First time drywashing.- AZ.

[kazcoro]

Well, I joined one of the local clubs last week. Got me a shiny new Maverick Gold Buddy. Went out to one of the LSD claims. All by myself. Couldn't find anyone to go with, can't let that stop me.

I walked around out there for a couple of hours and checked the place out. Lots of people digging and drywashing in the past. Nobody was out there on Saturday, though.

I sampled a couple places with a pan, and no color. I finally has to break the drywasher out, and sampled a little side wash, no color. I went around upstream to the north further, and found a nice wash. Maybe 15 feet wide at the sand level.

I looked around, and found more eviedence of people working in the past. I saw a 3 foot line of small gravel in the side of the wash, and decided that that is where I was going to go to town. I ran about 30 shovels through, and then ran the material a couple more times. It had just rained here for two days just two days ago, and it was damp. Not wet, just a little damp. I panned out the riffle box, and found....COLOR. A good 10-15 small flakes.

Now, I am stoked. I ran two more runs about 20-30 shovels each, and had the same results. I then decided to try running the sand from the bottom of the wash itself. When I started running the sand out of the wash, I noticed immediately how much more dirt I was running versus stones and gravel coming off the grizzly compared to the side of the wash. I mean that the previous material I was running was mostly gravel. Very little dirt for each shovelful. In one run of the bottom of the wash, I ran more dirt through the machine than all three runs combined from the side of the wash.

The wash gave me the same results. about 10-15 small flakes. I then broke out the vacuum and vacced the hole that I had dug in the wash. Ended up being about a 5 gal bucket full. I ran that through the washer, and same result. Not as many, but still gold. By this time it is getting late, and I packed up. I had run out of cigs about 2 hours ago, and it was still an hour to a store, so I boogied out of there.

I think looking back, that it doesn't matter where you work if you are in a gold bearing area. I also think that I need to be more picky. If you want to find a good amount, you have to not be willing to settle just because you are seeing gold.I also think that your take will be proportionate to the amount of material you move. And, also, how quickly. In the dry, you can move the material more quickly. Two people would help alot too. It is a pain in the to have to scrape the griz after every shovel.

Anyways, I just wanted to share with you all my first outing with the Gold Buddy. It is a dirt eating machine

 

[kazcoro]

Plan on going out again on Sat. Do you guys think I should concentrate on working upstream? Or another claim altogether? Any pointers?

 

[B H Prospector]

Welcome kazcoro, sounds like you have a pretty good spot there.You have by my count 50 to 75 colors. Why move unless it is played out? I have a gold buddy also and like it very much. You rally don't need to clean until 100 shovels ran. I then will run material a second time.

Good Luck!

B H Prospector

 

[tbcampb]

what club did you join? sounds like you might want to try different areas to me

 

[kazcoro]

100 shovels? I have heard about 60-70 shovels. So, I figured 30 shovels two or three times. This week has been dry, so I am pretty sure I am only going to need to run the material once. The club I joined is Roadrunners. Seems like a pretty good outfit.

 

[Joe Z]

theres a big gold get together going on out there this weekend march 1-3....you said you where on LSD claims so when you go north on castle hot springs road in morristown follow that road til it turns to dirt then go about 1/2 mile and make a left. if you reach the farm house on castle spring rd you went too far. after you make that left go a short ways and theres a sign "Little San Domingo Wash" easy 2 wheel drive road. after you cross that go to the top of a little hill on that road and you will see all the gold prospectors there..... I'm going to try and make it there by saturday afternoon and will be in a tan 4x4 dodge ram.
By the way....roadrunners is a top shelf club and i may join it next year.... right now i belong to GPAA and there are many claims in the LSD Area
I would put a link to the rally but not sure if this site discourages it as it's on another forum
Joe

 

[kazcoro]

Joe. Sounds like you know where to find me on Sat. I will be right next to the golden dreams claim. I have a white chevy 2500 with a ladder rack. Stop by and say hey. Keith

 

[TerryC]

Kaz, I believe you joined the same Roadrunners that has claims up here around Rich Hill, AZ. Elmer Stapleton runs a drywasher up here. He has been known to collect a half ounce a month... and only shovels until 11AM each day to stay out of the hottest part of the day. Check with the club to see about hunting up here. TTC

 

[Lanny in AB]

Kascoro

I spent some time with my buddy dry-washing in Oro Fino gulch. He was doing the digging and running the machine while I detected in some washes nearby. Man did he get covered and caked with dust!

