DizzyDigger
Gold Member
- Dec 9, 2012
- 5,835
- 11,579
- Detector(s) used
- Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Days 1 thru 3...
Took off from home the afternoon of Sunday the 28th, made a quick stop about
100 miles south at my brothers place and then headed straight down I-5. Knowing
it was 1200+ miles to Ken's house down in Calif., the plan was to run as hard
as I could till fatigue stepped in and I had to have a short nap, then get going again.
Ran all night, and the first rest stop was in Dunnigan, CA. at what used to be one of
the best, old-time truck stops in Calif. It’s a Pilot Truck Stop now, but it used to be known
as “Pantyhose Junction”. The waitresses there wore shorter skirts (in today’s world ladies
commonly wear much shorter skirts..lol), the food was always lousy but the conversation
was good. Only thing the cooks couldn’t screw up were eggs and biscuits with gravy..and
they sold a lot of both!
This time I just bought gas there, and was feeling a bit sad at seeing “what was” be no more.
After a 2 hr. nap I took off again, got into Sacramento and then headed down Hwy. 99. Made
a stop in Fresno for lunch and shot down towards Bakersfield, taking the turn-off for Hwy. 58
and the run over the Tehachapi Mtns. My ’87 Toyota 4x4 is no powerhouse, and the 4-banger
(22R-E motor) was working hard pulling up some of the grades, but over we went and soon
I was at Hwy. 58 (aka: Kramer Jct.) My friends lived close to where 395 runs into I-15, and within
an hour was in Oak Hills, relaxing on Ken’s back porch with a cold beer and waiting for he and his wife
to get home from work.
Plenty of pizza, beer and memories of old times that night, but we called it an early night so we
could head out early enough to get a days work in on one of the GPAA claims.
Ken and I had both recently joined the GPAA, so before I ever left home we had selected 3 GPAA
claim locations we wanted to prospect.
Tuesday - Day 3
After loading my gear into Ken’s Blazer, we headed out for the Lytle Creek area. Unfortunately, we
were only 2 miles from it when Ken’s truck took a dump on us, and refused to restart. We finally
got it going again by using some starting fluid, and headed straight back to his house for my truck.
His Blazer was continuously stalling, and it took us about 3 hrs. to make the 30 min. drive back to
his place; quick swap of the gear to my Toyota. a stop at MickeyD’s for lunch and we got back into
the prospecting area by about 2:30.
Ken had never used a sluice, so we carried my Keene A51 down to the small creek running through
the valley. Most of the creek area looked like good material to me, so we just picked a spot and set
up the sluice so I could give Ken some tips.
Huge riverbed there, and in most spots it was at least 100 yds. wide. Took a few test pans and found
a few little flypoop specks, so we decided to take material from a dozen different spots and just run it
through the sluice. Unfortunately, at the end of the day we ended up with only the few specks I found in
the test pans, and nothing of visible size in the sluice concentrates. There is bound to be some good
gold left in this canyon, and now that he understands sluicing a bit he plans to go back and spend a few
days just prospecting the area in hopes of finding a pocket or two.
Snow was on the way when I left home, and 2 days later I’m working outside in nearly 90F.
Pretty much exhausted from both the long drive and the heat, I hit the sack just after sundown.
...to be continued
Took off from home the afternoon of Sunday the 28th, made a quick stop about
100 miles south at my brothers place and then headed straight down I-5. Knowing
it was 1200+ miles to Ken's house down in Calif., the plan was to run as hard
as I could till fatigue stepped in and I had to have a short nap, then get going again.
Ran all night, and the first rest stop was in Dunnigan, CA. at what used to be one of
the best, old-time truck stops in Calif. It’s a Pilot Truck Stop now, but it used to be known
as “Pantyhose Junction”. The waitresses there wore shorter skirts (in today’s world ladies
commonly wear much shorter skirts..lol), the food was always lousy but the conversation
was good. Only thing the cooks couldn’t screw up were eggs and biscuits with gravy..and
they sold a lot of both!
This time I just bought gas there, and was feeling a bit sad at seeing “what was” be no more.
After a 2 hr. nap I took off again, got into Sacramento and then headed down Hwy. 99. Made
a stop in Fresno for lunch and shot down towards Bakersfield, taking the turn-off for Hwy. 58
and the run over the Tehachapi Mtns. My ’87 Toyota 4x4 is no powerhouse, and the 4-banger
(22R-E motor) was working hard pulling up some of the grades, but over we went and soon
I was at Hwy. 58 (aka: Kramer Jct.) My friends lived close to where 395 runs into I-15, and within
an hour was in Oak Hills, relaxing on Ken’s back porch with a cold beer and waiting for he and his wife
to get home from work.
Plenty of pizza, beer and memories of old times that night, but we called it an early night so we
could head out early enough to get a days work in on one of the GPAA claims.
Ken and I had both recently joined the GPAA, so before I ever left home we had selected 3 GPAA
claim locations we wanted to prospect.
Tuesday - Day 3
After loading my gear into Ken’s Blazer, we headed out for the Lytle Creek area. Unfortunately, we
were only 2 miles from it when Ken’s truck took a dump on us, and refused to restart. We finally
got it going again by using some starting fluid, and headed straight back to his house for my truck.
His Blazer was continuously stalling, and it took us about 3 hrs. to make the 30 min. drive back to
his place; quick swap of the gear to my Toyota. a stop at MickeyD’s for lunch and we got back into
the prospecting area by about 2:30.
Ken had never used a sluice, so we carried my Keene A51 down to the small creek running through
the valley. Most of the creek area looked like good material to me, so we just picked a spot and set
up the sluice so I could give Ken some tips.
Huge riverbed there, and in most spots it was at least 100 yds. wide. Took a few test pans and found
a few little flypoop specks, so we decided to take material from a dozen different spots and just run it
through the sluice. Unfortunately, at the end of the day we ended up with only the few specks I found in
the test pans, and nothing of visible size in the sluice concentrates. There is bound to be some good
gold left in this canyon, and now that he understands sluicing a bit he plans to go back and spend a few
days just prospecting the area in hopes of finding a pocket or two.
Snow was on the way when I left home, and 2 days later I’m working outside in nearly 90F.
Pretty much exhausted from both the long drive and the heat, I hit the sack just after sundown.
...to be continued
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Thanks for the trip, I really enjoyed reading this adventure 
