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chuckwalla

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  1. I like wolf brand chili, bring some sourdough bread and throw bits of that into it (sometimes fritos). I also like to put some of those uncrustables sandwiches in my cooler. I like a big 5-liter bag-in-box of merlot (they last for a month after opening). I usually have a few cans of various types of beans - baked, fried, etc. Some freezing cold lemonade is nice too. Sometimes I'll bring my ooni pizza oven - do some wilderness pizzas, nachos, quesadillas, calzones, etc. I've got a cast iron pan for the oven so I can throw a steak in there as well and it cooks in 5 minutes.
  2. Very interesting, I'm going to give that a read tonight - thanks for the info. Good point - the properties I've looked at do have easements and I'd just leave those roads as they currently are. If I were to put up fence it would probably just be around the structures to keep people from wandering in. The idea of putting in a gate and leaving it unlocked does sound like a good solution.
  3. I've been considering the idea of buying a patented claim, but I'm curious what property rights you have with such a claim: is is essentially indistinguishable from private property at that point? Am I allowed to put a fence around the claim and post 'no trespassing' signs? What about obtaining permits to build structures - is it done through the city/county just like with normal property?
  4. I'm going to be in AZ this weekend and I think I've found a good spot that allows for prospecting. Since it's my first time detecting, I wanted to make sure I've done my due diligence. The spot is Saddle Mountain, AZ. General coordinates: 33.445615°, -113.013318° I have verified that this is BLM land, and that it's not a wilderness area, and that it's not within a National Monument. I've checked on landmatters to verify that there aren't any active claims on the area (although there are historic claims, which I hope is a good sign). Is there any other research I need to do? I know there are some petroglyphs on the site, and I'd stay far away from those, but other than that, most of the mountain looks pretty open. BLM maps screenshot Land matters screenshot
  5. Are there a lot of entrepreneurs in the prospecting/detectorist community? There seem to be similarities in the personality traits: curiosity, independence, hopes of hitting it big, good at doing research, sense of adventure , etc, etc. I'm a startup guy myself - been doing software and web development for the past decade and a half, worked on startups in areas like security, telecom, health, social media, etc. Honestly - most of the projects have been kind of boring. A prospecting-related startup could be a lot of fun - and might be a good excuse to do more camping and exploring. Off the top of my head, I'd think that a hot area might be utilizing machine learning and and other data science techniques to aid in hobbyist prospecting (and integrate this data with GIS and other applications). As a newcomer to the field, it would be educational to hear about the pain points that could be addressed in the form of a new product or service. Anyone else around here kicking some ideas around in their head? I'm always open to brainstorming/collaborating.
  6. That's true, the design is different and the scale is smaller than those other camps, so it might be something unrelated to the DTC. I do believe a lot of the vehicle tracks near the bradshaw trail are tank tracks, so it's possible these are smaller, temporary camps that were set up while training in the field, miles away from the divisional camps. I'll try to learn more if I stop at this spot and will post photos.
  7. I'm kind of confused about the BLM regulations for collecting coins from some of these sites that aren't specifically protected. I've seen some sources, like this PDF from BLM.gov that say and then others like this BLM guide say anything older than 50 years could be considered an artifact. I was actually able to find some of the old campsites that aren't listed under the coordinates of any of the official camps. Take a look at 33.460239°, -114.928497° - there's a cluster of camps and what looks like an old filled-in runway slightly to the north (at first glance, looks like a short 1400 ft runway, but you can see it was closer to 2800 ft, an arroyo has washed most of it out). Edit* at second glance, it seems like might too much elevation change for it to have been a runway, so I'm not quite sure what that is) Seems like a great place to do some detecting if it can be done legally - I'd be curious to see what people here think about it and how they'd approach determining the legal status.
  8. The history on those camps is interesting, I didn't realize there were so many of them (I've seen the Patton monument at Chiriaco Summit, but never paid to go into the museum - I guess I'll pay the $10 next time). this blog has some amazing pictures of the training centers in the 1940s for anyone interested
  9. That sounds like an amazing opportunity. The surrounding BLM land appears to have a lot of claims on it as well, but there appears to be some possible spots to explore to the south of the town.
  10. Thanks - I'll be wearing my snake chaps and carrying my PLB for safety. I enjoy camping and exploring in the desert, so I figured detecting would be a good way to enhance the entire experience (and justify more week-long trips) - I'm happy just to be out there.
  11. That's a good point about the salt content - I think I'm probably going to stick towards the mountains and arroyos above sea level for my first trip. re: the abandoned town, do you mean Eagle Mountain? I was just watching some youtube videos about it. Looks like a great place to do some detecting, and I can see that there's actually a 4x4 trail that leads into the back of it, all through BLM land. Edit* the back road unfortunately goes partially through Joshua Tree National Park - I assume I wouldn't even want to have a detector in my vehicle if it passes through NPS land.
  12. I'm excited to be getting into detecting - I picked up a Gold Bug II and I'm planning a desert camping trip soon. I'm targeting the Salton Sink and Bradshaw trail areas - I'm sure a lot of people here are familiar with these spots. I'm not specifically looking for Pegleg's gold, but I wouldn't mind finding it either.
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