Treasure Hunting

I added a couple of new fossil digging sites to the Fee Digs and Fee Mining page.  One is located in Utah and the other in Wyoming.  They are both privately owned lands so fees are charged, but they’re surrounded by BLM lands so there might be places nearby where you can scrounge around for free.  The fees aren’t too bad though, and both sites have people on hand to help you identify your findings.  One thing I do like about these two places is that they have both hourly and daily rates.  Sometimes I’m just in the mood to go out for an hour or two and hate paying for a full day when that happens.  The daily rates do offer a substantial discount though.  So if you can manage a full day, I definitely recommend that.

The Black Rock Desert in northwest Nevada is a great place to go for any type of treasure hunting trip.  Just make sure that you take enough supplies with you and carry a lot of extra water.  There aren’t a whole lot of populated areas, and if you get too far off the paved roads, it’s pretty easy to get lost.  In fact, until you’ve spent some time there and have managed to draw your own maps of the area, it’s best not to go very far from the highway at all.  The desert can fool even the best trackers.

You also want to be careful not to intrude on anyone’s private property.  Even though the area is desolate, there are some sprawling ranches there.  If it looks like the property might belong to anyone, don’t take any chances.  You wouldn’t want someone traipsing around on your land, would you?

There are a lot of people who take metal detectors out in this area.  I’ve never done much with metal detectors (I’m more of a rockhound), but I’d like to learn more.  So, if anyone has any information on what a good ’starter’ metal detector would be, let me know.  By ’starter’ metal detector, I mean one that is easy to use and lightweight while still being decent.  I need to do some more research on it myself, but I’d sure like to hear some testimonials by people who use these things on a regular basis.