Pecos Diamonds (Artesia)
New Mexico
Find: Pecos Diamonds (double-terminated quartz)
GPS: 32.88954, -104.32098
Nearest city: Roswell, NM
Recommended Vehicle: 4x4
Season: Accessible year round. Cold and windy in Winter. Exceptionally hot in Summer with no shade.
Summary:
Pecos Diamonds are double-terminated quartz crystals that come in a multitude of colors. You can find anything from a pale gray to clusters of brown and reds, as pictured above. They are found in two notable locations - Artesia, NM and Roswell, NM.
There are significant expanses of public land where you can explore to find them. In Artesia, I began my search headed South the highway and later North along Karr Ranch Rd. There are many parcels of public land along the road where there is a plentiful amount of Pecos Diamonds to be discovered.
The GPS coordinates take you to a section of Karr Ranch Rd with a good amount of public land to explore. Use this as a general starting point.
3 Helpful Tools
Classifier
A classifier was great for washing off the little bits of dust (and manure) from the crystals. There are a lot of cows here.
Geology Pick
A geology pick is useful for flipping over embedded stones and prying them out of the ground.
3L Water Bladder
You will likely be walking long distances here and there is no shade. A 3L water bladder was nice to have.
It is mainly flat out here.
In the background are blocks of gypsum.
Here were some of the first Pecos diamonds I found.
This is the gypsum. The Pecos Diamonds are found in areas where this gypsum occurs (Seven Rivers Formation)
The more I walked, the larger pieces I began to find.
Here's what they look like laying in the ground.
The one on the left is still on the matrix.
Another neat matrix piece.
A larger double terminated chunk.
Started finding larger clusters right as the sun was setting.
These were all found in the same vicinity.
Exploring at nighttime with a headlamp. They still stick out pretty easily.
One of my favorite surface finds I've had. These clusters beat my expectations.