Condor

For those who don't know me, I'm 64 yrs old, but don't feel a day over 63. My girlfriend while younger, is not overly so.

I spent 3 weeks out there last year in August. It sucked alot, but a few thunderstorms would come through and make things interesting and it was a whole lot better than home in sunny Yuma at 118 degrees. I saw Steve H out there and he had a small travel trailer with a portable generator and air conditioning. That really is the answer for the heat of the day. I may look into that for later this year.

Part II Every year I devise some new scheme to get the gold out of that river. One year I even set up a gravity dredge with 60' of 4'' hose. It worked fine, but it really takes 2 people to manage it. If you get a blockage it's an absolute bear to drag that hose out, shake out the blockage, then get it all back in the water and re-charge the suction. This year I decided to just concentrate on the flood gold and work less hard. During the past winter I watched various You-Tube videos of the guys on the beaches trying to capture fly speck gold. I figured I could find a decent inside bend of the river and dig the easy stuff off the banks. My plan got a little further complicated when my girlfriend decided she would like to join me for 10 days on the river. Mind you, this is rough, dry camping. Since the BLM roadblock, the only camping space is an old helicopter landing area, over a mile from the river with no local water source, and certainly no toilet facilities. I traveled ahead by 4 days to set things up and she would fly into Sacramento. I set up a decent camp, stand up room tent with an inflatable queen bed. I had pre-positioned bear spray easily accessible under the awning and in the tent, just in case. I set up a potty area with one of those toilet seats you put on a 5 gallon bucket. I bought the potty bags that help keep the mess in order for later disposal. I found a decent gravel bar with about a half mile walk from where I could park the Rokon, cleared the trail of poison oak and set up a portable shade and a chair on the gravel bar. The only real hazard was a steep section of trail with about a 50' drop, with the trail littered with dry oak leaves. They can be like stepping on roller skates in that kind of terrain, but I did the best I could. She arrived and on the drive down the nasty washed out road she started to wonder what she had gotten herself into, but she was game and soldiered on. I pointed out the poison oak all around the camp and cautioned repeatedly, "don't leave the trail". So it was for the next 10 days. We rode double on the Rokon and only crashed 4 times, all at low speed and generally into the blackberry bushes. No major injuries, minor scrapes, bruises and stickers. The hike proved to be a challenge, particularly the nasty 50' steep section. She developed a pattern of places to stop and catch her breath and take a drink of water. She likes to think she works out at the gym, but this was a bit different. I kept telling her, "it's the cardio", you'll get used to it. She didn't weigh 130 lbs soaking wet when we started, but managed to lose 7 lbs in the 10 days on the river. In the river I had a net bag of beer, soda and water. I carried fresh snacks down everyday so it really was paradise, kind of. I would drive the Rokon down to the spring every evening and fill up a 5 gallon tote bag of water for bathing. I'd heat up enough and fill a bucket with warm water. We used a gatorade bottle with the top cut off as a scoop to pour water for our shower. The bear only visited once. I carelessly left the trash out and there he was. I scared him off and didn't have to use the bear spray. At the end of 10 days, my girlfriend had to fly home reluctantly. In Part III, I'll talk about the gold....

The River I spent several weeks in early July, panning and sluicing on the N. Fork of the American River. I've been going to the same 10 mile section of the river for over 20 yrs. That part of the river is designated Wild & Scenic, so no motorized equipment and no claims. It's one of the few places in CA gold country you can access a free flowing river without stepping on someone's gold claim. Access is not easy, although there a a number of trails up and down the river. They're all rugged, often steep and always overgrown with poison oak. I have often encountered "locals" who at various times attempt to eke out an existence by panning and sluicing the river. Generally friendly and sometimes willing to share local knowledge of the gold. When I meet them I make a point to brew up a big pot of spaghetti and feed all comers. Many years ago, I met a guy my age driving a new Jeep Cherokee. He was socially awkward, but I learned he was a software engineer from the Silicon Valley and had taken up gold prospecting on weekends. He was not very successful, so my 6 yr old son and I invited him to come dig in a hole we had started. He sluiced a few buckets and declared that was more gold than he had ever found. Skip ahead 10 years, I found him living in a tent on the banks of the river having spent 2 years pursuing the golden dream. He was eking out an existence and seemed to be perfectly happy. Imagine a 6 mile hike uphill, just to reach a paved road, hope for a ride to town to get supplies then repeat the process back down. Supplies are limited to what you can afford and carry on your back. The local mining supply store pays 80 percent of spot, for good clean gold. This guy still had the math and engineering brain so he could tell me exactly how much he was earning per hr, although he did not factor that it was in fact a 24 hr a day job, living on the river. Every now and then "flatlanders" discover the place and bring down a bunch of gear intending to strike it rich. They are soon disillusioned and I find their gear stashed in the woods. I've seen one sleeping bag stashed in the same spot for over 4 years, untouched. Buckets and digging tools get carried away by spring floods and I find them littered on gravel bars. Access There is an old mining road ,overgrown, heavily rutted, washed out and frequently blocked by blown down timber. It currently takes me about an hr to travel just over 3 miles down that road crawling in 4 wheel drive low locked in 1st gear. At one time you could drive to within 100 yds of the river. There was a fabulous camping spot under a massive oak, with a spring nearby. In their infinite wisdom, the BLM blocked the road about 1.5 miles from the old camping spot. They brought in some heavy equipment and dug tank traps to block all future traffic down the road. For many seasons I hiked the rest of the way down on a variety of trails. A few yrs ago, my son, then strapping teenager and I started hacking an ATV trail around the tank traps. We spent a few hrs a day for over a week cutting a new trail. It's passable by ATV to this day, but you really have to know the danger spots or slide right down the hill. I've winched my own ATV up that zone many times. More to come in Part II.....

