Shortly after arriving in Quartzsite, the Gold Bug bit me, thanks to Greg Mulac. I attended his Introduction to Gold Prospecting and Metal Detecting seminar at the Quartzfest HAM Radio gathering. He provided us with a load of information from his many years experience, where Lydia fell in love with the process for the first time, and I had an old spark renewed. She already had a metal detector, but Greg’s talk made me want to get a much more advanced one for myself.
We set our sights on the GPAA (Gold Prospectors Association of America) Gold and Treasure Expo, and did a lot of research on the type of equipment that would work best for our family. While at the Expo, the girls had fun petting the Search and Rescue horses in the corral out front. We settled on a Garrett AT Gold metal detector, purchased through a local shop here in Quartzsite. We also purchased a used Gold Magic wheel due to its ability to be used both wet or dry.
While attending the Expo, we joined both the GPAA and the Quartzsite Metal Detecting Club. Both of these groups give you access to gold claims for members to use, the Quartzsite club has a handful of claims in the area, while the GPAA has claims all across the country.
We decided to venture out to a different Quartzsite Metal Detecting Club claim a few days later. This one was much further off the beaten path and turned into an off-roading adventure for Blondie, our Mercedes Wagon. We traveled several miles on this off road path, and eventually arrived at the old stone cabin where we stopped to do some detecting.
Some of the more interesting sections of the drive were not included in the video due to both Chas and I having to concentrate on driving. Needless to say, we decided not to try that one a second time after making it safely out at sunset. We ended up finding a few bullet fragments and shell casings in the short time we were detecting there. We didn’t have time to get too far off the road due to the rapidly setting sun, and our need to make the drive out before dark.
We can’t wait to see what lies ahead for us as we search for gold and treasure in California and Oregon this spring and summer. The girls want to do some panning in some obscure streams, and I am looking forward to metal detecting on the beaches. We will be sure to keep you informed of any treasures we discover along the way.
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