So, I admire anyone that tackles dry-washing!

All the best to you,

Lanny

 

[Joe Z]

Joe. Sounds like you know where to find me on Sat. I will be right next to the golden dreams claim. I have a white chevy 2500 with a ladder rack. Stop by and say hey. Keith

Keith..... I will do that. I will be in a tan Ram 4x4 four door..... I'm usually out there with a white suzuki samurai but i have the differential apart right now putting a Spartan locker into it..... that things like a mountain goat and i'm missing the 40mpg compared to the Ram

When you go into the golden dream claim the road has a fork just below the king claim.... I imagine you take the fork to the left there and go to the big parking area in the golden dream?______

 

[kazcoro]

Kaz, I believe you joined the same Roadrunners that has claims up here around Rich Hill, AZ. Elmer Stapleton runs a drywasher up here. He has been known to collect a half ounce a month... and only shovels until 11AM each day to stay out of the hottest part of the day. Check with the club to see about hunting up here. TTC

That is correct. We have claims up there. I have heard that half the county is out there. I have heard is it so tightly packed that if you miss your drywasher with the shovel, you'll hit someone else's. I will make it out there one day to check it out, but I am not in a hurry yet. I have heard stories of the gold up there, but I have also heard that now a days, you need a backhoe to get down to bedrock to make it worthwhile. Is this true? Or, is the ground so rich that you can just start throwing wash material into the drywasher?

 

[kazcoro]

Keith..... I will do that. I will be in a tan Ram 4x4 four door..... I'm usually out there with a white suzuki samurai but i have the differential apart right now putting a Spartan locker into it..... that things like a mountain goat and i'm missing the 40mpg compared to the Ram

When you go into the golden dream claim the road has a fork just below the king claim.... I imagine you take the fork to the left there and go to the big parking area in the golden dream?______

No, I am not part of that club. I will be in our claim which is right next to the golden dreams claim. I believe you have to drive through our claim to get there. Well, one of the ways anyways. The desert is so criss crossed with two tracks...

 

[TerryC]

That is correct. We have claims up there. I have heard that half the county is out there. I have heard is it so tightly packed that if you miss your drywasher with the shovel, you'll hit someone else's. I will make it out there one day to check it out, but I am not in a hurry yet. I have heard stories of the gold up there, but I have also heard that now a days, you need a backhoe to get down to bedrock to make it worthwhile. Is this true? Or, is the ground so rich that you can just start throwing wash material into the drywasher?

C'mon, Kaz. It isn't called RICH Hill for nothing! (Ha ha!) Yes, Very rich. I don't hunt Roadrunners because I have enough to do with the three memberships I have but I am thinking of it. A LOT of rain a few weeks ago. You may wish to check out conditions before coming this way. PM me. TTC

 

[Joe Z]

No, I am not part of that club. I will be in our claim which is right next to the golden dreams claim. I believe you have to drive through our claim to get there. Well, one of the ways anyways. The desert is so criss crossed with two tracks...

I know where you'll be now as i remember seeing the roadrunners markers...... It won't be until late saturday i get there and that rally is going to be pretty big and it's a "Everybody's Invited" event.... many roadrunner members will be there

 

[kazcoro]

Well, I ended up going back this last friday. Got off work a bit early, and was able to work for two hours. Found the usual twenty colors or so per pan. Also, found a little nugget. Prob about a third of a gram. I then went out Sat as well. I started out digging in my "usual" spot. Same result as the last couple days. Twenty colors or so per pan. This is one run of the drywasher's cocentrates. I decided to see if the grass was any greener up the wash a ways. Needless to say, I returned pretty quickly after finding one little piece in two spots. I then worked the rest of the afternoon in my spot. Found the same, twenty or so pieces per run. Also, got a little picker. It was kinda cool, because I saw it in the riffle box before I dumped it into the pan. Had stuff to do around the house today, so that's it for now. Kept my eye out for Joe all day, and never saw him. Here is a couple pics of the area I was working.

