Metal Detecting and Gem Hunting?

Anyone ever do this? When it cools down might seem like something fun to try. I have never done it before. I know most of us can get our trucks back in places where few people are able to go. I think it would be neat to give it a shot.

Discuss

 

Vanessa and I are down...

sub'd

 

I know a place up at gunsight pass, there is a a few abandoned mines that have all of the slag rock dumped all over the place. Some good places to start...

 

I used to do a ton of metal detecting back in Texas. There is a legend of a Spanish Convoy that got lost around where I lived. So we searched for it alot. But I sold my detector. But Im down with searching.

 

Sweet!

I'm down for checking that out

Nice! I don't have one either but I figured its a fun little adventure and get people out at the same time. Even if we found some old cans of something I'd be happy.

I also posted this to see if anyone has done it before. I know AZ is one of the largest Gem mining States. They find turquoise all over even in Cave Creek. Garnet is another big one and amethyst can be found around four peaks area. and Gold flakes can be found state wide.

 

There is a lot of cool stuff in gunsight pass area to the south (around Patagonia lake). Alot of cool minerals on the surface of the rocks, and easily spotted stuff just laying around. I am not much of a rock hound anymore but as a kid I had a big collection so I know enough to get me into trouble.

 

You can pick up decent metal detector for around $150.

 

What do you justify as decent? IMO all $159 will get you is digging up square nails and bottle caps all day. You need one with the ability to discriminate. Also a decent 10 or 12" coil, along with a spectrograph and multiple frquency ranges.

I have had the cheapo and now have a White's Spectra. Think $1000 and up for the good stuff, but a White's Prism series for $400-$600 would be a good place to start. May find one used as in my experience the ambitions of treasure will fade with each false positive that is dug up.

 

My son and I got really into this over the past couple years (well, actually I got interested in it and just dragged him along) and we found a few cool places. First of all, Crown King is loaded with abandoned silver mines, and I used to always be able to find big chunks of fools gold, turquoise, and small bits of silver in the tailing piles. A small shovel after a rainy day reveals some good sized pieces just below the surface. We also found a couple places around Superior where we hiked in a little bit and found chunks of copper and wulfenite. I also know a great spot just northeast of Payson for some good geode and crystal hunting. Great spot to camp, too.

Definitely interested.

 

On a side note, I picked up this book from Amazon last year. Some of the info is a little outdated, but for the most part it points you in the right direction. It identifies different minerals found around AZ and where to look for them. Includes pics, maps, and notes from this guy's excursions. Decent starting point.

Gem Trails of Arizona

http://www.amazon.com/Gem-Trails-Arizona-James-Mitchell/dp/1889786144

 

I like to forego the metal detector and just go straight for mine tailing piles. Everything is visible with usually just a little digging and raking. There's so much mineral content in AZ that it's tough to really get even a good metal detector dialed in to not give false reads.

One other decent spot is on the front road into Crown King. It's on the trail before it goes up the mountain (maybe about 5 or 6 miles in from Bumblebee), and I think it's right on the Agua Fria river. There's an old abandoned mine complex on the other side of the river that takes a little bit of a hike, but I found all kinds of weird metallic looking crystals, pieces of pyrite, etc.

 

I don't think many people are looking for any pro equipment, My old one worked perfectly for just messing around.

 

I'm just excited that people are wanting to do this. I thought you all would think I was lame for suggesting it.

 

i would like to poke around!!! I Geo Cache a bit and find that fun.
Also my G.F. works at Gold Field Ghost Town in A.J. and am at the bar there all the time, most of the regulars do this a lot. Hearing some of there story's makes me want to try it out. One of them even runs the Wasp Mine right there.

 

Im down!! sounds good fun!

 

I am not into the rock hunting but I am more than happy to go along and poke around. I would like to find a geode though, I think they are awesome.

 

That spot I mentioned in Payson has tons. Lots of small ones, and most are solid but we were always finding some hollowed out ones. Most are about golfball size but some were larger. It takes a trained eye to spot them amongst the rest of the granite clusters. I found some huge quartz crystals in those areas, too. It's always best to check the water runoff ditches and valleys after a good rain or right after the snow thaw in the spring. Everything gets exposed.

 

I'm in payson now, I'll look for some!

 

There were some good places to poke around out west of Buckeye, but it's a bird sanctuary now so I really don't know what you can get away with out there.

 

Just got a detector from Amazon. There are a few ww2 battlefields in my area so im gonna try and dig up some UXO