Next time you're walking through the woods and you happen to cross a creek bed or something, take a look down on what you're stepping on.

You may be amazed at what you find.

Welcome to Windows to the Wild I'’’m Willem Lange.

I'm going to take a little hike today with some people who share an interest of mine, rocks.

Steve and Stacy spend a lot of time in the woods with Steve'’’s son Nash, looking for little treasures that others of us might just pass by.

Thank you, by the way, for taking me with you today.

Now, what are we going to be looking for?

Well, there's a plethora of minerals out here, as you know, Topaz, smoky quartz, amazonite micro fine crystals.

And the odds of you finding something beautiful here are pretty good.

We might as well dig a little bit for.

Yeah.

Yeah.

after this heavy rain we just had.

Very far in?

.9 miles.

I might be able to make it.

I think you can.

If not, just flatten me with the minerals.

Okay.

Oh, who'’’s going with us?

Who'’’s this guy?

This is my little son, Nash.

He is nine years old.

He's also interested in rocks and minerals, too.

He's is.

He's.

He has autism and ADHD, but, uh, he does all right, good.

I brought him up one of my pet rocks.

Yes, I'm getting rid of mine.

And this is a perfect one for him.

Excellent.

Anxious to see it.

Okay, let's do it.

What do you say?

Let's go Nash.

Steve and Stacy are meeting us in the White Mountain National Forest.

The moat mountain mineral trailhead is a short drive from Conway, New Hampshire.

On the way, there will be on paved and dirt roads.

This will be the Moat mountain mineral collection site.

If you want to collect minerals on the property, you need a U.S. Forest Service permit.

There's no cost and you can find them right at the trailhead when you come to the collection site.

You'’’re required to fill out this little form.

Two tags, one for your pocket, one for your vehicle, and has all your rules and regulations on there for digging on site.

More on the back, which has a number.

So I think so you can tell how many people come here.

But this place, anyone can come.

We've just got to abide by the rules.

No holes deeper than three feet, no digging under big boulders and none under live trees and the opportunity to find some nice stuff is here.

Hopefully we can hit it today.

The bedrock of the White Mountains is both igneous and metamorphic.

Ideal for the formation of crystals Moat Mountains, a popular site with mineral hunters.

It's one of Steve and Stacy's favorite places to dig.

Why would this, of all places, be your favorite?

Just old.

It's grown over meadows is all is it?

Is is the granite that used to be up on the ledge up afar and drizzle down here and is full of lovely minerals that can be found by anyone.

Some people bring up a screen and they'll shovel the dirt into the screen and screen it out.

Try to separate the crystals that way.

That's what it looks like is going on here because the rocks are all different sizes.

Yeah, they got here because of a contact between two subterranean absolutely ground granite and the volcanic cracked.

One was lava, one was magma.

And the magma came up under and because it was restrained, it cooled a little more slowly than it might have when it formed, it had bubbles, the bubbles, crushed air bubbles that fill with liquid, which crystallize into what you're looking for.

Sure.

Which is quartz crystals, fluoride, topaz microclime crystals.

These are type of pockets that are formed along these boulders and stuff.

And over the years, these boulders and stuff have been blown apart in the pockets of crystals and then scattered all around.

That's what people are looking for.

So this is where they start.

Moat mountain began crystallizing its treasures millions of years ago.

Theres a start.

See the crystal on the side of that.

People hunting for them is a far more recent endeavor.

Those places here look kind of like France after the First World War.

The shell holes were digging.

Yeah, and apparently not getting anything.

Well maybe, who knows.

But it's all the tailings are.

Sure.

You know we did find a really old what was that root beer.

A root beer can from the old grocer's IGA.

with a pop top thing on it so explaining to these guys, you can be here digging in the tailings.

Well.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

It's got a good spot right here and then up pops a sardine can or an old soda cans from back in the sixties.

So this place has been mulled over, but there's still people find stuff that, you know, it is here.

How did you get into this?

