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

18 hours ago, phrunt said:

You're going to make Julie really worried about there being no Gold in California now, a man with a GPZ, GPX 5000 and SDC2300 didn't find any gold!

He should’ve asked me - I was up at the Placer Pete claim the weekend before. ?

Nope - no gold there either!

-Julie

8 hours ago, BeachHunter said:

As per above, there’s no gold in California, there’s also no gold jewelry at the beach. So please just stay home.???

BWAHAHAHAHAHAno.

?

10 hours ago, Horst said:

Dear Julie,

[...]

I found lead to cast new bullets, Casings to load them up, sheet metal to put a roof on my house and wire to have it fenced in.... but no gold. Even found a burro shoe way over 100 years old.

[...]

Good luck to you maybe we meet out there in CA one day.

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

15 hours ago, Jimmy M said:

Julie, master your machine, employ the operating tips found in "Advanced Nuggetshooting," at the locations shown in "Gold Nugget Areas of Southern California," and one day, while digging a target, cursing those lying members of this forum who falsely claim they have found gold with a detector, as you spot that golden gleam in your palm, the dark clouds above you will part, the heavens will open, streams of light will beam down upon you, and you will hear the Hallelujah chorus, and all will be well in your corner of the world. :}

Or, if the foregoing doesn't actually happen, you'll likely shout "Well, its ABOUT TIME""

HH Jim

 

 

 

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

On 3/7/2019 at 3:25 PM, klunker said:

 With your "I can't loose" attitude why the heck aren"t you out prospecting? There hasn't been a gold show within a reasonable traveling distance from my location for years.

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

Thanks Gerry! I’ve happily rubbed my plastic scoop against the top of the coil - so glad to know I’m doing that right! ?

REALLY appreciate the video and explanation. ?

-Julie

Thanks for the link! I’ve been avoiding videos of other detectors trying not to get TOO confused but I see that may have been a mistake.

I do have a question about the video - it seems like the signal was MUCH quieter out of the ground waved across the top of the coil than in the ground. Is that due to how the coil operates? Or I’ve heard a little about halo effects in the ground....?

I’m now convinced I lost many pennies’ worth of tiny gold nuggets the last time I went out - small but repeatable signals I couldn’t find when I dug them up, thinking that the wobble in the threshold when I waved my scoop over the coil was just some sort of noise... ?

-Julie

Anyone going? I’ll probably make it up there for a bit this weekend. My goal is to do all the panning at all the stations I can and get as much advice as possible from anyone who’ll give it out. ?

Oh, and I’m also going to win all the door prizes. 

This will be my first GPAA event I’m attending - anything in particular I should make sure to see?

-Julie

Glad this thread was started! I went out a couple times recently and found some really pretty pebbles. I’m still learning this Equinox... ? I thought I’d do better after the rains too but now I’m going to blame it on unexciting beach erosion and not user error. 

(It’s always user error...)

I did start wondering if I’d do just as well panning out the low areas of the beach where darker pebbles were gathering as I was with my detector...

-Julie

Howdy! I’m in Southern California and just bought my Nox from Gerry too - great guy!!!

The learning curve is no joke and I consider myself pretty technical. My biggest hindrance to my own learning is impatience - I keep trying new areas, new techniques, jumping in before I have a proper look around, etc. I need to go back and reread all the great info Gerry sent me! At least I’m staying away from mucking with settings past the presets - I figure I gotta do at least one thing right! ?

Good luck to you and keep us posted!

-Julie in SoCal

Welcome! You sound just like me - I just bought the Equinox too. ?

-Julie in So Cal

10 hours ago, Outrider said:

The waterproof 24k was at the quartzsite gold show 

Whoa, really? I’m heading back there this morning for a bit, will have to spend a bit more time at the White’s booth (even though I just bought a Nox... lol)

I’m new. So maybe this is just me being new but - omg! I’ve never seen anything like that. It looks like little fern leaves! Is it a mass of smaller pieces with gravel gluing them together or does the gold go through a mostly solid rock chunk or...? And how big IS that thing, anyway???

I’m a VERY new GPAA member and with my membership got tickets to the Fresno show. Curious about it - they hype it up pretty well with their gold panning contests, door prizes etc. Didn’t know they used to have a show in Vegas but I bet that was a blast!

It looks like they recently teamed up with another organization and are getting access to several of that other group’s claims. In the most recent newsletter I read some GPAA members got a new claim staked near Barstow which is pretty exciting sounding for its proximity to me. ? And looks like a lot of open events at the Lost Dutchman camps coming up too. 

Better than before? Worse? I have no idea. ?

You guys!!! What amazing advice for a hypothetical best friend going to a hypothetical gold show in hypothetical Quartzsite this hypothetical weekend!

One thing I didn’t think about - gold shows in the desert don’t have many long-handled beach scoops. Ah well!

I did see that banjo pan and it looks weird and fun. Very curious about it, thanks for the suggestion! Going to try to get a live demo tomorrow. 

Definitely taking all the “how not to die in the desert” suggestions to heart. Sunscreen is the thing I always forget. Sigh. 

Are all the Garrett pinpointers the same? I haven’t seen any orange ones, all these carrots are black! Heirloom varieties I guess.

Also eyeing crevicing tools and rock picks. Should probably also eye some eye protection, hmmm....

Or maybe I should spent less time shopping and more time prospecting! I’m such an armchair hobbyist....

Oh, and I have NOT won the door prize raffle. YET.