Metal Detecting around Northern Cal (foothills)

[UNCLENICK]

Where besides the obvious-(old town Auburn, Placer High, etc) where is a good place to go detecting? From Sacramento to Nevada City, Placerville, to Oroville, all in between. I know you can in the Auburn State Rec, but I'm looking for other places that I cannot thick of off the top of my head. Also besides the parks, playgrounds etc.

[renogeoff]

I have a few places I have researched. Drop me a line and maybe we can discuss.

[Tom_in_CA]

Depends on the goals you have. Ie.: are you a jewelry hunter? nugget hunter? old coin hunter? relic hunter? etc... There's lots of places here in CA to hunt

[renogeoff]

Depends on the goals you have. Ie.: are you a jewelry hunter? nugget hunter? old coin hunter? relic hunter? etc... There's lots of places here in CA to hunt

I do gold panning in Placer county since it is a nice easy drive from Reno. I like to stay away from I-80 with all the construction. I am planning on relic/coin hunting at some old mining camps in the area.

[Tom_in_CA]

renogeoff, when you locate the old mining camps, don't make the mistake that a lot of coin/relic hunters make: head straight to the foundations / ruins of the old processing and industrial type stuff. The areas where the miners worked at (concrete sluice foundations, stamp mill ruins, etc....) are not going to be the places where the coins/relics will be. Yes nuggets perhaps (old tailing piles, etc...), but not good for coin hunting. The best place for coins is going to be where the miners LIVED, slept, played, etc... not where the worked.

Quite often the only visible signs left in these areas, are where they worked, as those were the more permanent structures. But where they lived, was often nothing more than temporary tent cities, wooden "board and batton" towns, that will have nothing left to mark their sites. And these are not necessarily near the work areas. They could be a significant walk away, somewhere else. If you can find where these temporary tent cities sprang up (often moving around every few years to move to the next strikes), is the places to hunt. Less industrial junkage, and more coins d/t they slept on the ground in tents, gambled, drank, etc.... I've gotten some goodies like this around Folsom area, and believe me, when you survey the landscape, it seems more inviting to immediately head to the concrete foundations "off in the distance" of the commercial industrial processing stuff (since that's all one can see NOW). But my host had already informed me that we'd be hunting a non-impressive flat, with absolutely nothing at all there. He explained that this had been the miner's camp and chinatown district. That was a lesson to me, that I'm sure is true of other gold-rush areas in CA.

[renogeoff]

renogeoff, when you locate the old mining camps, don't make the mistake that a lot of coin/relic hunters make: head straight to the foundations / ruins of the old processing and industrial type stuff. The areas where the miners worked at (concrete sluice foundations, stamp mill ruins, etc....) are not going to be the places where the coins/relics will be. Yes nuggets perhaps (old tailing piles, etc...), but not good for coin hunting. The best place for coins is going to be where the miners LIVED, slept, played, etc... not where the worked.

Quite often the only visible signs left in these areas, are where they worked, as those were the more permanent structures. But where they lived, was often nothing more than temporary tent cities, wooden "board and batton" towns, that will have nothing left to mark their sites. And these are not necessarily near the work areas. They could be a significant walk away, somewhere else. If you can find where these temporary tent cities sprang up (often moving around every few years to move to the next strikes), is the places to hunt. Less industrial junkage, and more coins d/t they slept on the ground in tents, gambled, drank, etc.... I've gotten some goodies like this around Folsom area, and believe me, when you survey the landscape, it seems more inviting to immediately head to the concrete foundations "off in the distance" of the commercial industrial processing stuff (since that's all one can see NOW). But my host had already informed me that we'd be hunting a non-impressive flat, with absolutely nothing at all there. He explained that this had been the miner's camp and chinatown district. That was a lesson to me, that I'm sure is true of other gold-rush areas in CA.

Thanks Tom. That is what I have been researching also. (I have lots of time to research with the bad weather and slow business at work this winter!) It may not be until April before enough snow melts to get to the places I have scoped out.
Reading about how those miners lived and the harsh conditions they endured (or in many cases, didn't), makes one appreciate the basic necessities we have nowadays.