The beginning, over the years, as a teenager, I really liked Earth Science in high school with Mr. Ed Ludson from my high school and just became fascinated with the crystals and rocks and earth science that's looking good.

And I moved to Northern California and I kind of lost track of the the mineral collecting thing got into to working gold prospecting out there a little bit with dredges and stuff.

A friend of mine has a nice dredge and then when I moved back to New Hampshire and Stacyand I had hooked up and that started the ball rolling again.

And now, ever since then, Stacy and I have been rock hound and crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah, it hardly know it was loaded with precious minerals.

It could be a glacial drift.

So you already found the crystal.

It's very small, smoky quartz hexagonal system, SIo2 You're interested in the same thing, right?

Yes.

Now, what are the odds of that?

I don't know.

Now did you find each other because of crystals or did you find each other first?

But we both love the outdoors.

Oh, okay.

And someone that can keep up with you.

Sometimes he keeps up with me and sometimes I have to keep up with him.

We're a team, though.

What is that?

A Rock.

You have another member of the party?

Yes.

Nash.

Nash.

He's usually entertaining himself around us.

Nash lives with autism.

It's a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, communication and repetitive behaviors.

When Steven and Stacy get outdoo Nash is usually with them, but you do keep an eye on him Yes.

You gotta.

He keeps an eye on us.

Hi, pumpkin.

You want to help Dad get in here?

Okay.

Yeah.

Help me find the crystal.

Yeah, I got a light.

Tell me if you see something black and shiny.

Is he better when he's been outdoors than not?

Oh, definitely.

The activity.

He sleeps better at night when he's outside having fun.

Yeah, but yes, definitely.

He surprised us with a few of the hiking adventures we've been on.

Being able to make it to the summit and not complain too much about it.

Find anything?

What'’’s up there?

Okay.

This is the spot.

A moat mountain mineral site.

Okay, Well, I assume they have.

What are you going to do?

Well, we're going to march our way up here to the left, and there's some nice areas of there.

I think it'll be easy walking for us and we'll find a place to sit down and start scratching a little bit.

Take a walk around.

After all this heavy rain we had there, maybe some beautiful top finds like Stacy just found that little one.

So keep your eyes peeled at the ground.

Shiny stuff.

You definitely want to be careful digging under big boulders because overburden will get you.

Steven and Stacey came well-equipped.

They're ready to dig and scrape and break.

Okay, we got to have gloves, safety glasses which are packed away right now.

A nice mineral hammer, pry tool garden tool for scraping, digging holes.

I usually prefer a £4 hammer, but it's smaller.

Shorter handle.

Yes.

And the picky tool comes very handy if you find a pocket, especially for cleaning it out.

You got to be careful not to scratch it.

Some people use chopsticks.

That's about it.

a never ending search.

People will do it different ways.

Steve likes to break rocks, course and tight.

Sometimes you can pop those open.

I'll look for float, which will be minerals on the surface.

You'll just see here and there.

I just try to follow the trail, see where they originate from.

I just love being outside.

I love the peace and quiet, listening to the birds, listening to the wind, seeing new places.

We explore a lot of different places.

It's just so beautiful.

Everywhere is kind of unique and has its own little ecosystem.

It's fun.

I really like it.

If we're finding something new, it's really exciting.

Finding something like a new Even the quartz has different characteristics for different locations.

Sometimes will have different coatings on it or inclusions.

It's just so much variety.

So you've become to be an expert about where the rocks are from because you spend so much time looking at all the rocks there.

But you know, Steve will show me a rock and ask me where it's from, and I'll know exactly where we got it from.

While Stacy and Steve search for some of Moat Mountain's offerings, Nash is just up the hill making discoveries of his own.

What did you find?

I think he found a batch of worms and a couple of beetles.

A couple shiny rocks, a few mushroom, some mushrooms.

Being outdoors is important to Nash.

He swims hikes and rides horses and with his swimming skills we used to be very nervous about him being in the water and stuff.

And now the past couple of years he's just become very used to it and comfortable with it.

