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GPAA Claim near Oro Grande, New Mexico
Unfortunately, the Gold/Mine Tour place was closed.
So I got out the GPAA Guide and read the directions again. I was getting a little anxious. Will I finally actually FIND a GPAA claim or is it going to be another few hours or days of driving around again? I turned around and was thrilled to spot the cattle guard off to the left as promised. And there we went again, through gulches and off into the desert. This is just SOOO much fun! At times I had to go VERY slow, you definitely got to have extra clearance. Of course my worry wasn't clearance, but falling over.
To my surprise there was a van parked a little further down,
for some reason I hadn't expected to see anyone. I took a right into the claim and drove up the hill where I found the adjoining claim. Signs were everywhere.
Once I was parked for the night, it was still light enough to get the detector out. Picked up a lot of rusted wire and tin. (Have to mention that for my Sierra Club friends.)
The next day was sunny and warm. I walked up to the top of one of the hills to check out the mine shafts (this is a LODE claim) and the views.
I found some very interesting rocks, and LOTS of trash. I was hoping I'd sleep early so that I'd get up before noon again. But then Richard Hoagland was live on the Art Bell show and there is absolutely NOTHING like listening to Hoagy talking about Mars and NASA and conspiracies while looking at that beautiful clear desert sky. I even turned off the camper clock to have it as dark as possible. Saw some very nice meteors, too bad none landed nearby. Wednesday afternoon it became VERY windy and cold, after a few hours of detecting I was just freezing. Unfortunately, I had to go pack up anyway, had to be in Alamogordo Thursday to get my water pump fixed and finally replace the jacks. This wasn't nearly enough time at the Oro Grande claim and I hope to be back soon! Maybe not - this claim is NOT in the GPAA 2000 Guide, a mistake or no longer GPAA?
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Oro
Grande is about 45 minutes South of Alamogordo in Southern
New Mexico.
After about a mile
(as it says in the guide) I spotted the GPAA marker right next to
the road and CREARLY labeled. WOW, I had to take a picture of that.
It
got cold, and I fried onions and potatoes with caraway seeds and
cheddar and had several slices of pie. Then I was just about
ready for bed. I wondered how far away my stereo could be heard,
hoping I didn't disturb the person(s) in the van.
