Jeff95531
Silver Member
- Feb 10, 2013
- 2,625
- 4,094
- Detector(s) used
- Teknetics Alpha 2000
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Dancing in the moonlight…Everybody's feeling warm and bright...It's such a fine and natural sight…Everybody's dancing in the moonlight
Sometimes plans just… well… happen. It’s why you have to be prepared! Karen and I usually sit out weekends and holidays and give the local working masses access to “our“ spots. But by 5 pm Sunday evening Karen had had enuff of being cooped up and declared road trip. Since she called it, the destination was her choice. I was up for it, called shotgun and off we went to one of her favorite spots on the lower river.
As we got closer and with the sun setting behind the mountains, it dawned on me exactly where we were going. It was the same spot I had worked a crack a few weeks earlier but failed to reach bottom. At that time I realized it was time to add a sledge to my arsenal and THIS time I had it. A nice 5 pound head on a 12 inch handle.
It had rained hard since our last visit and all my previous work was filled with light sands. I removed all that first and went to work recovering all that remained. Side note: I have probably worked only about a dozen or so cracks to date and over half of them I have not gotten to the bottom of. It IS a learning experience for me and all but still very frustrating when it curves back into the bedrock or whatever tricks it uses. It’s like getting a tone on your MD but not able to find it…and then leave it.
So back to the crack. It came down like this /, flattened out, down again and a curve back to bedrock. Between me and my work was 12” of bedrock. 8” of fractured and 4” of solid. I scoped it out and went back to the truck for the pick and sledge. Karen asked me “what cha gonna do with that sledge?” I thought to myself…”Ummm, careful how you answer this one buddy. You’d rather have reps here from the FS and EPA than have Karen on your case. At least with them, it’s cite and done. Her brand of corrective action is a verbal warning…that could last for days or years, depending on the suspected grievance I perpetuated on “her” river.”
So I carefully, fully explained and showed her what has I was doing. I pulled large pieces away by hand and promised I would leave very little trace and that by Spring, unnoticeable. She gave me a Marge Simpson growl, went back to the Explorer and turned up favorite CD.
By now, twilight is in full swing and a half full moon was due east of me. A pair of ducks upstream were quietly murmuring to them selves. The light breeze had stopped and the river was perfectly still. Small trout were sipping bugs off the surface which were soon joined by several bats. When I wasn’t watching everything around me, I was wearing eye protection and the sparks from the pick were big and bright. Breaking big things into small ones and outta the way worked great. BUT, there at the bottom of my crack, perfectly flush was a ½” bright red tree root. For THAT, I need a ½” chisel…which I am on my way to get right now along with several other sizes.
I got about a gallon or two of material before it got too dark. Saw many different layers and colors but the funniest one was in my last pan of the night and from my last scoop and test. I could not get a big flake to move in the pan but it turned out to be a new (to me) kind of blonde piece of clay. I knew then it was time to call on account of darkness.
I’m planning a trip this afternoon or tomorrow to my usual spot and intend to try something unusual there and bring back 5 gallons classified minimum. I’m keeping all the dirt separate, will run it and report back with the results for each. I’m not expecting much from the crack…I’ve never done better than flower and fines on the lower part of the river. Also looks like I will have a special guest star from TN coming to visit in a couple weeks. Stay tuned.
Sometimes plans just… well… happen. It’s why you have to be prepared! Karen and I usually sit out weekends and holidays and give the local working masses access to “our“ spots. But by 5 pm Sunday evening Karen had had enuff of being cooped up and declared road trip. Since she called it, the destination was her choice. I was up for it, called shotgun and off we went to one of her favorite spots on the lower river.
As we got closer and with the sun setting behind the mountains, it dawned on me exactly where we were going. It was the same spot I had worked a crack a few weeks earlier but failed to reach bottom. At that time I realized it was time to add a sledge to my arsenal and THIS time I had it. A nice 5 pound head on a 12 inch handle.
It had rained hard since our last visit and all my previous work was filled with light sands. I removed all that first and went to work recovering all that remained. Side note: I have probably worked only about a dozen or so cracks to date and over half of them I have not gotten to the bottom of. It IS a learning experience for me and all but still very frustrating when it curves back into the bedrock or whatever tricks it uses. It’s like getting a tone on your MD but not able to find it…and then leave it.
So back to the crack. It came down like this /, flattened out, down again and a curve back to bedrock. Between me and my work was 12” of bedrock. 8” of fractured and 4” of solid. I scoped it out and went back to the truck for the pick and sledge. Karen asked me “what cha gonna do with that sledge?” I thought to myself…”Ummm, careful how you answer this one buddy. You’d rather have reps here from the FS and EPA than have Karen on your case. At least with them, it’s cite and done. Her brand of corrective action is a verbal warning…that could last for days or years, depending on the suspected grievance I perpetuated on “her” river.”
So I carefully, fully explained and showed her what has I was doing. I pulled large pieces away by hand and promised I would leave very little trace and that by Spring, unnoticeable. She gave me a Marge Simpson growl, went back to the Explorer and turned up favorite CD.By now, twilight is in full swing and a half full moon was due east of me. A pair of ducks upstream were quietly murmuring to them selves. The light breeze had stopped and the river was perfectly still. Small trout were sipping bugs off the surface which were soon joined by several bats. When I wasn’t watching everything around me, I was wearing eye protection and the sparks from the pick were big and bright. Breaking big things into small ones and outta the way worked great. BUT, there at the bottom of my crack, perfectly flush was a ½” bright red tree root. For THAT, I need a ½” chisel…which I am on my way to get right now along with several other sizes.
I got about a gallon or two of material before it got too dark. Saw many different layers and colors but the funniest one was in my last pan of the night and from my last scoop and test. I could not get a big flake to move in the pan but it turned out to be a new (to me) kind of blonde piece of clay. I knew then it was time to call on account of darkness.
I’m planning a trip this afternoon or tomorrow to my usual spot and intend to try something unusual there and bring back 5 gallons classified minimum. I’m keeping all the dirt separate, will run it and report back with the results for each. I’m not expecting much from the crack…I’ve never done better than flower and fines on the lower part of the river. Also looks like I will have a special guest star from TN coming to visit in a couple weeks. Stay tuned.
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No drama or BS either but a true story none the less. 
