Nuggets of News Blog 

To learn about gold mining of yesteryear, take your family on a tour of the authentic Crystal Gold Mine in Kellogg, Idaho. Dress warmly, don a bright yellow hard hat, grab a flashlight, and follow your tour guide into the underground world of gold mining. For over 100 years, no one knew this mine existed. The original prospector simply disappeared, leaving his mine car, track, tools, and high-grade gold ore behind—sure signs he intended to come back, but strangely never did. During the years that the mine was lost and undisturbed, beautiful turquoise-colored smithsonite crystals formed on the walls. You’ll also see gold and wire silver, too. After the tour, pan for gold outdoors under the tutelage of your mine guide. Even if there’s no flash in your pan, you might find a star garnet—Idaho’s state stone. And what a rare souvenir that would be; these garnets naturally occur in only two places on earth—India and Idaho.

Last year, more than 285 million people visited national parks and other units of the National Park System, marking 2009 the fifth busiest year ever. For those who like statistics, that means 10 million more Americans and foreign tourists visited national parks than the year before— a 3.9% increase. The all-time visitation record of 287.2 million was set in 1987.

In 2010, the National Park Service is once again offering fee-free days, allowing visitors to check out the nation’s 392 national parks without paying an admission fee that usually ranges from $3 to $25, depending on the park. The fee waiver includes entrance fees, commercial tour fees, and transportation entrance fees. Other costs such as reservations, camping, concessions, and fees collected by third parties are not waived. The first fee-free period this year is actually an entire week—National Parks Week, April 17-25.

Although you cannot use your metal detector in a national park, take your detector along on your trip because there are plenty of public lands, parks, etc. to explore while you're traveling.

The Top 10 most visited national parks are:

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina

2. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

3. Yosemite National Park, California

4. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming/Montana/Idaho

5. Olympic National Park, Washington

6. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

7. Zion National Park, Utah

8. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

9. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

10. Acadia National Park, Maine

Depending on where you live, spring is in the air, either a little or a lot. What that mostly means is we're all getting out and about more— in the woods or the desert— to prospect, metal detect, and just clean up the backyard and flower beds. When you do venture outside more, protect yourself with snake gaiters. Of course  snakes are your number one concern, but so is avoiding painful cacti needles. If you've ever brushed against them while on a hike, you'll know what I mean. The Snake Guardz and Snake Chapz brand of snake leggings are used by the US Border Patrol, US Forestry Service, hunters, hikers, fishermen, ranchers, surveyors, realtors, landscapers, and thousands of treasure hunters who need snake proof leg armor. Don't take a chance — get your Snake Gaiters today!

Your chances of finding gold in the desert are about as good as finding gold in wet areas. Study the geology and history of the area where you're prospecting or detecting, and you'll have a distinct advantage. Many large-scale mining operations of yesteryear didn't set up in the desert simply because their equipment needed lots of water, and the desert was much more inaccessible a hundred or more years ago. They didn't have portable Gold Buddy drywashers or variety of spiral gold panning machines that operate on just 3 gallons of water like we do now. So that means less competition! Just like in the mountains during spring snowmelt, one big rainstorm in the desert can change the landscape forever and uncover gold that had been hidden for centuries. Perhaps one of the best locations to look for gold is where the hills meet the desert and fan out. This is where the water slows down during storms and drops gold in the gullies. There also are likely to be more gold traps further up the hillside. Concentrate much of your effort in drywashes, dry streambeds, and canyons. When water flows during a flash flood, areas where the greatest amount of erosion has taken place are natural areas for gold collection. In some areas, like Quartzsite, Arizona, nuggets can be found with a metal detector just under the ground's surface, or even on top of the ground. If you find one piece of gold on the surface of a dry placer area, it is likely that there are more pieces of gold in the immediate area because gold generally does not travel alone. So don't call it quits after the first find— keep looking!