Metal Detecting discussions and finds

I am a Senior Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic for the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. I work in Independence, CA. We work on all kinds of equipment, from chain saws to 125 ton cranes.

 

Oh you’re one of Mulholland’s troops! Well that was quite an engineering feat they accomplished!

 

Yes indeed it was! And to do it back in the day without modern technology or equipment. Back when men were men.

 

Wandered in the desert today swinging a coil and found diddly.
Hope to get on the gold tomorrow.

 

Poor Benny...

 

You’re not kidding, My wife and I did a lot of work for MWD around the Colorado River Aqueduct, that was interesting too. But the LA Aqueduct is more impressive, I think.

 

I was near Independence on a solo trip I did, well, I had my trusty co-pilot "Lilly" with me. I did Swansea-Cerro Gordo Road and Reward Mine.

Swansea-Cerro Gordo



The vid is only about the first, I don't know, maybe 1/8x part of the whole trail? I had to save my action cam batteries for the Reward Mine itself, which was the main reason for going.
https://youtu.be/xGeTwGrEKa4
Reward Mine



Going to, in, out, and back from the mine
https://youtu.be/HUZuKihkl2Y
https://youtu.be/54LPpjdxLCU
https://youtu.be/OWfJ0EUqSeA
https://youtu.be/KoNC-viE-DQ
Deep inside the mine, going down to one of the "next levels"... HAHAHA, it was F'N SPOOKY DARK BROS!!!
https://youtu.be/WScT1LGfzsE

 

I'm gonna have to look at the Colorado River Aqueduct. The engineering of the L.A. Aqueduct is certainly impressive!

 

Ha! You were in my back yard! Next time shoot me a PM if you're headed this way!

I was in Cerro Gordo this past Thursday and about froze my ass off. Windy cold with snow flurries. We got out of there as dark clouds enveloped the little town.

 

Yeaaaaaah, during my trip, before I realized how bad the situation was, it was TOO LATE to turn around as it would have made an already bad situation worse. Just after that video clip ends, a few miles ahead I started to see snow on the ground. Thought it was cool as I've never off-roaded in snow before. I'm on, at the time, Firestone 235/75r15 Destination AT's... good tires btw... Anyways, it ended up with the snow getting deeper and I was in some tire tracks someone must have made a day or couple days earlier. The tire tracks themselves were ice by then. My truck was definitely bottoming out as I was losing that much clearance. My skids were shaving the snow at that point. The hill was starting to have a pretty good slant to the left at that point and the cliff drop-off edge was maybe about a 100yds away with nothing to stop me if I started to slip and slide down the slanted hill. I'm in 4lo and each time I moved forward, inches at a time, my trucks back end would slightly slip out, if you will. The wind gusts at the time was FUGLY HIDEOUS and actually buffeting my truck it was so bad. I only had to travel maybe around 75-100yds to get to "flatter ground", but, NOT gonna lie, it was pretty damn scary and sketchy at that one spot, not to mention slipping back each time I tried moving forward with the wind gusts not helping.

Anyways, the picture that you see in the snow was a few miles after that section, from what I remember? But even at THAT spot, the wind gusts were just SUPER KRAZY LIKE??? I was just glad I was on flatter ground by the time that picture was taken!!!

I have never driven in snow since then, about Feb 2018 was when I did my solo run.

Would I do it again? Yeah, likely. By myself? NO!!! I had traction mats and other recovery gear, but having a second vehicle or two, makes trips WAAAAAY safer!!!

But heck yeah, I'll hit you up on that. I actually plan on going back up there and do Hollywood as one of the trails, just to check it out.

For that Swansea though, I did NOT expect to see any snow. I simply did it because it was on the way up to Reward Mine.

 

Funny you say you had "snow issues" on the Swansea-Cerro Gordo loop. My buddy and I last drove it a couple years ago and also encountered snow. Turned out good, though.

Experiences like that are fun and liberating, but also illustrate the importance of being prepared and not going beyond our limits. Especially when traveling solo!

Did you do any detecting on that trip??

 

HAHAHA, no detecting. Didn't even cross my mind. I was so intrigued with the mine when I saw videos on Youtub_e. I just happen to come across the mine while watching some off-roading videos.

Yeah, prepared, I can say I was pretty prepared and had food supplies for about a weeks worth if I had to ration. Water... HAHAHAHA, PLENTY of WATER (i.e. the SNOW I was KNEE DEEP IN)!!! But yeah, I was definitely pushing the limits of my truck setup given the situation at the time.

Definitely a VERY FUN TRIP though!!!

 

Do you drive through that mine?

 

You’ve got to PM them or post your drive through mine videos- they are great.

 

No, you go in and "turn around"... tight in some spots for sure... and drive back out the way you came in.

My guesstimate is right around 1/4 to 1/2 mile total length? I wished I set the odometer for just that, but didn't think about it at the time, I was having alot of fun doing it and scaring the hell out of myself as I kept feeling "eyes watching me" even though I/we (the dog and I) were the only ones there the WHOLE afternoon.

 

Wow. Id get a little freaked out driving in, walking in id be ok.

 

Luckily he doesn’t have a rack, the ceiling is too low for my truck.

 

I did get out and walk in one spot because it looked as if I could travel further, but it was just too tight... even for my little 1st Gen.

If I was with a unit size of a "Field Army", then I would have had no problem walking around start to finish... even climbing down a ladder that I saw... you can actually make it out in one of the videos as I'm backing away because I couldn't go in further. HAHAHAHAHA, scary shi* kept flashing in my mind the whole time because I watched this video not too long before my actual trip to the mine...
https://youtu.be/oUU1Fgbczbo

Btw, I had the dog with me ... ON A VERY TIGHT LEASH!!!

 

Its not the dark but whats IN the dark...

 

You havent seen "the descent" movie then?