William-NM
New member
Well, I'm a pretty happy camper, I think my ears are finally "becoming one" with the AT Pro, and I've been getting out to some beautiful spots. My last three hunts:
* Sunday: Sports Complex I hadn't hunted - I read that they were putting in artificial turf on the four diamonds and had demolished the concession stand, etc. Only got a couple hours in, checked the scraped off turf that they had piled into 4-5' high berms, found a few coins. Found a few more coins & kids junk ring and gold aluminum junk link in the exposed dirt. I only got to a small fraction of it before the snow (gasp!) ran me off. (I know...). There's definitely more there, gonna try to get back before the new turf goes down.
* Monday: Gomez Peak Picnic area (Gila Nat. Forest). I was DETERMINED to find more old coins around the old tree where I found a 1918 wheatie a few weeks back. Set the contraption up in pro zero with the ground balance backed down around 10 clicks. Didn't find jack around the tree (though I was digging tiny aluminum rivets and such at 8" - 10")
HOWEVER, I did the perimeter around the adjoining volleyball court (did the court last time), and found the nice little Italian Silver St. Benedict pendant and the possibly Gold wedding band (acid tests at 10K, but might get a more expert opinion). Also found the vehicle of my dreams, maybe I won't manage to crack the oil pan on that gnarly machine (I got to pull the pan on the poor old plymouth last week, story below, possibly long and boring...), plus a private jet! Perfect, now I can hop over to the East coast and snarf a few of those half dimes, Indians and Large Cents, then hit Florida & California, vacuuming up all their gold beach goodies and nuggets, then maybe Europe for some early Greek & Roman bling!
* Tuesday: Hit the CCC Picnic Groves (1/4 mi frm the Gomez site yesterday). Was feeling good about the ring and pendant from yesterday, so was VERY pleasantly surprised to pull the 17 gram skull & crossbones out of a small bank along the roadway. It is only stamped "Mexico", has a gold cast to it. Of course, the emblems are Copper. Found a few more coins and it got blizzardish, so will return to continue the areas where I've identified some group CCC photos were taken and some old board and batten cottages used to be. I want to get as much time in out there as I can, as my new friend Sandy, the caretaker, is quitting in March, and I'm not sure what the new person's attitude will be toward MD'ing...
(Photos at bottom - this is the optional 'war story' part, you can wait for the Hollywood version (which will probably involve me having to gnaw my own leg off, heh) if it's too boring)
Last week, I was hunting at another sports complex, and doing well in an outfield, when the team showed up for practice. I got to talking with the coach, who used to be a metal detectorist. He mentioned that there was an old scout camp out past Pinos Altos (Semi-ghost town 6 mi. N. of here). So, the next day, I threw the Tigger and the detector in the car and headed out. It is a few miles up a forest road that starts about 7 miles past Pinos Altos. As we got going up it, it turned to packed snow and ice (it's about 1100' higher than here (we're at 6000'). Well, it went from bad to worse, but there was nowhere to turn around, so on we went. We did pretty well through the first 4 or 5 creek crossings, but had to keep our speed up.. stop and you're dead. We got almost to the camp, but I was so stressed about having to get back out that I just did some quick detecting and headed back out. The gentle slope coming in turned out to be solid glass smooth ice with a quarter inch of powder on it. I got about 1/5 of the way up and lost traction. Bad scene, the ice banked down toward a 200' dropoff. The ground was frozen solid, but I finally located some rock and dirt that I could get a shovel in. I spent several hours filling up my daypack with rock and dirt and spreading a couple of tracks up the 1/4 mile grade. About half way through, I see a puddle of oil under the van. Crap. I cut a liter bottle down and put it under the leak. By the time I was about done, it was dark. I decided that it would be dangerous to attempt at night, so we spent a teeth chattering mostly sleepless night trying not to think about cars rolling down hillsides and bursting into flames. It had been about 50s and sunny in town, so I didn't even have a coat. had a rough rug in the back and used it and the Garrett case to cover up with. Got up with the sun and hauled another couple of hours worth of rock - insurance, as I knew I was dead if I slipped off my tracks. Poured the reclaimed oil back into the Plymouth and said some prayers. It took about a dozen attempts to get a roll going. Once we did, the old Chicago driving skills kicked in, and we hit the gas made it out, didn't stop 'till we got home. I pulled the Pan (not fun, engine mounts in the way, have to jack up engine/trans to get at the last few bolts, sadistic designers), got a line on a local welder who specializes in aluminum. He picked it up and delivered it the next day, charged 25 bucks (I gave Him $40), put that puppy back in and got lucky, didn't get too much engine crud on the gaskets and it hasn't leaked a drop. We slept well that night, and had a hedonistic couple days of movies and general goofing off, comfort food, etc. So, I'm saving that camp for a nice summer day! It's easy to forget how many micro climates we have here, Tigger didn't miss any meals, but his person did (not that that's such a bad thing, and I got a good extended aerobic workout!) . Sure makes you appreciate the comforts of home!!
