Yeah, DirtDawg, I'm the same guy.
Tou want to know if I'm sensitive? OK, I changed my sig.
Scrapheap, I don't remember tangling with you, but I get to feeling inadequate if nobody hates me. That was interesting about southern Arizona being totally picked over. I was figuring on going there just because I'll be living outside all winter, but I could just as easily go somewhere else if prospects look more promising. If you got any suggestions, I'm interested.
My basic idea is to go to an area that's known to have gold, then go back to places there where hardly anybody ever goes because they're too hard to get to. I'm currently rigging up a Ho Chi Minh Trail style pack bike, so I should be able to go anyplace a deer can go and carry enough food for a few weeks at a time and enough water to move between springs.
I'm planning to start by sampling around, then if I find something worthwhile I'll figure out what to do based on the particular circumstances.
richard, looks on the map like the prescott area is pretty mountainous, how would it be camping and traveling through the winter?