jinmon

Welcome and hello! ? I’m in SoCal and have recently ventured into AZ a couple times - definitely warmer than Alaska! I rather liked the bits I’ve seen so far - sounds like you’ve got two great backyards to prospect and detect in right now! -Julie

Thanks Mitchel! I like those claims - they’re quiet and pretty right now with all the green, and clambering up and down the hills is giving me some much needed exercise- but my #1 most hated thing in the universe is the tick. ? I’ve been thinking of going up towards Randsburg - thanks for the advice! I think I’ll do that sooner rather than later. ?

I have to say one of the places I’ve been going in the Cajon Pass is under giant power lines - some of the biggest towers I’ve ever seen. You can hear them crackle. I haven’t found any gold yet with the Equinox but I’ve found some tiny tiny birdshot, so it seems the power lines aren’t interfering that much if at all! ? I do occasionally hear the threshold get a bit of static through it when I’m there - not sure if it’s the power lines causing that or not but it’s not been a problem. At least if it has, I’m too new to know! ? Liking this Equinox 800, @Gerry in Idaho... ☺️ -Julie

Thanks Steve! ? -Julie

Saw some neato rocks in the Cajon Pass Area by the train tracks. I suspect this is a byproduct of the railroad somehow but wasn’t sure what they could be so I figured I’d share and someone smart would recognize it! As you can see, the first rock is chocolate-glazed. The third pic is of a clear sugar-glazed rock - much harder to see the glaze because it’s clear, just take my word for it. What could’ve caused this? I suspect heat was involved but past that I’m clueless. ? Thanks in advance!

I just wanted to say that I think I’m in the same boat as you! I haven’t been out many times but each time I go I look for something else I’ve seen a video on or read a post or article about and it DOES get a bit overwhelming and frustrating. I haven’t found anything either. I think it makes you question what you know when you don’t find gold where you’ve been told to look for it. “this sure LOOKS like iron-stained buggy quartz but maybe it isn’t? This LOOKS like the gravel layer from an old riverbed but are those rocks REALLY rounded enough? I’m down to lead and black sand in my pan so in THEORY I wouldn’t have lost the gold if there was any, right???” I was watching one of Bill Southern’s videos yesterday and he didn’t find any gold. And he mentioned that no one finds gold every time. That was reassuring. I think when you’re new you just feel you NEED to find gold to confirm you’re doing it right! And it’s easy to forget that supposedly gold is RARE when you see all these amazing posts on here of peoples’ finds! I have an idea that may help in a weird way. I think what you and I should both do is this: when we go out hunting, we assume we’re geniuses. We’re obviously learning lots on this forum and elsewhere and doing the right things, so we’ll act as if we know what we’re doing until we get the confirmation that we’re right! ? That said - when we CAN get advice or help, especially in person or with specific questions (like yours with the picture - what a brilliant way to confirm what you’ve learned!) we should, since secretly we know we have a lot to learn. But when we go OUT - geniuses. Thoughtful, careful, using-all-our-knowledge-so-far-no-matter-how-little geniuses. ? -Julie

Hi @GaryC/Oregon Coast! I haven’t joined any yet but plan to hit up the Route 66 guys sometime soon. I’ve just been going onto the GPAA claims so far. And they’re getting access to a bunch of the AMRA claims as well. -Julie

Sounds good, Brett! I’m just north of LA so you’re not super-close to me but you’re not too far either! ? Did you make it over to the gold show in Fresno? -Julie

He should’ve asked me - I was up at the Placer Pete claim the weekend before. ? Nope - no gold there either! -Julie

BWAHAHAHAHAHAno. ?

I would LOVE to find an old burro shoe - what a neat piece of history! I’m quite fond of the burros too. ? If you’re ever in California do let us know - we should arrange a forum outing! ? -Julie

I fully expect all of the above to happen, even if I have to sing the Hallelujah chorus myself!!! ☺️ Advanced Nuggetshooting is great btw!!! Thank you! ? -Julie

Thanks @phrunt! ? I’m frustrated that I haven’t found any gold but I also know switching up the locations and only spending a few hours is not the most efficient way to locate gold on a claim. ? I’m actually pretty pleased that I can find small metal bits now - I have WAY more confidence in my detector now that I know I’m supposed to be digging those non-displayed targets. I was worried I just hadn’t set up my detector properly for the soil or something. Now I’m like “nahhhh, I got this.” I might not have it set up perfectly (I’d bet on that) but at least if I can find small metal bits (and a beer can at like 18” down!) I feel WAY more confident that I won’t be missing everything good! ? -Julie

So I’ve taken my Equinox 800 out a few times but not for long each time and to different claims each time - so I’m telling you, I’m an expert, and you can believe me when I say there’s no gold in California. Hey, I’ve even tried gold panning for a few minutes - nope, no gold. So at the Fresno gold show, I played along with the conspiracy and went to Kevin Hoagland’s talk about metal detecting for gold - you know, in states where there IS gold. And he said to dig the targets that don’t even show up as numbers on my detector’s screen. Well, that can’t be right, because otherwise why would they give me a screen with numbers? But anyway, I decided that IF he was right, maybe I could at least find some small pieces of lead or something with the same technique. So I set out to find the tiniest piece of birdshot I could find. I mean, I WOULD have looked for gold but we all know that’s a crock. SUCCESS!!! That Kevin guy might know a thing or two about metal detecting for lead, if only he’d stop pretending he’s talking about gold. Check out my haul from a few hours in the claims at Cajon Pass (note this is only the small stuff - I was already an expert in finding shell casings from an hour on Lytle Creek):

I was, actually! Well, I went out just after your post, just for about 45 min to the beach near my workplace. I literally found $.02. I CAN lose, I just prefer not to admit it. Seems discouraging. ? Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice I did make Kevin Hoagland’s lecture which was insanely helpful, though I didn’t make Mike Pung’s. Thanks for that tip @GB_Amateur! Also I’m so glad I waited to speak to @Jimmy M - you couldn’t ask to meet a nicer guy, and Jeannette (I hope I’m spelling that right!) is an absolute gem as well. If you go to the show and don’t stop at the White’s booth to say hello, you’re doing it wrong ? -Julie