So in this thread I thought I would begin to share some of the things I wanted to know about before visiting the Gold Basin Arizona, specifically the Bahde Claim #10, but never found any members here on the forums to share with me. I won't be able to share everything I now know on this one thread, hence the reason for doing it in parts, this being part 2... If you haven't read part 1, it's title is identical as this one with only the (part) being part 1 and not 2.

First off, getting there was very easy... Turning off the last paved road (AZ SR 25) onto Gregg's Hideout Road (also Country Road 139) which is a very wide and flat dirt road, this will be the road you stay on for quite a while which will eventually turn left, then right, up and down some hills until you reach a big white arrow sign (to your front left) labeled "GPAA" which points left... From here which if I recall you are nearly on the Hoppy Claims which I didn't stop to check it out (probably should have LOL), more on some thoughts of mine about the Hoppy Claims later (in another thread, maybe part 3). Anyways, turning left at this sign, towards where it points, you will follow along, staying on each road until you see another sign (all identical as the first) which will point you (lead you) all the way to the Bahde #10 Claim and from there you can find all of the Bahde Claims (but I only checked out, stayed and hunted on the Bahde Claim #10. Frankly I did make some mistakes, wrong turns, and my best advice for avoiding the same mistakes is to stay on dirt roads that appear to be frequently travelled. One thing I learned is that if there are weeds, even small weeds, in the middle of the dirt road, also look for over grown weeds that hang over the road's edge then the road isn't frequently travelled on. Stay on frequently travelled on roads which after a while I realized the difference is obvious. Don't get too adventurous at least until you get a good lay of the land after exploring it a bit on foot first.

Okay, so before I went to the Gold Basin, my plan was to Nugget Shoot with my Garrett ATX (a pulse Induction machine) along the foothills of the hills that sit on the northside of the Bahde Claims #10 and 11. I would target at the foot and the toes coming off of the foothills as well as the benches, gulches and drywashes just below. Due to my inexperience and this being my very first claim that I visited, I didn't have a very good perspective of just how big each claim is, or just how much ground I had to cover and I now know, these claims are very big. I also was slowed down due to this being my first time Nugget Shooting and it was really only my third time using my new Garrett ATX (at least on a good hunt)... So I was swinging low and slow and inspecting every slight or faint signal (thinking, hoping that it could be a deep nugget LOL) until I learned the clear difference between mineralization noise and true metal target hits. This took me half of my first day until I had enough confidence to move more quickly. *New ATX user tip: Use Closed Coil Covers in the Arizona Desert. There are a ton of these little weeds that when they hit the inside of an open coil, it gives a slight faint false signal, but normally a single low or high tone at a very low volume. Of course I was running my ATX very hot, which probably only exasperated things LOL (Sens 11-12, Thresh 7.5 to 8.5, Disc 0). Hindsight is 20/20, right? Well, my plan, which was more of a gamble, was based on an idea that somehow nobody had discovered those hills being a source of gold, some undiscovered lode or previous lode already mined. There is a mine on the other side but the hill is much larger than I had previously thought. I also went up the hill about three quarters the way up one, which is BLM area. Also probably a silly idea, other than it was a great view of the Basin. The biggest reason my plan was so bad is due to so much erosion and overburden that has been slidding down and coming off the hills that any decent gold is way too deep for any detector to find. By overburden I am talking rocks, not dirt... A whole bunch of rocks. What dissappoints me the most is that I way over committed to my original plan and worked that area pretty much the whole time, 2 full days)... Then I finally on day 3, my final day, I ventured off the foothills and explored a good remaining portion of Bahde Claim #10, mostly the SE section towards the entrance (where I arrived from). The best part of Bahde Claim #10 is that where the foothills were a terrible location to Nugget Shoot, it was an awesome location to camp. I have pics posted on my Instagram, still haven't figured out how to post pics here.

I will post a part 3 within a couple days to give some detailed observations, discoveries as well as some afterthoughts which will be the heart of my attempted help for any members who will be visiting the Gold Basin Arizona sometime in the future. Stay tuned...