My new photo, at Quartzsite

[Red_desert]

It has been a while since posting my mug here...so here I am at a mining claim in the foothills of Middle Camp Mountain. This is one of the placers the early miners worked in the gold rush era.

I almost went to Florida instead, where digging is easy in the sand. I'm tired of hard ground and sites which have been hammered to death by gold prospecting machines. Anymore it doesn't pay to just go metal detecting for gold unless you have access to a secret fabulous remote site and a super deep detector.

At this claim anyone with a drywasher can do really good, you just need a big pick/shovel plus time for a lot of digging. There still is plenty of gold below the surface...just beyond the depth metal detectors can reach.

I went mostly to escape the cold weather at home and take pictures. The photos here are from last week of October-ist part of November. It was nice and sunny, hot right until the end of the trip.

 

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[Red_desert]

That ground is hardpan dirt...you can still almost see the places where it appears to have been drilled for charges of dynamite...probably from the old time mining operations. Just to the left, is a part of the low ridge they didn't get...people arrived every morning at the crack of dawn, to start working their hole, on the slope of this ridge with a drywasher. One guy told me he got a nugget there drywashing last year, the size of a US Quarter.

Last photo here, claim corner monument with Middle Camp mountain in the background.

 

[fossis]

I don't blame you for 'going South' this time of year, good pic's, have much luck yet?
I have always wanted to make the Quartzite Rock swap, maybe someday.

Fossis..............

 

[Red_desert]

I don't blame you for 'going South' this time of year, good pic's, have much luck yet?
I have always wanted to make the Quartzite Rock swap, maybe someday.

Fossis..............

Not much luck metal detecting for gold...but before leaving I'd noticed quite a few posts by others, on a nugget shooting forum, they all been having similar luck out there metal detecting for nuggets. Some keep buying the most recent Minelab "Super" detectors just to get that extra depth. Then what places are left, that actually produce good nugget finds by metal detecting seem recently to be quickly becoming "off limits" for M'detcting because those sites happen to be on NF lands.

I heard that a jewelry store in Quartzsite, had a bracelet with nice precious opals most or all the way around, only were asking $35 at the store. I'd bet you could get some good deals like that just shopping in town. It wouldn't be a rock swap...but a bargain for sure!

 

[extractor]

I am going to Quartsite in a few weeks . Have you seen any dowsing penglums for sale at any of the shops?

 

[Red_desert]

I am going to Quartsite in a few weeks . Have you seen any dowsing penglums for sale at any of the shops?

The prospecting shops were not open yet...most seasonal businesses would be just opening a couple days afterI was leaving for home.

I'm not sure what "dowsing penglums" are but I'm assuming they are for dowsing? Plain 3/32 bronze L-rods work good for fine gold, they have a lower conductivity similar to gold. But, if you do that be sure and buy or bring a drywasher. They seem to pick up tailing piles good too. I had a couple pairs with me, would follow them, this happened several times, took me right to tailing piles.

It doesn't matter if you're dowsing or swinging the deepest metal detector on the market...bring good digging tools, I mean big pick, long handled shovel. The easy large coarse gold pieces just don't seem to be laying on or near the surface anymore. Be prepared to dig deep!

 

[RGINN]

Aho, pau-bi, good pics desierta roja. (All kind of languages) Wish I was campin there right now.

 

[Mental Granny]

Looks sooo very warm! I wish we could go somewhere warm!

 

[paratrooper]

I will leave Kingman for Quartzsite on the 14th . I am meeting up with some rock hounds that a friend of mine knows . I have yet to meet these people but I'm sure that they are good people . Not to mention that the shopping is MONSTER!

 

[Tnmountains]

Great pictures and looks so warm. Looks you are having a good time. Happy hunting and enjoy your adventures.
TnMtns

 

[kamgort]

Good luck to you in a good hunt.

 

[fatman4570]

My wife worked in Quartzsite and we lived in Parker. She treated many dehydrated and sun stroked snowbirds that forgot just how hot and dry the low desert is in Az.