Hey Fred, My last 2 Mexico trips have not produced much gold. It's getting hard to come by, everywhere. Prior to the Rye Patch, I spent a couple weeks sluicing and panning on the N. Fork of the American River. I was getting about a gram a day of flood gold, but you know me, I'll leave gold to find gold. I'll start writing up that story on the Sluicing and Panning forum. I'm trying to find my camera with some of the gold pics.

I was actually over on the Sawtooth side, but most people recognize the Rye Patch. I consider myself a fairly rugged guy, but N NV in July is no place to be without some decent shelter from the afternoon sun and heat. A 10 X 10 Walmart quick shade seems to provide shade, but focus the radiant heat somehow making it hotter under the shade, if that makes sense. The afternoon breezes are hot and dry leaving my only thoughts to cold drinks. Cold beer was my last choice, Gatorade and water were the only solutions. I endured 2 days and found 1 tiny nugget with the Nox 800. I rode my Rokon and explored way up an old "ghost road" on the afternoon of the first day. With field glasses I saw a couple canyons that had exposed bedrock and I aimed to hike them the next morning while it was cool. N NV climate is a funny thing, I woke up to 61 degrees, but temps would climb to 90 by 11AM. As I was gathering my gear, I had one of those nagging premonitions. I suspect we have them all the time, but only remember the ones that come true. Nevertheless, I packed extra water and my Garmin Satellite Communication device. I was merrily riding up the ghost road enjoying the refreshing morning air when, bang. I felt the Rokon torque converter explode into the protective fiberglass shield. Fortunately, I was only half way to my destination. I carry tools and some spare parts, but no amount of duct tape was going to fix this problem. I pulled all the unnecessary stuff out of my pack and started walking back to my truck. It was all downhill, with a decent breeze so I made good time before the unbearable heat set in. I packed my truck and strapped down all my gear for some tricky 4 wheeling to get back up there to the Rokon. Turns out to be 4.7 rugged miles. I loaded the Rokon and decided to head for home in sunny Yuma where it was only 116 degrees. It could have been worse however; the Garmin device, in addition to the emergency SOS, has a feature where you can send free preselected messages to your family and friends. At the end of the message the device stamps your GPS coordinates so they know where you are. Since I do so much prospecting alone, I make this compromise so people worry less about me. For $30.00 a month service fee, it's cheap insurance and my family worry less. So, every night I send a preselected message of "Alive and Well" and they can plot my last location if something happens to me. Staying home where it's safe is not an option in my world.

Hey Steve, Thanks for correcting my spelling as well. I saw it after I posted, but as always, my computer skills are limited.

I really needed the Equinox on a collapsible shaft so that I can put it in my backpack or stow it on the Rokon for riding cross country. I already had the Golden Mask shaft that I had modified for the Deus, so I started tinkering. The original Equinox shaft has a smaller diameter than the Golden Mask, so the shaft mounts will not mate up directly. I took the dremel tool and relieved the areas around the screw holes just enough to get the Nox handle brain/screen section to snug up to the Mask shaft. I removed the original Mask handle and fitted the Nox in the same location. (Mask handle is bolted and glued to the shaft, it takes some work to get them apart.) I then used longer NOX sized metric bolts (shown below) snugged them into the NOX handle around the Mask shaft. Its a very tight fit so the bolts end up a little bent. I then cut the heads off the bolts to make them more or less studs. I cut and drilled a hose clamp band, fitted it over the studs, then pulled them down tight over the shaft with a nut and washer combination. I added a little black paint and the whole thing is really stable. I'll had a little black Duct tape to the whole mess so that it doesn't hang up on my shirt or pants. It collapses to 24 inches and fully extends to about 50 inches. The Golden Mask shafts are all carbon fiber so corrosion, weight and shaft wobble are not a problem. I gave it a test run this morning was quite impressed. For whatever reason I can not explain, my bump falsing was cut by about half. That was the first thing I noticed so I went through all the set up functions to make sure I hadn't accidentally changed something like Sens or Recovery. Nope, all my same settings, but now a noticeable reduction in bump sensitivity. I don't know how, but I'm liking it a whole lot better now.

