Went prospecting today

[diverrick]

I just received the book "California Gold Camps" I think I read it front to back last night. Could not put it down. If you have the fever, this is not a good book to read. It is like a book about how good drugs are, when your on heroin.

So I get all fired up after reading the book and decide to go find Murderers Bar. According to the book a lot of gold came out of those gravels. Once I looked it up, I realized that Hoser John had already been there, so the plan was to work the high dry banks, where hopefully he had not been.

I hit the road bright and early all fired up .. Gonna be a good day, full of gold, Yada yadda.
I was thinking as I drove this is gonna be the spot this time..

First thing I ran into when I got there, was a pay to park area. That pisses me off to start with. and cannot be a good sign for prospecting. So I had to drop 10 bucks just to park the friggin' car, then hike down to the river. No one there so I have the whole place to myself. That is a good sign, maybe, maybe not.

I found a promising spot behind a large well water worn rock and shoveled off the overburden, classified the lower stuff down to a full bucket of fines then set to panning. NO sluices allowed of course. THis is Commifornia after all.

I got absolutely nothing, not even a speck, so time to move. So much for that sample hole.

I found another nice spot behind another huge rock. this one looked like a good place to dig. I found hard packed gravels about a foot down that I had a heck of a time getting each rock free enough to remove. I picked and pried. This spot has GOT TO HAVE GOLD, as these are packed gravels. I was sweating hard in the direct sunlight, and it was an awkward position to kneel in. Hot as I was in between two large boulders.

After three hours of scratching, I had a 1/4 bucket of fines, so I went down and panned them out. If nothing else just to cool off. NOTHING again!!! WTF?

Is it me? I NEVER find gold, even though I go all the time, I beep, I dig, I sluice, I used to dredge before they banned it, and still nothing. 20+friggin years of serching and still not enough to even cover the bottom of a small vial. My wife says I should just give up. But I have the damned fever!! I can't stop.
I don't know what I am doing I guess. I would think that after all these trips, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, but not me. Damn!! Wasted a whole tank of gas and a whole day AGAIN for nothing.
I think I did better when I didn't know anything. This is so frustrating.

 

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[treasure_hunter_2004]

LOL...hey man it is out there, but whatever you do don't give up! I went treasure hunting with a buddy of mine all day Saturday and I bet we hiked 6 miles and not a damn thing except a trail marker which might lead to something so will see, but look on the bright side of things at least you woke up and that's always a plus in my book! Keep at it man I am sure you will hit soon enough!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Join a local club. A couple club outings will probably sort you out as members teach you whatever is missing from your gold prospecting knowledge.

 

[mxer47]

I enjoy the solitude of prospecting so a club isn't for me. Finding gold is an adventure and for some lucky few it is also a destination. If your like me and like the solitude just keep reading and searching. The reward of doing it on your own is more valuable than the gold.
One tip for you, treasure net has a search feature try using it for any questions as most of the early questions you will have have likely been answered.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Just for the heck of it, did you try panning any of that overburden?

Don't feel bad though, as I could say the same for the majority
of my prospecting life. Be persistent, keep searching and you'll
find an area that hasn't been all worked out.

They say that a Wild Steelhead is "The Fish of a Thousand Casts",
and the same can go for gold prospecting. Call it "The Gold of a
Thousand Samples".

Do the homework, keep looking in the right places and sooner
or later you'll nail a good one.

 

[dave wiseman]

Have you been getting down to bedrock and cleaning out the crevices?....and it don't matter how hard you work if the gold isn't there in the first place.Just because one is in gold country doesn't mean there is gold there.Even in the best of creeks,rivers and gold mines there are lean spots and blank spots in gold deposition....and then there is the old miners saying..where it is I ain't and where I ain't it is.Eventually you'll find the yellow if you don't quit.Happens to everyone,often when least expected the yellow shows up.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

I find it difficult to belive 20 years of prospecting hasmt treated you better
How often do you do it?

 

[H&F909ORO]

TRY CREVICING!

All that gold in my avatar is from crevicing, most of it is. Although didn't get all of it by myself, got some help from Golden Mojo.

 

[63bkpkr]

Diverrick,
Gold is where you find it or don't or one does not always find gold each time they go out. I went for a lot of years without but I enjoyed being out there so not finding did not matter. Fishing, camping, being with my children go a long way to pleasing me so not gold was not a big deal. Then of course I did start to find it and it cut into my other enjoyments but then the children grew up and were not available to go out with me so everything balanced out.

Simple crevicing tools, simple classifier, solid digging/scraping device, a favorite pan or BGT and that about gets the equipment. Best of luck to you and just keep on trying as at some point you will put yourself over the gold..................63bkpkr

 

[Terry Soloman]

The awful truth is, all the easy gold is long gone. If you can pull up and park your street car, 99.9-percent of the time you are wasting your time. Easily accessed club claims are pounded hard by 50-something weekend warrior fat guys with top-of-the-line equipment every weekend. If you REALLY want to find enough gold to pay for your gasoline, you'll have to plan on doing some back-country four-wheeling and hiking in hard to get to gold bearing areas. Just about any greenhorn can find a few flakes on a good club claim, but they won't find enough to pay for their shiney new highbankers, drywashers, trommels and metal detectors - ever.

But hey, we can all dream of finding that stray 12-ounce nugget where it shouldn't be can't we?!

