Am I seeing what I want to see...opinions?

[Steve1236]

I use Google maps to check out different areas of Arizona for new spots of interest, this general location of Arizona has produced gold, copper, turquoise, azurite and malachite mainly. I look for mineralization and then I zoom in, in this spot I'm seeing blue in the middle of the circle I drew or I'm wanting to see blue, like an azurite blue maybe, it's way in the boonies with no roads and would be one heck of a hike, anyone on here see enough to make you hike about 5miles 90degree current desert weather?

 

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[Toecutter]

Wont know till ya go!! I would have to do the hike if it was me....

 

[Steve1236]

Yeah I think I'm gonna check it out as soon as I can, I'm running out of time for desert prospecting, summertime here can be over 110 degrees. I'm working out the tributaries on the map so I can cut through the mountains making it a lot easier of a hike. I'm hoping to check it out this weekend or maybe next week sometime. Glad I'm not the only one seeing blue, it could be a shadow or something else but I've never seen that color of a shadow when looking on Google maps before. Like you said I wont know till I go....
Thanks for the feedback.
Steve.

 

[IAMZIM]

I don't do well in the heat. I can handle -30 alot better than 90 lol! I personally have to put feet to the ground when I hunt. I do use Google earth, but, it just doesn't zoom in close enough for me.....

 

[Ammoman]

But its a dry heat!

When i lived in AZ that all i heard. My answer was always the same....110 is 110 any way you put it!

 

[Steve1236]

Yeah it's pretty bad already out there, last time I was out digging for fire agates I got a little sick, I think the sun got to me, that's one thing about my fire agate spot that sucks, there's no shade, one stringy half dead palo verde tree and a saguaro cactus I can stand behind. Believe it or not Zim google maps is how I found my fire agate spot or dumb luck, I'm working on figuring that out lol. I looked at deer creek, slaughter mountain and saddle mountain from google maps, I noticed the same kind of rock and mineralization/coloring, I looked for the same but closer to where I live, soon as I got into the tributary I was following I started to see chalcedony and agate and followed it to what I'm finding now. Maybe I got lucky or I'm on to something. I checked out two more areas like that and one nada and the other chalcedony/fire agate but too light not rootbeer color and no fire.

 

[IAMZIM]

Yeah it's pretty bad already out there, last time I was out digging for fire agates I got a little sick, I think the sun got to me, that's one thing about my fire agate spot that sucks, there's no shade, one stringy half dead palo verde tree and a saguaro cactus I can stand behind. Believe it or not Zim google maps is how I found my fire agate spot or dumb luck, I'm working on figuring that out lol. I looked at deer creek, slaughter mountain and saddle mountain from google maps, I noticed the same kind of rock and mineralization/coloring, I looked for the same but closer to where I live, soon as I got into the tributary I was following I started to see chalcedony and agate and followed it to what I'm finding now. Maybe I got lucky or I'm on to something. I checked out two more areas like that and one nada and the other chalcedony/fire agate but too light not rootbeer color and no fire.

I can see that.....one thing I have learned is, when you see iron stained mineralized areas, they are always a good spot to check. whenever I start finding red clay where I'm digging, I know it's probably going to have crystals of some kind in it. Where I live, I have heavily forested ground, which makes it hard to find mineralization like that for me, so I find old mining books and research old mining claims and such, then put feet to the ground to search. If I was you I would definitely check out that reddish spot you circled! Keep us posted! Oh yeah, I forgot to say I rely heavily on Mindat too....curious if Mindat has any info on the area you are searching.....

 

[No gold in NY]

How long of a hike do you figure? Got an ATV you can load with supplies?

 

[Steve1236]

I checked out that site and it doesn't list Azurite being found there but a buddy of mine prospects for gold in that general area, he said he found all those minerals out there that I listed, that's why I listed them lol. Anyway check out vulture district, vulture mountains, maricopa county and there's a few minerals that could explain the blue, I enhanced the coloring and sharpness just to make sure it was blue and yup it got real blue so I'm definitely gonna check out that spot.
No gold in NY..I don't have an ATV, I'm just gonna get as close as possible, then hoof it from there, I don't mind the hike as long as it's not to hot, I love nature and wildlife, especially reptiles so I usually enjoy the hike and it's only about 5 miles, not to bad...

 

[Steve1236]

Well that was a bust...
Found this spot with this green mineral which I think is epidote on the way to the the area I circled off though.

 

[IAMZIM]

Well that was a bust...
Found this spot with this green mineral which I think is epidote on the way to the the area I circled off though.View attachment 1709990View attachment 1709988View attachment 1709991View attachment 1709992View attachment 1709993

I don't know that I would call it a bust....that spot clearly has minerailization, you may not be finding what you want to find, but IMO your on the right track, so you must be doing something right! Looks like schorl and fedlspar, massive quartz, with possibly epidote, if you are finding it like that in massive form, you have a chance at finding crytals of them there! Only thing you have to decide it how much digging you want to do. That can and is a deterrent for me if I'm scouting, I'm not going to dig too much if I don't think it is going to produce....but, sometimes you will never know unless you dig a little.....it can be a hard call to make!

 

[63bkpkr]

As you've done the exploratory hike, you know what it might take to bring in some equipment (a 3' x 3' home made sifter with legs, shovel, Shade system and water on some light weight cart). That is an interesting looking sample you are holding and it seems like you are curious enough to invest one more visit to the location. In all types of prospecting it comes down to sampling as well as to do it or not! Good luck with your choice as well as with finding out what is there!

 

[Steve1236]

I'm probably done digging for the year, maybe next winter I'll do a little more searching of the area. If you look at the first map photo in the beginning of this thread you can actually see the spot I picked up the green mineral from, towards the bottom, that dark area. The black is most the rocks and the quartz/feldspar was a vein with that green epidote running through the black rock, the veins were 10 to 30 feet in length with the thickness varying, the veins did run in and out of the surface layer. I didn't see any loose crystals anywhere though. Here's some close ups dry, I'm thinking its epidote/clinozoisite