Summer has come early here in the Desert Southwest, Sunny Yuma. Mid 90's today, approaching 100 through the week, must be a climate change kind of thing. I had time to spare this morning so I took the Equinox out to an area of old Dry Wash tailings I found recently. I found a number of small pieces last week with the Z7000, so I wanted to see what the Z had missed. I fired up the Equinox in Gold Prospecting 2, "made sure recovery speed reset to 6", Sens at 22, notched out -9 through -6 which covers most hot rocks down here. I moved through the old coarse and fine throw-out tailings, low and slow. I had to double check a number of hard black hot rocks that tried to blow through my notch. They generally sound off in one direction only and are easily moved with a boot scrape. I started finding these tiny nuggets about an inch or so down, resting on a layer of red clay. The Equinox was audibly sounding off with a classic "Gold Bug II" kind of Zip tone, though choppy and broken at low and slow. Unfortunately, the Screen VID could not keep up. It was generally showing -8 of the red clay, but the audible target tone was breaking through no problem and was so crisp and clear that I knew I had to dig. I'm using higher end EarBud earphones plugged directly into the machine. What I've learned so far: 1. Higher recovery speed helps control bump falsing. It's still there, but manageable. 2. Don't rely on the VID to identify gold. Even when these targets were out of the hole, the VID ranged from 1 through 9. 3. The 11" coil is plenty sensitive on small gold. I don't see a 6" coil in my future. A solid 5"X10", heck yes. 4. The Equinox is as good as any VLF gold prospecting detector out there, if you take the time to know the machine and learn it's language. As always it helps to get the coil over some gold to build confidence.

Yep, break out the Dunce Cap. I had messed with that Recovery Speed setting the very first day over test nuggets and liked the way it sounded on a setting of 4. I never thought to change it back, the machine stores your last settings. Little did I know how bumpy it would make that coil. With the factory default of 6, the coil is much better behaved, but still falses occasionally, certainly no where near what I was experiencing before. Belay all my previous complaints.

Forgot to mention I'm hunting with no Discrimination, digging all targets for practice.

I spent the past couple days playing around with the EQ on some undug targets, some that I detected with the GPZ, then went over with the EQ. My observations in Moderately Mild ground of Sunny Yuma. Dropping the Sens down to 18 or lower didn't improve the bump falsing, but the targets disappeared. Raising the Recovery Speed to 5 or higher knocked out 75 percent of the bump falsing. If you raise the Recovery speed, you need to raise the threshold for low and slow or you won't hear the targets. At a recovery speed of 5, you need a pretty good swing speed to make the micro nuggets sing out. The smallest I found was .04 gram, the biggest was .48 gram. I can't be sure what I'm losing in depth with the higher recovery speed, most of these targets are 1 to 2 inches. Just like any new detector, it takes some time on the ground to get to know the nuances. For most of my ground, a Sens of 23, Threshold 8 to 10, Recovery Speed 5 or 6. On the hotter red dirt, Sens of 20 held up pretty well. Park 2 got the bigger nuggets just fine, Field 2 nothing. Bear in mind I'm concentrating on micro nuggets simply because there are more of them and I'm having fun finding something for my day out in the sun. I'm liking this detector more every day. One you electronic geniuses can tell us why the higher Recovery Speed setting knocks down the bump falsing.

Many thanks JW for keeping everyone's Equinox expectations realistic as it relates to gold prospecting. There is no sense hyping the attributes of this machine without talking about its potential disappointments. Prospectors can be an unforgiving bunch. I well imagine that Steve H is behind the scenes, working his keen powers of persuasion, encouraging Minelab to give us a gold prospecting coil. I was out yesterday with a Gold Monster and only ran it for a few minutes at a time, so I really don't speak the Monster language, but I can honestly say that given my limited time with both machines, I would pick the EQ over the Monster for a small gold VLF. The weight, balance and versatility just make the EQ a lot more value for the money. I know JW and Steve H have said this, but let me reiterate, finding gold this small with an 11 inch coil is remarkable. I will try and get the EQ over a faint, undug target today, and adjust the sensitivity down until I lose the target. That should give us a better idea of how far we can go on Sensitivity to eliminate bump falsing.

