I will be vacationing in Palm Desert, CA around the end of January.
Coming from Ohio, I would like to try a bit of prospecting.
Can anyone recommend some (public?) areas that can be reasonably accessed from Palm Desert area?
Not a member of GPAA at this time.
I have gold pans and a PI detector if it would be worthwhile to bring along.
Thanks!
-Scott
Now that we're back, here' a trip report...
Got back from our Palm Desert vacation, had an absolutely wonderful
trip.
First, some observations from a native Ohioan:
1. The desert can get really cold at night!
2. There is a lot more life in the desert than one would expect from
watching old westerns on television!
3. There is actually much more shooting going on in the desert now than
ever took place in the old westerns, based on the impressive scattering
of shell casings we saw - everywhere!
I was able to devote two entire days to prospecting on this trip. Spent
one day touring the Dale mining district around 29 Palms, checked out
quite a few abandoned mines, and found some places to nugget shoot with
my detector - no luck there unfortunately, but the hunting was fun!
The second trip was sluicing in the San Gabriel river - I basically spent the day
pulling material from behind and underneath a boulder the size of half a
car. The sluicing produced some gold - a couple of decent-sized flakes,
and a lot of finer stuff.
As a first-time prospector, I have to say this trip was far more fun and
interesting than I ever thought it would be, and most of the credit for
that goes to Jim and Sue Jeffrey of the American Prospector Treasure
Seeker store in Temecula. They are two wonderful people, very generous
with their time, very knowledgeable, and their store in Temecula is a
great place to find tools, equipment for all kinds of gold prospecting,
and a good place to find out about gold in Southern California. Their
time and support helped us make the most of our short time to devote to
prospecting, and they get our highest recommendation. They spent an entire
day with us out in the Dale Mining district! And then Jim invites me for a sluicing trip
to the San Gabriel river! Check out their web site (aptsgold.com) and if you are prospecting in the area, give
them a call! There is also a very good article about them in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of the GPAA Magazine.
Jim and Sue were our best "finds" of the trip!
-Scott
Coming from Ohio, I would like to try a bit of prospecting.
Can anyone recommend some (public?) areas that can be reasonably accessed from Palm Desert area?
Not a member of GPAA at this time.
I have gold pans and a PI detector if it would be worthwhile to bring along.
Thanks!
-Scott
Now that we're back, here' a trip report...
Got back from our Palm Desert vacation, had an absolutely wonderful
trip.
First, some observations from a native Ohioan:
1. The desert can get really cold at night!
2. There is a lot more life in the desert than one would expect from
watching old westerns on television!
3. There is actually much more shooting going on in the desert now than
ever took place in the old westerns, based on the impressive scattering
of shell casings we saw - everywhere!
I was able to devote two entire days to prospecting on this trip. Spent
one day touring the Dale mining district around 29 Palms, checked out
quite a few abandoned mines, and found some places to nugget shoot with
my detector - no luck there unfortunately, but the hunting was fun!
The second trip was sluicing in the San Gabriel river - I basically spent the day
pulling material from behind and underneath a boulder the size of half a
car. The sluicing produced some gold - a couple of decent-sized flakes,
and a lot of finer stuff.
As a first-time prospector, I have to say this trip was far more fun and
interesting than I ever thought it would be, and most of the credit for
that goes to Jim and Sue Jeffrey of the American Prospector Treasure
Seeker store in Temecula. They are two wonderful people, very generous
with their time, very knowledgeable, and their store in Temecula is a
great place to find tools, equipment for all kinds of gold prospecting,
and a good place to find out about gold in Southern California. Their
time and support helped us make the most of our short time to devote to
prospecting, and they get our highest recommendation. They spent an entire
day with us out in the Dale Mining district! And then Jim invites me for a sluicing trip
to the San Gabriel river! Check out their web site (aptsgold.com) and if you are prospecting in the area, give
them a call! There is also a very good article about them in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of the GPAA Magazine.
Jim and Sue were our best "finds" of the trip!
-Scott
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