HIGH DESERT-- OFF LIMITS

[Vince in So.Cal]

So I used to spend time, lots of time in a large desert area between the 14 and 395, around randsburg, joburg, east of cal city, and around garlock.
I like these places because I dont have to drive for days to get there, and there are alot of articles written up about that area. But it seems when I plan trip to that area more surprises are showing themselves.
Now I understand a part of last chance canyon is now in red-rock state park... no rock hounding, and dont even THINK of taking anything off the ground, and oh yea leave your detector or drywasher in the trunk.
Ive driven past 'what I thought was the town of Garlock' but have always seen a couple of old buildings (we like old buildings right?) but they have always been surrounded by chain link fence... but now im looking at google earth taking some time to look all over the area of what was Garlock, and now I see if I travle 1.77 miles from the Garlock road and Redrock/Randsburg road split I see pushed way back (about .28 mile) there are desert ruins with no real roads going in or coming out. There is a path / and or a lightly traveled road that doesent really show on the map. I am now wondering if THAT is the the old town of Garlock.... but you guessed it NO-TRESPASSING signs in from of the path/road.... even about 25 feet farther down Garlock road there is another road going towards the ruins that is also pipe-gated with no tresspass signs...
I would really like to see this site first hand.. have no idea whith whome to contact.. BLM? I dunno. I realize these places are usually blocked from the public because much of the public would just spray paint them or burn them down... makes fella's like myself a bit angry to see so many places in that area changing hands, and being made unaccesable..
Anyone have any feedback from this area of california desert....anyone that has a lot of time in that area having the same problem as Im having at finding a little spot to park my VAN and turning on the drywasher and detector?
by the way the coordinates are LAT:35'24'55.12N - LONG: 117'45'59.45W.
Have a great day.
Vince.

 

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[The Master Chief]

Vince, I'm not familiar with that area you speak of but what I have noticed there are plenty of clubs that have claims in the area. Look up GPAA, PCSC, and TAFT clubs. They can give you more info concerning the areas. All three clubs which I belong to GPAA have claims around last chance, Goler and plenty more.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Vince, I've hunted in that area of CA. And have a friend who's from Ridgecrest who's hunted high desert locations around there. He even found a gold coin in a RR camp area somewhere out there in the desert once. I'm having trouble understanding the coordinates you give to what you're saying is ruins, that show on google satellite. When I punch in the coords you give, I see nothing at all except desert scrub brush. In order to plug them in to google, I have to have it in this format: 35.245512,-117.455945 Perhaps I did something wrong when converting your gps coords?

So here's another way you can do it: Find your spot on a zoomed in google satellite view. Now hover your mouse cursor over the spot. Now right-click. That will bring up a menu to choose from, one option of which says: "what's here?". Choose that option. That will bring up the exact gps coord. of the spot your cursor was on. Now copy and paste that coord #s and post here.

But in any case, I don't understand why the little burg of "Garlock" wasn't simply where the historic marker says it was? That's located about .75 miles north of the intersection of redrock-randsburg rd x garlock rd. There's some run-down ruins right there, and the historical marker. So I don't understand why "Garlock" isn't simply right there, if that's what you're looking for. Oh sure, perhaps there's other ruins scattered about out in the desert (as was typical of areas where prospectors struck out on their own, set up a habitation perhaps, or had some mining equipment scrap left, etc...).

