Trip to Dahlonega

[JackInFlorida]

The day finally came that we could pack up the car and head up to Dahlonega, GA last Friday. We left early in the morning and drove through 8 hours of rain. The weather guy said it was going to rain all weekend, which, of course, the kids believed. We finally made it to the Etowah river site. Luckily, it was not raining and we just had enough time to setup camp before dark.

During the weekend, we only found a few specks of gold, but for our first time gold prospecting, it was lots of fun. The kids really had a blast. We are used to Florida Camping and the new surroundings were like camping in Disney World for us.

I am really sorry that I did not get more pictures, but we were seriously busy the entire time. We were able to work with a guy that was high banking. We talked and watched guys with dredges in the river. We panned in the river, panned dirt / clay from a pit near our camp site in the river and I metal detected all around the camp and in one of the pits dug for high banking and panning.

It was a real learning experience and one of the best campouts we have had in a long time. The weather was perfect.

This was our campsite, which was about 50 feet from the river.


This was the river access path right in front of our camp site.


A picture from the river's edge


and another angle of the river

[gametalman52]

Jack, Glad you guys finally got up this way, it is great country. Glad you and your family had a good time. Hope the people at the river were nice to you and you were able to learn from it.

[longk]

Is Blackburn Park still open to the public?

[digrdug]

JACKINFLORIDA,
I TAKE IT THIS IS THE W.E.G.M PROPERTY.THE RIVER AND THE SUROUNDING
LAND HOLD A LOT OF MINING HISTORY.THE MEMBERS IN THIS CLUB ARE VERY FRIENDLY AND HELPING.THANKS FOR SHARING THOSE PICTURES.

[digrdug]

longk
Blackburn park has been closed for almost 10 years.The state is using it for a storage area.There sure where some nice creeks on the park land.The weekendgoldminers have property in the area and other proven gold locations.This is a great club to be a member of.

[JackInFlorida]

Hi digrdug,

Yes, WEGM http://www.weekendgoldminers.com. They were a very nice group. The Common Dig had about 100 folks. We had such a killer camp site. I can't wait to go back and explore the property some more. I would also like to check out the other properties as well. Looking at last week of July possibly.

Jack