Gold Basin Rainbows

[mn90403]

Last Thursday night it was time for a Gold Basin trip.  I knew I had a couple of days so off I went.  The trip for me consists of leaving sometime in the middle of the night, driving 375 miles (6+hrs) and then beginning the hunt.  I've done this many times since I first started going there in 2011.  It is not an area where I've found a lot of gold but I've found some.  Meteorites are also around but I didn't seek them this trip.

When you go into gold basin there is always this sign.  It is not the old Gold Basin road that is about 5 miles away but it makes for a good picture!

These first couple of pictures were taken about 8 AM so I did pretty good with a couple of stops since I left at 1 AM.

The hunt was on.  I wanted to find something with the 6 inch Nox so I hunted with it for the morning and the afternoon.  I'll save my details about that for another thread but I did manage to get a little .32g nugget with the Zed before the day was over.  No skunk at least.

My camping spot was near where I found the nugget.  I slept in the 4Runner with all of the things outside.  It was a great night without wind.  

This was the dawn the next morning looking out my bedroom window.

After a bit more searching in this area it was time to explore and I ended up in a gully.  You can get an idea of a partially dry washed and detected gully from these pictures.

I didn't get any gold out of this stop but I did later.  I called a friend and told him where I had been and what I had done and he suggested a place to go.  It was very similar to the pictures (it all looks the same) but this time I was using the 7000!  I heard a little mellow signal and dug down about 5 inches to bedrock and thought ... oh, no ... hot rock again but then the target moved and the bedrock stayed!  In the scoop screaming ... a nice little .42g nugget!

Two days, two nuggets for .75g total.  This is better than I normally do in Gold Basin.  The weather started closing in so it was time to go.  It is better to stay longer there now because of the long drive but I was not going to stay in the rain.  On the way out I had some visual treats.

Mitchel

[Chris Ben]

Great photos and great story. Congratulations on no skunk!!

Chris 

[flakmagnet]

Nice effort. I have done that same drive to GB from about the same area as you leave from. It's not for sissies. You have an interesting way of leaving super early I have never tried that. And no skunk - the good part.

 

[mn90403]

I've stayed at a couple of the motels at Meadview in the past and once at the RV cabins but after an all night drive I can sleep almost anywhere.  When I leave like that I don't have traffic and I get two days of detecting or a 3/2 if I stay over.

[mn90403]

I'm surprised that no one said it:

There is GOLD at the bottom of those rainbows!

[fredmason]

Good Job, Mitchel! 

Gold in Gold Basin has never been easy for me or you.  I love the country so I keep going back. Besides I have about given all my GB meteorites away...I need to replenish them.

Was Roger there yet?  Did you see Shep and crew?

fred

[beatup]

Nice story and photos of your hunt.

[Lunk]

Good post, Mitchel; way to persevere and get the gold.

[mn90403]

5 hours ago, fredmason said:

Good Job, Mitchel! 

Gold in Gold Basin has never been easy for me or you.  I love the country so I keep going back. Besides I have about given all my GB meteorites away...I need to replenish them.

Was Roger there yet?  Did you see Shep and crew?

fred

Thanks Fred.  I didn't see anyone.  I camped behind the cabin because I didn't want to move and there was only a couple of vehicles out there maybe because there were signs it had rain and it was starting to rain again about 3 PM when I left.

Maybe after Rye Patch I'll go back and before Bill's outing I'll stop in again.  Maybe Shep is at the Q?

[mn90403]

I did have two nuggets!