 

[KevinInColorado]

The awful truth is, all the easy gold is long gone. If you can pull up and park your street car, 99.9-percent of the time you are wasting your time. Easily accessed club claims are pounded hard by 50-something weekend warrior fat guys with top-of-the-line equipment every weekend. If you REALLY want to find enough gold to pay for your gasoline, you'll have to plan on doing some back-country four-wheeling and hiking in hard to get to gold bearing areas. Just about any greenhorn can find a few flakes on a good club claim, but they won't find enough to pay for their shiney new highbankers, drywashers, trommels and metal detectors - ever. But hey, we can all dream of finding that stray 12-ounce nugget where it shouldn't be can't we?!

I love this post and totally agree...with one exception: if you live really close to a gold bearing stream/deposit, you might do better than your costs by a few bucks an hour (like I do)

 

[Higgy]

The awful truth is, all the easy gold is long gone. If you can pull up and park your street car, 99.9-percent of the time you are wasting your time. Easily accessed club claims are pounded hard by 50-something weekend warrior fat guys with top-of-the-line equipment every weekend. If you REALLY want to find enough gold to pay for your gasoline, you'll have to plan on doing some back-country four-wheeling and hiking in hard to get to gold bearing areas. Just about any greenhorn can find a few flakes on a good club claim, but they won't find enough to pay for their shiney new highbankers, drywashers, trommels and metal detectors - ever.

This is sound advice, Terry, and thank you for that. I've always dreamed of getting some gold, albeit my location makes gold a bit more elusive. Its nice to hear some very lucid, and practical philosophy from someone like you.

 

[azblackbird]

The awful truth is, all the easy gold is long gone. If you can pull up and park your street car, 99.9-percent of the time you are wasting your time.

Yep… I've been saying that ever since I got into this hobby/business. I call all the club claims and heavily hit (aka easily accessible) areas tourist traps, as those are the places where the majority of newbie prospectors go. Great for me, cause once they get disgusted in finding no gold (or very little) they put those shiny new gold detectors, drywashers, highbankers, etc. up for sale for pennies on the dollar.

There are still tons of gold out there to be found… contrary to what many believe, the old-timers didn't cover every square inch of gold bearing land. If a guy knows his history, he'll easily discover where the crowds went, and where they didn't.

 

[MadMarshall]

Lot's of truth in this post.. But also I have found that sometimes that some of these areas are only exploited in a few different ways. Maybe switch up your prospecting tactics..

I don't believe all the good gold and easy gold is gone!
Even back in the gold rush the majority of Men failed making a profit from gold mining..

I figure people just put to much stock in their equipment then they do on actual prospecting..

 

[KevinInColorado]

Lot's of truth in this post.. But also I have found that sometimes that some of these areas are only exploited in a few different ways. Maybe switch up your prospecting tactics.. I don't believe all the good gold and easy gold is gone! Even back in the gold rush the majority of Men failed making a profit from gold mining.. I figure people just put to much stock in their equipment then they do on actual prospecting..

Well said sir!

 

[63bkpkr]

It takes Work to find any type of valuable mineral, work-effort-time-planning and simple equipment to start with. I panned gold with my breakfast bowl. Getting "Out There" and enjoying being there is required and the gold is there..............63bkpkr

 

[Hoser John]

I've known Rick for many years and this skunk has followed him around for yet again,many years. I've offered up my claims to kill the skunk but he's too busy. NEVER go where there is a parking lot as you definately are looking at a hammered area.Hike a mile away ,then prospect. Gotta go where it's miserable to go-then you'll find the gold Rick. Lotza luck bud-John

 

[63bkpkr]

Somewhere out there, there is gold! Getting out there takes effort, getting the gold takes work and getting back out takes more work and effort and sweat. All the sweat equity I've put into working to obtain gold had to produce many gallons of sweat, it was all worth it and I'd do it again in a split second if I was not in Texas. The Llano just is not like the forested canyons of California or Alaska, nothing against Texas or the Llano area but I've been spoiled!........................63bkpkr

Yup, just plain old spoiled! And I Love it!!

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Yep… I've been saying that ever since I got into this hobby/business. I call all the club claims and heavily hit (aka easily accessible) areas tourist traps, as those are the places where the majority of newbie prospectors go. Great for me, cause once they get disgusted in finding no gold (or very little) they put those shiny new gold detectors, drywashers, highbankers, etc. up for sale for pennies on the dollar.

There are still tons of gold out there to be found… contrary to what many believe, the old-timers didn't cover every square inch of gold bearing land. If a guy knows his history, he'll easily discover where the crowds went, and where they didn't.

club claims in the east are hit even worse since we don't have many public lands if any, and many of witch say" no mechanical equipment"
for say I've seen on youtube one guy went to the gpaa farm claim in ga, did 1/2 oz in one day. found a more recent video on that property,
maybe 20 flakes from a day of highbanking
clubs are worthless here, more so than out west

 

[Sick4gold]

20 years!?
I solute your resolve but strongly recommend you take up golf.

Seriously though everyone wants to find a lot of gold or big nuggets but to many it's not the case. I have done damn good for my area but truth be told between the gas, equipment, time, supplies, etc. I will never be ahead at this point and I don't care. There is a magic involved in doing something that you love which makes any sacrifice worth it.
Who needs a shrink? A full days dredging and I'm too tired to care about any problems in my life . Also for some reason the day after i dredge I feel rewarded and satisfied. So I guess what I'm saying is that it's true your totals are dismal but you've spend a long time doing something for YOU. All in all that's not bad. Anyways hope your luck turns and smell the roses occasionally