First time drywashing.- AZ.

[kazcoro]

Well, I joined one of the local clubs last week. Got me a shiny new Maverick Gold Buddy. Went out to one of the LSD claims. All by myself. Couldn't find anyone to go with, can't let that stop me.

I walked around out there for a couple of hours and checked the place out. Lots of people digging and drywashing in the past. Nobody was out there on Saturday, though.

I sampled a couple places with a pan, and no color. I finally has to break the drywasher out, and sampled a little side wash, no color. I went around upstream to the north further, and found a nice wash. Maybe 15 feet wide at the sand level.

I looked around, and found more eviedence of people working in the past. I saw a 3 foot line of small gravel in the side of the wash, and decided that that is where I was going to go to town. I ran about 30 shovels through, and then ran the material a couple more times. It had just rained here for two days just two days ago, and it was damp. Not wet, just a little damp. I panned out the riffle box, and found....COLOR. A good 10-15 small flakes.

Now, I am stoked. I ran two more runs about 20-30 shovels each, and had the same results. I then decided to try running the sand from the bottom of the wash itself. When I started running the sand out of the wash, I noticed immediately how much more dirt I was running versus stones and gravel coming off the grizzly compared to the side of the wash. I mean that the previous material I was running was mostly gravel. Very little dirt for each shovelful. In one run of the bottom of the wash, I ran more dirt through the machine than all three runs combined from the side of the wash.

The wash gave me the same results. about 10-15 small flakes. I then broke out the vacuum and vacced the hole that I had dug in the wash. Ended up being about a 5 gal bucket full. I ran that through the washer, and same result. Not as many, but still gold. By this time it is getting late, and I packed up. I had run out of cigs about 2 hours ago, and it was still an hour to a store, so I boogied out of there.

I think looking back, that it doesn't matter where you work if you are in a gold bearing area. I also think that I need to be more picky. If you want to find a good amount, you have to not be willing to settle just because you are seeing gold.I also think that your take will be proportionate to the amount of material you move. And, also, how quickly. In the dry, you can move the material more quickly. Two people would help alot too. It is a pain in the to have to scrape the griz after every shovel.

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you all my first outing with the Gold Buddy. It is a dirt eating machine

 

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[roadrunner]

Where are your claims at or where are you going out to the claims.
I live in Apache Junction and have no one to go out with yet.
I am looking at joining 2 different clubs here in AJ.
Have to go to Promack and see what they have to say about clubs since they are one.
Have a MD,sluice, garret pans.
Am building a drywasher,about half done.
I will shovel, wife will take pics, and have water.
Will bring lunch for all. Subway Ok?
Pm me or let me know if you want me to pm you with my contact details.
I have heard of the Roadrunners club.

 

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[kazcoro]

Hey all. I started a new job last week, and went up to San Francisco for training. I only mention this because I was only a couple of hours from gold country...without wheels. So, not able to visit. Maybe next time I get up there, I can get over to Mariposa and meet the legend. In case any of you don't know who I am talking about, here is a link to his thread. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...-mariposa-ca-photos-added-60.html#post3311978 Read it, you will enjoy it immensly if you have the "itch". There is also a link to Lanny's thread in there as well. Read it too. Alot of fun in those threads. Anyways, back to what I was saying. So, no, I didn't get to go visit gold country. This frustration was compounded by the fact that I got a "new to me" original gold bug. I was able to trade for it the night before I flew up to Nor Cal. I had to leave it at home, though. I did manage to get out for a few hours this last Sat and play with it, though. The girls wanted me to take them out riding the quad, so I snuck it in the van and did some sweeping and beeping between rides. We went out to my usual spot. I found some steel, some lead, and some foil. I found one area that I need to return to with a hammer and chisel. I found an exposed area of bedrock on a hillside, and got a signal through the bedrock. There are small cracks throughout the face of this rock, and I kept getting a signal repeatedly in one area. I had no tools, so I had to leave it for now. I am suspecting (hopefully of course), that the bedrock got closed over and trapped some gold under it. If you read Lanny's thread on the mysteries of bedrock, you will see that he mentions this phenomenom numerous times. Here is a link, http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html Next time, I will make a mess, and see what all the fuss is about. That's all for now, just thought I would update.

 

[roadrunner]

Sounds like you have had a great time latlely.
Went to a prospecting club last week end and for $75 a year they have claims around congress and all up there like every one else,but they also have a claim by Hayden.
I will give you call and see what you are up to this week end maybe.

 

[elgatodelnoche]

Sounds like you have had a great time latlely.
Went to a prospecting club last week end and for $75 a year they have claims around congress and all up there like every one else,but they also have a claim by Hayden.
I will give you call and see what you are up to this week end maybe.

Which club did you join that only charges 75 bucks a year? I could probably swing that .

@kazcoro: When you said you had a Trans Am, I was picturing an old beat up 70's model. LOL Kudos to you for taking that four wheeling. My ideal prospecting vehicle would be an Army Surplus Deuce and a Half. It would be pretty awesome to see a Gamma Goat out on the claims as well.

 

[goldenIrishman]

+1 on the Gamma-Goat! You can't stop those things even when you come up to water like a lake. AS company armorer I had my own "Goat" for use out in the field over in Korea. Never found a hill it couldn't climb and in Korea that's saying something. Wouldn't mind picking one up some day.