Visitor in Roseville/Folsom Area

[Digginmichigan]

Hey CA TNETTERS! Fellow MD'er from MI here. In town on business for the week and wondered if anyone wanted to share some of your spots? I'll buy lunch/dinner!

I use an AT PRO and really interested in old relics. I will be in town until Friday morning, hit me up!

Jeremy

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Wish I could help you, but I'm from the coast. Was just in Auburn last Friday on business. So I passed right through Roseville on the hwy. And I was paying close attention to the grass heights of the surrounding landscape (where un-mowed). And I could see that last winter's heavy rains have left all the country-sides in the foot-hills there still prohibitively tall. Ie.: still "spring growth" , even now (albeit brown by now).

So any ghost-townsy type spots (foundations, ruins, etc...) out in the sticks are probably going to be un-huntable still now. I'm saving my back-pocket sites in the foothills there for later this winter (November or so). When, hopefully, the grass heights have finally fallen down some.

You might be stuck with regular turf hunting. Or maybe you can chance on to some old-town demolition in Sacramento ?

 

[Digginmichigan]

[emoji106]

 

[Digginmichigan]

What's the scoop with Folsom area, Tom? Detecting allowed?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hi there diggin-michigan: You would need to be specific on what type-entity land you are referring to in Folsom. Eg.: federal ? If so, what type. State ? If so, what type. County ? City ? Private ? etc....

But to "cut to the chase", people md around there all the time, at all different levels/types land. But, of course, if you are talking of "nicely manicured turfed parks", then ... of course ......... passerbys could get "connotations" (that you're about to leave a mess). Hence naturally you pick low traffic times so as to avoid riling any busy-bodies.

As for the state parks (Folsom Lake for example): The drought that went on for years and years brought the lake levels lower and lower starting 10 to 12-ish years ago. It peaked last year, as the news showed (before being filled by last winter's torrential rains). At the peak of the low water levels, a ghost town that had been nearest the dam came into view (old foundations, etc....). The news was all abuzz about that. And sure enough, after it made-the-news, a few people who saw the news ventured out there with detectors. Most went un-bothered. But eventually, the rangers "roughed up" one of them (to "make an example") and gave the guy a ticket. But he was just a numb-nuts newbie who had wandered out there at high noon, right in broad-daylight, right in front of rangers. He simply had no idea of ... uh ... "discreetness". So they made an example out of him.

That "example" link (the news clip) was linked over and over and over on md'ing forums as a supposed fear of "imminent threat" of md'ing in CA state parks. And a supposed example of how we should "fear tickets" , grovel, ask permissions, blah blah blah.

But the other part of the story, that the sky-is-falling folks don't know of: Is that Folsom lake had always ever routinely been detected. There are/were other little 49er gold rush little tent city hamlets further up in the fingers of the lake, that had been routinely detected in the years prior to that (they'd been revealed earlier in the drought). And no one ever heard so much as "boo". And I know of persons getting seateds, a bust quarter, chinese cash coins, early IH's, a large cent, etc.... at that location.

The only reason the singular ticket story got such bruhaha, was that it was a media sensation. And the park's dept. had sent an archie to "monitor" it, at the exact time that tourists and this geek with a detector were there. Otherwise, .... as long as you're not tromping on sensitive monuments like that at an archie convention, you're hard-pressed to ever hear "boo".

Of course use common sense, and don't be in the middle of retrievals at historic sensitive spots when bored rangers are present. Ironically, there is no "specific" prohibition in CA state parks wording. The only verbiage that could find is catch-all "cultural heritage" verbiage. However, oddly, you can hunt state of CA beaches till you're blue in the face (which are administered by the exact same parks dept), and .... no one ever pays you any mind (and no one's carding the dates on the coins you find). So effectively, the only time such enforcement would ever happen, is if you were on a historic sensitive spot during some sort of inventory time.

As for federal (BLM, NFS), those spots are routinely hunted ad-nausem all over the Sierra foothills. Especially nugget hunter guys (so I suppose you could just say you were nugget hunting). And again: The only thing that *might* apply is cultural heritage. Hence if you are only finding modern stuff, you are outside that language. I had an NFS guy approach me in his ranger truck once south of there (closer to Yosemite) while I was on NFS land at a CCC era defunct campground. He said "you can't do that". But after some casual chit-chat, changed his tune to: "Well, if you find anything over 50 yrs. old, you have to bring it in to the ranger station" (which was 30-ish miles away in the nearby town). Then he left. Well gee, is it a question of someone's math skills after that ? And in over 40 yrs. of hunting, that was my singular such encounter .

Bottom line is, all levels/types of land around Folsom are hunted. So long as you're not being an eyesore on a sensitive monument site, or making craters in manicured turf while wearing neon yellow, etc....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Post script #1: The locations further back in the fingers of Folsom lake are now inundated with water, after last winter's rains.

Post script #2: The rules for persons visiting CA, is that you must send me 30% of all your finds. I accept paypal

 

[Digginmichigan]

Ha!! 30%, hell thats a bargain! Thank you for taking the time and providing the great info, Sir!