nuggeteer
Jr. Member
Hello all,
After 3 months of time, countless hours of research, 962 bicycling miles, at least 150 hiking miles, 3 cases of poison oak, dozens of holes in clothes and skin, and sore knees from traveling on all fours through manzanita thicket... I finally got gold!
I've been getting out about 4 days a week since I got a metal detector three months ago. I always try to get to the furthest and most difficult places in hopes that I'll be the first one there, but haven't found anything but trash to a point where I got discouraged sufficiently enough to start panning again. Recently, about ten feet off the side of the road that I frequently bicycle to reach further away prospects I saw some possibility in old tailings. I had previously ignored the area simply because of how easy it was to reach, but I suppose out of desperation I returned and gave it a try with my detector. Within 5 minutes I snagged this chubby little piece of gold. At least one other detector had been there before me, but missed it. The area was ground sluiced all around and has heaps of tailings as common to what I've seen in this part of Northern California. Most of the tailings were composed of small and very angular rocks, likely produced by early miners breaking up the decomposed metavolcanic bedrock. Between these rows was a dense yellow clay atop which the gold sat about 2 inches down. The manzanita was quite thick so I couldn't detect much of the area.
After 3 months of time, countless hours of research, 962 bicycling miles, at least 150 hiking miles, 3 cases of poison oak, dozens of holes in clothes and skin, and sore knees from traveling on all fours through manzanita thicket... I finally got gold!
I've been getting out about 4 days a week since I got a metal detector three months ago. I always try to get to the furthest and most difficult places in hopes that I'll be the first one there, but haven't found anything but trash to a point where I got discouraged sufficiently enough to start panning again. Recently, about ten feet off the side of the road that I frequently bicycle to reach further away prospects I saw some possibility in old tailings. I had previously ignored the area simply because of how easy it was to reach, but I suppose out of desperation I returned and gave it a try with my detector. Within 5 minutes I snagged this chubby little piece of gold. At least one other detector had been there before me, but missed it. The area was ground sluiced all around and has heaps of tailings as common to what I've seen in this part of Northern California. Most of the tailings were composed of small and very angular rocks, likely produced by early miners breaking up the decomposed metavolcanic bedrock. Between these rows was a dense yellow clay atop which the gold sat about 2 inches down. The manzanita was quite thick so I couldn't detect much of the area.
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