 

[Joe Z]

Never did make it there. Worked all day on the differential in the zuk and still have quite a ways to go..... I still remember your white 2500 chevy pickup with ladder racks so will keep an eye for you when i get out that way.
Trying to get the all white suzuki samurai back on the road as it goes much further than the Ram and cheaper on gas too.
Joe

 

[kazcoro]

Well, it's official. I recieved my cheap ebay scale in the mail today and weighed my take so far. It is a rough weigh. I just filled an identical vial with water and subtracted my full vial of water with my meager amount of gold. One gram! I know even I am going to look back on today in a couple of months and laugh, but hell, it's a milestone. Just need about umm, let me see, 4,411.76 more grams and I will be at the Ferrari dealership with money burning a hole in my pocket!

 

[Joe Z]

How Fast we get rid of the Pickup!

 

[kazcoro]

Well, it's been a while since I posted in this thread. That is because I have been out prospecting every chance I get. And, reading Lanny's thread in the metal detecting section. I am on page 55. Almost to the end.

So, back to what I have been up to. I continued my hole until I got bored. Never ran out of colors. I like to sample at the end of every day in different areas to see if the grass is any greener over there, and I found a bench about a mile away that has some flakes in it. The little gold is there as well, it is just refreshing to see some flakes as well.

So, I brought my fiance out there one day about three weeks ago, and we started out at my usual hole. Had a good old boy visitor stop by, and he suggested I check out a series of overburden piles about two miles away. I thought that sounded like an excellent idea, as I had seen others working there in the past.

So, I headed over to the pile, and looked at what was being found there. I thought that it was pretty slim pickens, and decided to try the small arroyo adjacent. I looked over the arroyo, and saw that it had been worked to death. I looked on the bench above, and found a likely looking spot. There was exposed bedrock at a step. I started working the material behind the exposed bedrock, and found gold. More than I had found at my previous spot, so we worked that all day.

I went back two weekends later with all the girls. They took turns scraping the grizzly for me until they had all had enough. We got some decent gold that day, and the little girls brought back some interesting quartz samples.

I got laid off this week, and am getting paid through next week as a severance package, so I went back out there today. I was having problems with my primary blower today, and went over to ask the current guy working on the overburden piles for a screwdriver, and he told me that when he saw me driving up in my Trans Am, that there is no way this guy is prospecting. Well, when you don't have a truck, and you want to prospect, you do what you have to, right? So, long story short, my primary blower didn't work, my back up blower doesn't like me, so I had to leave early. Got home in time to get to the DMV, and got my registration renewal for the quad. Everybody wants to go quadding in the morning, and guess where I want to park the trailer? Where I don't have to haul my drywasher very far, that's the answer!

 

[kazcoro]

Well, went back out today.
I got laid off a couple of weeks ago, and lost the use of my company truck. So, I have been going out in my car. Everybody that I have talked to has said that they thought there in no way this guy is out here to prospect. I will post a picture of it here. I figured out how to fit all my stuff in it. And, I also figured out that there is only one claim that I can make it to. So, that is where I have been going.

Back to where I was. I got a really good job all buttoned down yesterday, so i decided to treat myself today, and go drywashing. Got everything loaded up, and off I go. The road construction wasn't too bad on Carefree highway this morning, so I made it out to the claim in a decent amount of time. About 45 mins. Only scraped twice getting in.

Get out there, and started drywashing my usual (now that I only have a car to get there, usual) spot. I remembered to bring a pickaxe with today. (Yes, I got the pickaxe in right next to the subwoofer) It really is in the car! Lucky it comes apart! So, I brought the pickaxe with. Used it to open up my hole, and off we go. Got my usual 3-5 flakes and 10-15 flour gold with the first few runs in the drywasher. I notice that the blower is running up, and I look at the riffle box. It's all gummed up, and nothing is moving. WTH? I stir up the box really good, and it starts to run again. For a little while. Then, it gums up again. I stir it some more. I bet some of the more experienced here are starting to see what is happening. Well, it took me a couple of f$*%-ups before I finally pull the riffle box off, and notice that the elliptal offset, bladed fan assembly is NOT turning. Hello! That is a problem. Now, this is 11:15. I really don't want to go home already. I mean, this is supposed to be my reward for finding an awesome job! Now, mind you, I have driven a WS6 Trans Am out here, and of course I don't have my toolbox with me. I can't remove the fan assembly, nor do I have any oil with. Being a hunting fool for so long, I knew that I have copious amounts of oil in my vehicle. ( I have used the dipstick to oil guns many times.) So, I proceed to try and oil the "sealed bearing" by pulling the dipstick, wiping it off on my fingers, and trying to shove oil back under the casing to oil the bearing. This is clearly not going to work. And, it is extremely slow. I imagine that I am only getting a half of a drop every time. I stop, and reevaluate the situation.