Doesn't scare him, but not overly comfortable.

He's still a little shy.

It was surprising the first time I took him hiking.

I didn't know if he was going to make it to the summit.

Hi, Nash.

He was four years old when we first went up Sugarloaf.

I just kept asking him, do you want to go all the way to the top?

Yes.

Yeah, Let's do it.

Remember Nash, you go to the top of the mountain?

Do you like to go to the summit?

You like to hike?

You'’’re a good hiker.

It's hard to explain when you're part of it because it's.

It's what you do and you don't notice it as being different because that's what you do.

And as you know, as an autistic parent, it's just your job and that's what you do.

So I think one little boy told me one time Henry was his name, and I introduced him to Nash and I said, Nash has autism.

And he goes, Oh, okay.

That means he doesn't have a disability, he has a superpower.

And him and Nash hit it off instantly because that little boy knew about autism.

And it was amazing to see those a normal child.

Oh, what's wrong with that kid?

But Henry latched on to Nash and was working with him with his autism.

That was so amazing.

You can't think there's limitations for him because he can really do whatever we can do.

Like he's gone to the summit of a lot of mountains with us lately.

He likes to take a lot more breaks.

Yeah.

Yeah, he really enjoys it.

We all enjoy it.

It's an adventure.

We like to adventure together.

If somebody wnated to get started in mineral collecting?

How would he do it?

Sure.

I would suggest joining a mineral club.

Then you have opportunities to go on field trips and such to the big mines.

They actually still mine.

And sometimes a club your dues will pay for the trip or each person is has to pay a little bit 20 - 25 bucks.

And then you have an opportunity to find some really nice specimens.

See that guy there?

That's where to do a little research online and your local area and legal areas to go collecting minerals, which we are at moat mountain today a mineral collecting site, which is one of three legal mineral collecting sites in the White Mountain National Forest.

It'’’s here, Lord Hill and Deer Hill.

And there's a good place to start.

Get yourself a bucket, some good tools, some gloves and some ambition.

Okay, so join a club.

Find a club, Join it.

Get interested.

Yep.

Follow them around to get out there.

Right.

Get to get yourself a little more informed with the area and the geology of the area.

Like we're speaking earlier about the.

Oh yeah, the flows and stuff and read and learn how to read maps and identifying minerals.

That's one of the hardest part is being after pulling it out of the dirt, being able to identify it and not just, Yeah, throw it over your shoulder because we've tossed some stuff that we probably shouldn'’’t have over the years.

it's a little piece of a crystal there.

You have to have good eyes, but you can see the sparkle and there's a couple more little ones in there.

A lot of times you leave it in the matrix or leave it in the rock it came in.

People seem to like that just as much as the crystal.

Sometimes you ruin the crystal trying to get it out.

The first time we went to New York, they have crystals.

They're in a really hard dolemite.

So we struggled to break them out of the rock when we should have just left them in the rock.

Just a lot of them did break when we tried to get them out.

Would you like to see that specimen now?

Yeah.

Okay.

This is a piece that my friend Nate Roberts, Steven brought along a smoky quartz crystal that a friend dug up here years ago.

This is a beautiful piece that was found just up the hill from here.

Oh, look at that.

You mean just today?

No, Years ago.

Years ago, I guess.

And back in the sixties, seventies.

So you'll see on the back of this crystal.

Oh, look at that.

Isn'’’t that nice.

See how it's all rehealed on the back here.

Yeah.

That means that that fell off at one time.

The pocket refilled with fluid and then rehealed the back side of the crystal.

Isn't that something.

Oh that's beautiful.

Hmm.

Definitely a gem of a piece.

I don't think you want to make a pendant out of it, you'’’d probably break your sternum.

Yeah.

This is a museum piece as far as quality wise.

Yeah.

I love it.

It is beautiful.

I love any crystals that are rehealed on the back because you know, it's, you know, it doesn't look like it just broke off.

It's been retouched by Mother Nature.

The striations are so beautiful.

