Condor

Before GPS, my truck misplaced itself a few times, even in the desert things can get a little confused after a long hike. I've never been lost, but I've been a might bewildered a few times.

Does their presence make gold nearby more likely?

I've been exploring new areas around Yuma. Got way out there today and hit these guys. Obviously some kind of copper ore, but Yuma isn't known for copper production. I quit digging after six of them. They blow your ears away with the SDC, it could detect them easily at 18 inches, I didn't want to dig any deeper than that. They run from 4 to 6 ozt. Maybe they can be cut and polished, or maybe they cure arthritis, put one in each shoe and walk around all day. Hey Reno Chris, these are from out near Redcloud Mine, should I keep looking for gold near these rocks.

Hopefully we can get JP to weigh in on not only theoretic depth, but daily experience on let's say a 1.5 gram nugget. We all recognize gold content, ground conditions etc will affect depth, but an 8inch coil has an inherent depth limitation. I'm not bitching mind you, I've found an oz of Yuma gold over the past month, and I've found gold measuring in grains at impressive depths. I just want a better understanding of my limitations.

I went back to the deep canyon this morning. I found 2 that I missed the other day. It seems peculiar that I found 4 quality nuggets in there with a total weight of over 1/4 oz, but nothing deeper that about 8 inches. The canyon is all bedrock with overburden ranging from 0 to about 2 ft. I covered just shy of 2 miles of this good looking ground and obviously had decent success, but just wondering what I might be missing. I found no nuggets on the margins of the wash, everything would have been right in moving water during heavy rain runoff. Today's fatboy was smack in the middle of the wash, but found a hidey hole in jagged bedrock. Perhaps when that new Minelab Super detector comes around, this spot will give up its secrets. Today's take, 3.3, and .4 grams.

I found the anti shake key, see if this helps.

I suck with that smart phone camera. I'll check the settings and see if I can get a better shot. The heavy, dark colored nugget has attached quartz, you'd think I could find a decent ledge or reef of that stuff one of these days. All that hiking cuts down on my time with women who suffer a want of chastity. Has to be a benefit in there somewhere, though I haven't figured it out.

I expanded my search and ventured into an area of steep canyons, shallow bedrock, though not generally considered a gold producing area. I plotted the course with Google Earth and estimated a 3 mile zone with a continuous desert wash. I hiked less than an hr and started seeing exposed bedrock. I unpacked the SDC and within 5 minutes got a good target. The large flat nugget was in a shallow depression. Wow, I thought I was going to need a burro to hike out all the gold I was about to find. No joy for the next hr and a half. I reached a huge dry waterfall and decided to turn back. I took it slow concentrating on only exposed or very shallow bedrock. I picked up the heaviest nugget jammed in a bedrock crack, I had to chip away at the edges to get it out. 100 yards further, the last nugget was in narrow crack in a smooth bedrock raceway. This turns out to be my best morning, 3 hrs, 3 nuggets, 5.2 grams. I'll give her another go tomorrow, less walking and coil to the ground. The surprising thing was no little crumbs, just decent nuggets that any detector would have found..

I have noticed the same thing, dry scrub brush gives you a static burst, sometimes a couple passes to clear it. My old GPX with coiltek coil did the same thing. The NF coil improved it. I was in some hot ground today, even though the SDC handles it, I know I'm over running the threshold, I hear it catching up and overshoot on some hotrocks. It stops me and forces me to slow down. You'll be surprised at the power of that SDC, keep swinging low and slow and you can't help but find gold. Call me if you're in the Yuma neighborhood.

Hey Steve, How would you like to follow behind Glenn with the SDC? I got out for a few hrs and dug a bunch of bird shot, but found this guy in a spot that screams gold. A bedrock bench with a foot of overburden. Based on the birdshot, I doubt it was ever detected. I need to pull off that overburden and give her another go. 3 grams, we're getting there.

I went out to a new old spot from last year. I had taken a few pickers off an old bench with shallow bedrock using the Gold Bug II. The overburden is 8 to 10 inches with decomposing schist bedrock. The bedrock was almost too hot for the GBII, hard to separate the tones. I had raked down the overburden and went over it with the GPX 4000 with 16 inch NF round mono, no joy. I went back yesterday with the SDC and immediately got a faint tone. The bigger of the nuggets was right in that decomposed bedrock. With no more signals, I again pulled down the overburden as best I could with my short handled pick. Got another faint tone 8 inches from the first nugget. I opened up the hole and the signal just wouldn't improve. I kept opening the hole thinking the target must be in the side of the hole. Still no luck and the target just wouldn't improve. In frustration I used the pick to bust up the bedrock and pulled the whole mess out. Bang, now the target was blowing my ears off in the dig pile. That was the long looking nugget. I waved over the hole and got another faint tone. Same issue, I couldn't get the tone to improve until I got it out of the hole. My assumption is that the hot bedrock is somehow diffusing the quality of the signal, even when I'm right on the target. Once out of the hole, they sounded off like the quality of nuggets they are. 3.5 grams total. They must be fairly porous, awfully light for their overall size.

