Visiting Arizona on my vacation - Need suggestions!

[Tony Teixeira]

Ok folks, here is what I have going. I am driving from Manteca, CA down to Prescott Arizona on May 12th and have a training session in the field, but I would like to stay a day or two longer so I can enjoy it.

I don't know the area, I don't know what's private land or what's public land, I am a GPAA member but it does not matter to me if I am prospecting on a GPAA claim or not.

So what am I asking? I need a place to swing the detector and would like your recommendations, I don't mind traveling an hour or so from Prescott in any direction.

Please let me know what you suggest!

As Always, Thanks for your input.

[Ridge Runner]

Tony

Just before you get to the road that turns off to stanton is Weaver Mining Company and for about 30 dollars you can join a prospecting club. This place is between Congress and the Stanton road on the right.

I can't think of his name but he does have alot of gold claims to prospect on.Before you go get with Uncle Ron to get maps showing all the gold claims.Well worth the money you will spend.

Chuck

[Ted Scott]

You can always try Lynx Creek. It's a withdraw area, which means you won't step on anyone's claim. The trash is atrocious but nuggets can be found there as well and if you get tired, you can always break out a pan.

[scorpion]

Here is the info you need Tony! Just remember to have lots of water with you. May is getting hot down in the Congress and Stanton area. Lynx Creek would be a bit cooler, but there is a lot o metal trash to have to work around. But you can find gold there. You can also join GPAA and get access to a lot of different location in Arizona.

Here is the info on Weaver Mining District

Congress

Weaver Mining District (2/4/04)

CONTACT: Les Bender 928-427-6344

2200 North Hwy 89, Congress, AZ (in the Arrowhead complex, just north of the junction of Hwys 71 and 89)

Mail: P.O. Box 955, Congress, AZ 85332

The Weaver Mining District is a non-profit club with yearly dues of $25 per family. They have approximately 1700 acres of mining claims in the old Weaver Mining District near Stanton, Arizona. The name is that of the original mining district from the territorial days. The group was formed in 1993. No e-mail or web site at this time. Les has a display of gold from the area and also items for sale, including meteorite books.

Good luck and have fun!

Karl

[az.gold]

Here is the info you need Tony! Just remember to have lots of water with you. May is getting hot down in the Congress and Stanton area. Lynx Creek would be a bit cooler, but there is a lot o metal trash to have to work around. But you can find gold there. You can also join GPAA and get access to a lot of different location in Arizona.

Here is the info on Weaver Mining District

Congress

Weaver Mining District (2/4/04)

CONTACT: Les Bender 928-427-6344

2200 North Hwy 89, Congress, AZ (in the Arrowhead complex, just north of the junction of Hwys 71 and 89)

Mail: P.O. Box 955, Congress, AZ 85332

The Weaver Mining District is a non-profit club with yearly dues of $25 per family. They have approximately 1700 acres of mining claims in the old Weaver Mining District near Stanton, Arizona. The name is that of the original mining district from the territorial days. The group was formed in 1993. No e-mail or web site at this time. Les has a display of gold from the area and also items for sale, including meteorite books.

Good luck and have fun!

Karl

I agree with Weaver probably being the easiest to access with a short time frame available and offering probably the biggest bang for the buck in terms of cost vs claims available to its members.

I'd call ahead as I think that Mr. Bender has limited office hours, especially on Saturdays.

Bring plenty of whatever you feel you will need noteably water and gas as there are no stores or gas stations in Stanton where the claims are located near.

Have fun, and good luck!

[nuggethunting]

Hello Tony,

If Chris shows you a hot spot, maybe you can stick around there! There are dozens of places not too far from Prescott. There are many placers around Prescott and Prescott Valley, but uncertain what is/isnt under claim right now. If you head down the hill you will hit Poland Junction, Mayer and other spots going towards Black Canyon City. If you head down 89A, you will go through many placer/lode locations all the way towards Wickenburg and even over towards Morristown.

You might want to stick around the higher country as some of the temps are in the mid 90's now.

Wishing you the best of luck with the new GPX-4500.

Rob Allison

[Tony Teixeira]

To: Ridge Runner, Ted Scott, Scorpion, az.gold and Rob,

Thank you very much for the input, I decided to stick around and stay in Wikenburg, would have stayed in Congress for that seemed more centrally located but finding a room was not easy......next time I need to camp.

Really looking foward to this!

Thanks again

[Fast Randy]

Tony,

I just wanted to introduce myself to you (and the rest of you guys) as I just entered your contest. Way to go on your 4500. I bought the GPX 4000 and had it 3 days when I found out about the 4500. It would have cost me at least $1500 to upgrade to the 4500 but I decided to keep the 4000 and put the money into coils and spare parts. I almost bought mine from Rob but I decided to go with "Gerry" because he is also from Idaho and also becase he had 3 days of training. This was my first detector and I wanted lots of training. Believe me, you will be able to find nuggets like the pro's when you get done with your training.

