Needed To Get Out

[Allen in MT]

Well, it was early, and we wanted to get out to the hills, but we had to wait. It was an election day, and you know we had to wait so that we could do our patriotic duty and vote for the lessor of two evils. Voting done were off, of course we forgot half the stuff that we normally take. We have talked about making a check list of things that we need every time we head for the hills. This particular day we are looking for a mine that we found on a map on the internet. Once in the hills we have no problem finding the site, as we are guided by a reference satellite photo and info from DEQ. After looking things over and making plans to come back we are off looking for other mine sites.

We are following the road till we are at its highest point when we come around the corner and low and behold there is one snow drift (the only snow drift left on the mountain) about 40' in length, course back about 100 yards there is another road that goes around this spot. But no, we stop to size it up and I says to Ralph (my prospecting partner) (name changed to protect his identity), go for it Ralph, you can make it. He locks in the 4-wheel drive and off we go. Once we get a full pickup length into it, I realize, faster Ralph faster. We get to about the middle of the drift, and oh crap, there we stop, dead in the middle. Now this is the only sight of snow left on the mountain, and we had to find it and we only have one shovel (his). After digging for a while, we find out the wheels don't touch the ground, they just go round and round, we are high centered. After digging all the snow out from all 4 wheels we gather some wood and rocks and filling in the space between the tires and the ground and after a few tries we did make it out.

To pooped to go far so it was time for lunch. A little later after touring around and looking at old mine sites we set our sights on a dig hole and drag out the detectors, lots of old square nails and positive hot rocks. I'm using the GB2 with 6" coil and Ralph is using the GM4 with regular coil. After a few nails and hot rocks there's this nice Zippp zipppp and flipping to iron ID it sounds good, (just like big nails) and after thinking it's another nail out pops this little golden picker, a 4.5 gm piece. Hey this is alright. I rake some more dirt down and tell my partner, you’ve got a bigger coil, check this hole now see if there anything left. He digs a few more nails and then he moves to another spot and continues detecting, so I go back to the hole and then ZZZZZIIIIPPPPPP ZZIIPP. dang another big square nail, right! Dig a little more, run the magnet through the dirt looking for the nail, still nothing ZZZZZIIIIPPPPPP ZZIIPP now this sounds good, and I grab a hand full of dirt, check the hole nothing, got it in my hand, Hey Ralph look at this, is this what I think it is, Yup, where'd you find it, In the hole you just checked. Anyway, out pops this little, bigger picker, a 30.6 gm. Nothing else found that day. But it was a good day. Allen C

[Zincoln]

A clean troy ounce of gold in two nuggets....I'd say it was a good day.  Maybe all that digging out slowed you down and helped on finding the gold!

 

 

[Valens Legacy]

Great hunt and nice picture of the gold. However could you be a little more specific on where you found them, gps numbers would be nice and I promise not to tell anyone where to look.

Good luck on your next hunt and stay safe out there.

[Aureous]

I think the boundary between 'picker' and 'nugget' has moved somehow... anything over 1 gram is a nugget in my eye. But I'm sure Reg will disagree 😉 

[Gerry in Idaho]

Those Spring snowdrifts are a real plan changer. Been there, done that...

The Iron Identification on the VLF’S was a game changer for many sights. 30 gram nugget is a highlight prize for many.  

Yes, a list is most essential, especially as we get more seasoned and long in the tooth.

Thanks for sharing. 

[geof_junk]

10 hours ago, Aureous said:

I think the boundary between 'picker' and 'nugget' has moved somehow... anything over 1 gram is a nugget in my eye. But I'm sure Reg will disagree 😉 

No a gram is too small, it has to be at least a Pennyweight.  

[Detecting with CM]

Those are both nice nuggets. If only nuggets of that size weren't such a rarity to find. Some character to those nuggets. 

[beatup]

well done on you both