Every time Cathy and I go up the hill to Lake Hemet (to go fishing mostly) we marvel at the beauty of the mountains, the pine trees, the meadows and the wild flowers.  No matter how hot it is in Hemet it seems there is always a cool breeze blowing off the lake.  Garner Valley is so pretty and so close that we go up at least once a month even if it’s just to get away for a little while.

We were kind of disappointed when we were told we would not be able to metal detect at Hurkey Creek Park, but we thought we would make the best of the area and it was such a beautiful day, what more could you ask for.

Jay and many others were at the meeting place (the Lake Hemet store) as we arrived, and after we all stood around talking for awhile the rest of our group (about 20 in total) arrived and we headed a little ways down the road to a parking area where we were under the pines in the shade and Jay could orient us to the area and what and where we could metal detect, hike and sight see.

Soon everyone got busy, getting their detectors out and covering the area.

Some left the immediate area for the other side of the hill and another parking area (always good detecting).

Jay took a group on a tour of a local mine which was off the Ramona trail head just down the road a ways.  The mine was about a mile back in the woods and I didn’t think I could handle it so Cathy and I stayed where we were and enjoyed the mountain air.

I think everyone found lots of bullets, shell casing, and junk of some kind.

A few found coins and a couple of us found coins that looked like they had been targets for a 22.  One was a wheat penny and the other was a silver dime.  See pictures

Although Cathy and I left in the afternoon some TVP prospectors planned to stay in a Forest Service camp ground.

We had a great time, and would advise everyone to go up and enjoy the beauty of the mountains.

Thank you Jay for a wonderful day/weekend.

Tom