Mind the steps

If I had a dollar for every gold ring I have ever found underneath or close to wooden stairs at the beach I would probably be a couple of hundred dollars richer.

Wooden boardwalks, stairs or steps at the beach are great places to find all types of jewelry and coins around.

The sand around lifeguard tower steps can also be surprisingly rewarding, I have found so many good things just sitting waiting to be picked off lifeguard tower steps early in the morning, talk about the early bird getting the worm.

Beach entrance stairs in areas with a little history have sand full of old coins and jewelry waiting for an enterprising beach hunter when the time is right.

The majority of beach hunters just see the wooden steps as a means of getting down to the lower beach before walking off into the distance metal detecting but I see a beach hot spot, a busy access point where countless people have used and sat not far away from when enjoying a trip to the beach. 

Imagine how many gold rings and silver coins are lost over the years close to beach entrances and those same things over time get pushed up towards and under the stairs after coastal storms hit the area.

Making these potential jewelry hot spots harder to walk away from and of course where there is trash there is always treasure if you know how to find it.

If the beach has a concrete wall at the back of the beach the wall acts as one big giant trap preventing coins and jewelry from traveling any higher up the beach. 

You cannot dig it all underneath and around beach steps or close to boardwalks, one reason why I prefer using VLF metal detectors with a few discrimination bells & whistles for beach hunting.  

Iron bolts and iron nails embedded in wood structures are a nuisance along with any iron fasteners in the area from previous wood structures destroyed or damaged by storms or extremely high surf. 

If the beach has a concrete wall you will probably have to deal with detecting iron embedded in the concrete but if you can close to the beach retaining wall you will find a lot of stuff washed close to the wall.

A small search coil will allow you to get up close to concrete walls or wood timbers full of iron fasteners, this is important to know when searching around wood steps after beach erosion has taken place.

Some of my favorite Spanish shipwreck artifacts have been pulled out from under wooden beach access stairs, rusty iron nails in high numbers are really good at persuading other beach treasure hunters to search easier areas. 

I have also found plenty of gold and silver during or after beach steps construction projects.

When a new set of steps is installed deep footings are dug and the sand brought up is spread around the area, anything that was in the deeper layers of sand is now close to the surface.

One of my best gold coins came from a couple of inches of sand thanks to footings dug for a beach deck, along with a handful of very old silver coins scattered around the area.

Lifeguard tower steps attract night time courting couples and skinny dippers, in areas with beachside nightlife too much drinky winky will often lead to Bobby Dazzlers of a different kind left behind on life guard tower steps.

If a really good staircase or boardwalk metal detecting opportunity comes up I use a powerful pull magnet dragging the sand for iron nails and junk. 

I also use a home made rocker sifter in really good areas, you would be amazed how many diamond stud ear rings and thin gold chains are lost around beach entrances.

Micro gold targets that most metal detectors struggle to detect, especially in trashy areas close to wooden stairs or steps, gold stands out like a sore thumb in the screen of a sand sifter. 

Large numbers of jewelry and coins get lost at beach entrance stairs or steps because they are difficult to navigate by people carrying stuff to and from the beach.

Adjusting clothing and small kids being carried up or down the steps leads to lost watches, chains, ear rings and bracelets, hands going into pockets for car keys leads to coins and any jewelry taken off at the beach falling from pockets. 

Just wait until you get a chance to search underneath a beach boardwalk, the amount of coins that fall thru the wooden planks of a boardwalk over the years is unbelievable. 

They say treasure is where you find it and it is often walked over and never given any thought to by beach hunters eager to get away from the beach entrance hoping to get lucky further down the beach.  

 available at www.garydrayton.com