Black Rock Desert

[riverrat373]

Has anybody on the forum done any nugget-teering in the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada? If so, any suggestions as to the best time of the year to go and where would be greatly appreciated!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[trinityau]

Hey RiverRat, that Black Rock Desert covers a lot of land. It may help to know a general start point for your explorations. I have hunted and found gold from West of Gerlach , up to the border, East to Winnemucca and south to the Humboldts. I am sure the Black Rock even goes past a few of these locations. Beautiful country to look in and there is gold all over, even in places where people say its not. Read up on your geology for that region as the massive outlay of land will overwhelm you. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[gollum]

Go during Burning Man. Find lots then. Not necessarily gold though

Mike

 

[riverrat373]

Go during Burning Man. Find lots then. Not necessarily gold though

Mike

Oh yeah!!

 

[riverrat373]

Hey RiverRat, that Black Rock Desert covers a lot of land. It may help to know a general start point for your explorations. I have hunted and found gold from West of Gerlach , up to the border, East to Winnemucca and south to the Humboldts. I am sure the Black Rock even goes past a few of these locations. Beautiful country to look in and there is gold all over, even in places where people say its not. Read up on your geology for that region as the massive outlay of land will overwhelm you. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Probably Washoe, Humboldt and Pershing counties from the Oregon border and south.

 

[arizonaames]

Anywhere around Sulphor, Rabbit Hole, Scossa, and Placerites can be productive but these areas have been hit heavily. It is luck getting a coil over a nugget and the nuggets there average between .1 gram to .6 grams. They are not large but occasionally one up to 1/2 ounce has been found in the ancient river gravels. You will be 70 miles NW of Winnemucca.

 

[Jeff(or)]

sent you a pm

 

[minerjoe]

I wonder the same thing being that i work through it about 12 times a month. I do see a lot of guys detecting on claims off the Jungo road. Near the old antelope townsite, and engine turn around. I've been stuck in the siding at antelope and walked up on the ridge north of there finding crystals and lots of Quartz. Wish i had my detector with me. Now i carry it everywhere! I think the minelab may be at a disadvantage out there because it is mostly small gold. Most guys swing a GB2.

 

[trinityau]

Hey Miner Joe, Yes , there is alot of small gold in that area. I have used Bugs and the Eureka over there for years to get that small gold.
However...................................................be flexible. Many of the 18, 14, 10 and 12 pennyweighters I would not have heard without my 3000. Many of those nuggets were 16 to 24 inches deep. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[minerjoe]

Ray, sorry i didn't see the reply, I say you should come over some day and spend some time! I got a beautiful 1/4 oz one just yesterday, but i really would like to make it out there in the desert. Its just another way of staying at it all year without going south. I hunt chukar all over the same area you're talking about! I have the whole month of april off this year, so i'm looking forward to getting out there. I'm tired of driving by all of that country on the train, wondering whats out there. I do see the ancient gravels, some right next to the track on MY land!

 

[trinityau]

Hey MinerJoe, Maybe this next summer we can get together for a few days. Right at Antelope crossing there is a road that heads north and then east. As you are driving north you will see the mountain in front of you. It will look like it has a big hole in it up high. The road will get rough and almost go away when you start going towards the east. Find a spot and park. Start walking east along the base of the ridge on your right to the south and head towards the end of it. At the end of it you will start a slight downhill trend and go around the ridge to the south. The more you come around the end of the ridge you will be looking kind of southwest. If you look back up the side of the ridge you just walked around you will see some old hardrock digs up high. If you watch you will start seeing some old dig holes. Someone else had been in this area before I ever found it but I did really well all the same. I found lots of small stuff with the Eureka and did good on a few nice pieces near the gullies with the 3000. From where you are standing there is nice gold all the way down to the tracks. This is one of my old haunts.

Another area I have done good at is over at the Rabbit Hole. Drive down the main road till you come to the Rabbit Hole Creek. Take the road to the left, east, and go up that road till you get a point where the Rabbit Hole Creek comes out of the narrow canyon. Park here and walk across the creek to the north and go over the first hill. You will start to see gravel on all the hills. Go up and to the right and detect in this area for some larger pieces that are deep.

One more area that I always found something at was on the southwest side of Sawtooth. Go to the power line road that goes over the mountain to Scossa. Just as you start to climb you will see a road that takes off to the west and straight up the mountain directly towards Sulpher. You will have to go through a gate and continue across the large playa to the base of the hill. At this point if you look to the right, north, somewhere in that area you will start seeing just a few round cobble that seem to be out of place. There is a very long area of shallow bedrock that heads north and is about a hundred feet or so wide. Nice flat melon seed gold here. If you continue up the hill you will be going up a wash, hunt that wash and the many others you will see when you get to the top of the mountain. At the top you will be looking down to the Sulpher mine. If you look back to the east and in the distance you will see many more areas to exlpore that are south of the Sawtooth.

Lots of places out in that area of Nevada, many of them are not even mentioned in any books. Learn the geology and look for same setups in different areas and you will find your own areas. Hope this helps, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[jpdriver1]

if you go up to black rock, be prepared for talc fine dust. just bought a truck from a fellow who is part of the security team at burning man, he used this jeep for two weeks a yr for 5 yrs and wow is there a lot of find dust.

 

[minerjoe]

Ray you kill me. You must have a memory like a damn elephant! You know i'll be going through there tomorrow, and I'll be thinking..... ha ha what a job to have eh? just stare out the window! Welll, all i can say is you're on bud. Cant wait. Those gravels you're talking about i see the grey layer for sure. I saw a guy out there the other day in a big Ford truck. He unloaded the atv and drove it up the hill like maybe half a mile then him and another guy were detecting that hillside. I thought dang, wish i was there, not in this dang train! That mountain you're talking about, it looks like it has a lava spout right out of the middle? I think i know exactly where. There is also another crossing west of there about 7mi and it goes to a mountain that i could see with bino's, had gravels all over it. I worked a work train there a few years back, before the whole detector quest of mine, but man there was a lot of quartz and stud piles! One ran me right the hell out of there.... Well, I'm stuck in Elko now maybe till Christmas, so thanks, you made my day bud i got something to look forward to! Merry christmas to all, joe