Ambitious Prospecting Trip (part 2)

[sdf527]

After we made a camp and rested, we started our prospecting. I went downstream and found and old drywash area. I found one little crumb that weighed .3 gram. Nothing else but hotrocks and trash. Ken was skunked for the first day. The next morning I decided to hike the rest of the way to the area we had targetted for this trip. I found no trail and bushwacked my way to the edge of a steep canyon. Not to be deterred, I picked my way down. Major disappointment at the bottom. Too much old trash and brutal hotrocks. I followed it to some low hills and found more drywash tailings. No joy there either, although I got one target that had my heart pumping. I was detecting a depression that led into the drywash area and got a nice faint whisper. I pulled away the surface rocks and got a decent signal. I pulled away about 4 inches of gravel and came to a layer of caliche. Solid stuff, but the target was still in there. I didn't have a pick, only my prospecting hoe, so breaking up that caliche was a chore. I finally got under the caliche and was able to break it into manageable pieces. The target was about the size of a golfball, heavy and magnetic. Not a meteorite either. I spent the rest of the day getting back up the mountains to our camp. I followed a respectable wash that proved to be a genuine challenge. Two steep waterfalls to climb. I hung my detecter off my belt so I could use both hands and inched my way up about 20 ft. After several hours of hiking I was beginning to wonder how far off I could be. The ridges were so steep I couldn't get a view of any landmarks. I've never been lost, but have been a might bewildered a few times and this was starting to look like one of those times. Finally, about 4PM I made it back to the original dry wash tailings near our camp. I met up with Ken who had also put in a full day of hiking and found one little crumb. We dragged our tired asses back to camp wondering what kind folly we had embarked upon. A day and half of prospecting after a monstrous hike and two little crumbs to show for it.

The next morning Ken decided to try a little feeder wash near our camp. I went down to the drywash tailings and hoped to find a couple crumbs. About an hour later Ken called me on the radio and said he had found a small one. I had just found a small crumb myself. About 45 minutes later Ken called me to say he found another one saying it was a "pretty nice one". About 30 minutes later he called again saying he had found another "pretty nice one" and that I'd better get over there.

I hiked over to take a look at Ken's finds. Holy Shit, "pretty nice ones" are you kidding me. These things are monsters compared to the crumbs we've been finding lately. These things are monsters anytime.

Ken is an unselfish prospecting partner. He wanted me to find a decent nugget, so he had cleared some brush and broke up the overburden in the section he found those big nuggets. He let me have a go at it while he moved off out of interference range. I spent 30 minutes going over that spot and everything nearby. Found two trash targets and nothing else. By then, it was 1:00pm and we knew we had a long hike back to the truck. I thought about taking the shortcut back to camp, but opted to work back down the wash for one last run at finding a nugget. I got down several hundred yards and got a faint signal. It was about 12 inches to bedrock, but my hole kept caving in on me. While I was digging, Ken calls for me to come back to the spot he had cleared. He had a signal he wanted me to dig. That's the kind of guy Ken is, he was handing off a likely target so that I wouldn't be shut out. I went back and sure enough, a decent signal right in the middle of the ground he had broken up. So I found a 1.1 gram nugget thanks to Ken handing it off to me. I told Ken I had an undug target still in the wash, so I went back to finish digging it out. I finally got the hole wide enough to prevent more cave in. As I was scooping out the dirt on bedrock I saw the nugget. I took a quick photo and called Ken to say it was a decent size nugget. What you see in the picture is about 1/4 of the whole nugget. The rest of the nugget was wedged into a lateral crack back in the bedrock. I used a greasewood branch to dig it out so as to not damage it. As I started to leave, I stuck my coil back down in the hole and got another signal. A small 1 gram piece in the same hole. Whooeee. My trip was salvaged at the last minute.

The total weights in grams are as follows:

Ken- .3, .8, 14.0, 18.0

Steve- .3, .4, 1.0, 1.1 10.7

I'm sure there are more nuggets in that wash. We lacked proper digging tools to clear that kind of overburden, but we'll go back and clean her out.

Logistics: 4 gallons of water for 2 days is barely enough. Thankfully, the temperature was pretty mild. We were down to a few swallows on the way out. Backpack meals that say 2 servings is bullshit. One of those packages per person is more accurate. A longhandled pick and a shovel would have been nice, but a lot of weight for a general prospecting trip.

I can't say enough about good prospecting friends and partners. It was an unselfish prospecting friend/partner that put us on to this place. He wanted to go with us, but unlike us retired guys, he had to work. My partner Ken is the best, willing to hand off an undug target to share the joy.

[sdf527]

Photos didn't load. Will try again later.