I have property in Meadview by the Gold Basin/King Tut area and good metorite area. I have never had time to play around there and now I do so I'm going down there monday for a couple weeks. Until it gets to hot. I

want to explore the Bradshaws for a couple days while I'm down there.

If you ever do plan a camping trip I would like to meet you for some hunting.

Good luck,

Randy

[nuggethunting]

Hello Randy,

Congrats on getting a GPX-4000. No biggie that you didn't get it from me. I've never met Gerry personally, but heard a lot of good things about him. I've had handfuls of guys purchase products from me that purchased their Minelab from Gerry. All of them had great things to say about him and his training.

Training is a very important part of a big Minelab purchase, especially for anyone that has never used them.

Wishing you all the best here in Arizona.

Rob Allison

[Fast Randy]

Hello Randy,

Congrats on getting a GPX-4000. No biggie that you didn't get it from me. I've never met Gerry personally, but heard a lot of good things about him. I've had handfuls of guys purchase products from me that purchased their Minelab from Gerry. All of them had great things to say about him and his training.

Training is a very important part of a big Minelab purchase, especially for anyone that has never used them.

Wishing you all the best here in Arizona.

Rob Allison

Thanks Rob,

Gerry had a large class of 12 at Rye Patch in April. He had other help and we found 11 pieces of gold during training that everyone could swing there coils over. Four of them were deep minelab PI targets all under 3 grams I think. Then a few of us stayed after for a few days and we found 5 more nuggets with my 4.5 being the biggest. It was my 4.5 grammer that I used to judge the contest nugget. I still think mine is a little bigger than Tonys. lol

[Tony Teixeira]

Thanks Rob,

Gerry had a large class of 12 at Rye Patch in April. He had other help and we found 11 pieces of gold during training that everyone could swing there coils over. Four of them were deep minelab PI targets all under 3 grams I think. Then a few of us stayed after for a few days and we found 5 more nuggets with my 4.5 being the biggest. It was my 4.5 grammer that I used to judge the contest nugget. I still think mine is a little bigger than Tonys. lol

Randy,

Congrats on that 4.5er, it sure feels good to get that first one under your belt from the get go, builds up confidence.... but us newbies need to step up our game and turn the gram nuggets into ounce nuggets like Rob and the other pros get. My training with Chris is on Tuesday the 13th, and I plan on staying the 14 as well but have not decided where to go, I am staying in Wikenburg Tuesday night and would like to Nugget Hunt somewhere around there on the 14, I like everybodys suggestion on the Weaver Mining District, but was also wondering about the GPAA claim "LUCKY LINDA", I put the GPS coordinates in Google Earth and think I have an idea where it sits in perspective to Rich Hill.... it seems to be just a tad south.

In fact with Google Earth Plus I was able to see Uncle Ron trolling the Vulture Mtns when he found that 3/4 oz gem, I could see him jumping up and down.... my monitor looked like I was playing that Mario Brothers

game with all the jumping.

Does anybody have any comments on the GPAA claim LUCKY LINDA??????

Thanx

Tony

[az.gold]

Tony,

I would strongly suggest that at a minimum you get one of Uncle Ron's maps showing the club claims in the Weaver/Rich Hill area.

Although it doesn't show the individual claims by name, it might be a very usefull tool to stay out of trouble while you're there "wavin' the wand".

A small investment with huge dividends if you're not familiar with the area.

If I had off on Thursday I'd even hook up with you to take you over to Stanton and Octave, but you'd better be ready for snakes...loads of them out and about there now.

Good luck!

az.gold

John

[Uncle Ron]

Yo Tony...GPAA is a great group...the Lucky Linda claim has produced some pretty good nuggets over the years, but seems to be more known for drywashing and recirc systems...Weaver & Roadrunners are your best bet for a quick visit...Here is a vital tip: before you come, go to a drug store and buy a supply of those surgical masks...The nose gnats are really bad right now...Really, really, really bad and if you don't have the mask on, you probably will give up after about ten minutes...Gnats and rattlers are just part of the deal in the big AZ...Oh, and then there's the gold!!!!!!!! Good luck...Cheers, Unc

[Tony Teixeira]

Tony,

I would strongly suggest that at a minimum you get one of Uncle Ron's maps showing the club claims in the Weaver/Rich Hill area.

Although it doesn't show the individual claims by name, it might be a very usefull tool to stay out of trouble while you're there "wavin' the wand".

A small investment with huge dividends if you're not familiar with the area.

If I had off on Thursday I'd even hook up with you to take you over to Stanton and Octave, but you'd better be ready for snakes...loads of them out and about there now.

