We are new members also. Joined to get access and learn from seasoned vets young and old. Looking for places near Wickenburg AZ.

I agree with the last statement, I love metal detecting how many traveling between Washington Oregon California Idaho Utah where where I can dig for the summer. I would love to have some digging buddies or at least somebody to help me along the way. My first stop is going to be in a week Coeur d'Alene Idaho. If there's anybody anywhere near there they can help me find a spot to dig I Am brand new at this. This will be my first digging trip ever so I would love some help.

I give up I have not found one claim in two years .

What state are you looking for?

My wife and I are from O'Fallon Missouri, near St Louis. We are looking for places in AZ to metal detect for gold nuggets. We are doing this for pleasure. We also pan but have not sluiced yet. We walk a lot of midwestern streams for fossils, artifacts, and just cool rocks. This is our first club of any kind that we have joined. We happen to live in a NON GOLD BEARING STATE. That being said, you can still find traces of it in most all rivers and streams here. I mean traces. Nice thing about gold is that you can see the tiniest speck.

So far, the newbies on this thread Joshua, Troy, Steve, and myself. We are in the Midwest and Joshua is Washington. Joshua, have you checked out the Properties? When you find a property that you may want to prospect, try to look it up on You Tube and see if someone has made a video of the place.
When the wife and I start planning a trip to Washington and Oregon then we will research and let Joshua know what we find. There is plenty of gold to be found and if we work together I think we can all have what we want. Lori and I like to detect and pan. What methods do you guys use? You can also sort your searches in Properties by the type of prospecting you do ie.... wet panning, dry panning, detector, sluicing, etc.

We had a picture in our heads of how we thought it would be but others have schooled us. We figured we would be the only ones in the middle of the desert with pans and detectors. Little did we know just how popular this sport is. BE CAREFUL!!!! We read where one GPAA member drew his weapon on another GPAA member on a club claim. I do not know the details but please be careful.

We are retired now. Heading out west in a month or less for dispersed camping and having the time of our lives. I am a 2 day member as of today but I will help you guys if I can. Troy and Steve, where are you from and where do you want to prospect?
Hope you guys have a wonderful day!

Thank you! I mainly pan but metal detecting has caught my eye recently i ordered a Garrett AT gold waterproof metal detector and it came yesterday. Hopefully I'll get out this spring or summer and mess around with it.

We received our AT Gold 2 days ago. We had just purchased an AT Max also. We wet pan, and one day may get a stream sluice. I am making a digging tool that is like a light weight maddock with a magnet on the end. I will let you know how it works. I see you are in the other threads also. I am reading them and seeing what I missed on the Properties site. Good Luck Joshua!

If anyone gets to western Oregon between Salem and Eugene, let me know. Be happy to show you about 9 miles of public area and the three GPAA claims of the Quartzville Group....25-30 miles out of Sweet Home.

Arthur ill take you up on that offer! This summer I'll be going to Oregon I'm just getting started with all of this. I'm from tri cities Washington plan on trying to make it to some spots in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho hopefully.

Arthur, thank you, and my wife and I will surely take you up on that. We want to try Oregon and Washington. i really enjoy talking with others about this passion of mine of finding gold.

You're welcome. I'll be gone from the area the last week of June, but around pretty much the rest of the summer and fall. Also half owner in two of the three claims in the group.

Arthur,
It's people like you that make these groups worthwhile. Thank you!

I was on the claim outside Selma Or last weekend and had a blast with my wife. We found flood and 1 picker of gold, but the beauty of the area was awesome. We cant wait to go down there again. We are from Lakewood Wa. and love to travel and find treasures!

We have 5 gpaa claims in Wa. but closed till july and aug

The claims aren't closed and you can still mineral prospect you just need to follow the rules in the GOLD and Fish book regulations, Being I only metal detect (hand held tool) and don't wet mine much any more except panning once in a while you can still prospect and mine but you need to carry the book with you, which I have with all the time no mater what time of year. Read the two sections again "Mineral Prospecting in Freshwater (Without) Timing Restriction" and the section "Mineral Prospecting in Freshwater (With) Timing Restriction".

I'm with you guys, right now trying to figure out metal detecting up North here in WA and OR. I live in Camas WA near Vancouver and drove to AZ and CA to metal detect. I've done good in the deserts down south so now I'm trying to learn how to metal detect up north here near rivers and wetter areas, so this year I'll be metal detecting a lot of the claims in Oregon and the two claims near me. My next trips will be near Baker City and on Quartzville Creek. I'll post my results when I get the chance to check them out and if you guys do the same maybe we all can get it figured out. I have done no research or tried anything in Idaho yet but I'm keeping my eye on that area too.

Hey Joshua, I took my Goldbug 2 and tried it on Hard Wages about 10 years ago, I didn't find any gold then but I was just learning how to use it, back then I only had the 10" coil and now I use the 6.5" coil 90% of the time. Hard Wages is on my to do list later on this summer so hopefully I'll do better now being I have a little bit more experience. There is some exposed bedrock on the the creek so you might give that claim a try when you can, it might be snowed in right now but in a few months it should be fine. You might want to check the claims out on Burnt River in Oregon too, I'll be heading that way in May hopefully, when I get back I'll post my reports. Metal detecting for gold can be quite the challenge but it's real fun trying so good luck and I look forward to reading your claim reports.

some of our gpaa claims are timing regs, not year round

Isn't it about "the hunt" that is the best part? You weren't hoping to strike it rich, I hope.

I joined for one reason. This is my first post. For me, it's about "looking". And my wife loves this stuff. If I ever find a single flake of gold, that is the gravy.