There seems to be cap on the top side of the bearing. Wonder if I can somehow pull that off? I get out my handy dandy crevice tool, AKA big ass flat bladed screwdriver. I then look around for a mexican hammer. As you can imagine, there are ALOT of mexican hammers around. (Big rock.) I quickly figure out that the cover pops right off with a little smackdown, WWE style. Back to pulling dipstick. Back to wiping off said dipstick. Sometime during this process, I wonder how I look. I have driven a 185 MPH muscle car into the middle of the Sonoran desert, and now have the hood open. But, there is nothing wrong with the car, ground clearance aside. LOL. I get the blade to spin freely, and I am back in business. I run another run with the drywasher, and start looking around for a new area.

I have been seeing, and talking to a few different guys over the last few weeks that have been working this HUMUNGOUS tailings pile across the wash. It is almost entirely caliche. I haven't eyeballed their take, but they say, and ho-hum how they have to move a bunch of dirt to find a tiny bit. I see that there is no-one over there today, and have been looking at a pile a little further away, that is a reddish color. I walk over to check it out. It is definitely different from the caliche pile, and someone had done quite a bit of digging on the back side. Well, hell, I am nothing if not adventerous, right? So, I break down all the equipment, and pack the car up.

Drive over to the other side, re-un-pack all my equipment. Meanwhile think about (for the hundredth time) how I am going to buy a small pickup for this hobby of mine. I get everything all set up, and start running material. During all this, I am watching quads go by on the road, well, trail. LOL. And, they all double take when they see my AHEM, ve-hicle. I smile, and wave. HI! So, I run my first run, and holy sh%^, there are ten flakes in my pan. Okay, this is going to make it all worth it. Until the second run. No flakes. A little color. One more time for good luck, right? Same thing, a little color, no more. I move over to the other side of the pile, and it starts to come back again. A little. I finally got too tired and discouraged to go on about 3:30. Time to pack up and head home. I should be getting good at this by now, huh?

Funny, as I am leaving the dirt road, I see a four door, four wheel drive pickup pulled over on the side of the road, and stopped to check on them. Seems they had a flat tire. I made sure they had all they needed, then went on my way. I really thought that was funny. Here I am in the Trans Am, and I am checking on the 4x4's. Would have had a hell of a time figuring out how to rearrange my gear to fit those two in the car, but I would have figured it out. Okay, you need to hold the hopper, and you will have to hold my cooler.....

But, the good Samaritan act didn't end there. I ran into the road construction on the way back. As we were all sitting waiting for the pilot truck to lead us down the road, a couple of bikers standing by my car remarked how they could hear a baby crying. I could hear it too, but didn't think it was a baby, I thought it was someone's radio. They couldn't stand the waiting, and flipped their Harley's around and took off shortly. About 5 minutes after that, the lady in the truck in front of me gets out, opens the back door, and pulls out a toddler boy. And he is WAILING! I remark how is a growler, and she tells me that he has a temp of 103. I offered her some ice and a rag, and she declined. I really think she should have taken it, but like the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Summary; Bring WD-40 and duct tape with you. No matter what. I don't want to hear any excuses, bring it. (I am talking to myself of course) Brings to mind the proverb. Chance favours the prepared........ Ended up with prob about a third of a gram for the day. Not bad, not good. About normal. Well, prob not bad for being by myself. It is really hard to shovel, scrape the griz, shovel, scrape the griz, shovel, scrape the griz, you get the picture... Speaking of picture, here it is. I call her "ella". It is close to "hella" in english, and means "her" in spanish.