Good luck!

az.gold

John

Yea John, it is a little too late to order a map but I have checked out Uncle Ron's site, I have a 2 week vacation in July and may return for a bit, sure there won't be too many people in the fields in the summer, I will need a few of his maps for research but not sure yet which ones I want. I want the ones with NO snakes or scorpions and gold laying on top the ground.

Thanks

Tony

Yo Tony...GPAA is a great group...the Lucky Linda claim has produced some pretty good nuggets over the years, but seems to be more known for drywashing and recirc systems...Weaver & Roadrunners are your best bet for a quick visit...Here is a vital tip: before you come, go to a drug store and buy a supply of those surgical masks...The nose gnats are really bad right now...Really, really, really bad and if you don't have the mask on, you probably will give up after about ten minutes...Gnats and rattlers are just part of the deal in the big AZ...Oh, and then there's the gold!!!!!!!! Good luck...Cheers, Unc

Thanks for the tip Uncle Ron, I just packed up some dust masks. I WAS looking forward to this.

Tony

Yo Tony...GPAA is a great group...the Lucky Linda claim has produced some pretty good nuggets over the years, but seems to be more known for drywashing and recirc systems...Weaver & Roadrunners are your best bet for a quick visit...Here is a vital tip: before you come, go to a drug store and buy a supply of those surgical masks...The nose gnats are really bad right now...Really, really, really bad and if you don't have the mask on, you probably will give up after about ten minutes...Gnats and rattlers are just part of the deal in the big AZ...Oh, and then there's the gold!!!!!!!! Good luck...Cheers, Unc

Thanks for the tip Uncle Ron, I just packed up some dust masks. I WAS looking forward to this.

Tony

[az.gold]

Tony,

IF you're in Congress, Les Bender at the Weaver Mining District office (across the road from the BIG Frog...you'll know it when you see it, trust me) has some of Ron's maps, and in particular I know he carries the ones that show the club claims in the Stanton area as I purchased one there a couple of weeks ago.

FWIW.

az.gold

John

[Tony Teixeira]

Hey Guys! I had a blast, this was the first time in 24 years that I took a vacation without the wife or kids, with the way the CA real estate market is my wife could not get away and the kids are in college so I ventured on my own this time.

First stop was Prescott where I met Chris and Bob, we headed to Lynx Creek where I recieved my training on using the 4500, got some great tips and learned alot, watched Bob pick at a target on the way up the hill where he found a BB in the matter of seconds, I would have been there for 10 minutes looking for that BB. lol

We divided up and took different areas, after a couple of hours Bob had to take off so I really did not get a chance to pick his brain, that's probably a good thing cause he would have got sick of all my questions.

Chris and I took a break and had a chance to talk and get to know each other, for only being 31 Chris has the potential to suceed at whatever he endevours and he has accomplished so much already at such a young age...... Geez, I could remember when I considered people of 30 years "OLD!" After Chris and I felt I was comfortable with my 4500, I told Chris to take off for it was sprinkling and I was only going to stay there a tad longer before heading to Wikenburg. How many people can say the went hunting with two of Arizona's finest?

I stopped off at the Weaver mining district on my way to Wickenburg and spoke with Les and bought me a year membership, it was too late to go to the fields that day so I went to the hotel to get a good night sleep.

The next morning I headed to the Stanton, Rich Hill area, I found this one area that I thought would be good, as I walked down I seen old tin cans everywhere, even a bed spring and then I heard "RATTLE - RATTLE-RATTLE" everywhere, to the left, to the right, in front of me, behind me..... I should have bought a pair of speakers like Bob has, in fact instead of buying a second set of headphones as a backup I am going to get me a pair and sew it in my harness, then I can pick and choose in the field what I want use, they are not big and sounded great! Since I did not have external speakers, I said "heck with this and drove away to Decision Corner where I spent my time playing with different timings. There has to be a give and take with different timings, I understand now why folks like Enhanced, I was able to GB on the Hot Rocks where I was at.

Well I did not find any gold but if I would have wavied my detector over some I am confident I would have found it! I did find a penny, it was not even buried, Lincoln was face down and when the detector screamed I could see half the wheat back, it is dated "1940", WOO HOO!

The picture in the middle was a sliver that was up against a rock about 5" to 7" down, don't know if it is Iron but sure was loud..... I was impessed that I found it, I am still at the stage where I still feel good finding crap.

First PIC is some stuff from AZ and CA that I did not want to through back in the environment and was part of my learning.

Now I just need to find where to look in CA, I love GEO communicator and bulletin 193 that Reno Chris suggested, I am learning about types of mining and about tailings.... I think I am on the right track!

Anyways I had a great time in Arizona, never been there. The desert was beautiful and I did not expect that, I expected to see dead carcus and skeletons around and buzzards flying over my head waiting for me to drop.

Take care everyone!

Tony