Prime Spots For Backpacking Detectors

[Jonsered]

Thought I'd start a thread on this, and I'll just add to it as I get time.

Almost all my detecting takes place in the middle of nowhere. Essentially, if you can get to it with a vehicle, I'm not interested. Over my 30 years of traipsing around NM's boonies, I've come across some interesting sites, and I'll be sharing them here.

1) Mineral Creek - This is on the North edge of the Gila Wilderness, East and just a shade North of Mogollon. This Creek runs East / West for 10 miles or so. About 4 miles down the creekbed from the easternmost point of the creek, there are the remains of a sawmill. Big boiler, lots of bricks and some wooden debris. Continue West down the creek for another 2 miles, and you will run into a good sized mine on the North wall of the creekbed. Wooden remains including ore bins and chutes run 80 yards across the hillside. The mine is big, and as of March 2007, was still open. This area is definitely worth checking out. Mineral Creek is gorgeous, and the creek bed itself is so colorful it looks like there was a candy store explosion.

2) Florida Mountains - South and slightly East of Deming. This entire mountain chain is pocked with mines. Many are accessible by vehicle, but many more are not. Most of the best run in a North / South line down the East face of the mountains. Lots of above ground remains, including ore bins and chutes. Dozens of open shafts and adits. Good detecting country.

3) Hermosa / Palomas Camp - 25 or 30 miles South of Chloride on the East side of the Black Range. There is a road, but in my jacked up 4x4 Suburban, it is a bad ride. Probably not passable in 2 wheel drive except in the best of conditions. About 10 buildings standing at Hermosa proper, which is property of Ted Turner. Another 10 or so running down the Canyon heading East from Hermosa, which is the Palomas Camp area. Mines literally everywhere you look. Many large pieces of mining equipment. I have taken some dust and nuggets out of here on several occasions.

Thats a start. I'll add more as I get time.

[Goose-0]

It seems that you really get around. I'm from Minnesota and have made 2 week detecting trips to N M for ghost town hunting every yr now for 6 yrs.....except this yr when my partner, my brother died. We covered a lot of area from I H 40 southward. Two yrs ago, we discovered small adobe/field rock homes (around 12) in an area SW of St Rosa. We met 2 nice cowboys herding cattle and they said that they didn't know those now delapidated buildings were there. I'm contemplating another trip in the spring and I have a mess of N M items on ghost towns...old original maps (oldest 1920), books on ghost towns, books on mining, some history books, and a few common maps in the 1960s and newer.

One yr we compared a 1960 map to a present day map.....your present day maps DON'T show old towns or some now existing roads. The same yr I marked 14 towns that showed on the 1960 map.....we found 3 of the now non-existing towns....didn't find the other 11. Yes, we found a few good items, and a saloon token from Lake Valley....a big buck token.

A great help is the 'DeLORME ATLAS' for New Mexico. It's a large atlas and shows everything....creeks, gravel roads, trails, etc. It also shows some (existing) towns that are not on the modern N M maps. Also, check www.ghosttowns.com.

[Jonsered]

You are absolutely right about the old maps. My family has lived in NM since 1883, and they were all hoarders! I have quite a few maps dating back to the 20's, plus a bunch of hand drawn stuff people have given me over the years.

Anyway, a couple more spots.

1) White Mountain Wilderness - near Ruidoso The White Mountain didn't have the quantity of mines that some other places do, but there are some beauties nonetheless. Several are on private property, but many are available to backpackers. There are four or five running along the West face of the mountains, starting just North of the Three Rivers campground. I have detected two, and come up with 5 turn of the century coins. These are fairly remote, and I saw no sign that anyone has worked them at any point. There are several more, including the Helen Rae and the All American on the East side, closer to Nogal. The Helen Rae is well known, and beautiful! Working out from the Helen Rae, there are two good locations just South, and two more just North.

2) Apache Kid Wilderness - This is one of my favorites in a way. Rugged as can be, but it keeps folks out and keeps the area pristine! Not a ton of mines here, but surprisingly there are quite a few locations. The remains of a sawmill are located at the East end of Indian Canyon, along with a car frame and some misc items. I can't come up with the name of the canyon at the moment, but it runs North / South and Indian Canyon tees into it, and there are the remains of several structures spaced along the canyon bottom.

I'll keep adding.

[stude]

All good places, but I would add caution about Florida Mtns. Lots of Border Patrol, D.E.A. and Homeland Security in that area. Be careful and be straight. Also, check out Cook's Pk in same area.

[johnnycat]

Have started to check out the Floridas. As noted above, be careful in that area. If possible take a buddy along even if its your pet dog. By all means I would strongly advice to carry a sidearm, ALWAYS.

[Jonsered]

I'm sick of harrassment from the Feds in this area. Actually had a shouting match with a Border Patrol agent. I'm finding a lot of trash that would indicate illegal alien or dope smuggler traffic. Still, its a great area, especially now that I've got some new gold propspecting equipment. I will not be denied.

[snakeyes]

Kool posts, I do most of my detecting N of I40, lots of relitives and friends with ranches around Las Vegas ,to Ribera and Villa Neuva. A friend has invited me his ranch , it's between Encino and Vaughn and I have a cousin with an old homestead between Portales and Roswell. Another cousin wants to take me to the E side of the Sandias where he was raised, its all old spanish land grants, but I think I need to try and get a little info on that before I take my detector in there, there are several abanded houses that have either fallen or burned down and a couple of abanded orchards.