Stanton, AZ

Rich Hill dominates the area. In the 1800’s explorers discovered gold nuggets on the top of the mountain the size of potatoes! We, unfortunately, have not found any gold of that magnitude. The palo verde tree decorates the landscape in our desert camp, which I’ve nicknamed the “mean green tree,” due to its spiky, thorny branches and green trunk. The roads are terrible, so using the ATV for travel saves the truck from wear and tear. Saturday the Roadrunner Prospecting Club had an outing at the “Leave No Holes #1” claim. I dug dirt, sifted out the bigger pieces and took it down to the Hassayampa River and sluiced it out. Lots of ATV riders travel the river on the weekends and several stopped to see if I was getting any color, then splashed on their way. Our friend Jane dug material near me, and her husband John joined Ron in the metal detector hunt for tokens, which could be exchanged for gold nuggets once found. A blue bowl uses a vortex to lift the lighter black sands away from the heavier gold and down into the center hole, leaving the yellow metal behind. Once I processed all the black sand I have gathered since we’ve been here with the blue bowl, I ended up with this gold – about 1 pennyweight, 1/20^th of an ounce. It’s the largest amount of gold I’ve found so far! Saguero cactus guard the southern slopes of the mountains. Red seedpods are Arizona’s fall colors! And speaking of color, the sunrise the other day was spectacular! We continue to be amazed at the desert’s beauty.