Rye Patch NV

OCHawgy

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
59
Location
Mountain Home, ID
Hello all I'm out of Boise ID and plan on making a trip to Rye Patch NV for the first time in a few weeks with my Minelab. Anyone else in the area care to team up who's maybe been there before and knows a little bit about the area?
 
Ghost Town Near-by

I would love to go with you, but I moved away from Northern Nevada 9 years ago! Anyway, having lived in Winnemucca for 12 years, and being into MDing for more than 20 years, I explored many places in that area. I only went to Rye Patch a couple of times, and really didn't see anything that I was interested in hunting. However, not too far from there is an old ghost town called Humboldt! Here is a map that I made to help you find the spot:

picture.php


It is about 15 miles from Rye Patch, so it should be easy to get there and back in an afternoon. You need to get off I-80 at Humboldt House (exit #138)(Rye Patch is exit #129). Follow the frontage road on the S/W side of I-80 until you turn right towards that range of mountains. That is the road to Humboldt. Now I have to say that it has been 10 years since I have been there, so I don't know what the road might be like now. The last time I used the road, it was easy with 2 wheel drive. One other thing that you might want to check out is if the mine that you can see in the picture has made any claims to the land in that area. I never had any trouble with anyone from the mine, in fact they never even came to see what I was doing! The land was BLM at the time I was there. There were a few buildings still standing 10 years ago, but I don't know about now. You will know when you get to the site, there are plenty of ruins. It might be worth checking out!

HH & Good Luck, Dave.......
 
I have been to Rye Patch several times it is one of my favorite nugget spots. I found my first nugget there. It is pretty picked over but you can still get some color there in the right spots. Seven ghost towns in that area but will take some traveling. Last I heard their is still one resident in Vernon who will greet you with a shotgun. But he might have passsed by now. I now live in Placerville and its five hours away. Im a carpenter and the trades have taken a big digger so work is scarce but if you let me know when your going to be there and if a coulpe of jobs I bid on come thruogh I might be able to make it. Heck I might even be homeless by then and be going ther to shoot for some nugs. The gold feilds cover about 28000 acres and the richer areas have been worked pretty hard. Alot of people still have active claims there and dont like snipers so be warned. Here is a site for you that will show the active and inactive claims. www.geocommunicator.gov this should take you right there. play with the layers and views to get what you want. Using this and google earth you can get a pretty good look at the area and roads to get out to them. Send me a message and a regular e-mail adress I will kick you down a couple spots you can still pull some stuff out. I really work the tailing piles from the dry washers and have a good method I can also share with you. What kind of Minelab do you have? I ask this beacuse the pi machines wont find the small stuff this way. I use a gold master 3 for the tailing piles. The Pi's will do great on everything else but wont get the little rice size nuggets I find in the tailing piles. I dont know the direction you will be coming from but you might want to look at the batttle mountain area as well. Hope this helps and good luck hope I can see you there. :cheers:
 
Last edited:
I tried to take you right to Rye patch with my last adress but didnt work so click the link supplied click on mining claim maps and zoom in on the areas of interest. Good luck!!!
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies CoolAZ and Godigit. I'll definitely check out some ghost towns while down there, but with my PI machine my main focus is detecting for nuggets. I am also looking for my first one. While I live very close to the Boise Basin and Silver City mining areas, I haven't got the slightest idea where to start up here. I just moved to Idaho last summer. That and I'm still waiting for snow to melt. Rye Patch is very reputable and I'm sure worked heavily, but I still hear about nuggets being found there. Couldn't hurt to try knowing it's good ground.
 
Back
Top Bottom