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Detecting in western Washington

Compass

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Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
5,424
Location
Southern California
Wrapping up a short stay in Washington and met a guy detecting in the water. He was using an Equinox 600 and was kind enough to stop and speak with me for a couple of minutes. My wife and I have talked about the possibility of moving up here someday but I always thought that I would miss detecting in the water.

Well, from talking to this gentleman I now realize that there are a lot more opportunities for detecting up here than I realized. I know that I wouldn't find as much gold jewelry as in Southern California but the thought of finding well-preserved coins over 100 years old is of great interest to me and would make re-locating even easier.
I'm mostly talking about fresh water lakes and rivers but I ran across an old photo of Alki Beach from around 1910 and there were beach-goers in the water so more potential there as well.
Any Washington water hunters out there?
 
I have no doubt that a person that loves detecting would make lemons out of lemonade anywhere. I may not find the tons of sunglasses and rings that I do down here, but if I lived in Georgia where my brother is, I would easily get into detecting for Civil War stuff.
 
I am from Washington. Haven’t done much water hunting. But there are some great targets up here. Just got to get a good spot.
 
I have no doubt that a person that loves detecting would make lemons out of lemonade anywhere. I may not find the tons of sunglasses and rings that I do down here, but if I lived in Georgia where my brother is, I would easily get into detecting for Civil War stuff.

Yes, that would be awesome to find civil war history wouldn't it?
 
I am from Washington. Haven’t done much water hunting. But there are some great targets up here. Just got to get a good spot.
I suppose that is true anywhere you go but an added bonus would be how beautiful it is up here. Maybe not as many hunters up here also because of the weather?
 
Hi Compass- it was great to meet you today at the lake. The Seattle area has some intriguing freshwater opportunities. Our saltwater beaches don’t draw as big of crowds as some other areas of the country, but they can also be productive.
 
go to that lake that Bundy kidnapped those 2 girls back in the late 70's/early 80's. There were thousands of people there. Im sure there's a ring or two.
 
Hi Compass- it was great to meet you today at the lake. The Seattle area has some intriguing freshwater opportunities. Our saltwater beaches don’t draw as big of crowds as some other areas of the country, but they can also be productive.
Thanks for responding SD, We had a great week in Washington
and when I mentioned to my family that one of my favorite moments from the trip was meeting another forum member they looked at me a little funny. They just don't understand!
I had pretty much thought that it was generally too cold in the PNW for water hunting to produce much but your intel has opened my eyes to the possibilities and water is everywhere up here. There are also plentiful dirt hunting sites with more history than I had realized.
If we do wind up moving up here someday it is great to know that my water hunting gear can still be put to good use. Again, thanks for enlightening me SD! :yes:
 
go to that lake that Bundy kidnapped those 2 girls back in the late 70's/early 80's. There were thousands of people there. Im sure there's a ring or two.
I don't know about that LT but I did see a picture from the 70's that shows swimmers jumping off a bridge over a lake and I would love to find THAT spot. :yes:
 
Plenty of places to hunt in Washington. You have the old ghost towns in Eastern Wa. and the beach in western WA. I've been detecting around here for about 10 years now. Mostly woods and parks but also the beach when the tide is out. 1887 is my oldest coin from a Seattle park. I have found gold at the beach but its not like what you guys get. I have found a lot of old coins at the beaches. Not a lot of sand here, mostly rocky beaches but that keeps the targets from dropping too much. Oh and Alki has been hit extremely hard for many years due to an old amusement park there, but you never know. I was there on a saturday in summer a couple years ago and there were more detectorists than beach-goers. We do have a couple clubs up here too.
Funny story, a couple years ago they closed an early 1900's golf course that was a farm in the late 1800's. 18 holes but only the front 9 were not back filled with dirt and even a few of the front 9 were back filled at some point. Put it in the newspaper that it was open to all now. Wow, a virgin park for me. I detected that place for 4 months straight 3-4 times per week, 5-6 hours at a time. Only saw two other detectorists out there a couple of times. Got 105 silver coins and a few sterling out of that place in those four months. The clubs finally caught word that it was open to the public but by that time it was hard to even find a coin at all. Ha ha to them. It was kind of fun to run into another detectorist from one of the clubs and tell them all about the finds I pulled. It was nothing to come out of there with 6-8 silver coins a couple times a week. I always came home with something silver. Man I miss that place. I posted most of my finds from the park but you'd have to do some serious wading through my posts to find it. I think it was 2018 or so. What area are you thinking of moving too?
 
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Plenty of places to hunt in Washington. You have the old ghost towns in Eastern Wa. and the beach in western WA. I've been detecting around here for about 10 years now. Mostly woods and parks but also the beach when the tide is out. 1887 is my oldest coin from a Seattle park. I have found gold at the beach but its not like what you guys get. I have found a lot of old coins at the beaches. Not a lot of sand here, mostly rocky beaches but that keeps the targets from dropping too much. Oh and Alki has been hit extremely hard for many years due to an old amusement park there, but you never know. I was there on a saturday in summer a couple years ago and there were more detectorists than beach-goers. We do have a couple clubs up here too.
Funny story, a couple years ago they closed an early 1900's golf course that was a farm in the late 1800's. 18 holes but only the front 9 were not back filled with dirt and even a few of the front 9 were back filled at some point. Put it in the newspaper that it was open to all now. Wow, a virgin park for me. I detected that place for 4 months straight 3-4 times per week, 5-6 hours at a time. Only saw two other detectorists out there a couple of times. Got 105 silver coins and a few sterling out of that place in those four months. The clubs finally caught word that it was open to the public but by that time it was hard to even find a coin at all. Ha ha to them. It was kind of fun to run into another detectorist from one of the clubs and tell them all about the finds I pulled. It was nothing to come out of there with 6-8 silver coins a couple times a week. I always came home with something silver. Man I miss that place. I posted most of my finds from the park but you'd have to do some serious wading through my posts to find it. I think it was 2018 or so. What area are you thinking of moving too?

