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Retirement & Detecting / Where To Go ??? Tip #1


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On 7/14/2022 at 8:31 AM, RONS DETECTORS MINELAB said:

I have not been to NZ, WA or other places like that. Maybe someone from there could better describe the places they have found there dream detecting place. Or maybe they do not want to attract attention to it, which makes good sense to keep it a secret. 

I can't say much about NZ but Simon (Phrunt) can tell you about all the TINY  Nuggets that they have in NZ.

I retired getting close to 20 years ago and WA Gold field were my choice for 3+ months a year for gold and 2+ months in QLD enjoying Kayaking and Bushwalking and the rest of the time back at home in Vic.  I manage to over 10 years of this, till Medical Problems ( Wife's and mine ) started to have a reduction on the amount of time that Carol and I could spend away from home. All costs that we had for the time in WA prospecting ( including 6000 km return trip with Caravan ) were more than covered with gold finds but most people do not achieve this.

The Gold Fields in WA are vast and remote towns with a Supermarket, Post office, Pub and maybe a Caravan park are normally 250 Km (150 miles) apart. Safety is a major factor to consider, self reliance, navigation abilities, water, but guns are not popular in Aus and if present they are out of site and require licences. Most areas that are within a day trip from the towns (let say 50 km round trip) have had a fair amount of detectors over them, but a talented detectorist can still find a few nuggets on them. The real finds are found at lest a few Km from know finds. Some of my locations had nuggets visible sitting in the sun getting a tan, so skill with the detector is only half the solution finding the location is the bigger reward.

My advice to the question asked would be:

Retire as early as you comfortably can.      Keep your home.     Detect in an area that has a large surface that may have detectible gold spread out on.     Remember that home is home.  

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I've lived on the road for my entire adult life..The day I retired from it I just kept going BUT without the damn itinerary and now I can go where and when I want.  Kinda off my game here taking care of mom but I still know all the good spots (and the best roads to get there)  to return to when she's gone.

I'll probably settle on one spot.................when I die !🥴

Just bury the entire rig with me inside.

Ghost popeye might need the gear ? !!! arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr YO-OH

 

 

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Bishop,

Detecting is fine, but having a house and a pension will allow you to be able to go detecting anytime you want to. Prescott was high on my list for a great place, so the Bradshaw's sound like a dream location for beeping. Chris Gholson is also a great resource there. Lots of the northern states mentioned previously would be ideal for your RV during the late spring through early fall seasons.

 

Deathray,

Yes, Calaveras is a very nice place. Hopefully you can beach hunt in Florida with your detectors.

 

Jasong,

I'm hoping you can go camping at some of these places since your not able to move. I know of a man who goes to Mexico and detects there, last time though he was warned that the locals are getting too dangerous to be around in these mining areas. Grants Pass is a great place and is pretty close to where I live during the winter. The Klamath Mountains are full of areas to go detecting and the seasons here are fairly mild. I have not been to Durango but was considering Salida a little farther to the northwest. This town is at the foothills of the Rocky's, but has very mild weather condition in comparison to the high country. Leadville is north of Salida and is a great place for detecting.

 

Gold Catcher,

Plumas is one of those areas that we hope never gets to crowded, seems like the winters there prevent most people from moving there, so far it's still a great place for detecting. The Feather River is one of my favorite rivers. Plumas in the summer and southeastern California for the winter, not a bad idea. Not sure which town to live in as I-10 is kind of a remote area near the mining districts you mentioned. North of there is Bishop, I looked into buying real estate there years ago but there was a housing shortage and prices were too high.

 

Luckylundy,

The eastern Sierra's are a spectacular, but can be a cold place to live. I could imagine that at 5100' you have a very cold winter there. At least you can access a lot of historic mining camps in the high Sierra's and head out to northern Nevada since you are fairly close to both places.

 

Geof_junk,

I agree: Retire as soon as possible and try to keep a good home for yourself. Thanks for reminding me to try to get as much time enjoying our hobbies before age and health problems set in. Also, thanks for explaining the harsh, dangerous, and difficult conditions you have to overcome there to go detecting.

 

I did a lot of traveling over the years to many historical mining towns. Some of my favorites were:

Oregon-- Baker City area, John Day area, Sumpter, and Jacksonville area, Grants Pass area, and Durkee area.

New Mexico -- Magdalina, Hillsburo, and Silver City.

California -- Downieville, Mariposa, Etna, Bishop, Yreka, Nevada City, Redding, Weaverville, Georgetown, Magalia, and French Gulch.

Nevada -- Winnemucca area, Virginia City, Dayton, Lovelock area, Hawthorne area, Beatty, Goldfield, Battle Mountain area, Austin, and Carson City area.

