Drying out and skidding away.
March 27, 1999 at 00:38:35
Eight inches of rain in a week or so would seem like a pittance in wetter places, but here in Kalgoorlie, where our annual average rainfall is only 11", thats a lot of rain and you gotta see what it does to this flat red clay country to believe it. Nothing manmade moves in the bush after that much rain without getting bogged to the eyeballs.
But it's drying out nicely now and the first people to return to the bush after rain are prospectors. Normal people would argue that the only reason we go back out so soon, when there are still numerous boggy traps around, is because we're idiots, but as usual they are wrong. The good reasons for getting out now are that there is plenty of water around for panning and the chance of "specking" gold after heavy rain is excellent. Add to these reasons the fact that SD's gain an inch or so of depth in wet ground and you can understand why prospectors are the first fools to venture out.
The coil skid is working A1, but I haven't managed to walk over the right colour metal with it yet on completely virgin ground, which is where it excels. I did cruise into a patch of old boys trash once and believe me, that gets painfull when you're skidding a coil behind you !. All I could do was turn the SD off and get the hell out of it.
Come to think of it, for the sake of Bill Grimes, that patch of old boys "trash" could have in fact been "treasure". Maybe next time I skid thru an old boys camping area I might stop thinking in terms of gold and start looking for treasure instead !.
Old boys camps in the bush are quite interesting, but here you need to figure out whether it was a prospectors camp or a woodcutters camp. The old rusty tools lying around tell the story. If there's an old axe head or some files lying around, it was a woodcutters camp, while a prospectors camp will have a few rock samples and maybe a rusted out pan or shovel, and some shallow diggings somewhere nearby, which of course you simply must go and check out.
Another clue in old campsites is that where there is a lot of trash (treasure) and no diggings, that was certainly a woodcutters camp. Conversely, where there is a lot of trash AND a lot of diggings, thats too damn obvious so if you're looking for a virgin patch, leave the obvious places to the new chums and "treasure" hunters.
Just one more rambling point here. On the way to one of my favourite patches there is a fairly major dry river to cross, which has never presented me with a problem before because it's always been dry. But this time it was running and what a shock I got to see it running NORTH, when every one of my few senses would swear that it must run SOUTH because the ground looks lower to the south. Next time I go there I'll take an Auto Level with me to re-affirm my sanity because when you start seeing rivers run UPSLOPE with your very own eyes, you need all the affirmation you can get !.
Stay inspired,
Chris Hake.
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