Many years ago when I was working in Arizona, I befriended a couple guys who loved to go gold prospecting using their metal detectors. I already had a metal detector but never used it looking for gold nuggets before, needless to say I was excited when they invited me to join them. The very first thing you learn is never to go in the summer, it's just too hot! Plus in summer you have rattle snakes and scorpions to contend with so you wait for the weather to cool off when they are hibernating. Secondly you need the right metal detector, they aren't all equal. I invested in a new (and much more expensive) model just to increase my chances of success.
We would head out in late fall and winter on some weekends to search out some gold. It's nice to have someone with experience when you're starting out for several reasons. First they know where you can search legally and secondly they know the areas with the best chances of finding some gold. If you are looking for gold where there isn't any you aren't going to have much luck.
On one of these trips I was searching around in a dry wash. A wash is essentially a dry stream or river bed in the desert that only has water flowing during or after thunderstorms or heavy rain. They are not bad places to search for gold after there's been some strong rain storms that have washed some gold downstream or unburied gold deposited thousands of years ago.
In one bend of the wash I kept getting hit after hit on my detector and was finding some small nuggets which was exciting! Then I found this beauty right before I was getting ready to head out before it got dark. The detector had a strong hit and just under the surface I found this nice little gold nugget that weighs about four grams. It was the biggest one I ever found!
Needless to say instead of heading out right away the gold fever had me searching for another ten minutes hoping for more! However there were no more to be had that day. On return trips I found lots of other small nuggets, but nothing quite as big!
Arizona isn't a bad place to prospect for gold, as a matter of fact the entire southwestern United States has a lot of great spots. There aren't too many areas where you can find nuggets, it's mostly finer gold. Too recover that you either need a dry washer or a supply of water to separate it from the lighter dirt. I'll talk more about that in another post in a week or so. It's a lot more work that much I can tell you!
I hope you enjoyed my post today. Thank you everyone for all of your support! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to leave them below.
And my disclaimer:
Not all metal detectors are equal. Some are much more sensitive at finding small amounts of gold. Before investing in any detector do your research and know it's capabilities. If you have the wrong detector you may not be able to find anything even when there is gold in the ground.
Gold and silver stacking can be a fun hobby but isn't for everyone. You can lose money. I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.
If you enjoyed my post today you might also enjoy:
Gold and emerald ring ship wreck treasure
Discovering gold on the reefs of Florida!
The Gold found in the Saddle Ridge Hoard
Re-blog lottery for a chance to win 3 HSBI!
Now for the winner of the re-blog lottery! Today we had 27 people re-blog my post, thank you so much! You guy are the best! The people who re-blogged were:
Voluntary daily reminder list for those who request to be on it:
If you want to be added to the list as well just feel free to ask!
Thank you everyone! I have been working to improve my engagement and all of you have really helped out! If you have any recommendations or suggestions please feel free to let me know. I'm always looking to improve my posts.
Good luck to everyone!
And the Wheel of Names results:
Congratulations 
I just sent over the 3 Hive to fund your HSBI.
Now for today's re-blog lottery! You just need to re-blog my post you will be placed on the Wheel of Names for a spin to possibly win 3 HSBI units! Just one prize for the lucky winner. An upvote is not required but is always greatly appreciated to help me fund higher prizes in the future. Bots aren't allowed to enter please. Contest ends at 14:00 (2 PM) California Pacific time tomorrow. If I somehow missed your re-blog please let me know and I'll add you to the next draw.
I've had a bit of personal issue pop up today (10/20/23), so I won't publish until tomorrow, to make up for it tomorrow there will be two winners instead of one!
What are HSBI units? They are units that you can purchase to sponsor someone and you in turn receive a unit as well. This way we both benefit! They give you occasional upvotes on your posts for a lifetime, and the more you accumulate the more often you receive upvotes and the bigger they can be. You can read some more here:
If you have more questions feel free to ask.