* Sunday: Sports Complex I hadn't hunted - I read that they were putting in artificial turf on the four diamonds and had demolished the concession stand, etc. Only got a couple hours in, checked the scraped off turf that they had piled into 4-5' high berms, found a few coins. Found a few more coins & kids junk ring and gold aluminum junk link in the exposed dirt. I only got to a small fraction of it before the snow (gasp!) ran me off. (I know...). There's definitely more there, gonna try to get back before the new turf goes down.
* Monday: Gomez Peak Picnic area (Gila Nat. Forest). I was DETERMINED to find more old coins around the old tree where I found a 1918 wheatie a few weeks back. Set the contraption up in pro zero with the ground balance backed down around 10 clicks. Didn't find jack around the tree (though I was digging tiny aluminum rivets and such at 8" - 10")
HOWEVER, I did the perimeter around the adjoining volleyball court (did the court last time), and found the nice little Italian Silver St. Benedict pendant and the possibly Gold wedding band (acid tests at 10K, but might get a more expert opinion). Also found the vehicle of my dreams, maybe I won't manage to crack the oil pan on that gnarly machine (I got to pull the pan on the poor old plymouth last week, story below, possibly long and boring...), plus a private jet! Perfect, now I can hop over to the East coast and snarf a few of those half dimes, Indians and Large Cents, then hit Florida & California, vacuuming up all their gold beach goodies and nuggets, then maybe Europe for some early Greek & Roman bling!
* Tuesday: Hit the CCC Picnic Groves (1/4 mi frm the Gomez site yesterday). Was feeling good about the ring and pendant from yesterday, so was VERY pleasantly surprised to pull the 17 gram skull & crossbones out of a small bank along the roadway. It is only stamped "Mexico", has a gold cast to it. Of course, the emblems are Copper. Found a few more coins and it got blizzardish, so will return to continue the areas where I've identified some group CCC photos were taken and some old board and batten cottages used to be. I want to get as much time in out there as I can, as my new friend Sandy, the caretaker, is quitting in March, and I'm not sure what the new person's attitude will be toward MD'ing...
(Photos at bottom - this is the optional 'war story' part, you can wait for the Hollywood version (which will probably involve me having to gnaw my own leg off, heh) if it's too boring)
Last week, I was hunting at another sports complex, and doing well in an outfield, when the team showed up for practice. I got to talking with the coach, who used to be a metal detectorist. He mentioned that there was an old scout camp out past Pinos Altos (Semi-ghost town 6 mi. N. of here). So, the next day, I threw the Tigger and the detector in the car and headed out. It is a few miles up a forest road that starts about 7 miles past Pinos Altos. As we got going up it, it turned to packed snow and ice (it's about 1100' higher than here (we're at 6000'). Well, it went from bad to worse, but there was nowhere to turn around, so on we went. We did pretty well through the first 4 or 5 creek crossings, but had to keep our speed up.. stop and you're dead. We got almost to the camp, but I was so stressed about having to get back out that I just did some quick detecting and headed back out. The gentle slope coming in turned out to be solid glass smooth ice with a quarter inch of powder on it. I got about 1/5 of the way up and lost traction. Bad scene, the ice banked down toward a 200' dropoff. The ground was frozen solid, but I finally located some rock and dirt that I could get a shovel in. I spent several hours filling up my daypack with rock and dirt and spreading a couple of tracks up the 1/4 mile grade. About half way through, I see a puddle of oil under the van. Crap. I cut a liter bottle down and put it under the leak. By the time I was about done, it was dark. I decided that it would be dangerous to attempt at night, so we spent a teeth chattering mostly sleepless night trying not to think about cars rolling down hillsides and bursting into flames. It had been about 50s and sunny in town, so I didn't even have a coat. had a rough rug in the back and used it and the Garrett case to cover up with. Got up with the sun and hauled another couple of hours worth of rock - insurance, as I knew I was dead if I slipped off my tracks. Poured the reclaimed oil back into the Plymouth and said some prayers. It took about a dozen attempts to get a roll going. Once we did, the old Chicago driving skills kicked in, and we hit the gas made it out, didn't stop 'till we got home. I pulled the Pan (not fun, engine mounts in the way, have to jack up engine/trans to get at the last few bolts, sadistic designers), got a line on a local welder who specializes in aluminum. He picked it up and delivered it the next day, charged 25 bucks (I gave Him $40), put that puppy back in and got lucky, didn't get too much engine crud on the gaskets and it hasn't leaked a drop. We slept well that night, and had a hedonistic couple days of movies and general goofing off, comfort food, etc. So, I'm saving that camp for a nice summer day! It's easy to forget how many micro climates we have here, Tigger didn't miss any meals, but his person did (not that that's such a bad thing, and I got a good extended aerobic workout!) . Sure makes you appreciate the comforts of home!!
