HikeArizona.COM

Just wondering, with all these hiking trail, mines, and wilderness, does any of you hikers ever try looking for gold will your hiking, and camping out there?

Sure, but I'm not going to tell you where I found the Lost Dutchman's mine

Never. But the gold dust in the Colorado is virtually all trapped in the bottom of reservoirs. Plus it is all gold flour dust; hard to even get it. Many a person went broke or died trying in Glen Canyon.

nonot wrote:Sure, but I'm not going to tell you where I found the Lost Dutchman's mine

Speaking of the LDM, has anyone read Jesse Feldman's new book? I got a copy from him yesterday and haven't read it yet but the book looks really promising. Can't wait to get it read.

Yeah, I look for Minerals sometimes, but it's not usually the reason for my hike. I'm there to enjoy nature and look for other things. Someday I'll head out looking for minerals, but not anytime soon I don't think. That being said, if I do come across a Quartz vein I will stop and look at it. Maybe even bust up a couple pieces. You never know right.

I bet the total value of gold found in AZ is far less than what was invested in finding and recovering it. A handful of people got rich while thousands or millions of investors lost their money and generations of miners lived in poverty and constant danger, as some still do. There are plenty of interesting things to find out there, but after studying a bit of the geology and history, I would expet to find no more gold than it takes to make a good story.

thread revival alert
Does anyone pan for gold? I did a little when I was a kid on the Hassayampa near Moristown. I just bought a pan at a yard sale and I was thinking of where to try it out. I read on the web that there might be some in Cave Creek. There were a few hard rock mines in the area, so there might be some placer to pan in the creek. I might try it north of Spur Cross.

I tried it once, but I just simply do not have the patience for it. I kept looking around, thinking about climbing that hill over there, or hiking further up the creek, or hiking up that side canyon I had seen earlier. And it was physically uncomfortable for me, too. I just couldn't get comfortable leaning over that creek. It was with a Webelos Cub Scouts group on the backside of Mt. Lemmon. One of our den leaders actually had a staked claim out there. One interesting thing we saw was a couple of guys with a big sluice box. They also had a registered claim.

Last year I saw a guy panning for gold on the Gila near Yuma. I hope it was a pleasant diversion, because I don't figure it was a very profitable use of time.

@big_load
I'm not looking to strike it rich, just re- live some old memories of good times with dad

@beterarcher I'm not knocking the activity itself, but there must be locations that offer much better chances of finding something.

Here is a clue where to look from the master himself, Joe Bartels.
http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=303790

thanks SG, I knew someone here would know ;)

Ive panned here and there. Havent found anything, yet! My dad and I are talking about getting out soon. All this rain may have stirred some around ;)

@ASUAviator
that's what I was thinking too.

Backside of Mt. Lemmon, I'm tellin' ya! But don't go into anyone's claim area! That's a no-no!

@azbackpackr
I copy that

I used to be a goldsmith many years ago and one of my customers was an old guy that would bring me gold to make into earrings and pendants.
Some of his nuggets were quite large weighting a troy ounce and more.
All of it was found in southwestern Az. and with a metal detector. He usually did dirt roads that were recently graded or dry stream beds.

Alston Neal wrote: He usually did dirt roads that were recently graded

that makes sense, I think I'll try it