Steve, you're spot on and we're on the same path here. We have all seen the knee jerk negative reactions to Minelab's various detector releases in the past. All or most of the negativity has fallen silent after general use by unbiased consumers. My goal here was to get out in front of this weakness (for prospectors) and I raised it on the prospecting page rather than the Equinox fan club page. The Equinox is an awesome detector given all that it accomplishes at this price point. Minelab has certainly not touted this detector's gold field prowess, it seems an afterthought to their innovative technology, and may well become a major strength with a dedicated coil. I am certainly looking forward to that day. I applaud Minelab for not dumming down the detector and leaving the choice of adjusting to extreme sensitivity in my inartful hands. Just because my mini-van's engine is capable of 120mph, doesn't mean I should drive it at those speeds, but the option is mine and I sacrifice any claims that my mini-van sucks because it won't corner at 110mph. It simply wasn't designed for that and I am the first to admit it. Power on Minelab, innovation is king.

JW, If you manage to do some filming, please include the bump sensitivity part. If people think the new Equinox is the ultimate VLF gold detector, they're going to be disappointed. It is a very fine gold detector, assuming you have some experience and understand the absolute skill of coil control. At these extremely high settings, you simply will not be able to poke that 11" coil down between rocks and crevices without bumping and falsing. I was very happy on the flat ground and tailings mounds, but deep down in the rocky gullies and desert washes I was quite frustrated. Now that I better understand the machines limitations, I will concentrate on the areas where it excels and leave the others to my more capable machines. Just remember all the complaints about the Monster falsing with higher settings. This machine is no different and perhaps worse because of the coil design. I'm not a basher, just realistic. I like this machine for all its flexibility and I wouldn't trade mine for anything like priced. Caveat Emptor. Edit 3/10 - See follow up post.

The machine with these high settings is very bump sensitive. From my previous tests with test nuggets, if you were concentrating on 1/2 gram and larger nuggets you could turn down the threshold to near silence. It will cut out about half of the bump falsing and still hit the nuggets pretty clearly. You can certainly turn down the Sens and achieve less falsing, but over test nuggets the depth drops off dramatically. Real world results on undug targets may differ. Bear in mind this is basically my 3rd time out with this detector, so don't count my word as gospel. I like the machine, and I want to like it even more because of its weight and ease of use. Paul: No problems with EMI 10 miles outside of sunny Yuma. The Marine F22's fly here everyday and they play havoc at times with the GPZ, but no issues with the Nox. I detected directly under power lines and there was a noticeable hum, but no real problem. Edit 3/10 - See follow up post.

I've been laid up for over a week with the friggin flu, but JW's finds with the Equinox inspired me today. A sunny 78 degrees in the Desert Southwest, so I decided some fresh air and detecting were in order. I picked a spot for easy access and easy walking, not wanting too many challenges to my recovery. An old hillside placer that we had found a number of tiny nuggets with the 7000 seemed like a good prospect. I plugged my earphones directly into the the Nox and ran the Gold 2 program with no discrimination. I jacked the sens to max and just puttered along, low and slow. I picked up these 4 micro nuggets for about 2 hrs effort. None of them registered a VID, just a barely repeatable tone. The biggest was down maybe 2 inches and gave a nice steady hum. The others were less than an inch, just a squeak of a tone. The hillside was fairly flat, so I was able to manage some decent coil control, otherwise the Nox at full power will false with every bump. You'd have to be pretty bored to make this kind of detecting a habit, but it served its purpose today.

