4 Hours To A Little (.07g) Gold!

[mn90403]

Yesterday morning about 1 AM I took a break from the exciting 'Dumping SDC 2300 Detectors' thread to go find a nugget.  I had big gold in mind so I didn't take my 2300.  I was headed to Arizona.  It is a 4 hour drive but pretty simple.  Leave Los Angeles (I live at the #1 Exit on I-10) in the middle of the night with no traffic and get off on Exit 5 from the I-10 freeway in Arizona.  I've never done this as a one day trip but I had to try it.

When going to Arizona this time of year there is a 1 hour time difference so when I arrived it was still dark but 6:30 AM.  I had left the $3.00 per gallon gas for a price of $2.12! 

I went to the dark gold fields and got under some power lines with the 7000 and the 15x10 Xcoil.  I took an extra amount of time to adjust my harness to fit like a glove.  It was no longer 'hanging' on my body.  It was like a well tailored suit without unnecessary wrinkles.  I was thinking of Simon as I made myself ready for battle.

It was supposed to be a cool day (95/63) but I was already wet with sweat in the early morning.  I'm a beach guy now.  I wear shorts and sandals ALL the time but with my brush pants on (ala Chet) it was hot with only a t-shirt.  

My first stop was an undetected area to me.   There were no targets for the first 30 minutes on any of the gullies.  Then I found a couple of pieces of lead as the sun came up over the mountains.  This was an area where I had found a 1949 California license plate 7-8 years ago.  It was now time to hit the target zone where I had been given a pointy finger.  This was the reason why I made this long/short trip.

I detected it as I have many other Arizona gullies in the past.  Often times it is unproductive in the bottom so you hunt the sides.  Norm knows this area well and spends many days with his wife camped near.  Lots of gold has been found here but not this time for me.  After 2 hours of working this 1/4 mile stretch of gully it was time to go where I had found a 5 gram nugget it the past.  Once again after an hour there I didn't add to my polk and it was now 1 PM/2 PM.  No gold after 7 hours and the temp was near 100.  How much longer did I want to do this?

Lunk had shown my wife and I a spot many years ago that had been raked and worked.  That day he found one piece and we found none.  That place came to mind.  I had hit it once with the 15x10 but I was willing to try it again.  This is an area that often times has many campers in the middle of winter but there was not a single camper today.  I could hunt it at a slower pace and that is what I did.  This area also had a bit of a breeze.  Some of you may recognize it.  That's Dome Rock in the picture.

Finally I got a target and it was a little gold.  I was so hot I forgot to take a picture.  It was down about 3 inches.  (The little tiny wire was found and doesn't register but it screamed so I knew I was hearing things!)

 

 

The stink was off.  No more skunk but it wasn't getting any cooler.  I spent another 30 minutes trying to get a second nugget but it was time for me to go.

The trip back was going nicely until I got past the 62 exit to 29 Palms (another gold field) and then it backed up for miles.  It took me one hour longer going back but I was back in Santa Monica at 7:30.  The things I do for gold.

We have about 24 million people in Southern California.  I don't know how many are prospectors and how many have gold machines but we've hit everything within 4 hours of town pretty hard.  I'd say there are very few virgin patches within that area so you have to work already worked ground to find a nugget or two.

[normmcq]

Those pictures bring back many memories and all of them are good ones!

                                                                                              Norm

[Jim McCulloch]

"About 1 am I headed to Arizona." Folks, as I have mentioned before, Mitchel is a phenomenon when it comes to driving long distances during the night. I think he needs to make business cards which say "Have Detector - will Travel - Anywhere, Anytime."

[mn90403]

41 minutes ago, Jim McCulloch said:

"About 1 am I headed to Arizona." Folks, as I have mentioned before, Mitchel is a phenomenon when it comes to driving long distances during the night. I think he needs to make business cards which say "Have Detector - will Travel - Anywhere, Anytime."

Jim,

I need to come back your way sometime soon and get the stink off from there!

Mitchel

[mn90403]

2 hours ago, normmcq said:

Those pictures bring back many memories and all of them are good ones!

                                                                                              Norm

Norm,

It is very, very dry this year because of the la Nina.  All the moisture tracks that come up through Mexico to the deserts are staying east this year and making hurricanes.  The vegetation is dry and even some of the big cactus couldn't survive.  

It may be easier to get to some of the more difficult washes or under previously green bushes.  I could push them over with my boots.

Mitchel

[Gerry in Idaho]

Mitchel,  Buddy if we lived closer, I'd be out there with you.  I get those silly thoughts on occasion and something just keeps pocking at me to go do it.  Much of the time it is just to get out and nothing gets found, but on occasion those pokes to go, actually do put me on the gold. 

I've done well along the freeway near Dome Rock.

Nice story, pics and yes you got gold.

 

[Glenn in CO]

Mitchel

Big or small at least you came home with some gold, that's always good feeling. I've got say you are a true road warrior!

[mn90403]

50 minutes ago, phrunt said:

It's not the size that counts, it's how you tell the story.  That sure was a mission, I whinge about driving two hours to find gold, in fact that's about the biggest distance I've driven in pursuit of the yellow stuff averaging an hour drive.

Simon,

This trip I passed by two gold fields on the way to Quartzsite.  One I've found gold and the other I haven't.  Both of them have a long off road drive after you leave the highway.  Sunday I didn't want to deal with that and just fly along at 80 mph when I could.

Time for you to look at a map and sneak off without JW or ask those dealers you know where you should go.  They have other clients who find gold and they want you to find gold too.  A good dealer is a source of information.

As a matter of fact I called Gerry up one time when I was at Rye Patch.  I had looked at his web pages but I was not a customer.  I called him and he told me some good information.  It was 2-3 years later before I took lessons from him.  I owed him. (I don't think I ever told him that story.)

He'll get more of my business.

[GotAU?]

Hey Mitchel,

Being a newby, I’ve done the same early morning trek this summer a couple times now near that same area (Im off exit #112), so its a hour less for me. Then I head back when the heat chased me out. Skunks are still there, but I don’t care because it’s such a wonderful place to be during sunrise, isn’t it?  Thanks for the story, makes me want to go back sooner than later!

Anthony

[flakmagnet]

If you live in LA you're basically screwed unless you have some of what Mitchel runs on. His pre-dawn runs are getting to be legendary but he's right, if you want to go somewhere with better odds, that's what you have to do if you live in a city where you drive almost a hundred miles just to get out of town.

Nice one Mitchel, you earned that piece.