obvious stuff but dumping last four years thoughts on you, came from ILL. i live in the San Luis Valley of southern CO which is called the largest alpine valley in the world, and we are a desert getting like 4" a year in rain. the mountain runoff is the major source to the rivers. i am a mile or two off the Rio Grande. some days you come home defeated. some days you cant believe you are alone surrounded by what i think is just about a touch of heaven on earth.
- first the area is so much friendlier to detecting. know boundaries and where state wildlife areas, federal and private. out here it can be harder to tell if you are ok to be where you are. but i get into the BLM and its a candy store...
- rattlesnakes. get the real snakebite proof boots. thing is, and encountering one without such protection motivated this, would i rather have $200 in the bank sitting there or get the boots that protect me from snakes, also great against cactus and briars and such stuff. get the boots. i like being loud and making vibrations because i do not want to surprise anything. i want my smell and heavy steps to alert the animals to scatter. dont take a hunting walk approach, instead scrape the ground every now and then sending sand up. the whole thing is that rattlesnake head sitting in an old prairie dog hole is just waiting. he hears and smells and sees angry human and goes back into the hole to wait your moving past. i have come up to a rattlesnake that injected a word from this experience and that word is defeat. you get close, like life in question close, and it all vaporizes. i cant advise enough on snake shit. if you are walking along and look up at a tight bend with water and shade nearby toss a rock into it. i did this and a freaking 7' rattlesnake suddenly came alive. i would have walked right up to it. so laugh at this or some other guy go wtf but you need to assume they are always there. coming back the same way i went once and going downhill, i leaned over to pick up a rock when i realized i was a foot from a rattlesnake crossing the path. i literally stepped over a rattlesnake. that up bite would have been to the inner thing. i was too far from help. again, get your shit wired tight on snakes. ignore all who say they only do this or that. i have seen snakes in middle of hot day where they shouldnt. i have peeled a dead snake off my car tire because it bit my car and i had no clue.
- sun. out here it drains. hydrate and skin protect. after a while here i have several of those UV blocking fishing shirts, cool dry towels which are great, good sunglasses (omg what a difference in importance vs the midwest sun). i thought of this post because i am waiting for the cool desert morning air to be replaced by the warmer day sun. in WI you might get up early to go detecting but here i find waiting works better, the sun around 10am through 5pm thing. i have been out when the sun goes down and its a oh shit moment hustling back to the car. i have also left the valley at 55 degrees and been snowed on in a pass at 8k feet. layers. my car is rigged for sliding off the road and having to spend two days waiting for someone to come by. that means cold desert overnight. something to think about. key is good sun blocking clothes imho. right now, thunderstorms are coming through lunch hour on. just yesterday i geared up and less than five minutes aborted do to lightening in distance. i am alone on a large desert holding metal. i went home. (see how a snake can defeat you out here? weather will too!)
- gun. two threats in theory are rabid something and maybe a meth gang hiding out in the desert. so what is that a 0.0000% chance of something like that? i say this because i dont bring a gun out. i have a tomahawk for digging. UT sounds safer than northern NM where i go a lot. one time i had real fear is i look up and two big dogs are barking at me badly from 100yds away. a stray dog pack is scary as f, then i see a hipster walking another dog and realize he has three dogs with him going for a walk. without him showing up i was ready for a fight. now shit, that 9mm would have been nice for sure. think about it. ammo is heavy and using it would be rare but nice when in fact you do need it. i joke with buddies how dead i would be if a mountain lion actually wanted to kill me.
- bring a flashlight to shine into dark rock areas.
- i bought a black backpack which heats up in the sun, get wise on desert camo choices, i also bought a bright yellow reflective hat. i want people to see a metal detecting fool and not a poacher. gear out here matters. notice everyone with the fancy yeti water bottles? at first i thought it was glamor shit then realized it keeps the water cooler...
- i hate that i am solo for years of this. solo means a flat tire is a day fix problem. solo means a snake bite is bad. if you can find someone to pair up for safety i recommend it. it can also be ruinous like going with my scared of everything brother that wears open sandals into the desert. a no no. there is broken glass around from folks practicing gun aim.
- check UT for the fishing license that includes the free rescue. for 25 cents CO adds the rescue thing meaning they airlift you out and away. best thing ever as far as i know, get your state LIC asap
- travel as light as possible, after a couple of hours in the sun you are drained. again ammo is heavy. water is heavy.
- one time i thought i broke my toe. spent the night thinking that. then i woke up and went wait a second something on my foot is catching the sheets. a freaking cactus thorn went through my regular boots (pre snakebite) and embedded into my toe. it was there almost a night before i figured it out. also cactus for dogs is a bitch, dont know if you got K9 but imho desert can suck for them. hot and thorny. they also do not do well in a snake encounter. i have a kit for removing cactus needles.... prep for that. cactus flowers are amazing tho.
- indian artifacts. some guys bury arrowheads. this is up to your morality etc. honestly they are so rare out here i dont know what to say. i have kept them. marked where they came from... check UT laws on arrowheads. Antler sheds are a seasonal thing, i grab them when i see them.
- i really am doing a brain dump. so one thing i like on my car is the tire pressure system. tells you if your tires are full or not. a couple of times i have noticed it dropping like a PSI every five minutes. out here you get metal and other tire piercing stuff all the time. parking lots actually the worst. if you can, get the tire air level system. i had in one year probably five tire patches. i had the blizzak snow tires which gripped every rusty nail up into them. learned from that. get to know your tires. you do not want to spend four hours metal detecting just to run back to your car in a thunderstorm just to see a flat tire...
ok that is enough, will come back later to edit down. i am moving back to WI soon and thought i should dump all the takeaways and experiences. curious what UT and south CO north NM differences would be. you know one thing i have never seen deep in? a fancy super dressed up pickup for offroad. the number one vehicle type i see in the field is an old pickup. two rednecks in a 1986 GMC... so rare to see the mercedes benz $500k camper or those super dressed up toyotas... its always some old pickup going 5 across the desert...
