Condor

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?

I've been following not only Steve and Chris's reports, but the Aussie links as well regarding the SDC 2300. My detecting is mostly in the deserts of Southern CA and AZ. I never upgraded my GPX 4000 and since the Moore Creek and Ganes Creek closure, I was in no particular hurry to upgrade. I have hit my usual areas with the 4000 with the 16" NF coil pretty regular. I found 4 nuggets over 1/4 oz, and a few dozen in the .5 to 3 gram size. The bigger nuggets were not more than 10 inches deep. Last year I took the GoldBug to some of the hillside areas where the 4000 had produced a few nuggets. I found many, many small pieces that had not traveled far from their source, just tiny surface outcrops.

The problem as GoldBug users know is that because of its sensitivity, it's not much of a prospecting machine for trying to cover a lot of area in mineralized ground. Its great for cleaning up an area, but really requires a low and slow sweep over mineralized ground. In some of the red clay and hot rock areas, nearly impossible to use.

I enjoy prospecting and enjoy it that much more if I'm finding stuff. I've never been convinced that this passion is anything more than a hobby. I don't expect to get rich or break even for that matter. I need the challenge and don't ever want to get comfortable with the idea that TV is a great retirement pastime.

From what I'm reading, the 2300 handles mineralized ground really well, and is nearly as sensitive as a good VLF. To me, it seems like some of my old areas are wide open for new exploration and I'll be motivated to search some new areas. Add the benefit of hiking and not sitting on my arse, its like a gym membership with fresh clean air.

To be sure, buying a $4000 machine to find tiddlers makes very little economic sense, but I'm not in it for the economics. I'm in it for the joy of being outside, the sound of that mellow positive beep and the ever so elusive possibilities.

When the desert cools off, I'm on that new 2300 like a turkey on a junebug. In the meantime, I'm enjoying everyone's reports.

BatterySpace.com in the San Francisco bay area has a package deal on the 5000mah batteries and charger which includes the cigarette lighter connection.  I think it was $49.00 for the charger and 8 c cell batteries.  I've bought a lot of Li-Ion batteries from them over the years, no complaints. 

I recently did an arduous prospecting hike on the N. Fork of the American River near Iowa Hill.  I was upriver about about 3 hrs from my truck.  I found a nice little sand spit in a steep canyon and set up my campsite.  The canyon was narrow and the afternoon breeze was picking up my little tent, so I thought to put a flat rock on the corner to anchor it.  I walked 10 ft to a rubble pile and reached down for a decent looking rock when I spotted movement out of my right eye (fortunately that's my good eye) about a foot and a half from my hand.  While my frontal cortex was trying to figure out what it was, my "lizard brain" assumed all executive function and commanded me to "get away from THAT"!  I was compelled to execute a difficult triple reverse crow hop.  Now I expect I would have garnered high marks owing to the degree of difficulty and a bonus for the colorful invective issued mid-flight, though the landing was a bit awkward, given the uneven ground and such.  In the outside world an "excited utterance" is quite prized.  It is one of the few exceptions to the "hearsay" rule in court.  It is thought that a statement made in the heat of the moment is more credible than one made after thoughtful deliberation.  With that in mind I can't be certain that this particular serpent was engaged in unseemly carnal knowledge with someone's mother, or that it had a fondness for oral sex with males, but I accused it of all this and more.  That little monster had allowed me to step over his little shelter and had lain there all the while I was setting up my little camp.  He never rattled until I was mid-flight. 

I probably run into half a dozen rattlers a year and I don't normally kill them, but this was an exception.  I just couldn't afford to share my little spit of land with a venomous serpent.  Just too risky given the distance to civilization and help.  He wedged himself into a crevice and wouldn't come out.  I decided to smoke him out with some dried brush.  Imagine trying to get that little pile lit without getting my hand near the crevice.  Got it lit and he made quite a fuss, but just wouldn't come out, so I added more wood and barbequed him place, I think.  He quieted down and I never saw a sign of him afterwards.   The next day as I was hiking up a steep ravine, I ran into his cousin.  I saw this one in plenty of time to avoid it, but it sure made a racket as I went past. 