[Uncle Ron]

Great story, Steve...Can't wait to view your finds...That was a winning trip in anybody's book...WTG..Cheers, Unc

[sdf527]

After we made a camp and rested, we started our prospecting. I went downstream and found and old drywash area. I found one little crumb that weighed .3 gram. Nothing else but hotrocks and trash. Ken was skunked for the first day. The next morning I decided to hike the rest of the way to the area we had targetted for this trip. I found no trail and bushwacked my way to the edge of a steep canyon. Not to be deterred, I picked my way down. Major disappointment at the bottom. Too much old trash and brutal hotrocks. I followed it to some low hills and found more drywash tailings. No joy there either, although I got one target that had my heart pumping. I was detecting a depression that led into the drywash area and got a nice faint whisper. I pulled away the surface rocks and got a decent signal. I pulled away about 4 inches of gravel and came to a layer of caliche. Solid stuff, but the target was still in there. I didn't have a pick, only my prospecting hoe, so breaking up that caliche was a chore. I finally got under the caliche and was able to break it into manageable pieces. The target was about the size of a golfball, heavy and magnetic. Not a meteorite either. I spent the rest of the day getting back up the mountains to our camp. I followed a respectable wash that proved to be a genuine challenge. Two steep waterfalls to climb. I hung my detecter off my belt so I could use both hands and inched my way up about 20 ft. After several hours of hiking I was beginning to wonder how far off I could be. The ridges were so steep I couldn't get a view of any landmarks. I've never been lost, but have been a might bewildered a few times and this was starting to look like one of those times. Finally, about 4PM I made it back to the original dry wash tailings near our camp. I met up with Ken who had also put in a full day of hiking and found one little crumb. We dragged our tired asses back to camp wondering what kind folly we had embarked upon. A day and half of prospecting after a monstrous hike and two little crumbs to show for it.

The next morning Ken decided to try a little feeder wash near our camp. I went down to the drywash tailings and hoped to find a couple crumbs. About an hour later Ken called me on the radio and said he had found a small one. I had just found a small crumb myself. About 45 minutes later Ken called me to say he found another one saying it was a "pretty nice one". About 30 minutes later he called again saying he had found another "pretty nice one" and that I'd better get over there.

I hiked over to take a look at Ken's finds. Holy Shit, "pretty nice ones" are you kidding me. These things are monsters compared to the crumbs we've been finding lately. These things are monsters anytime.

Ken is an unselfish prospecting partner. He wanted me to find a decent nugget, so he had cleared some brush and broke up the overburden in the section he found those big nuggets. He let me have a go at it while he moved off out of interference range. I spent 30 minutes going over that spot and everything nearby. Found two trash targets and nothing else. By then, it was 1:00pm and we knew we had a long hike back to the truck. I thought about taking the shortcut back to camp, but opted to work back down the wash for one last run at finding a nugget. I got down several hundred yards and got a faint signal. It was about 12 inches to bedrock, but my hole kept caving in on me. While I was digging, Ken calls for me to come back to the spot he had cleared. He had a signal he wanted me to dig. That's the kind of guy Ken is, he was handing off a likely target so that I wouldn't be shut out. I went back and sure enough, a decent signal right in the middle of the ground he had broken up. So I found a 1.1 gram nugget thanks to Ken handing it off to me. I told Ken I had an undug target still in the wash, so I went back to finish digging it out. I finally got the hole wide enough to prevent more cave in. As I was scooping out the dirt on bedrock I saw the nugget. I took a quick photo and called Ken to say it was a decent size nugget. What you see in the picture is about 1/4 of the whole nugget. The rest of the nugget was wedged into a lateral crack back in the bedrock. I used a greasewood branch to dig it out so as to not damage it. As I started to leave, I stuck my coil back down in the hole and got another signal. A small 1 gram piece in the same hole. Whooeee. My trip was salvaged at the last minute.

The total weights in grams are as follows:

Ken- .3, .8, 14.0, 18.0

Steve- .3, .4, 1.0, 1.1 10.7

I'm sure there are more nuggets in that wash. We lacked proper digging tools to clear that kind of overburden, but we'll go back and clean her out.

Logistics: 4 gallons of water for 2 days is barely enough. Thankfully, the temperature was pretty mild. We were down to a few swallows on the way out. Backpack meals that say 2 servings is bullshit. One of those packages per person is more accurate. A longhandled pick and a shovel would have been nice, but a lot of weight for a general prospecting trip.

I can't say enough about good prospecting friends and partners. It was an unselfish prospecting friend/partner that put us on to this place. He wanted to go with us, but unlike us retired guys, he had to work. My partner Ken is the best, willing to hand off an undug target to share the joy.