As for the rest of your question, welcome to the harsh cruel reality of things. As soon as you leave your front door in the morning, you are on "someone else's property". If you ask me, if it's some form of govt. land (blm as you speculate), then I wouldn't let signs stop me. They probably just have to put up those obligatory signs at any gate, or fence, as long as it's not an actual park. For example: There was a story that ran in the newspaper in my part of CA, years ago, that Big Basin Redwoods park had finally acquired a stretch of land outside its boundries, that was now to be state property. The idea being, that the new land acquistion (which was now public) was to make a seemless stretch of land that would connect the Big Basin park, to the coast, for hikers, mountain bikers, etc.... The mountain biker community was glad, since it now connected trails from 2 diff. state parks, new majectic views and such. However, the park dept. had only acquired the land, but had not yet incoorporated it into actual "park" land yet (you know, like staffing levels to account for the new acreage added, or trails "improved" yet (with trail-marker signs or whatever), and so forth. So hikers and mountain bikers would reach the end of the trail in the park, and encounter THE SAME gate, that they'd ALWAYS reached (which, beyond that, I guess had used to be private land outside the park boundry). And if you were to have inquired, the state's answer would be that even though it's state land now, yet it has not formerly been incorporated yet, since the wheels of progress turn slowly, trail maps not printed yet, or whatever such nonsense things have to be gone through, to expand park boundries, blah blah blah (handicap rails to the foot bridges, or ..... WHO KNOWS??). Anyhow, this didn't stop mountain bikers from simply hoisting their bikes over the gate, and keep riding. Afterall, in their minds eyes, it's public, right? Oh sure, if you asked enough state people "can I?" I'm sure you'd find someone to say "no, not yet". But the reality was, no one was being stopped, and no one cared (till you asked).

Anyhow, I guess what I'm trying to say, is if you are waiting for neon signs that say "metal detecting welcome here", I'm afraid you've chosen the wrong hobby. I mean, if the spot you're looking at is out in the middle of nowhere, and no one's even there, to care, to begin with, then ........... uh .......

 

[kuger]

....I would pay attention to sighs and markers....especially in gold bearing areas,claim jumping is an arrestable offense

 

[treasurechest]

why don't you go lancaster and drive on the 14 N? like 10 miles out of lancaster, and south of the 5(8)? There's a bunch of old mines and houses out there. I went into some of the houses and one of the mines. There never seemed to be anyone around.

 

[The Master Chief]

Treasure chest are you thinking of Rosemond or Mohave?

 

[Vince in So.Cal]

yea right past mojave you can hop on the 58 to the 395 to kramer junction...and such been all over that area, and its good country out there. lots of rock-hounding out that way specially agate and flouresent minerals. been thinking about finally joining the GPAA, to score that guide they have, would like to visit a few of their claims out around randsburg, and that area. this is the time to be out there, too dang hot in the summer. Tom I will try the instructions you posted to get the correct cords on the desert ruins..see if I can get that straightened out, thanxs for the tip. I should have the new van interior done in my van in a couple of weeks, gives me some time to join the GPAA, I have lots of vacation time saved up from the past couple of years, I will give ya all a holler when im going out, maybe we can meet up and hunt a few places, I usually go out alone but never mind having company, its good to meet folks with the same interests in geology, rock gatherin and treasure huntin.
HH
Vince.

 

[Vince in So.Cal]

35.415443,-117.783321 are the cords using the tutaorial you gave me on how to find the coordinates. Hope that helps.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

35.415443,-117.783321 are the cords using the tutaorial you gave me on how to find the coordinates. Hope that helps.

Yup, that worked. And sure enough, square patterns (as if foundations or something) appear on the desert floor out there. You might be on to something. Or conversely, they may just be nonsense water cistern, or random lumber, or industrial junk left lying about, etc... For example, I did the same as you, took some historical citations for a particular area south of Bakersfield, where some mining and indian rancheria (post-contact era) stuff supposedly occured in a certain geographic area. And sure enough, like you, I find anomolies in suspected areas of activity, on satellite photos So I go hiking with my GPS for miles. Only to discover they're other explainable things, like old oil-drilling platforms, or earthen-walled containment for when they go to try new oil spots 50 or 80 yrs. ago, and so forth. Nothing at all to do with habitations, structures, or anything that would interest an md'r. So too, in your case, might they be nothing but old commercial/industrial spots (afterall, mining went on in that area, so man-made features could be just their work spot, not their habitations)

On the other hand, they might be old homesites or dwellings. Those are where you want to try detecting, is where they ate, slept, drank, played, lived, bought & sold (stores, saloons, stage stops, etc...), NOT where you find residue of mining apparatus junk, necessarily.

