I took my White's MXT with standard 9 inch coil and a 6 inch oval DD coil with me this year on my annual California gold adventure..........hoped to use it to find a nugget or gold in quartz rock.
First usage was on Monday 27 October...........as I stopped about 200 feet above the NF American River at Mineral Bar, and set to detecting a dry gulch plunge pool and looked WAY up the very steep gulch.
I'd wanted to detect this dry gulch for several years now, as I had panned some of the dry plunge pool material and found some fine gold. Therefore, there had to be gold up stream, so to speak!
I detected the pool, about 9 AM, and the sun was just coming over the far ridge & getting hot. I knew today would be another mid-90s kind of day. Fould some expected pull tabs, a nail & .22 shell casings. Then I hiked around the cliff and started up the dry gulch, avoiding poison oak & blackberry vines that threated me the whole morning.
I stuck that 6 inch DD coil into about every crevice & spot I could......I got a few "growls" here & there, digging each thinking "this could be the one".......but only a high iron rock, or old .22 bullet, or a bit of old iron wire/nail. Dang it!
For about 45 minutes I worked my way up, climbing carefully on the steep rocks, and got to a no-go point. So, I carefully went kack down to the pilot, but at least I can say I'd "been there, done that" and could stop wondering. 
Videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRZA6ifczkw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFZZiCINJqg
Next big detecting opportunity was on 29 October on the NF American River at a new place for me called Ponderosa Way. This is quite a bit more off the beaten path, but could tell others had been detecting... I started downstream and came across this HUGE hole to the bedrock a bunch of prospectors had been working on for some time. I jumped into the 8 foot deep hole and wanded around and got just one signal, a LOUD signal, hoping to find a nugget here!
I creviced and dug and finally pulled up this large lump of old rusty iron. Bummer....thought I had a Tom Massie sized nugget for sure!
Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZIlBtEyiE0
I worked my way downstream on the East side of the bench, trying to stay out of the scortching sun, as the day grew hotter, and found the coyote hole of sorts up on the high bank. I carefully climbed up and detected around the "tailing pile" below it and into the hole itself.
I got several "growls".........yeah! I dug them out, only to find a .30-06 shell dated WW II, an old copper casing from around a high-power bullet and an old rusty nail. Now how in the world did that human junk get up there and into that hole???
Someone playing games with a future detectorist??Next usage looking for a nugget, yet, was on Friday 1 October, in Downieville, California. I awoke early, like 5:30AM, and not wanting to lay in bed, I got up, got my detector, and headed across the street from the hotel to a little city park called "Tin Cup Diggins Park". Two horseshoe pits, and two big trees and about 4 picnic tables. The history is back in 1848 - 50 the miners that had this claim could dig a tin cup of nuggets a day and then stop and go drinking in the saloons all night long. Maybe they left one for me!
I detected around for about 1/2 hour, before the town woke up, so to speak, and found jillions of old rusty square nails. I found about 5 recent pennies/dimes, and the neatest thing was a very old axe/hatchett head, totally rusted up. I gave it to Susie as a momento of old miners in Downieville to put in her backyard flower bed.
Last chance of finding a nugget was on Sunday, 3 October, back at Ponderosa Way on the NF Ameerican river, my last day in California. After using my prototype Wolf Trap sluice downstream all morning working a gravel bar, I took lunch at the Pilot and changed into detecting mode and decided to work the far side bank up stream this time. The little dirt trail from the bridge was very steep but I got to the high bench safely. After detecting about 1 hour I found a bunch of old .22 bullets, loads of old iron nails/wire and junk. Dang it..........why couldn't those old miners keep a cleaner diggins and newer folks just not mess the place up???
I also learned a valuable lesson.............when detecting...........take a digging buddy! I wore myself out ging fron standing/wanding, to on my knees, digging, scooping, and trying to locate my target. Over & over that up/down process REALLY wears on you, especially when you have a target every 5 feet.
Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoGnAK3N0lA
So, not discouraged one bit, and I had a blast & found loads of iron, bullets, copper bullet fragments, and other junk. If in doubt, dig it out, and i did! Can't wait until next year.
I saw a tailing pile from an old pocket mine WAY up on the hillside and wonder if that would be worth the hike to go and detect the tailings. Hmmm..........
Randy C-17A
http://www.goldadventures.biz