Definitely over an ounce and now that the weather is improving, I'm looking forward to searching some new old areas. Some of those pieces are sub-grain and don't even register on my scale. I continue to be amazed at how it can detect those tiny pieces at decent depth, I think the deepest sub-grain was 3 inches. You really have to have a plastic scoop to recover them. The one problem is bird shot, that detector loves bird shot and they are a bitch to recover. My Gold-Bug II and Gold Bug Pro are gathering dust. Already sold my GPX, these guys are next.

Here's the photo of 3 weeks worth of detecting with the SDC2300. These were mostly around Yuma, a couple hrs each morning, all within 45 minutes of home. Some were from out near Palm Springs. Finally dropping to mid 80's, I'll extend my hrs and range next week. Total weight 19 grams.

Best decision I've made in detectors.. I get out for a couple hrs 4 or 5 days a week in yuma. I've recovered just over half oz over the past 3 weeks. Its the difference between finding a few bits or dragging that skunk around. I found a sub-grain piece at about 3 inches yesterday, unbelievable. Capped the morning with a 2.4 gram piece that howled low tone. I'll shoot a photo of this mass of dinks I've accumulated and post later. The Phase Tech headphone adapter makes a huge difference since I prefer in-ear earphones. Sweet package and keeps me motivated even if it is dink hunting. I'm quite sure the big ones will come along when I get back into some virgin ground.

Went back out to iron stone hell, long walk, much cooler, only needed 2 liters of water. I concentrated on a placer hillside where the nugglets hide amongst the iron stones. No trash, but used the Steve H concept of clearing all the targets. I kicked, picked and dug at least 100 iron stones to find 15 little nuggets. Total weght 1.9 grams. The poor SDC howled on some golf ball sized iron stone at depth. They seem to build up a halo when they're down deep, the target response is much less once they're out of the hole. Only a couple nugget targets screamed dig me. Everything else was just threshold warbles.

I searched for the source of those nuggets. Didn't find the vein, but found this guy in the margin between small rivulet wash, and decomposed granite hills. Must be getting close. Difficult terrain, decomposed granite=precarious footing. Mid 90's by 11am. 1.4 gram nugget. No quartz attached.

It looks rose, but under magnification more like rust color staining the quartz. Rusty looking pockets amoung fractured crystals on the inside. It also looks like about 1/3 of it was broken off in the distant past. Hope I find that vein.

Tomorrow I start looking for the source. Quartz outcrops on the hillsides. The nugs look well worn, but the mountain range is less than 2 square miles.

Photo didnt go, I'll try again.

I'm in Yuma, so I go out locally for a couple hours every morning. Still too hot for all day. I've been finding a few flakes every day. A few in the .5 gram size. 10 days, maybe 6 grams total. The SDC is really keeping things interesting because I find something nearly every day. This morning was the best yet. I found the smaller nugget 1.4 gr right in the wash below drywash tailings. Biggest one of the week. I followed the wash, very shallow, granite cobbles. Maybe 100 yds up, I get a screaming signal. Sounded just like a jacketed bullet, low/high warbled pitch. Very shallow, 4 inches at best. Frankly, any detector would have found that nugget. Weighs in at 4.8 grams. Biggest nugget so far with the SDC. I'm enjoying my morning outings, and the SDC is a good motivator.

After leaving the skunkfest at Sawtooth I decided to detour on my way home and hit some old ground where I knew some small gold existed. Don't get me wrong, Sawtooth was a great outing with a great bunch of people, but except for one really nice nugget, the gold was pretty scarce. So, I drove to Riverside, CA where an old friend always has a spare room and a jaccuzi. I soaked my aching bones and tried to wash off the skunk, downed a few glasses of Cab. and got a decent nights sleep in a bed, not a camp cot. Yesterday I drove out to a zone near Palm Springs where Kaiser steel once mined iron ore. I got an early start knowing I had over an hour hike to the spot I wanted to try. The spot consists of a small ridge where the old timers had drywashed 2 small gullies. Bedrock on the ridge face is less than 8 inches. I had found a few nuggets in the past with the GPX, nothing over 1 gram, but the ironstone just plays hell with the GPX, especially when looking for small gold. Whisper targets are out of the question. Some of the golf ball sized ironstones are super dense and make a swinging a coil a hearing buster. The softball sized pieces are like swinging over a horse shoe and the GPX will find them real deep. I hiked in the long way much to my dismay later in the day. The temps were in the mid to high 80's and I miscalculated on my water supply. I had 3 1 ltr bottles, and drank the first one on the way in. I got to the tailings and within minutes had 3 small flakes of gold, right out of the tailings. I worked the entire hillside trying to find bigger pieces and clusters, but it wasn't to be. The SDC was a dream in that ironstone. It growled and groaned on probably 60 percent of the ironstones, but gold signals came through loud and clear with obvious dig me tones. The biggest piece of gold was just shy of 2 grams and blasted through with the low/high tone. I dug a fair amount of really dense ironstone, but the SDC purred along for the most part. I hunted that spot for about 2 hours and came away with 16 pieces for about 5 grams. I spent too much time searching the barren parts of the hillside instead of concentrating on a 30 meter zone that produced 90 percent of the gold. I ignored most of the faint threshold warbles because of the ironstone and only dug solid signals. I was short of time because of the my water situation and had to call it day after about 2 hours of detecting. My hike back was brutal. Hottest part of the day and my water reached the critical. I had abut 4 inches of water left in the last bottle and had to take a small sip and hold the water in my mouth to overcome the dry tongue and mouth sensation. I tried to take a shortcut and naturally missed the mark because of a sheer rock face. Thankfully, I had a cooler full of cold water and beer and that's all I could think of as I trudged around the rock face obstacle. Man, was I glad to see that truck in the distance and polished off the last of my water. I should have stayed another day, but my heart just wasn't in it after that hot, dry hike.