Naturally, I was all goosey about where I was putting my hands and feet for the rest of the trip.  Saw one more dead one a few days later. 

Curious to see JP weigh in on this.  Will he be doing some field trials?

Hey Steve,
Did you ever get a chance to use the rocker? I am curious about the its efficiency on fine, flat gold. Also, what does it weigh?

Steve,

Do you think you can reach out to AKAU to post something about their plans for 2014?  Naturally curious about the gold split criteria.

Can the Deus handle gold prospecting too?

Steve,

I know you covered a lot of the same info in your comparison of VLF gold detectors, but please reiterate for the slow kid in the class.

I haven't done any coin and relic hunting, but might want to give it a try.  The conditions I see are:

Trashy, lots of iron and nails

Moderately mineralized ground, not city parks and such, but old desert settlements

Reasonably priced

Suppose you could only take one detector to such a location.  What would it be?

I forgot, I found this little guy in the wash gravels about 10 ft from the galena specimens.  It's really a tough walk, I wouldn't want to carry out 50 lbs of this stuff, I'll have to get my son the packhorse to tag along and do the heavy lifting.

You're both right.  Sooty black exterior on the weathered sections, bright shiny sliver on the broken pieces.  Now that I can see it in daylight, it's a lot clearer.  The photos won't do it justice, the shiny cleaved surfaces are tough to capture.  I took a picture of the pile of pieces that came from the center when I shattered it and the exterior.  It originally looked just like the Tombstone piece.

I think Chicken Miner has it.  It looks just like that.  It came from AZ, near Yuma the old Red Cloud Mine area.  Silver producing district. 

Steve,

This website doesn't like photo's with too high resolution.  I'm charging up the old trusty Nikon D70, hopefully, I can jigger the settings around to get a passible photo.  With my little pocket Nikon, the reflective surface of the rock is returning the flash and blowing out the contrast.  Maybe tomorrow I can take one with natural light and get the thing to work.  I left the detector in Yuma, so I can't do much to check the levels you describe.  Imagine a rock nearly as heavy as lead, about the size of a charcoal briquet, weathered with a sliica type coating, an  internal structure of black, shiny flaked crystal, that fractures like glass.  I found 2 of them in the space of 20 ft and quit digging blow out signals.  The area is AZ, within 30 miles of the Cargo Muchacho and Choclate Mountain ranges. 

Chris,

The rocks I found last week with the GB2 that after cleaning with acid I assumed to be ironstones.  Jet black, porus exterior, quartz intrusions, however; I showed them to my son today and they have 0 magnetic pull.  We then gave one a crack with the hammer and wow!  It fractured in dozens of pieces, the inside jet black, shiny cleaved plate like surfaces.  You can see tiny intrusions of quartz and other host rock.  My immediate thought is some type of lead ore, Its very heavy and very metallic to the GB2, but not magnetic.  Your thoughts and anybody else with similar experience. 

Much lighter, cooler, and roomier than jeans.  Very comfortable for AZ weather, though I suspect too light for colder climates.  I took an unplanned dunk in water to my waist the other day.  I hung the pants over a boat rail, they dried in about 20 minutes in 75 degree temps.  Duluth makes other work pants including jeans with the same gusseted crotch section, I haven't needed anything other than the "firehose flex" cargo style.

El Dorado Steve is right on. (Got a lot of Steve's on here)  After you make an initial purchase you will get an online discount coupon for either 20 or 25 percent off your next purchase.  The timing was great because I had decided I really liked my trial pair of pants and wanted to get more.  I took the gamble on their T shirts at the sale price, I prefer the 3 button henley style.  They are great shirts, I bought a weeks worth and wear them everyday.  I don't think anyone will be disappointed with Duluth products.