Cal_Cobra

Not sure I'd say they were simply a "trickle". Some were somewhat wide, but the deal breaker was us trying to make it to an old dirt road on the satellite map that could get us close enough to our vehicle, and once we finally got to the road, it was completely washed out, with a good 15 foot wide creek of unknown depth, and the opposite side was an easy ten feet high with a 90 degree angle to ascend. Even without the ebikes, that simply wasn't going to happen, so we ended up wondering through the night, blindly searching for an easy way back to the vehicle, which just didn't exist. So while yes the water shed caused the bulk of our challenges, biking in the dark was what really killed us (well almost me), you simply couldn't see animal holes, quick sand, low bushes, etc. Moral of the story, never cross-country ebike in the middle of the desert in the dark 😡

Last week TomCA and I made a trek to recon some new (to us) stage stop type sites that we'd been researching this year. As some of the sites were miles away from any roads, we decided to get fat tire ebikes to save us from hiking miles and miles into and out of these sites. The first site we went to was in the middle of BFE, and we rode our ebikes. Little did I realize, that days before our arrival that the area had been subject to flash floods. This would factor into our traveling to and from the site, ending up causing mayhem. On the way to the first site wasn't too bad. It was a nice sunny day, but we did encounter little creeks that had filled up due to the rains, and it wasn't so much that the water in the creeks was un navigable as much as the flour sand ended up being a sticky, slippery, muddy mess making forging these creeks challenging. Had there been no rains prior to our arrival, they'd been easy to traverse, but not so much after flash flooding events. As the sun started heading down, I kept nudging TomCA to get a move on as I had zero desire to cross country through unfamiliar desert terrain in the dark, but that's exactly what ended up happening. We ended up going cross country to head back to the vehicle a different way then we'd came in, and although it looked easy enough on satellite maps, that would end up being an epic mistake. The sun set quickly on our way out and we were now going cross country in the desert in the dark, in a totally unfamiliar area, on ebikes. About a mile or two into our trek back to the car, I hit quick sand that sucked my bike in, ejected me and as I landed my feet planted into the quick sand and I fell backwards with my feet stuck to the quick sand like they were attached to fly paper. I was sure I'd broken my leg/ankle. I still think it may have a small fracture. So here we are in the middle of BFE in the dark, my foot's FUBAR and we still have miles to go to get back to the vehicle. Let's just say the journey back to the vehicle was hell for me (oh and did I mention it was my birthday...sigh). Hours later, and another bike crash to add to injury, we finally made it back to the vehicle. I ended up having to sit out the next couple days of detecting and let TomCA at it while I sat on the sidelines. So without further ado here's what I was able to manage on the trip. This is a site we barely recon'd and are itching to get back to. Nothing prolific per se, but a nice variety of finds including a J-hook (military?), eagle button, an old pocket knife (upper right), black powder gun primer, flat button, earlier eagle button, an old religious medallion (similar to what we find at Spanish colonial contact period sites). and a curious piece of glass! A native attempted to flint knap the base of a glass bottle! I've read about this, and seen examples in museums, but this is the first time I've found a piece. Someone had undoubtedly beat us to this site, but they didn't get it all! Scored a couple of eagle buttons (one's pretty crudded up), a flat button, lots of rim-fire shells and bullet drops, and some trade items including a trade ring, and European glass trade beads (eyeball finds). I know these old clay pipes aren't a big deal, especially if you're on the east coast where they're probably everywhere, but we rarely find these out west and this one was just sitting on top of the sand where it likely fell almost two hundred years ago! All the pieces actually fit together, it was probably stepped on by an animal (lots of wild mustangs and other critters around this area). Nothing to really write home about on this trip. TomCA did get a seated dime at a site that I had to sit on the sidelines with my foot injury, and he did get a seated half dime from the same site I got the clay pipe and trade items above, hopefully he'll share his finds as well. Maybe the next trip there will be with the Manticore, although truth be told, at these sites iron and depth are not obstacles. GL&HH, Cal

You'd be surprised. Years ago I found a GIANT skeleton key at Golden Gate Park. No idea what it went to originally, but it's one of my favorite keys I've dug and in beautiful condition with a nice green patina.

Tom and NIghtRay used to talk about it. Tom claims he dug a test pit there and found oldies.