I purchased an Equinox 800 hoping to put a little more fun into gold prospecting and try my hand a coin/relic detecting. I've put about 5 hrs detecting time in, first in a really trashy shallow bedrock wash then in running through old drywash tailings. 5 hrs is not enough to really get to know the machine and I was not able to get that coil over undug gold, but some initial observations can be shared. In the shallow bedrock, littered with bits of ancient decomposing food cans from an old mine camp, Nox is awesome. I ran it in the standard Gold I setting, with no discrimination. The rotting can trash was unmistakable in the -3 to -5 VDI reading. Modern steel items like machine fittings etc, sometimes ran up to +2, but lead and my test nuggets consistently gave VDI of 8 to 10. A 1 gram test nugget consistently hits 9 to 10. Hot rocks show up in the -7, -8 range. In the drywash tailings, I was looking for depth and the ground was a little hotter. I ran in Gold II with the sensitivity between 19 and 21 where conditions allowed. Again, ferrous trash was unmistakable with good logical VDI numbers. I ran into a lot of hot rocks in the -8 VDI. Given that I could not get the coil over undug gold, I opted to do a little testing with test nuggets. First, a .2 gram nugget sounded off perfectly to about 3 inches, VDI at depth is iffy. I think more depth is possible on that size with a little more tweaking. Then, a 1 gram nugget down 6 inches in the fine drywash tailings. Tone was unmistakable, but the VDI was all over the place. I went down 8 inches and the tone was clear, but now the VDI starting hitting at -8, the same place as a hundred hot rocks I had been over and had quit digging. I'm still not sure how to interpret that bit. More practice and more testing. Ideally, an undug target is the place for that, I just need to get over one. My one gripe is that the coil is very bump sensitive. That spoke design catches on brush and the tops of rocks causing a hard chirp from machine. A few times I was trying to work that 11 inch coil down between rocks and every bump gave me a chirp or 2. It really breaks the concentration when you're trying to find those whisper signals. At this point I would not opt for the 800 as my exclusive gold prospecting machine. Good thing I have the workhorse GPZ for that. Edit 3/10 - See follow up post.

Hey Steve, Do you think the EQX can be made to fit the Golden Mask collapsible rod assembly?

The tire options are even better now. Great radial tires out there really help the side hilling goat trail riding. I'll be out to SawTooth this summer exploring the "ghost roads" up in those hills.

I had a similar one on Treasure Classifieds. I kept stringing it along to see the cashiers check and turn it over to the Postal Inspection Service. I think he smelled it out and quit emailing.

Frankly, I don't advocate anyone taking the kinds risks I take, whether riding a Rokon in rough ground or prospecting in Baja. Certainly there are enough assholes on both sides of the border to make prospecting a dangerous hobby. Several years ago two hunters from here in Yuma were killed in N. AZ by a fellow they befriended on their hunt. Is it more likely in Baja, possibly. Paul and I had our GPZ's stolen from my driveway in Yuma. Would you flash your Rolex after dark in Detroit? Did the Argonauts of all the various gold rushes stay home because there were wild animals, dangerous serpents, bandits or wild Injuns? It is all a personal choice and everyone gets to decide how much risk is acceptable. When I start encountering shoeclerks from Payless in Baja, then I'll know it's time to move on. I've been traveling in Baja for over 50 years, with very few problems. That may all change tomorrow, but until it does I'll take my adventures where I find them.

It's great to have a mechanic in the family. I did put the pick inside my pack and it punctured my camelback bladder. I had to cut that day short after running out of water. So I went back to camp and drank beer.

You're right about that Fred. I've done some upgrades, to that little Honda 160cc engine. They need to breath a little more so I added bored out racing carb, exhaust header, high flow air filter then jiggered the governor to squeeze out every bit of rpms. So much torque it will jump out from under you, and now more top end speed than I will ever need. I also added the aftermarket new front fork with shock absorber. A sweet machine and will no doubt result in another Dr. visit or two.

My prospecting partner from San Diego and I made a quick trip down to Baja for some prospecting. The area is an old placer site about 190 miles south of the border. He's been detecting the area for over 20 years, from Gold Bug through Minelab 2200 and now with the GPZ. All the patches have been hit pretty hard but we managed to scrape up a few nice pieces. We had 3 good days of detecting, I spent one day on the old patches and the rest of the time exploring for new spots. My nugget total was half of his since he opted to stay on the old patches. We drove as far as we could up an old wash then traveled another 2 to 3 miles by motorbike, then hiked another mile or so up some steep canyons. He uses a Yamaha Big Wheel trail bike, I used my newest prospecting steed the Rokon 2 wheel drive mototractor. The Rokon is a terrain traveling son of a gun, if you can hang on. I managed to dump it a couple times, invariably in bowling ball sized rocks or on steep boulder strewn hills. I'm still nursing a bruised ankle after that 200 lb machine came down on top of me pinning my leg and ankle underneath. It's definitely not for the faint of heart or those that are 2 wheel vehicle balance challenged (like me). All my falls occurred from momentary indecision and hesitation. The solution seems to be pick a line, then hit the gas or stay at home. My nuggets all came from a single wash where recent rains had blown out some of the overburden leaving bedrock within detector depth. My partner pulled almost an oz swinging low and slow over the old hillside placer diggings. This was really our tune up trip, preparing for an extended trip another 300 miles south after Christmas.