Armed with our metal detector, RRPC membership and maps we headed out to our first prospecting adventure. We chose the "Lucky Strike" claim (all claims have names, some descriptive, some cute) north of Phoenix. Nobody else was out there when we arrived. We learned very quickly that almost all of the targets you find are going to be worthless. If you're lucky they will be at or near the surface so you won't waste too much time on them. Several times we ended up digging quite deep only to find a bullet or shell. Our effort that first day didn't produce anything of value but we did have fun!
Since then we've been out "nugget shooting" (as metal detecting for gold is called) quite a few times. So far, no luck. But if bullets, shells and beer can pull tabs ever become valuable we'll be rich! We'll keep trying and we've also branched out into another method of gold prospecting - dry washing. More on that later.
 | Karen metal detecting for gold at the "Lucky Strike" claim. We didn't find any gold but we had fun and the scenery sure is nice! |
3 comments:
So I assume there is no water running thru the claim sites, and that that is how gold usually travels to a site. Have you also studied where to look with respect to topology etc? Seems like getting some geology classes on the side would help?
Just curious.
Some sites do have running water, sometimes most of the year. But all sites have at least occassional running water. The water runs in the "washes" and that's where you usually do your dry washing. The theory is that when the water runs it washes small flecks of gold downstream. So even if you don't find gold in a particular spot you may find it there after a good rain.
As for topology and knowing where to look...well, that's the trick. One reason to join a club is that their claims usually are proven producers. If you try doing it yourself you may get lucky, but you'll probably just end up empty handed.
Aha! Thank you!
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