Today

[MadMarshall]

I been hiking my stuff out for the last 2 days.. one more trip should do it. I 'll be making my last trip wedsnday. Tommorrow I have the fun day of hiking the stuff I just hiked out to my new digsite..To much fun. I talked to an arsa employee today.. It seems maybe the rules changed but who knows I stopped paying them any attention long time ago.. He noticed the big sledge hammer sitting next to me and made a point to tell me it was a no no.. I used one word answers "what u need the hammer for" HAMMERING" "what u doin here" WAITING" we did this for about 5 minutes and he was getting irritated I think.. He was in some speech or another and I just picked up my stuff and moved over to the next table.. He gave me the don't let me catch you or else. I said we will see when that day comes.. I saw him again on my drive out by pennyweight trail giving tickets.. I think only the small white pick up was spared.. It seems ARSA is on the warpath.. so beware.. Me I do not care. as I rarely ever work areas they can walk their fatass. But watch out.. They put Bars on the mines entrances on Yankee jims rd and who know what evil they have instore for the future.. I do!!!! HANDS AND PANS!! only a matter of time.. I will never stop using hand tools as it is the final compromise! Well this is the world I live in..

"In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity."
HUNTER S THOMSON

 

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[bug]

Marshal, The hands and pans seems to be already on the rulebooks. But unless your making a fool of yourself they didnt seem to enforce it, at least in the past.
What a Bogus rule and insult to our California mining heritage. These days it is always a good idea to keep your prospecting on the stealth. Check Page 10...

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/502/files/ASRANews111503.pdf

 

[MadMarshall]

hella funny I had no idea I wonder how long its been like that.. As for enforcing it. How can they enforce it with me just sitting on a table? What does carrying a hammer and chisels do now give them the right to ticket me? As for making a fool of myself? Always.. seems nowadays only a fool can make sense of this country!! Pretty soon the ARSA will be charging the river with aiding and abetting!! It's been covering up my crimes for years!

 

[wingmaster]

Yep in Indiana on state or federal land you can't use any hand tools no shovels even and you can't even use a sluice, only what you can get with your hands or scoop up with a pan. Heck even a screwdriver in a crack and your in the wrong, how much gold is going to be laying right on the top so I don't even bother with going to those area's and you can only go to some of them that you have to get a permit for. The permit is free but what's the point if you can't even use a screwdriver to dig some dirt from a crack, which would be filled right back in with the next rain we got. I try to keep the small 3lb sledge and chisel on the down low in any area even private land in case they come up on me and here even when on private property your supposed to have written permission, now I don't know how they could even enforce that as it's private land so if the land owner say's yeah he's got permission to be here I don't see what they could do, it's private land so the land owner should have his say what is done and who's supposed to be there. Of course that my thought on private land they pay the taxes so I don't see how they could enforce that he has to give me permission in writing, with all the scamming going on these days getting a yes and getting someone to give you it in writing is two different things and I'm thinking their banking on it being harder for you to get it in writing to keep people from prospecting as easy.

 

[NuggetN8]

As long as you hike away from where you park you should be fine. I wouldn't listen to their rules. I think they're too lazy to hike anywhere to catch somebody disobeying their rules. Pretty soon they'll probably say no gold panning. I rarely go to those types of areas because I don't like being restricted. Rather be in a place where there's no people and no rules. Just me and nature.

 

[2cmorau]

Vegetarians gonna have a hard time with this, Jacks eaten on a pray mantis great vid.

 

[gold tramp]

I could imagine this is going to be the norm soon, being stopped harassed for simple hand tools. we don't see much blm down here yet, there out but not in force. its going to be a sad day when we gotta worry about our hammer n shovel getting us a ticket HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA wtf.
you guys be safe up there in the north looks to be a hard winter coming, the buzzards are heading south !!!
, Next we will be doing jail time for simple hand tools.................

 

[Aufisher]

No walking allowed? Can't disturb the soil!

 

[goldenIrishman]

...and people wonder why I left that state! between the greenies and the idiots running it it's barely fit to live in anymore. Can't do this, cant do that! I decided it was better to leave before they started restricting breathing because of carbon dioxide emissions from my lungs!

 

[ALewis]

Ya, they are getting a little overboard ! I know the white pickup you speak of MM...Have talked w him before.

My last outing I came back to a ticket for "Impeding Traffic" ! What a joke. Parked just out of the day use area, on side of road... pulled up so that someone could fit behind me, but Oh no, my back tire was directly on top of the white line, was really "impedding" any traffic that might try and drive off of that particular cliff. What a joke.

Getting a parking pass for 2014. Love the area, state employees, not so much....