Hey Steve, Have you tried the Aussie headphone adapter yet? I ordered one last week after I buggered my headphone cord. I was repacking my gear for an overnight trip when I caught the cord and pulled the tiny black headphone wire out of the socket. Tried to do a home repair and failed so I'm grounded until the adapter arrives. I wonder if Minelab with replace the headphones after I F'd with them for a DIY repair?

It was indeed some tough conditions for man and machine. My pack was upwards of 55 lbs but decently balanced. Those rock hillsides collect the heat and the brush blocks the breeze. There were a few times I just couldn't bear to dig one more square nail. What's even worse we had to live on food and water, no cold beer. We were lucky enough to camp by a spring, so we had cool water without hiking down to the river. The SDC is really a great little machine and can definitely find the small stuff rivaling my Gold Bug while still handling some very hot ground. My biggest nugget was just shy of 3 grams, the smallest too small to weigh. As has been pointed out else where, the headphone jack is way too fragile and the headphone cord way too short. I took the extra measure of wrapping the headphone connection with parachute cord and typing it off to the armrest so as not to bugger it so far from home. My 12 volt charger and foldable solar panel seemed like a good idea, but left me lacking. I charged two sets of batteries and got about 2 hours use out of them. Fortunately, Steve brought spares and saved the day. All in all a good trip and a good test of the SDC and my 60 yr old body. The SDC was a joy, though my 60 yr old frame left me lacking at times. I hike an hour every day, so the legs were willing, but that good life has left me too round in the middle. Sleeping on the ground gets old quick. After a soak in the hot tub and a good nights sleep in a bed, I'm ready to go again. I want to reiterate some of things Steve and others have said about the SDC. Frankly, it is awfully expensive. It is not the do all and end all of gold detecting machines. It isn't going to rival the 5000 for power and depth on large nuggets, but no one is trying to claim that it will. It's got a few flaws that are irksome, but not beyond reason. Unfortunately, I've hammered my known gold producing areas, and I've about run out of big nuggets until I find some new ground. An 8" coil would not be my choice for trying to cover as much new ground while trying to find new patches, but that's what we got, I'll work with it. I like to go detecting, and I especially like to find something worthwhile. Some people will pay for their machine in the first year. Me, probably not, but that's not my priority. I just want to be out there banging away and digging new targets. I'm chomping at the bit for some cool weather in the desert so I can get back out there. If you're on the fence and money is tight, don't buy it. If you're like me and just want to enjoy your detecting experiences, give one a try.

Steve's comment on 100 hrs of detector experience is often ignored by newcomers. I personally had been hunting with the various iterations of GPX in the desert southwest for several years with decent luck, but it wasn't until I went to Moore Creek and spent 10 to 15 hrs a day for 2 weeks that I began to truly understand my detector and my own detecting flaws. It's not as simple as swinging a coil and digging where it goes beep. I followed behind many newcomers at Moore Creek and picked up the gold they missed. Surface trash, bullets and hot rocks will discourage many an ardent newcomer. After 20 years of detecting I still get frustrated when a decent gold field is littered with .22 bullets and birdshot and I end up walking away. I think I was pretty lucky and found my first nugget after only 20 hrs of detecting. You would do well to try and hook up with an experienced operator in the area you wish to hunt. I have been lucky and found a few guys out there who will help a newcomer and I benefited greatly from their advice. Any of Steve's recommendations for a detector will work and find gold within its particular specialty. Hot ground separates the good from the really good but you still need some experience with your machine to understand its limitations and make appropriate adjustments. We don't want to dampen your gold fever, but help you recognize the stumbling blocks we all faced when starting out. If you find yourself in Southern CA and AZ, drop me a note and I'll lend a hand.

As I understand it, the headphone jack is unique to this detector and is not compatible with your favorite aftermarket dry land headphones. Is there a solution, headphone jack conversion for standard 1/4" jack headphones?