyond normal decay. People in search of a
streak plate will be sad to know that remains of the famous Nininger crapper
have apparently been completely removed; the tub, however, is still intact
until someone smashes it. Although I think the old unmaintained and very
potholed Route 66 is still public access, the area outside the right of way
is heavily studded with No Trespassing signs.

The crater is still magnificent. Although tempted, I did not put rare-earth
magnets in my shoes to try to pick up spheroids on the q.t. The gift shop
sells baggies of the dirt from around the crater, pulverized quartz with a
light sprinkling of ash from Sunset Crater and a few spheroids mixed in.
Although the staff seems at least moderately knowledgeable about the
mechanics of the crater, the gift shop was heavily commercial, with t-shirts
and Native American trinkets made in China, without any more scholarly
information than the crater guidebook. The facility is about what you might
expect, a mix of older displays and some modern computer animation. They
show a 20 minute film about the impact and related phenomena in a
substantial auditorium that could easily hold 2-3 busloads of tourists.

We stayed overnight at La Posada, a landmark for anyone interested in the
architecture styles of the Southwest, the history of the Fred Harvey
company, and railroad history in general, returning to Vegas the following
day after another brief stop at the crater. Although the trip was very
damp, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

If you have any interest in our pictures of this trip, including a few taken
at Penn & Teller's magic show, feel free to go to jediknight.com/gallery and
look at the Vegas Trip section.

Tracy Latimer

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Received on Mon 27 Sep 2004 06:04:02 PM PDT