 

[wingmaster]

I think its getting like that everywhere they was going to make it illegal here even on private property as this state is all about money, once they were invited to a southern GPAA meeting and seen how little gold most were finding then they had no problem with it. Now tell me it was all about the stream environment as they already knew the methods of getting the gold, they were just thinking they wasn't getting their cut off someone else's hard work like their used to doing.

 

[caprock]

Marshall, enjoyed your video !
I must admit I have a soft spot in my heart for the North Fork of the American. I first visited the area as teenager with gold fever in the 1970s, back when the Colfax-Iowa Hill Rd. was still unpaved. I talked my Dad into taking me down to the river on the way back home from Reno. Fair trade, he got to hit the crap tables for awhile, and then I got to hit the river. Anyway, I found a large boulder sitting on exposed bedrock just down stream from the old bridge. About a foot down behind the boulder I hit a rusty clay and quartz rich layer. I must have panned for a couple hours, probably worked maybe 10 or fifteen pans and every one has between 5 and 10 very large flakes. I think I ended up with about a pennyweight or so, But for me I felt like I made a major strike, I was one happy kid ! Nobody cared where we parked or how big my pry bar was back then!
Good luck out there, and i hope there's a deep rich crevice in your future !

 

[MadMarshall]

I saw Tom the other day. He walks Steven's trail 3 times a week has for over5 years.. He is not a prospector more an advid hiker and has been doing trail maintance and cleanin up abandoned campsites.. Also he is responseable for The Iowa Hill cemetery where his wife is buried.. Well their have been a couple real nasty campsite by pennyweight trail. The bums were evicted and Arsa/Blm just left all the stuff their to rot! Well Tom has finally got it done. He does not work for ARSA or BLM I think he is part of the CANYON KEEPERS but my point is over the last few years I have spent most my time hiking the river and the only people I see clearing trails or picking up trash are locals and Volunteers.. The ARSA is now a little Minnie police force who only worried about fees and fines. Oh well nothing can be done... The government is on a full take over and by the time I am old I will in jail or shot dead for trespassing on public lands.. I love my life and they are stealing it.. I work extra hard to be in compliance..(No dredging no motors nothing mechanized ect ect ect..) And now the simplist of tools are forbidden and use is punishable! oh well nothing can be done about it!!!!!!!! I guess I will Adapt and overcome.... Problem is they won't ever stop taking!!! Doesn't matter if I stay in cali or go somewhere else its just a matter of time...The disease is spreading quickly across the USA .And their is no stopping it.. I will admit that I see hope with the state of Jefferson and other orginazations trying to stop the Government BUT I KNOW IT IS FUTILE we lost this fight a very long time ago.

well all one can do these days is do what he thinks is right and remember the only PERSON I WILL EVER ANSWER TO IS GOD!!

 

[fowledup]

Love the Hunter S.Thompson quote. Watched "Where the Buffalo Roam" the other night hadn't seen it in years.

 

[Edson]

Marshal, The hands and pans seems to be already on the rulebooks. But unless your making a fool of yourself they didnt seem to enforce it, at least in the past.
What a Bogus rule and insult to our California mining heritage. These days it is always a good idea to keep your prospecting on the stealth. Check Page 10...

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/502/files/ASRANews111503.pdf

Guys the pans only applies to rock hounding and not gold digging.

"4610.5 Tools, except gold pans to be used in gold panning, may
not be used in rock hounding within a unit." This means that tools may not be used for rock hounding, except for the gold pan.

"4610.10 Use of Tools. The gold pan is the only exception
permitted to the exclusion of tools from rock hounding." Again only applies to rock hounding.

None of the above prohibits the use of a shovel or a in stream sluice. Only applies to rock hounding.

However, you are only allowed to dig in the permanent stream bed up to the high water mark.

"4610.4 Disturbing Land. Digging, excavating, or otherwise
disturbing the surface of the land may not be practiced in the
search for mineralogical specimens in a unit."

"Material for sluice boxes and gold pans shall only come from beaches or gravel bars which are subject to annual flooding (CCR 4611)."

What I do when I'm out of site is I dig where I want but cover up my holes and leave the area clean.

If any rangers give you a hard time, nicely ask what specific law am I breaking. They usually don't know, they operate on policy not law and try to intimidate, scare you to leave. It helps to have a copy of the regs. with you so you can educate them. It has worked for me twice.

Hope this helps.
Edson

 

[catfishjim90]

In Morgan Monroe state park in Indiana you can use a hand trowl and a sucker tube.

 

[wingmaster]

I would watch this as it will depend on which conservation officer comes upon you, I would get it in writing myself because they can tell you one thing and do anything they want. I was wondering about a sucker tube myself but again I would want it in writing to cover my butt, I was also wondering about a screw driver or something to dig out cracks as that would be filled back in the next rain anyway. I know they won't allow you to use even a small sluice there so its panning only.

In Morgan Monroe state park in Indiana you can use a hand trowl and a sucker tube.