gold hunting in southern california

[thadious]

Hi guys looking for info on where to metal detect for gold in san diego area. I am new to gold detecting and would appreciate any tips or info. thank you for any help. HH Ted

[Lanny in AB]

Ted,

Hop over to Eagle's thread, and why don't you ask him for some tips--he may just be able to help point you in the right direction, or help you figure out how to get there.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.p...25842.500.html

All the best,

Lanny

[alfonzo]

If you get a topo map, just north of the town of Pine on interstate 8, there is a canyon named Noble canyon and above the canyon is the Noble mine. Went there about 1980 with a friend and found the mine and above us looking down were a couple of illegals, so careful... Snow this time of year so maybe spring time best. Past this canyon in a tributary is a canyon that was all bedrock and potholes, looked good for sniping or detecting...

[Crookedrecords]

Ted,

I live in San Diego and have been prospecting for quite some time...My best suggestion would be to join the two local gold prospecting clubs. One is called the SPMA (southwestern prospecting and mining association) and the other is TSS (treasure seekers of san diego). Spma meets in Lemon Grove once a month and TSS meets up in Escondido once a month.

They are both excellent clubs with outstanding claims. TSS is a free club SPMA is about $40.00 a year or so. If you want to have gold in your pan within a week or actually start detecting in an area where you have a good chance of finding something that is the way to go. The clubs are very active and have group outings that can actually be very helpful. When we go out as a group we can hit an are pretty well and it usually doesn't take to long to locate the gold. Then after you know what to do you can go out on your own any time.

I got my first gold ever with a metal detector on an SPMA claim a couple years ago. TSS just got 5 160 acre claims in the cargo muchacho mountains in el centro and my buddy got over a quarter oz. drywashing there the other day....they are going to have an outing there in a couple of weeks....

The thing about clubs is many members are very helpful and you can learn more in one week with a few old timers than you can learn in a year on your own...

Let me know if you have any other questions or need any more info...

PS..we have a claim in the noble mine area but it closes seasonally in pine creak because of some toad mating season. It's no good for detectors. You want to check cargo muchacho, yuma, potholes, dome placers, laguna dam placers for any good chance at a nugget.....those areas are all out east a bit.

[Lanny in AB]

Looks like fun!

All the best,

Lanny