Planning a trip/vacation for my first nugget hunt experience, but undecided...

[vuggy]

Undecided as to where to go. Was thinking about trying the southwest, but not familiar with any of the states and don't know the public areas I can hunt. Any suggestions?

Live in WA, which is not really known for nugget gold, but it's fun to hunt all the old mines and camps.
Am a rockhound, love finding gems and minerals, and recently started find fine gold and flakes panning.
When I'm not finding cool rocks, I metal detect.
Have an MXT Pro and a few coils, not a gold machine, but great overall and it finds stuff.

Planning on a 4 to 5 day trip somewhere as my "vacation for myself" to gain more experience with the Prospecting mode of my detector.

Hope someone can be my compass and point me in a direction where I could legally hunt nugs with the detector.

 

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[jmoller99]

The MXT Pro will find gold in Prospecting mode (many people buy them because they are good for Prospecting, as well as general detector use). Get yourself some small birdshot, glue pieces to some plastic strips and practice finding them - the plastic strip is just so you don't lose your targets.

 

[Terry Soloman]

If you come to Arizona, you can join several prospecting clubs that will give you access to thousands of acres of claims. I have a great list of them on my site here: Gold Prospecting Clubs, Books, Equipment

Undecided as to where to go. Was thinking about trying the southwest, but not familiar with any of the states and don't know the public areas I can hunt. Any suggestions?

Live in WA, which is not really known for nugget gold, but it's fun to hunt all the old mines and camps.
Am a rockhound, love finding gems and minerals, and recently started find fine gold and flakes panning.
When I'm not finding cool rocks, I metal detect.
Have an MXT Pro and a few coils, not a gold machine, but great overall and it finds stuff.

Planning on a 4 to 5 day trip somewhere as my "vacation for myself" to gain more experience with the Prospecting mode of my detector.

Hope someone can be my compass and point me in a direction where I could legally hunt nugs with the detector.

 

[jmoller99]

I agree with Terry - get in with a club where ever you are planning on going.

 

[williamsingr]

You can join a club in any state, you have a great detector for finding gold, the MXT PRO works well on gold. I have seen some nice nuggets coming out of Az, Co, Cal all found with the MXT PRO.

 

[vuggy]

Thanks all. AZ has been near the top of my list. Was thinking about joining a club, so sounds like that's the way to go to help narrow down the area to hunt and not worrying about permission.

I've practiced with the shot in my backyard which is rocky moist soil. I'll have to try it in different environments to try a drier climate, assuming the AZ grounds are much drier than here in western WA. Central WA seems to be desert-like though.

Is the weather extreme in August in AZ? Or would it be recommended to go a different month to avoid the heat? I'm from FL originally, and I know Aug was the hottest month, but it wasn't that SW dry heat (lacking the humidity of FL).

 

[jmoller99]

I am sure its not overly warm in Flagstaff Az right now, however, the places to look for gold will be like inside a furnace in August. You can probably work early mornings, but you will need a lot of water and shade (you'll likely need to bring your own). Talk to local club members and get the benefit of their experience.

It was over 120 degrees during the day the last time I was in Phoenix in August. I don't reccomend being out in the desert for any length of time when its like that (many people hunt in the fall/winter/spring in AZ). While it is cooler in Colorado, make no mistake, you can get dehydrated in the cool high alititude mountain summer air just as easily too.

 

[TerryC]

Flagstaff is not in the gold country of AZ. You most come down off the Colorado plateau and hunt the deserts. Mid state and south. I would HIGHLY suggest the areas around Rich Hill, AZ The club claims such as Roadrunner, Weaver, Y-not, and such are your best bet. The club claims go for about $45 a year. You will EASILY find that much in gold in the 3/4 days that you will be here. Don't take just my word for it. Check above with Terry Soloman. You can even finds spots in Wickenburg to sell your gold... placer preferred. I found a 1.68 gram nugget on the Weaver recently with my Gold Bug 2. The people sell memberships WANT you to find gold. They will include maps with the membership card. It is good for business for you to find gold. Talk to Tom and Maggie outside the entrance to the Stanton, AZ GPAA camp for the Y-not club, or go into Congress to sign up for the Weaver. LOTS of BLM land to camp at free. Caution! Bring water and your favorite "snake charm". Snakes. SNAKES? Did I say snakes? Yes sir! I have a coupla' items I bought from www.tongs.com to handle snakes. Good luck. TTC

 

[lastleg]

The only place reasonably "cooler" in AZ would be Prescott. Nice town. Lynx Creek has gold, used to camp there. I hesitate to
recommend places to camp as we, gold buddies on Lynx 10 years ago, were kept awake all night by gunshots and screaming of
revelers there. Rangers were checking us for motorized equipment but didn't seem to be able to keep the gangstas out.

California may have the same problems. Only place I know where you can detect peacefully is at Gold Basin way North of Kingman.
GPAA and other clubs have claims there. Prospecting clubs are the smart way to go.

Stanton would be brutal in the summer. Not bad during spring. Terry can tell you all about that area. The GPAA claim there is wore out.

 

[vuggy]

Well, got my trip all booked today for AZ. Will be flying into Phoenix, and will go from there. Time to join a local club down there. So from what I understand the Weaver + Y Not seem pretty cheap annually, for the amount of claim area available. I pan+sluice too. So now I have to figure out the prospecting plan of where to go and what club(s) to join. The fun part!

A portion of my trip will be up north to Sedona. But figured from all the helpful tips, that Congress / Rich Hill / etc area could be a good target to play in between Phoenix airport and Sedona.

 

[pistol perfect]

where is the best known spot in arizona to go metal detecting for gold? I am from california and would also like to take a weekend trip to look for gold. I have family in show low arizona. but rather stay closer to the phoenix area because its a lot closer I believe.