Memorial Day 1985 was the 3rd and last time I visited Crown Valley. We had a rip-roaring good time. This was back in the days when I used to get a lot of interest in backpacking trips. It was also back in the days when we had a great string going of good weather on Memorial Day. Laurel showed up with her friend Margaret.

Kerry and Kathy were there, as was old buddy Wayne Mikita. Pete and Lynne still backpacked. Geoffrey was still single, as were both Eddie and I. Sherri and Stogie were as much fun as always. The only bad part of the trip was that we had such a good time one night that we drank most of the liquor. Who can forget Wayno's rendition of Barbara Ann?

Camp cuisine was exquisite as always....hey, wait. Those are hot dogs!

I had hauled my old Garrett ADS II up with the hopes of detecting in the area. We were camped at an old campsite near a stream, right next to an inholding that was an old dude ranch from early in the century. I was the first to rise one morning. A light mist shrouded the meadow.

I set up my rig and swung it near the fire ring. After digging numerous aluminum ingots from burned cans, I got a good signal and dug the target. The target was buried about 2" down, rather deep for this area. Up popped a small, silver ring with a white stone set amongst 4 blue ones.

It took a second or two to register, but then my heart sped-up. I brushed the dirt off and saw 20K. I knew cut glass wasn't set in 20 Karat white gold, so I highly suspected I was looking at about a 3/4 carat diamond with 4 sapphires around it. As the other campers awoke, I showed them my find. They concluded that carrying that thing up there may not have been so crazy after all.

Appraisers have told me it was from the 1920s. That seems consistent with usage of the ranch and the depth of burial. Its owner was a very small person. I called the forest service and asked if they had any old reports of anyone loosing a ring and they didn't, not surprisingly.

The ring was worth about $1,000 in 1985, and more than double that now. The stone was an old "mine cut". It had a flat spot on the base. I had the diamond re-cut and set into my wedding ring when Cathy and I got married in 1994.

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