A Short Rich Gully

[Condor]

I did a solo overnighter outside of sunny Yuma.  Temps were hitting high 80's.  I started at sunup and did a 2 hr loop with no gold, a few trash targets.  I was working my way down the flats of desert pavement back to my truck when I decided to drop down into a shallow gully.  Immediately I got a good tone and dug a small half gram nugget.  10 ft further on another nice mellow tone.  12 inches down I pull out a nice 1 gram nugget and after I gather my digging tools I wave the coil over the hole.  Another target in the hole and one in the pile.  I pulled 4 nuggets out of that one hole.  10 more feet further on another nice tone and I dig 3 nuggets out of the same hole all down 12 to 15 inches.   My narrow Hodan pick is great for extending hiking and exploration, but really sucks for digging deep holes.  I went back to my truck and took out the big boy pick and continued my search.  The productive part of this gully was maybe 50 yds long and I took out 17 nuggets in the space of 2 hrs.  A lot of digging.  As I explored around the margins I saw old and faint shallow dig holes and boot scrapes.  Then I noticed several dozen more recent shallow dig holes that had each been covered and marked with small piles of pebbles.  I ran the Z through this margin zone and pulled one deep 1.5 gram piece from amid the shallow dig holes.  I ran through the whole mess again and got four crumbs bringing the total to 21 nuggets weighed in at 14 grams.  I'm pretty sure this spot was discovered by someone swinging a VLF and they apparently did pretty well on the shallow stuff.  The ones I found in the gully were all stretched along a slow curved inside bend in the deepest part of the wash.  Too deep for the VLF I suspect.  I poked around all day and part of the next for no joy.  My first respectable patch and it ended too soon.  I'll follow up with a photo from my phone, I'm still too dense to sync these things together. 

[Condor]

Photos

[deathray]

Nice rough pieces!.bet that was exciting! Why would someone mark,but not dig those...using small Leaches maybe?

[jasong]

Gotta love it when you find those spots - Bam nugget, bam nugget, bam nugget!

Now you also have a perfect test ground to test new settings and techniques with your machines on. And a place to test new coils, new machines/upgrades/etc. Awesome.

When you find those multi-nugget holes, it's worth it to go drywash that hole and potentially the entire patchy area of the wash if that hole shows smaller color too, rip up the bedrock. A lot of times those spots are holding a bunch of scattered deep 1/4 gram minus stuff too that the detectors aren't hitting. Some of the best drywashing I've ever stumbled onto was found that way, but then other times there is just nothing except larger nuggets.

[Condor]

Jason,

I was thinking the same thing about drywashing. Probably go back out next week. Unfortunately it's going to stay pretty warm in sunny Yuma.

[Lunk]

Well done Condor!

[Coota]

Well done, excellent finds Condor! If a 20 inch coil ever eventuates for the Z you have a great testing area.

[boulder dash]

Dang nice new patch, I m sure there are 20 more too.

[Hard Prospector]

Most people have no idea the hard  work that goes into discovering a productive stretch of desert arroyo.......I'm glad for you

[Lanny]

That's a great story of some nice nugget finds. There's nothing like a patch to get the heart pumpin'!

Nicely done, and thanks for the details of the hunt!

All the best,

Lanny