I hit that golf course park (at least I think we’re talking the same course 😁) after the clubs had worked it over. I managed to pull a few more silvers out of it. Including one silver dime that was like 9 inches down on the edge of a green.
 
Plenty of places to hunt in Washington. You have the old ghost towns in Eastern Wa. and the beach in western WA. I've been detecting around here for about 10 years now. Mostly woods and parks but also the beach when the tide is out. 1887 is my oldest coin from a Seattle park. I have found gold at the beach but its not like what you guys get. I have found a lot of old coins at the beaches. Not a lot of sand here, mostly rocky beaches but that keeps the targets from dropping too much. Oh and Alki has been hit extremely hard for many years due to an old amusement park there, but you never know. I was there on a saturday in summer a couple years ago and there were more detectorists than beach-goers. We do have a couple clubs up here too.
Funny story, a couple years ago they closed an early 1900's golf course that was a farm in the late 1800's. 18 holes but only the front 9 were not back filled with dirt and even a few of the front 9 were back filled at some point. Put it in the newspaper that it was open to all now. Wow, a virgin park for me. I detected that place for 4 months straight 3-4 times per week, 5-6 hours at a time. Only saw two other detectorists out there a couple of times. Got 105 silver coins and a few sterling out of that place in those four months. The clubs finally caught word that it was open to the public but by that time it was hard to even find a coin at all. Ha ha to them. It was kind of fun to run into another detectorist from one of the clubs and tell them all about the finds I pulled. It was nothing to come out of there with 6-8 silver coins a couple times a week. I always came home with something silver. Man I miss that place. I posted most of my finds from the park but you'd have to do some serious wading through my posts to find it. I think it was 2018 or so. What area are you thinking of moving too?
Wow Goat- if that 1887 coin is the one in your avatar- what a beauty! :wow: Thanks for the information- sounds like I wouldn't be hurting for areas to hunt if we made the move. We were visiting family on Whidbey Island so we've been looking there first. Considering the views, acreage and water access the prices seem reasonable compared to what we see in our area. Probably be at least a year before we relocated though.
 
I hit that golf course park (at least I think we’re talking the same course 😁) after the clubs had worked it over. I managed to pull a few more silvers out of it. Including one silver dime that was like 9 inches down on the edge of a green.

Nice. It was great while it lasted. Yep, some of those coins were deep. That place gave me 5 half dollars. The grass is so long now it's impossible to hit. Got an 1892 s dime, that was the oldest. Another guy I met out there found a spill with two Barber quarters and two standers.
 
Plenty of places to hunt in Washington. You have the old ghost towns in Eastern Wa. and the beach in western WA. I've been detecting around here for about 10 years now. Mostly woods and parks but also the beach when the tide is out. 1887 is my oldest coin from a Seattle park. I have found gold at the beach but its not like what you guys get. I have found a lot of old coins at the beaches. Not a lot of sand here, mostly rocky beaches but that keeps the targets from dropping too much. Oh and Alki has been hit extremely hard for many years due to an old amusement park there, but you never know. I was there on a saturday in summer a couple years ago and there were more detectorists than beach-goers. We do have a couple clubs up here too.
Funny story, a couple years ago they closed an early 1900's golf course that was a farm in the late 1800's. 18 holes but only the front 9 were not back filled with dirt and even a few of the front 9 were back filled at some point. Put it in the newspaper that it was open to all now. Wow, a virgin park for me. I detected that place for 4 months straight 3-4 times per week, 5-6 hours at a time. Only saw two other detectorists out there a couple of times. Got 105 silver coins and a few sterling out of that place in those four months. The clubs finally caught word that it was open to the public but by that time it was hard to even find a coin at all. Ha ha to them. It was kind of fun to run into another detectorist from one of the clubs and tell them all about the finds I pulled. It was nothing to come out of there with 6-8 silver coins a couple times a week. I always came home with something silver. Man I miss that place. I posted most of my finds from the park but you'd have to do some serious wading through my posts to find it. I think it was 2018 or so. What area are you thinking of moving too?


Now that right there is why I am pissed I didn’t get into this sooner. Damn
 
Wow Goat- if that 1887 coin is the one in your avatar- what a beauty! :wow: Thanks for the information- sounds like I wouldn't be hurting for areas to hunt if we made the move. We were visiting family on Whidbey Island so we've been looking there first. Considering the views, acreage and water access the prices seem reasonable compared to what we see in our area. Probably be at least a year before we relocated though.

That 1887 in my avatar is not the one but the one I found was in great shape. I hear Whidbey has some spots to hunt but I'v never been. Good luck
 
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