Idaho -- Idaho City, Elk City, Silver City, Atlanta, and Warrens.

Arizona -- Wickenburg area, Kingman area, and Prescott area, and Sedona. 

Alaska -- Fairbanks area and Chicken area.

Montana -- Lewistown

Colorado -- Georgetown

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There is nothing like the security of having your own home to go back to, and as you age you surely would like settling into the security and comfort of your house not chasing the dream of nuggets, your body will likely give up long before your brain and desire to find gold does and being elderly living without a stable home is no way to live.   I'd never want prospecting to be my source of income no matter where I live and how much gold can be found, I wouldn't enjoy it with that sort of pressure on me to find gold.

I guess I took this to the extreme as I'd paid off my first house by 25 years of age after buying it at 18 as I hated the idea of renting paying off someone else's house or having a big debt over my head knowing I'd have to work to pay it off for many decades so my wife and I went with next to nothing for a few years and paid that debt down as quick as humanly possible and from then on everything got much easier.  I'd not give up owning property for anything as no matter what I've got security for later in life and you never know what life will bring.

If you have to sell up your assets to do your prospecting then it's not the right thing to do as once they're gone you'll possibly never be able to get them again especially the way property prices seem to double every 10 years or so.

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thanks for the comments on the housing. i think i may have worried some of you with that. yes it would be a bit extreme selling and going full time.
im 90% sure ill stay with the plan of working till 55. there are bad days at work when i stop and look around and think, why am i still doing this.
im actually very cautious and calculating when making retirement plans. it is well thought out and wont be short funded.
if anything, i worry ill die with a bunch of cash left over as i really don't spend that much money. yes, expensive health problems could come up later in life.

i like my house, but ill likely sell it and get a smaller place when i retire.
home prices have spiked, but there are a few spots that i have been keeping an eye on that
are somewhat reasonably priced. mostly due to being away from the city, and i like that.
i really like spring valley just down the road from Mayer.
Wilhoit has some good prices. but im a little worried that this area could burn up fast in a fire.
Yarnell, i had a friend that i would visit there and it was/is a very nice area. he ended up losing his place to the big fire.

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Arizona is great for a fulltime RVer. Where I'll probably end up.  Sure won't be staying uptah camp in winter again (The same promise I made myself when I quit touring arrrgh , I did keep it 8 years before mom needed help.)

Although I loved Death Valley  in 06-07 , 

Yuma and Q in the winter and just drive up a few thousand feet into canyon territory for nice summers too. Snowbird in one state in less than a day !  Or just go till I get to the perfect temps ,  sometimes a pretty short drive .  I won't even try to figure out the gas bill for a round trip from Maine and 2 weeks time ....

Wherever I go , the Nox will follow.

 

 

 

 

 

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Retire to Hawaii and hunt for gold rings. Can't get any better than that can it?

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22 minutes ago, Rick N. MI said:

Retire to Hawaii and hunt for gold rings. Can't get any better than that can it?

That's what I did, but not planning to retire for for at least 4 more years (I am 51) until both kids are in college. Bought a house in Maui a couple years ago. We can walk to town, the grocery store, the hardware store, several dozen restaurants, and a fantastic beach is 900 feet from my front door. Just got back from a 3 night trip last weekend. Got up early and detected 2 different beaches at sunrise. Nothing better than to be in paradise on a beautiful beach alone watching the sun come up. Lots of targets, but it seems like most of the jewelry kids buy these days are not precious metals. I hit 2 engagement rings. One of them I thought was platinum, but once I had my glasses on it read KT316. Stainless steel with fake diamonds. The other was similar, but the plating was wearing off.

Most of the locals are nice people as long as you respect them and their island. I haven't had any problems with them.

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  • The title was changed to Retirement & Detecting / Where To Go ??? Tip #1

For those of you who plan on retiring and moving to your dream nugget detecting areas can start the research on where to go when you get there.

Some of the best resources for this is the USGS Bulletins and Professional Papers from the early 1900's to present. For many years I would spend the winter days at BSU's library in Boise, Idaho. They have a complete run of the USGS reports describing the majority of the US mining districts in great detail. UNR in Reno, also host a great research library. This information I learned was so intriguing that I later became a rare book dealer for mining and geology book. Raymond Rossiter published some books in the 1870's called Mineral Resources West of the Rocky Mountains. His description of the mining conditions out west is very informative. Also my favorite writer Waldemar Lindgren wrote many mining district reports that are extremely detailed.

This is a great hobby, so please enjoy the adventures and take a kid detecting.

 

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