Spoongooner

Hi everyone.. First I really just wanted to post a very big THANK YOU to Bill for all the awesome videos on YouTube.. they have really helped me out a lot! I am a Phoenix native and just got into finding the yellow shiny stuff.. I have joined the GPAA just as a starting place. I have been to a few claims,, brought back buckets and panned them in my backyard using a water filled wheel barrel to pan and have found some small flakes. I also picked a an Equinox 800 detector and also the 6in coil.. I have found a couple really tiny nuggets with it.. but it took a few days and many many many hours.. I wont be quitting my day job at this rate.. I am interested in finding my own place,.., FAR away from a road or trail ... I feel that GPAA claims have been worked over pretty hard and without a tractor or landslide, heavy rains or something to disturb the ground most of the easy stuff is gone.. (as far as a detector goes) (tired of finding bailing wire, soup cans and everyone's garbage) I know that is part of the game,, but some spots are just ridiculous with trash.. I just want to hike farther away (most people are lazy and wont go more than a block from the road) and find more untouched areas I am an avid hiker, dirt biker, quads, and big and small game hunter... so getting away from publicly known areas is nothing new. But how does one go about finding areas that are claim free? i cant seem to find any MAPS that would list existing claims,, so how does a person KNOW if it is okay to prospect? besides the obvious claim markers, signs and white poles,, many of the GPAA claims i have been to don't even have any signs or markers,, and it not for my gps and map I wouldn't even know I was on the right claim.... or often the claim is so large that you cant see the claim markers.. I just don't want to be a claim jumper! if it not marked is it safe to bust out my detector? I heard that on Tonto National Forest there is no propecting allowed? does that include detector? Jeff