Most maps hand you a pile of dots and wish you luck. This one reads the ground, the water and your own finds, and opens with the single thing worth knowing today.
Not more layers. Different questions — the kind that need several datasets held at once, which is exactly what nobody else does.
One dataset is a data point. Four separate federal records landing on the same ground, gathered for different reasons across a century, is corroboration. Every hole reports its count and names the records.
“Gold sites within two miles of a waterfall and five of a cave.” Spatial joins across 52,504 × 120,093 records, answered in the browser in under a fifth of a second.
Ranked on the geology, the season the water actually runs lowest, how far you would drive, and the pattern in your own dig log. Each one says plainly why it made the list.
Lost mines, folklore and mysteries across every state — each with a real source and, for most, a licence-cleared photograph. Cross-referenced against ground that actually scores.
120,093 collections from the Paleobiology Database, with age, formation and how many species came out. Nobody else puts fossil ground on a prospecting map.
Live USGS gauges and the months each creek historically runs lowest. A creek at snowmelt and the same creek in September are not the same proposition.
The app is built around the trip, not around the database.
It has already worked out the best thing it knows — water dropping into its window, a legend sitting on scoring ground, a spot you have never logged.
Land status read live from BLM, claims, access notes and how many independent records back the spot. Before you drive, not after.
Maps and layers cache to the phone. Canyons have no signal and the app expects that.
Every dig you record teaches it what ground works for you, and the next shortlist is built around that.
Every marker links back to the government record it came from, so you can check it yourself. Nothing invented, nothing scraped from forums.
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| USGS MRDS & GNIS | Mineral records, place names, documented workings |
| BLM | Mining claims, surface management, PLSS survey grid |
| USGS Water Services | Live flow and the seasonal window for each creek |
| Paleobiology Database | 120,093 published fossil localities (CC-BY) |
| USDA / NIFC / FEMA | Forest ownership, fire perimeters, flood and terrain |
| Wikimedia & Openverse | 1,114 photographs, every licence verified per file |
Nothing. There is no paid tier, no trial that expires, and no card on file.
Every layer, every state, offline maps, the finder, the shortlist. Built by a prospector as a hobby tool, not by a company with a funding round to service.
Not sold, not shared, no ad networks, no analytics following you. Signing up stores your email so the account exists — that is the only thing kept that you did not choose to add.
No. Save the maps and layers you want before you leave and the app works with the phone in airplane mode. It is built for canyons.
The sources are public, and we name every one. What is not public is the work: cross-referencing them against each other, scoring the ground, tracking which creeks are workable this month, and ranking it against your own finds. Nobody hands you that.
Never. A marker is a public record, not permission. The app shows land status, claims and access notes precisely so you can check before you go — and it says so on every pin.
Yes, and it stays that way. No subscription, no paywall, no limits.
All 51 — every state and DC — with gold, gems, legends, caves, fossil ground and water data.
Free, no card, nothing to cancel.
Open the map