G.I.B.
Gold Member
- Feb 23, 2007
- 7,187
- 8,537
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- Detector(s) used
- CTX 3030 / GTI 2500 / Infinium LS / Tesoro Sand Shark / 1 Garrett Pro-pointer / 1 Carrot / Vibra Probe 580 (out on loan) / Lesche M85 / Mark1 MOD1 EyeBall
- Primary Interest:
- Other
Well then, I'm out traveling for work again and find myself in Denver. I brought a small pan, my GTI-2500 and Lesche digger, along with a small folding hand shovel.
I didn't bring my GPAA book with me, just not enough room. My wife shoots me a claim near Idaho Springs CO which is 40 minutes west of Denver off of I-70.
I plotted out the claim on google earth, getting pretty close to the GPAA map book.
It's alongside Clear Springs, which only touches two small corners of the claim. The building in the upper center used to be a Girl Scout camp, but it's not there anymore.
The creek is very small, not enough water for a sluice, but I didn't have one anyhow.
This is a photo of the road leading into the claim. It starts at the powerlines and encompasses the hill ahead.
One entrance has this sign-
I think I'm outside this spot, not positive though.
Mistake #1.
Coming out unarmed... I think I was the only guy not pulling the trigger within a 5 mile radius. Some fella was cranking out 30 magazines as fast as he could, another one was steadily plinking away, a few handguns going off here and there... kind of unnerving.
It was a nice Sunday, so I suppose everyone was out blasting away.
Mistake #2.
Not having my .40 with me. I can only assume that everyone else figures everybody else has a gun, but it's unnerving at the least.
A lot of gunfire was coming from the hill ahead, and the gully to the east of the old camp, so I didn't head that way. Matter of fact, I didn't head anywhere into the claim. Way too much gunfire.
I detected near the old camp and got 3 cents, a half dozen different shell casings at different depths, numerous expelled projectiles, and only modern belt buckle. After an hour and a half of ducking, I left and played tourist.
Went to Buffalo Bill's grave site on Lookout mountain.
It was a good learning experience tho...
I didn't bring my GPAA book with me, just not enough room. My wife shoots me a claim near Idaho Springs CO which is 40 minutes west of Denver off of I-70.
I plotted out the claim on google earth, getting pretty close to the GPAA map book.
It's alongside Clear Springs, which only touches two small corners of the claim. The building in the upper center used to be a Girl Scout camp, but it's not there anymore.
The creek is very small, not enough water for a sluice, but I didn't have one anyhow.
This is a photo of the road leading into the claim. It starts at the powerlines and encompasses the hill ahead.
One entrance has this sign-
I think I'm outside this spot, not positive though.
Mistake #1.
Coming out unarmed... I think I was the only guy not pulling the trigger within a 5 mile radius. Some fella was cranking out 30 magazines as fast as he could, another one was steadily plinking away, a few handguns going off here and there... kind of unnerving.
It was a nice Sunday, so I suppose everyone was out blasting away.
Mistake #2.
Not having my .40 with me. I can only assume that everyone else figures everybody else has a gun, but it's unnerving at the least.
A lot of gunfire was coming from the hill ahead, and the gully to the east of the old camp, so I didn't head that way. Matter of fact, I didn't head anywhere into the claim. Way too much gunfire.
I detected near the old camp and got 3 cents, a half dozen different shell casings at different depths, numerous expelled projectiles, and only modern belt buckle. After an hour and a half of ducking, I left and played tourist.
Went to Buffalo Bill's grave site on Lookout mountain.
It was a good learning experience tho...
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From what I hear, the only GPAA claims worth visiting are on the Arkansas and the GPAA failed to do that paperwork,etc to allow dredging so it's sluice or highbanker only.
