CNN reported today on a chef that is an amateur treasure hunter, who hit the big one. We all dream about finding our own pot of gold so to speak. That may mean old coins, gold nuggets or relics from the past.

Dave Crisp was metal detecting in a field near Frome, somerset, which is in southwestern England when he found a few coins from Roman times. The story just gets better from this point.

Dave finds the coins digs further and unearths a huge pot stuffed full of coins. Being the responsible treasure hunter he sought help to properly preserve the site, Somerset County Council Archaeologists joined in to excavate a pot that weighed 350 pounds and contained 52,500 coins.

The coins dates ranged from AD 286 to AD 293 and look to be made from bronze. The find is the largest on record to date, to be found in one pot. The preliminary price put on them is around one million dollars! Dave says if this is not affected by the Treasure Act 1996, he will split it in half with the farmer that owns the field.

Can you imagine how many times people have walked over this treasure and never knew it was waiting to be discovered? I am glad to have my Tesoro back from a checkup. I am hitting the beaches in the Keys in two weeks. Copy right 2010 myparknspot.com

Photo credit Somerset County Council

We were there in June to escape the hot weather  and soak up the scenery. Tom our guide explained what to expect  on our ride, he also asked a few questions to find out our level of skill on a horse. Tom disappeared for a couple a minutes to find Pepper and Lucky to excellent horses that were young and full of life, that’s a big difference from the weathered animals usually found at riding facilities.

We headed out through the plains past  a herd of long horns just enjoying the day.

Tom was very knowledgeable about the local wildlife, and took the time to point out animals we would have missed if we were riding alone. The ride took a little longer than 1.5 hours and we were sorry when the ranch came back into view. I would recommend the ranch to anyone  at any skill level, it has something for everyone including a restaurant.  What a peaceful ride we had losing our selves  in the cool breeze just you and your horse what a better way to spend Saturday.

Myparknspot.com 2010

Maria Gray Adventurer

Maria convinced me to get a few shots and pills to be on the safe side before we headed to Costa Rica. We flew into a small airport by the name of Liberia. Liberia is a city in Guanacaste, Costa Rica located roughly four hours from San José by bus. About 35,000 people live in the city. This is fairly small by my standards but large in comparison to its neighbors Guanacaste. Liberia is also home to an expo that takes place in the month July, celebrating the Annexation of Guanacaste on July 25, 1824.

We landed and took a short drive by bus to very small rental car location. I picked the vehicle a 4×4 jeep. Good thing I went with the four wheel drive, it was the rainy season and we were headed to Monteverde.

We had a free map from the rental jeep place and a full tank of gas that’s all we needed. Towards dark we got lost a few times but were pointed in the right direction by some nice residents that only spoke Spanish. We ended up going through a neighborhood and catching a dirt road that turned to mud when the rain began. This was shaping up to be a real adventure, pitch black muddy winding mountain road with about 10 foot visibility due to heavy fog. That is what I call GOOD TIMES! We passed a few open air bars that were about 10 foot by 10 foot. The bars had people dancing kids playing under tables and one had a pay phone outside on a pole with the only electric light we saw that night.

We made it into our hotel in Monteverde late that night. The hotel room was very small, and had hard wood on the floors the wall and the ceiling. The room was clean and basic no TV or phone. The next morning a new world unfolded as the sun came up. We were in the middle of a jungle and free to explore it. We toured a few things then headed up to the Sky Adventure zip line tours. The Sky Adventure zip lines tours at the time were the highest the fastest and the longest. We had a short bit of instruction were given a harness and started the long hike through the forest to the top of the mountain to start the zip line fun. The length and speed of this was incredible the cables started in the canopy and went through the branches then opened up between the mountains to exposé the incredible view between the mountains. This was by far the most exciting thing I did in Costa Rica.

I think the funest part of this trip was the sense of adventure when four wheeling in foreign country, we felt safe yet were exploring the unknown by ourselves. The only thing we encountered that may seem out of the ordinary was on a muddy road through the jungle we came upon a closed gate where a man armed with an AK47 stopped us. The man looked in the jeep and opened the gate and let us go, we were near the border of Nicaragua so maybe that was border patrol?

