A Little California Gold

[mn90403]

About this time last night I was loading up the 4Runner and starting my 3 hour drive to the goldfields of Barstow, California.  (I did this same trip last week and got a skunk!)

What has changed since last week?  Well, I bought a Chromebook and now I can watch metal detecting videos and learn some techniques I had not learned.  The first one was lower sensitivity and lower recovery speed.  (When I first got the Nox and used it on the beach I had experimented with this but now it was time to use it in Gold Mode.)

I arrived about 1:30 AM to a full moon desert which is great all by itself.  I spent an hour with the Nox and the 11 in coil and then went to the 7000 for an hour.  It was time for a nap and I woke up about 6 AM as the moon was just setting.  Soon thereafter I broke my skunk with the Nox.  I got a .09g little flake in a well hunted spot.  It was not deep.  I went back at it a bit later with the 06 but to no avail ... again.  You can't hear what is not there.  I kept the sensitivity between 15 and 20 ... mostly 17.  Recovery speed was 4.

It was time to go to a spot Swifty had told me about and about 11 he comes rolling in and tells me I'm in the wrong spot!  (I went to the wrong spot last week also.)  He gets out there with his Monster and 7000 and quickly puts me to shame getting 2 nuggets for .61g total (one of his nuggets was just to the right of mine).  We've taken so many nuggets off this area that they are tough to find now with any coil/machine combo but we'll keep trying.

[phoenix]

Good stuff Mitchel. Any day you get gold is a good day ?

That`s great looking country.        Dave

[Lunk]

Good to see you find a gold nugget with the Nox, Mitchel...many more to come.

[beatup]

nice going you guys

[Chris Ben]

Great work on some interesting looking ground!

Chris 

[mn90403]

11 hours ago, Lunk said:

Good to see you find a gold nugget with the Nox, Mitchel...many more to come.

My first trip to this location with the Nox gave me two nuggets a bit larger than the one I got yesterday.  At the time Steve said I might be the only one who had found gold with the Nox other than him!

[mn90403]

Thanks, it's nice to have a bit of a voice again for posting.  I'm a bit recovered now from the trip and I could bring out some additional details.

It is still summer here and when I got back in to Barstow it was 102 ... but it is dry heat and we had a little wind.  That is a cool day and one reason for us to be out.  We were up on a higher plateau which can be a few degrees cooler or warmer depending on the winds.  The night was about 72 so I was comfortable/cool until about 10 AM.

This area has had dry washing and pushing going on for years.  We were across from an area called Coolgardie which has some GPAA claims on it and they still have dry washing most of the year after a storm or two.

The BLM has begun closing roads all over the area.  Access is more difficult than it was two years ago.

It's time for us to find new areas to satisfy our detectors.  Their appetite is insatiable.

Mitchel

 

[mn90403]

One additional add (off topic) ...

Curtis (my son who is almost 8 months old) likes it when his daddy brings home gold.  He is telling me now to find a couple of places for him to go out in a few years!

He already knows how to beach hunt.

Mitchel

[fredmason]

Nice gold...Mitchel.

Lu and Curtis and looking well!

I am not too sure about those boots...

fred

[mn90403]

Fred,

Always good to hear from you.

Curtis and Lu are doing good.  We hope to see you soon.

Mitchel