LOVE the buttons in the first picture. I'd say we could never find those out west, but I did find a beautiful 1812-1820 U.S. Militia button, so I suppose it's possible. I'd say I'd trade you a Phoenix button for one, but you probably have already dug ten Phoenix buttons out there 🙂

Nice hunt, like the key!

Wino park is infamous.

I've only detected one time in gold country. I found a couple at a trading site we found that turned out to be a bit different then initially anticipated, but in a positive way. Turned out to be late fur trade right into the G.R. era and then ceased to exist. TomCA just dug a nice G.R. era tongue and wreath buckle, got just dug a star buckle at one of our sites that appears to have fizzled out by the mid 1850's I'd say. Anything you dig there's going to be something old, but not necessarily awesome, but it'll be old, even if it's camp lead 😏 I dug an eagle buckle at this camp on our first time, dug both sides a few feet away and managed to loose the wreath half. Surprised we haven't found it, or if we have it got mixed up with another tongue. Oh well.

Love finding Phoenix buttons! I wouldn't complain if a buckle would get under my coil though 😁

Nice job!!! Gold always shows up when you least expect it! I think your ring's older, has that 1800's look about it.

Nice ring!

Given that the original Equinox coils work on the Equinox refresh, I almost wouldn't mind the EQX900 as a Manticore backup.

All bucket listers for me 😲, what a great collection of your local history passed down to the next generation 👍

An interesting, yet not unexpected play. Doubt the new EQX models will detour Manticore buyers, so nothing for ML to loose. I could see the 900 potentially eroding some XP D2 sales.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did a Nox2 or EQX1K that just addressed the issues that've been a thorn in their rear since it was released (rod, weight distribution, headphones, leaks, etc). Question is how many are will to pay say slightly more than the current EQX800 price? It would have to make business sense for them. I'm sure they have a 10% warranty reserve from each Equinox sale, and while they probably have a higher then industry standard defect rate, they can still siphon off the warranty reserve to fix platform failures before the warranty times out.

Thanks Bill. I plan to get some videos once I get all the settings figured out 😏

My dealer sent me this email this morning: Manticores starting shipping to US warehouses yesterday.... You are number 1 on the list..You still wanting to purchase ? Okay take my money, I ain't mad about it.... 🤠

I received this message from my dealer: Manticores starting shipping to US warehouses yesterday.... You are number 1 on the list..You still wanting to purchase ? Response was yes please, just take my money... Great email to receive! Unfortunately it doesn't sound like I'll have it in time for an upcoming detecting trip, but that's okay I want to bring something I know well to uncharted territory. The Manticore will get a good workout at a particular Spanish outpost site that I think could be a good fit for it with plenty of time to experiment with the new settings.

Considering that a special HF coil would be required, sure it could make sense as they can now sell you a $300 coil. That said, given Minelab's lackluster coil portfolio for the Equinox, they're clearly not in the coil business, so I doubt this HF coil and upgrade will ever see the light of day.

Very unlikely. The Legend is a great machine, the XP D2 is a good machine, but these machines effectively just caught up to the four year old Equinox. With the Manticore's imminent release, I'm sure it's all hands on deck at Minelab to get that machine into production. There's almost no incentive for Minelab to update the Equinox. What updates would you like the see on the Equinox?

Good hunt, not sure on your mystery items, but pretty sure I've found one of those flange things, and the other thing might be gun related. Then again 🤔

Interesting idea. I've always thought that detecting vendors should make the angle adjustable 15 degrees in either direction to accommodate everyone's differences in physical build. I've seen people cut a piece of those foam "noodles" and put it under the control pod so your thumb isn't smashed into the control pod.

Those are prime detecting months out west, as many of our sites get overgrown come spring, and then the ground turns to cement coupled with 100F + temps in the summer usually keeps us at bay until the next fall/winter/early spring returns.

I guess that has to be the angle, I didn't realize some of those Confederate bullets were that valuable. I see guys back south with 5 gallon buckets of dug bullets. We don't find rebel relics out west, and I'm surprised we don't find something, buttons, buckles, or whatnot. A lot of Confederate soldiers migrated west after the war to start a new life, entire townships were started by them, so one would think rebel relics would turn up, but I've not heard of anyone finding anything. Odd.

Thanks for posting this, I enjoyed your video. That looks like a ball buster hunt site! Seems like we have better odds at our desert sites eh?