Another season in Arizona...

Well, it's another drywashing season in Arizona and sofar the weather has been great and I found a new spot that seems to be producing enough gold to make it worth the effort. Maybe, due to the bad economy, there are more and more people out digging this year and with the price of gold so high, its no wonder. All predictions(IF you can believe them)are for an unusually warm and dry winter for the southwestern US, so we will keep digging as long as we can...

Gold is great...BUT...

I love prospecting for gold and occasionally finding some, or for that matter, finding something long hidden and new to my world. It is not so much the finding, but the thrill of the chase(search) and looking forward to something new and exciting. I guess we all just need a change to the everyday boredom of our lives, sometimes. Sometimes, if I don't make it out of town I might just do something silly, like, go to a big parking lot somewhere in town. Early morning is the best time, when the sun is just coming up in the east. I park to the far side of the parking lot(like a Walmart lot...or anything big) and walk slowly toward the east. If there is a coin or something shiny laying about, the sunlight reflects and makes it easier to find. Yahhhh! I just found a penny. Not much in the way of monetary value, but at least its a find. IF it's a real GOOD day...You MIGHT find a quarter??? Never know what you will find..AND it's good excercise. Nothing spectacular, but an adventure, none the less...

How did it get where it's at...

When I go to my drywashing spot, indicated in the photo, I have found several pickers(ones you're able to pick up with your fingers), But last trip I moved on up the wash farther to see what else I could find. I had assumed that IF the gold moved from the top of the wash(downhill) to where I found the pickers, I would, most likely, find something bigger farther up. Guess again! For some strange reason there seem to be even less farther up the wash??? Huh?? How in the world did it get where it is, IF it came down that hill? Makes me wonder if maybe it didn't come in from a different direction? Since this all happened, probably, a million years ago, I guess we never know for sure. One thing that is for sure is that Gold is WHERE you find it, NOT where it SHOULD be...

AT LAST...Winter(Good Times) in Arizona...

Finally, the days are cooling enough that our desert is coming alive with Gold Prospectors(Me and a lot more), and UNFORTUNATELY...Tourists. Just Kidding! But with the cooler weather, it is now feasable to go out and seek our fortunes, so I joined the local Prospecting club yesterday and we have our first big outing next Saturday. Yahhh!

I have been finding gold for years, but always the wet stuff, but since there is a MAJOR shortage of water in this state, we go DRYWASHING. This is a BIG exciting first for me. Never Dry washed before, but after seeing some of the pieces of gold they have been finding on their 800 acres, I am most eager to go.
I have two dredges in California with my Nephew, but now that the VERY RICH Governor(Arnold Schwarzenegger) has banned gold dredging in that state...Nice going ARNIE! Oh well, he has his, so whats the difference if a lot of poor people in HIS state has a chance to make a few bucks?
Meanwhile, back on our side of the state line(Arizona), we are loading up our equipment for Saturday. I figure, by the following Monday I should be able to pay off the National deficit...Just kidding, AGAIN!
I can tell you right now, that when I do return home I will be bringing back a lot of concentrates from the dry washer and thats where me and my Buddy(Good old Gold Buddy) spend the rest of the week picking out all the little pieces...Oh Happy Days!

Arizona Updates...

The temperature is still running right around 100 degrees F, or a little above, but the nights are starting to cool a bit. It seems the only humidity is IF we turn the sprinklers on...It is DRY! Thank Goodness, for small favors. I know other parts of the country are not so fortunate(too much humidity). No matter what, I guess there is always a silver lining...
Winters , here in Kingman, are not all too bad. We don't get much snow at all, and if we go about 60 miles to the West(down on the Colorado River at a lower altitude)it is more like Springtime, most of the Winter. That's when OUR fun begins...
The temperatures are easy, and we can go dig dirt, pick up rocks, and HOPEFULLY, find some gold. Around here though, most of our CRITTERS(snakes, and everything else on the ground) don't really seem to sleep, as they do elsewhere. I have seen Rattlesnakes on the road on Christmas day. Maybe, he was out shopping? Ya think?
Out here, when everyone one else is shoveling snow, we are digging dirt...
Another couple of months from now, we come alive, but then...so do the Tourists. Soemtimes they are worse than the snakes. At least, we can step OVER the snakes...

The Agony Of knowing...

Arizona in mid Summer is as bad as the North country in the dead of Winter. In Winter, everything is frozen and yet, the fever of knowing the gold is there but, temporarily unreachable, is pure AGONY...
I feel sorely tempted, but in 108 degree temperature, sun stroke would probably be the first thing I find. Until then, I guess I will have to re-read all my old Gold Prospector magazines and imagine huge pieces of Gold just waiting for me.
I have yet, to learn the art of Dry Washing, but very soon, when I can finally get down to business(the temp cools down), I have great visions of what lies below the surface.
UNIMAGINABLE WEALTH...

Finding Treasure...

I guess most of us dream of, someday, finding a treasure and becoming independently wealthy...
What will it be? Gold, Silver, Jewels. Not necessarily so! When you stop and think about it, Treasure, and the satifaction of finding it, comes in many different forms.

With visions of all that wealth, WHO would ever think of stopping to pick up a penny? A Penny? Yep! Being a coin collector, I know that if you pick up the RIGHT penny(rare), it can turn out to be worth more than a lot of jewels...Just the ADVENTURE of looking and finding, is very rewarding. Feel your pulse quicken, when you dig up something lost long ago. Imagine the history behind it and the stories it could tell, if only it could talk?
If you admit it, the real thrill was just getting out of the house and feeling alive. Just being and feeling alive is worth more than all the Gold and jewels ever found. Be thankful for the day and KEEP LOOKING, for your next adventures...