Metal Detecting for gold nuggets

About

Gold!  Yes, ever since my days in Brooklyn New York growing up watching Westerns I had a desire to head out West. Well, when I finally did relocate to sunny San Diego I realized that I had made a huge mistake in not relocating at least 10 years sooner than I did.

The location and topography of San Diego, the say nothing of the great weather make for an outdoor lovers paradise. But let’s get back to my becoming a gold prospector. Somehow I came across a book I believe his name was Gem Trails of California, that pointed out in detail various locations where one could find natural minerals and crystals. So, using this book was like a mini treasure hunt. Then on a long car trip to Utah, I had my Gem Trails of Utah bookthat helped us locate lots of mineral specimens as well as an entire petrified tree!

Upon returning to San Diego from this trip, I got the idea, that if I could use a book like these for finding mineral specimens why not do the research and find the reading material and see if I could fine gold?

Well, the rest is history to date I search for and found gold in San Diego, Riverside County, 29 Palms, Rensburg, Yuma, Quartzite, the mother load area, Big Pine, and Nome Alaska. I have done regular gold panning, sluicing, dry washing, crevicing and naturally metal detecting. I’ve had a number of metal detectors over the years and currently use what is commonly acknowledged as the world’s best gold detector… A Minelab.

A lot of the enjoyment of gold hunting for me is the journey, the outdoors and naturally the thrill of finding riches in the earth! Now, to be quite truthful, if I was just in this to make money, I’d stay in San Diego and try to put real estate sales together. I am, after all, a California licensed real estate broker! But, everyone needs a hobby, and when retiring from over 20 years in hang gliding I put my spare time into gold hunting.

I’m far from an expert in metal detecting. Actually, I can only recall one trip, where the nugget I found, if sold, would’ve paid for the gas getting out to Arizona and then back to San Diego. But, the moment of finding that large nugget ( I located it with a Minelab detector, and my Son uncovered it just under about an inch of desert sand) will stay with me forever!I call that nugget the ‘holy shit’ nugget, because that’s all I could say for the first two or 3 min. after seeing it!

So, if you’re looking for some outdoor fun, the excitement of finding treasure, this is a great hobby to pursue. But, if you’re looking for a new profession, or to get rich quick, stick with your day job!