San grabriel river

[Marleysurf11]

Hi, so I'm very new to gold prospecting. I live in Ventura, last week I went up to ojai. I heard there might be some gold in the matilija creek, so a buddy and I headed up there. We brought a couple of pans, but we forgot a shovel! So basically we tried to pan for a bit, but could only get top dirt in our pans, and not a speck of gold all day....
Has anybody ever prospected matilija creek or anywhere in ojai before??
So tomorrow Im planning on going again, I have the bug, thinking about going back up to ojai, or maybe piru creek. I've read a bit on piru.. Any suggestions??
Saturday I'm definately heading to the San gabriel river to check it out. I heard it's pretty good, has anyone had any luck up there??
Thanks for any suggestions!!!!!!!!!!

[Klondikeike]

Hello Marleysurf11,

Welcome to Treasurenet...

Klondike here...

If you read through all the post I and others have made under the topic....


......REAL GOLD MINING STORIES...FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCES...Klondike's Lost Mine....


There you'll find several posts about the East Fork of the San Gabriel River...and where to find gold there...

Be sure to report back about your trip the East Fork...

Good luck to you and enjoy...



Klondike

[Armchair prospector]

Don't get discouraged as you may not find much at all, or you may be the luckiest guy in the world and trip over a nugget. Keep your eye out for bedrock and work in those areas. Find cracks that you can work out with a screw driver or a tool you have that can get into those areas. Check out the gold sniping and other prospecting videos on you tube. Those are very helpful to make your experience more rewarding. Good luck.

[sfast1]

My Dad and I go up to East Fork all of the time.. There is definitely a lot of gold up there. We've been working East Fork, just past the general store and further up. Apparently the best gold is about 5 miles up the creek in a place called the narrows (Just past the Bridge to nowhere). You pretty much need to camp because it's a full day hike through rugged country. I have yet to make it up there due to the weight of our equipment.

You should have a good sluice, some shovels and some pans at the least. A good digging bar will help you move the boulders.

To really get gold in this area you should have a bunch of gear and a few strong backs. The best gold is anywhere from 4-10 feet down. You'll know you are close when you run into large egg-sized magnetite. Plan on spending a few days in any spot to really get down deep.

Look for some old timers up there and make friends with them. They'll really help you along.

Best of luck.