It's certainly worth a look, if you're close.

Oh, and as far as access issues to that spot, I fail to see why you can't just walk right out there? You're in the middle of nowhere. The closest any person or place seems to be a mile to the SW of there. Would anyone really care? Just be sure to do this: park your car NOT right where you're going to go over the gate. Because that's merely an eye-magnet for some passerby to wonder "gee, what's this car in the middle of nowhere?". And then they instinctively eye the landscape out from that vantage point. So instead you park a few blocks further up, or back, on the opposite side of the road as the area you're going to. Then if someone was seeing your out-of-place car, they'd be looking on THAT side of the road (as people generally park on the side they intend to start walking from). It's human nature to park closest to where you intend to start walking from (like a dead-end at the end of a road, and so forth). But the trick is, avoid that and park further away.

Of course, that advice is so that no other md'rs know of your good spot. You understood it that way, right?

 

[Vince in So.Cal]

Yes I was thiking of setting up a campsite on the other side of the road in about 300 yards from the road. I have set up out there before but at the time I did not know about the "site". So now I know and have it on my Garmin, I will just walk in that general direction and see whats going on up there. To me it looks like a small homestead area or even a small town site. the geography tells me that it is in the path of an alluvial fan comming off the mountain.. I will let you know what I find. Thanks for the reply!
HH
Vince.

 

[Vince in So.Cal]

Well I went to Randsburg over the weekend. I went close to the area I had described in the beginning of this thread, but whouldent you know it the whole time i was in that area, there were 2 trucks parked at that site. I stayed in the BLM area just south of Randsburg road. Oh well. Had a good time in Randsburg and MD some old tailing piles. Ended the weekend with driving down to julian for some apple pie. :-)
HH
Vince.

 

[The Master Chief]

So Vince did you get any color?

 

[The Master Chief]

I'm thinking about checking out Keysville this coming weekend. Also check outsold Isabella due to lake low

 

[The Master Chief]

View attachment 758240

Well scouted out Isabella very dry no silver


View attachment 758241



View attachment 758242

Normally these foundations are under water. Didn't find any old coins.

 

[pj_fan72]

Hey guys,
I'm new to the metal detecting world. Currently doing my research on a good detector in my price range $200-$300. Zeroing in on the Delta 4000. I live in the antelope valley, so I was curious on what digging tools you use out here. Ground is pretty hard/compacted. Will the composite digging tools hold up, or do I need to invest in a good metal/serrated one. I have also see the military style e-tools. Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks

 

[The Master Chief]

I would suggest a metal pick or you can search online for Tom Massie toothpick. I would still keep the composite scoop though.

 

[The Master Chief]

I would suggest a metal pick or you can search online for Tom Massie toothpick. I would still keep the composite scoop though.

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[BugHunter]

Now I understand a part of last chance canyon is now in red-rock state park... no rock hounding, and dont even THINK of taking anything off the ground, and oh yea leave your detector or drywasher in the trunk.

According to the map posted on the parks.ca.gov web site only a small segment of the last chance canyon is included in the park. The rest must be OK for prospecting unless it has been claimed. I know the lower part of the canyon is a GPAA claim (First Chance). I still want to get an official printed version of the map to make sure where the boundaries are. When do you want to go there?

 

[BugHunter]

Just came back from the trip to Red Rock Canyon Park. Bad news: virtually the entire Last Chance canyon is included in the park, or at least that is shown by the map I picked up at the visitor center. Another bad news: according to the park rangers I spoke to, the GPAA claim First Chance (in the lower segment of the Last Chance canyon) has expired. Looks like the park has swallowed it as well. This may be true or not but since the rangers think this claim is no more, they would treat anyone in there accordingly. Not a good idea to prospect there.

 

[The Master Chief]

What is GPAA doing about all this? Just found out on another site someone placed fences around the gold buddies 1 and 2 stated there has been a change in claim personnel. Will have to see how this comes out.