We stayed at a resort near a volcano that had hot mineral pools and mud baths. Normally I am not up for that sort of thing but there was no extra charge and it was quite the experience. Click here to see more photos of Monkeys; pot holes the size of a truck and much more!

Would I go back there for another vacation you bet! That’s an Adventure Baby.

Photos from this Adventure

Myparknspot.com

Brian Gray Adventurer

I threw the metal detectors in the car and headed down I70 thru the Eisenhower tunnel past Silver Plume where I found a pull out to park at. I did not see any fence nor did it have any signs that said private property which is rare for Colorado. I grabbed the detectors and started searching; I only had a little time to hunt. I found lots of nails, wire, pipe, and a few vintage Budweiser cans.

I was disappointed that I did not have more time and that I was having problems with my metal detector. The detector would not work in the discriminate mode, and in regular mode it never stopped going off due to the amount of debris left over from the cabin fire.  I did have a mini adventure even though I did not come home with a gold coin.

The things I have learned from this outing are get the best digging tools a variety and don’t put off having your detector looked out if you think it may not be working correctly. I know this sounds like a no brainer but when it means not having your equipment for a month it’s a hard decision to make, what if you are on a country road and you pass by an old stage coach stop like I did and you did not have it? That’s right you would kick yourself!  Last but not least always take the trash you find and dispose of it the right way.

I think I will go to Leadville when I get my detector back.

Myparknspot.com

Brian Gray

I am sure by now everyone that is into treasure hunting has seen at least one of the Meteorite Men’s episodes on TV. I stumbled across them on late night TV, after watching the episode I went online to buy Meteorite Magnets for the whole family.

The next day I dug up my old Tesoro metal detector and started doing research on known meteorite impacts near northern Colorado. I will let you know how we did in a later article.

The good news is that Steve and Geoff are back for another season! These guys make it fun and exciting to learn more about meteorites. My take on the two of them is as follows, Steve is your average guy out to have some fun and make some money at the same time. Geoff on the other hand is a little more reserved and I would guess he has a huge collection of Meteorites and would prefer not to have to part with any of them. Their personalities seem to work together as another form of entertainment on the series.

Photo info below

ON LOCATION WITH PBS
Geoff Notkin, Steve Arnold, and the World Record Meteorite on location at the Learning Center, Wichita, KS, filming the Wired Science TV pilot for PBS. I would guess by looking at the photo Geoff signed off on it seeing how Steve has one eye shut.

Myparknspot.com Brian Gray

We recently moved to Colorado and got the Gold bug. Colorado has lots of old gold mines and some are still in use today. The Phoenix gold Mine located in Idaho Springs, Colorado the mine is still in use just not like you would think. They offer tours of the mine, panning and hiking.

This is what their site had to say about panning for gold. Panning for Gold and other minerals, gems and metals can be great fun or very frustrating depending on the day! Try your hand at this age old activity and learn some hands on history in the process! Ok with that statement I would like to say we had a very frustrating day of panning, we did not have any instruction and the pans provided were just steel pie pans. I know that as a amateur you need every advantage you can get, that’s why I am ordering two of the Garrett super sluice 15 inch gold pan. The Garrett gold pans have grooves called gold traps that go a long way to improving your chances of keeping the gold in the pan.

We did have a lot of fun learning about mining and soaking up some sun at the mountain creek. I was sure we would find a gold nugget! There were a lot of gold flakes visible in the stream for the old timers that know what they are doing.

I do intend to go back some time with my new gold pans and a couple of metal detectors. This is a very cool place to take the kids; they will love the mine itself. Do not forget your coat the mine does stay between 42 and 54 (F) degrees year round.

I almost forgot you get to keep what you find panning! Here is the link to their site http://www.phoenixgoldmine.com/main.html

Included in the Admission Price is a guided tour of the Historical Phoenix Gold Mine. Recognized, on the USGS maps, for its place in history. Seen in National Geographic, Ghost Hunters, Globe Trekkers, as well as in many other Medias such as television, newspapers, magazines and even Educational Software!  This claim was originally discovered in 1871

Good luck and remember to bring sun screen, snacks, and a good pan if you want to increase your chances of leaving with some gold.  Copyright 2010 Myparknspot.com Brian Gray Adventurer.