With the temps in the Phoenix area getting above the 110
o mark, it's time to start finding new hunting sites close enough to home that you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to get to some place you can spend at least a couple of hours searching (and with temperatures hitting 90
o by 9am, the site had better be close. So I started working the GeoCommunicator Mining Claims Map (
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http://www.geocommunicator.gov/blmMap/Map.jsp?MAP=MC
), looking for closed claims INSIDE the metropolitan area....I figured it'd be nice to know where people had found gold nearby. Most of the claims are built over, but some of them still have vacant lots and washes that can be searched. I'm in the process of transferring the claim data to a city directory so I can carry it with me.
But that's not why I'm writing this. I figured that while I was scanning the urban landscape for old mining claims, I might want to flip back and forth between the map view and the aerial view to see if I could find any evidence of a couple of stage stops that I'm looking for (I know the general area, but not the specific location---for all I know they may even be built over).......anyway, while I was flipping back and forth, I zoomed out a little on the aerial view just to make sure I knew where I was and saw it.....A beautiful equilateral triangle in the middle of a nearly empty section of land. I'd found a World War II era airfield sitting half a mile from a major intersection. Unlike most of the World War II era fields in this area, it isn't being used as a civilian airfield and except for a municipal recreational complex built over one of the corners and along the edge of the center runway, there's not a building on the field... And it gets better---from the aerial view, I can tell that nothing has been built on the area where the barracks, crash truck shed, operations, etc would have been located. I can even see the foundations for some of those buildings---all just OUTSIDE a perimeter road the city thoughtfully built around their recreational complex. Best of all, this site is less than 30 minutes from the house.
I've lost track of the number of times I've driven past this site (I've even been in the recreational facilities on it) without seeing it. And that is with me having known there was an old airfield in the general area. I wouldn't have found it today, if I hadn't been flipping back and forth between view types since it doesn't show up on the street maps.
So the moral of the story is : even if you're searching an area that you're very familiar with it pays to change your perspective so you get a fresh view of the area. Look through new eyes and there is no telling what might pop out at you.
BA
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