Misadventures In Baja 2023

[okara gold]

A friend told me years ago that if you try to sneak gold "nuggets" out of the country, you are charged with "stealing from the wealth of the nation". He highly recommended us not to go there as the results are not worth imprisonment in a Mexican jail and the loss of your belongings. This was not the Baja area. 

[WesD]

Years ago I ran into a miner up in the Sierras that got to talking.  The guy was a very savy miner and spent some winters down in Baja. He and his partner or it was his buddys, dug 1 mill in one season. I asked how they got the pile back home, as thats quite the handful. He said, carefully hidden in the frame of their truck.

[Hard Prospector]

 Been going to Baja for over 40 years exploring, fishing,  diving and prospecting.  The biggest fish I've ever caught and largest nuggets I've ever found have been down there. Going to Mexico used to be safe for the most part however in recent years, this is no longer so.  Mainly because of organized crime and the epidemic of violence. The Mexican culture is rich and the people are wonderful. BUT  their country and the fabric of their society is under tremendous strain,  breaking down and I feel Mexico is in danger of becoming a failed state (remember Columbia not too long ago).  I stopped going down recently because of a couple close calls,  one of which I was lucky to escape from.  Anyone considering prospecting in Mexico should consider all of the risks for sure.  The average American has no business going down these days.  

Steven;  I hope the information I shared with you was of some help.......good luck and safe adventures

[Valens Legacy]

To this day I still have no interest in Mexico because of the corruption and gangs.

Once in a while I have to work in their waters and hate all the paperwork and inspections that they want to do.

With the right amount of money they always leave you alone, but I always loose money when on those jobs.

I have no reason to go there just to hunt gold or anything else as there is always better here in the states.

[Condor]

Chapter 2

We arrived safe and sound late that same afternoon.  Part of our original premise of high water last summer was proving correct.  We could see flood debris up about 3 ft on the canyon walls so we had high hopes.  There was a stiff breeze blowing off the Sea of Cortez and once the sun went behind the canyon walls it got pretty cold.  We ate early dinner and called it a night.

The next morning there was still a pretty stiff wind but we bundled up and fired up the RZR for exploration up the canyon.  If you remember from last years adventure, this canyon is dominated by old conglomerate bedrock.  There are steep ledges, narrow chutes, and tricky rock spines to traverse with the RZR.  All our rock ramps had been washed away, so we spent most of the day rebuilding a trail to get up the canyon.  Hauling rocks is no way to spend a day at 68 yrs old, but we got a trail that was just passable built up canyon.  Our path ended when we hit a patch that was just not passable.  With a winch we might have been able to crawl up and over some of the big broken blocks, alas no winch.

We got out the detectors and walked 1/4 mile to one of our old favorite spots.  One of the richest side canyons had relatively recent dig holes all around the entrance.  Recent as in since the flood, but probably several months old.  We didn't have the energy to explore the canyon after trail building so we detected another small canyon and the bedrock back to the RZR.  I quickly hit a 1.5 gram piece 3 or 4 inches down on bedrock.  My partner hit another 1/2 gram piece 6 inches down on bedrock.  I dug several small nails wedged down in bedrock crevices but we called it a day.

Back at camp our friend "the Hiker" from last year arrived with his new used truck.  As you may recall he was the unfortunate winner of Misadventure in Baja award last year when his truck was stolen a couple miles from our camp.  The wind was still pretty brisk so we couldn't build a fire.  We sat in the lee of my truck and drank a few cold ones to discuss strategy for tomorrow.  Went to bed with high hopes.

[beatup]

good on you both

[Condor]

Chapter 3

The next morning, day 2 of the trip was still cold and blustery.  Nothing like home in N NV, but high 40's with a stiff breeze.  After the sun warmed things up a bit, we worked on a plan.  My friend Dennis was still feeling the effects of rock hauling and cold weather so he opted to detect close to camp.  Years ago he had named the bedrock near our camp The Golden Mile.  In times past he could take the Gold Bug 2 and pick up small nuggets all day.  It looked  like the high water had cleared some new bedrock, so he was satisfied chasing down the small stuff.  The "Hiker" decided to stay close to camp and learn his new GPZ7000.  I was anxious to get upstream and try the Z 17"CC combo on potentially deeper gold.  So I drove the RZR up canyon.  Getting up canyon was no easy feat despite our best efforts at trail building.  In some areas there was a scarcity of good rocks for ramp building, so we used some driftwood logs.  The first ramp on the downside of a tricky rock spine gave way and I came down hard.  No damage, but some ramp repair was certainly in order.  The next white knuckle spot was a climb up about 7 ft bank with 3 small ledges.  My instinct was as soon as I felt a wheel break traction, gun it and hope for the best.  For the most part it worked although I was airborne a couple times.  The RZR 900 2 seater has plenty of horsepower, and I was a bit out of practice for throttle control.  The last obstacle was a rock pile with a sand dune on the back side.  There was very little room to maneuver without sliding down a soft sand pit.  I got things lined up and gave it the gas to power up the sand dune.  Wrong tactic by a wide margin.  I buried all four wheels and was high centered on the slope.  I got out the shovel and dug myself out enough to back down the slope.  Several more tries, same outcome.  More rock hauling to build a solid spot under the tires and a new tactic.  Slow and easy, back and forth, don't break traction and try to pack the soft sand.  Overall, I spent and hour and a half getting out of that sand trap.  I was plenty warm now with all that exercise.  I continued up to the end of the line without further mishap.  

The hike to the placer zone was a good 3/4 mile uphill with broken terrain.   I discovered that I forgot my trekking poles so I was dreading the hike, but I had come this far, so up I went.  My destination was a big wash that I had taken dozens of nuggets in shallow bedrock.  I had the big Concentric coil thinking there must be bigger gold in the deeper sections of the wash.  I detected up about a mile on the right side finding only deep trash.  At my turnaround spot I found the first nugget, maybe 3/4 gram about 6 inches down in bedrock.  I found 1 more tiny crumb and worked my way back down the other side of the wash.  I got 1 more 1/2 grammer right on the surface of bedrock.  More trash, but no deep gold.  I hiked back out thinking about those driving obstacles I faced getting back to camp.  I still think my theory of deeper gold is sound, but that's for another day.

The sand trap obstacle was no problem going out since it was down hill.  The 7 ft ledge was pretty easy going downhill as well.  I ran into trouble on the ramp with the driftwood.  The logs kicked out and I hit hard on the front skid plate.  When I backed up my right rear tire climbed up a steep ledge leaving me looking out my door straight down at the ground.  I got and tried to push the RZR down off the ledge, no go.  The whole rig was balanced on 2 wheels, left front and right rear.  I carefully climbed back in fearing my weight would roll it over on the side.  I put it in low gear and gently pulled it forward and to my surprise she didn't roll.  I re-stacked the ramp and got her up and over the rock spine without falling into the crevice on either side.  I think there is still some seat vinyl stuck in the crack of my old festarus.  Wheew, glad to get back to camp and drink some nerve tonic.  

[flakmagnet]

Very descriptive and evocative account.
I like the way you write.
Now, for some detecting luck...

[GB_Amateur]

One thing you're confirming:  the tougher the conditions the more likely it is to find gold just for the sheer lack of competition.  So far it sounds as thought the RAZR is handling the conditions a bit better than the occupants.  But if one is going to stop working we all know which one to vote for!

Thanks and keep up the interesting reports.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

I had an opportunity to go on this trip but life intervened and I could not go. On reading Steve’s account I’m not afraid to say that perhaps I’m really just too much of a weenie for a Condor style adventure anyway.