Yes.

And the stacking.

What do you think pretty Huh?

Yeah.

Just going to hold it up to the light.

I wonder if it's happy to be home.

Yeah.

Good idea.

Wonder if It's happy to be home she said.

This Crystal is the exception rather than the rule.

It's a lot like collecting antiques.

You can dig and scrape for a lifetime and never hit the jackpot.

But what you do find you treasure.

Well, I like to look for things that are just catch your eye with a little sparkle.

And I just found this little one.

My whole kitchen counter is nothing but rocks.

Every time we go out, we find more rocks.

The more you look at them.

I mean, you can overlook things, and the more you clean them, things will be revealed.

So there's all these tiny little details that just make them really beautiful.

So many unique shapes and structures.

But we have quartz rocks.

Rocks in the car, rocks in my bag, rocks in my pockets, we have rocks everywhere.

Literally.

Here'’’s a nice.

oh smoky quartz.

look like a big chunk of smoky faces on it to you?

it's not so much the intrinsic value of the minerals as it is the excitement of the hunt.

correct in finding minerals you've never found before.

that'’’s true.

You know the competition sometimes, friendly competition between who finds the best find of the day and whatnot and and discovering new minerals we've never found that a certain locality before is really exciting.

I mentioned earlier in the story that I brought a rock to give to Nash.

It came home with me from a canoe trip to the Canadian Arctic.

It ain't much except where it came from.

I brought it for Nash.

It'’’s a chip off an island called Hepburn Island, north of the north coast of Canada.

You know, the old Northwest Passage that they couldn't get through for years.

I don't like to take on heavy, heavy because, you know, I've got to carry them.

Sure.

I brought this home and I sat on it for years and years on my windowsill.

That's a chunk of solid gabbro, gabbro from a massive 45,000 square mile lava flow.

Wow.

It covered all the Precambrian rocks and really came in rocks of northern Canada.

And there'’’s just cliffs and cliffs of it as you go along.

Franklin in 1820 said a dreary succession of trapped rock cliffs.

And he was right.

But that's one little piece.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

Thank you so much for that.

It was the most beautiful harbor I've ever seen in my life unless you want to get in and out of it, because at low tide, you can'’’t.

It'’’s been a good day at Moat Mountain.

We can't quite retire on what Steve and Stacy unearthed, but the chance to spend time outdoors with new friends, that's reward enough.

It's a wonderful thing to do with your mate or your partner spending time in the outdoors Stacy and I really enjoy coming out here.

It's quiet.

We hoot for the owls.

Sometimes they hoot back.

We see all kinds of creatures and sometimes we come home with beautiful mineral specimens as well.

So I suggest.

Yeah, if you want a good fun activity to do in the outdoors with your significant other, this is a great thing to do and it can be very gratifying sometimes bringing home beautiful mineral specimens.

so you're not getting rich?

We're not getting rich, but I don't know what I'm going to do with all these rocks.

Well, we had a lovely time here this morning at the Moat Mountain Mineral site, and we've found a few minerals here and there.

We found a smokey quartz Okay.

And Nash had a great time running around through the woods.

So did Kiki, we noticed that the summer heat and the bugs have disappeared.

None today, a little chill, a little breeze.

Autumn, second day of autumn today.

It'’’s coming.

Well, it's a lovely spot.

And I can.

I can just see it full of kids digging for minerals different times.

Well, I ain'’’t coming back myself, but still.

We'’’ll send you pictures.

Oh I'’’d love that.

Right.

Of course.

Thank you, Steve.

Stacy, nice to meet you.

Now we got to say goodbye.

I'm afraid so we shall.

Goodbye.

I'm Willem Lange, and I hope to see you again on Windows to the Wild.

Support for the production of Windows to the Wild is provided by the Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust, Bailey Charitable Foundation.

And viewers like you.

Make a gift to the wild and support the Willem Lange Endowment Fund established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS.

To learn how you can keep environmental nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come, call our development team at 6038684467.

Thank you.