Jul 10
2
So last Saturday I went on another expedition. This time to Oak Creek Trail just outside of Red Rock Nevada. There was a place to park on the side of the road, and I trekked along a very simple path due west towards the mountains. This was about 6:30am. It was going to get hot that day so I wanted to start and finish as soon as possible.
There were no real treasures found here. I had no expectations to find any to begin with, but of course it’s fun nonetheless. There were plenty of bullet shell casings, and pull tabs from pop/beer cans, but not much else. Unlike the Lake Mead mission which yielded a variety of junk including a penny and an old ring, there was nothing worth taking from this expedition.
But it’s not a loss by any means. The likelyhood of finding a space rock is slim irregardless, and its the adventure that counts and is worth more than anything I’d actually find (then again my view on that might change once I do find something.)
Anyways there are no other interesting things to report from this trip. I do have a few photos I’ll include here this weekend. Speaking of weekend, it’s the 4th of July and I doubt I’ll go on any expeditions. Besides it’s been hittin 105 degrees here and unless I start going earlier and earlier any future expeditions might be deemed as suicide.
Jun 10
21
So the trip out to Lake Mead, the first of what I will hope be a frequent event, resulted in only two tiny pieces of junk treasure. The first being a penny from 1968 and the other being a novelty ring with the words “love” wrapped around it several times.
The first question you might ask yourself is “was it really worth just that?” Well yeah it was actually. I just wanted to get a feel for the metal detector. I was able to find those two pieces of junk treasure along with bottle caps and wire and other trash. There was no expectation at all to find anything but that.
So was the mission a success? Absolutely. I’d do it again (and probably will!) and still find nothing of real value. Boulder Beach is huge. And I searched maybe a single square acre. If that! There are plenty of other places to search there.
So what’s next? Well, I’m not sure yet. There is an area in Red Rock I’d like to hunt for space rocks.
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The area is part of the “Red Rock Loop”. Towards the end of the 13 mile loop is a site seeing area. Its on the west end of the loop just east of the mountains. It looks like a good mile walk from the site of the road. There are river beds and other area of interest which might have carried a meteorite down from the mountains. Who knows? It might be a relaxing place to explore – even with an absence of potential treasure.
Jun 10
18
Well tomorrow is Saturday, June 19th, 2010 and I will be heading to Lake Mead to “excavate” Boulder Beach for “treasures.” This mission is mostly to get used to the metal detector with actual finds and to start getting acclimated to the hot Southern Nevada heat.
The search area will be mid point between the current shore, and the ancient shore line. By ancient I mean where the water reached to about 15 years ago. There should be plenty of junk out there. Mostly bottle caps, and pull tabs. There might be some car keys and loose change, and maybe even some lost jewelry which would be cool.
I still need to pick up a few supplies including a small shovel (preferably a folding kind which can be used as a pick), maybe some plastic bags to collect the garbage that is found. My original plan was to look for a shovel at Home Depot and pick up one of those day-laborers to dig for me ala Indiana Jones, but I’m on a limited budget and I doubt I’d have to dig more than a half foot for anything.
I hope to leave early, preferably between 5 and 6 am. The drive is less than an hour from my home, but if I can make it to the gate early enough I believe you can drive through without paying.
Expect photos.
Jun 10
17
We need to start somewhere, and what better place than here?
My name is Mike, but I go by Salzman, and you might already know about my adventures in game collecting at www.salzmafia.comor my video game price guides at www.videogamepriceguides.com.
For many years I have had a burning desire to own a space rock, specifically a meteorite. For billions of years the Earth has been pelted by them. Tiny ones, huge ones, and everything in between. They come from the far reaches of our solar system and in some cases from the Moon and Mars. Non-stop all day long and night rocks fall from the heavens and plunge into our oceans and our deserts and our forests and our cities.
Most metorites no longer exist. They contain iron and the Earth’s atmosphere rusts them. But fresh ones are definately out there. To own a meteorite is to own a piece of the universe. When was it created? How was it created? What events put it in motion to send it to the Earth? How did it survive the crushing pressure and heat of Earth’s atmosphere? To survive the explosion is a feat in itself!
Anyways I never went out of my way to actually find a meteorite. Then the Science channel started to broadcast Meteorite Men which rekindled my interest in finding a space rock of my own. Although I enjoy the show the adventure and science behind meteorites often seems to take second fiddle to the “value” of the rocks they find.
Selling a space rock is definitely not my goal. Maybe after I obtain my first I can consider doing something like that, but for now the objective is to obtain one. Here in southern Nevada plenty have been found. Even one of the episodes of Meteorite Men detailed a find near Lake Mead. I have a plan to search in an area near Lake Mead as well, but unfortunately there are rules.
The BLM doesn’t like trespassers. There are also regulations about what can be taken from public land. So my initial treasure hunt will not take place in protected areas. Besides, I have to “learn” my equipment first. I’ve obtained a metal detector recently. A pretty fancy one at that, and I’m going to start in the forgotten waste land of Boulder Beach which is on the west end of Lake Mead.
Boulder Beach has public access. And the water levels of Lake Mead have shrunk dramatically over the past 15 years. There is at least a quarter mile of beach real-estate that needs to be traveled just to get to the water! 15 years worth of people sitting on the beach dropping bottle caps, loose change, and other metals are just sitting under the dirt waiting to be discovered. What better way to experience a metal detector than there?