Hi friends,
I got the chance to spend a half day gold prospecting recently so I wanted to share about it.
To spare you the suspense - I found no gold. :(
This was about my 5th time trying out my metal detector on the hunt for gold nuggets in the Arizona desert, and I have come up empty each time.
It is tough to find gold when there are staked claims everywhere - here is where I went, right below hundreds of staked claims in a known gold district:
As you can see, not much for an average joe like me to find. Not to mention, most of the mining in the area is hard rock where they are chasing gold seams in the host rock, while I am searching the surface for nuggets that eroded from the gold streaks. It’s not impossible to find gold, but it is quite the challenge.
This area also has tons of iron - it makes metal detecting for gold very difficult as everything sets the detector off. I try to have it discriminate and it also gives me an iron reader, but still so challenging to prospect like this.
I did get outside and had a good time, here are a few pics:
Though no gold was found, it could certainly have been a worse day - I could have broken a leg hiking in the wilderness, I could have gotten bitten by a rattlesnake, I could have accidentally been on a claim and got shot, I could have been hit by a falling boulder, I could have slipped off a steep ledge, etc - anytime you come back in one piece is a good day gold prospecting!
Maybe next time I will find a nugget…
Thanks for coming by,
Brian