Gold in my back yard creek!

[Gold4Mike]

My wife and I started prospecting this past spring and summer and went out at least 15 times in a variety of places around the state of Washington and had a lot of fun (and got some gold). We also have a small creek in our back yard. It transports a lot of gravel off of the hill top that it starts on, us more or less in the alluvial fan area. I looked at it all summer thinking I should check to see if there's any gold in it, but not really expecting anything, so I never got around to trying. This past weekend the wife was busy doing stuff we've put off all summer and I was trying to decide if I should begin watching NFL again but decided it was a good day to try digging in my creek. This past weeks rain had brought the flow back up to where I could use my Grizzly Explorer so I picked a random easy spot to shovel right into the sluice. The fly poop didn't really surprise me, but I was happy to see it. The one bigger flake was what really got me excited. Hard to count buckets when you are directly shoveling, but this was from probably about one bucket of unclassified into the GGT sluice. When your gold mining is only 50 feet away from your kegerator, life is good! I think I will be digging gravel all winter.

 

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[Gold4Mike]

Been checking out this forum for years trying to decide when to get into prospecting and finally joined due to this dang shut down! Well atleast it's giving me time to research and study up more on this prospecting haha. Awesome plasma cut signage! Looks like an older hotsprings classic tub in your yard?

Yep, lol. 1989, and still running! Replaced the pumps and such a few times, but it keeps going. Great for after mining days, lol.

 

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[StreamlineGold]

Do yourself a favor and dig to bedrock, thats where the good stuff can be.

Curious though is this on your private land? If so whats the harm in digging a pit to be fed off the creek so you can run enough water run a higher volume?

Looks good tho. Gold on your own land is awesome. I just bought a patent mining claim myself so we can have the ultimate shop/cabin and pull ore and gravel a mere 100 feet away.

 

[G1994]

Yep, lol. 1989, and still running! Replaced the pumps and such a few times, but it keeps going. Great for after mining days, lol.

Haha thought I recognized it! I used to work at the hotsprings in burlington/ferndale for a couple years and odd but true, that was where I first heard of prospecting around here. After a customer mentioned finding some small nuggets in the nookachamp or pilchuck creek (can't remember anymore) I became interested. But never really found the motivation till now that we have some time off from college and work. After reading your several yearsworth of knowledge I ended up looking for a grizzly gold trap like yours! Was wondering if you had any buddies or if you knew where I could still get one of those? I posted in the wanted section but maybe I could find one by word of mouth locally which would be awesome.

 

[Gold4Mike]

Haha thought I recognized it! I used to work at the hotsprings in burlington/ferndale for a couple years and odd but true, that was where I first heard of prospecting around here. After a customer mentioned finding some small nuggets in the nookachamp or pilchuck creek (can't remember anymore) I became interested. But never really found the motivation till now that we have some time off from college and work. After reading your several yearsworth of knowledge I ended up looking for a grizzly gold trap like yours! Was wondering if you had any buddies or if you knew where I could still get one of those? I posted in the wanted section but maybe I could find one by word of mouth locally which would be awesome.

Yeah, unfortunately the Grizzly Gold Trap isn't being made any more. I love mine. I've got a couple friends with them too but they probably aren't ready to part with them. If you haven't, take a look at Green Mountain Gold Trap. Very similar to the Grizzly, but some additional interesting features.

 

[Gold4Mike]

Do yourself a favor and dig to bedrock, thats where the good stuff can be.

Curious though is this on your private land? If so whats the harm in digging a pit to be fed off the creek so you can run enough water run a higher volume?

Looks good tho. Gold on your own land is awesome. I just bought a patent mining claim myself so we can have the ultimate shop/cabin and pull ore and gravel a mere 100 feet away.

The bedrock is way too deep here and although this is my private land, I'm in the middle of a neighborhood and really don't have the room to dig much of a pit. It's also a salmon spawning stream so limited in what I can do. I'm just happy to be able to get some gold in my back yard once in a while!

 

[G1994]

Yeah, unfortunately the Grizzly Gold Trap isn't being made any more. I love mine. I've got a couple friends with them too but they probably aren't ready to part with them. If you haven't, take a look at Green Mountain Gold Trap. Very similar to the Grizzly, but some additional interesting features.

Great thanks for the recommendation! I am watching some videos on them now

 

[Chimacum87]

Awesome little creek man! I am over by Port Townsend too, found a few small flakes in the forest on the Peninsula but wish I had a back yard creek like that!

 

[mike(swWash)]

I'll say it again,if it was my backyard I'd buy a back hoe and get it .......
and give the impression to the wife... let's rotate the lawn, the grass will be greener for years to come, and I'm just getting the "junk" out of the soil so it'll be more healthy for all the plants

 

[Gold4Mike]

Awesome little creek man! I am over by Port Townsend too, found a few small flakes in the forest on the Peninsula but wish I had a back yard creek like that!

I wish I could get a backhoe in here! A couple years back, the local cable company had to run a line under the road in front of our house and hand dug a couple of deep holes in the middle of the street. Part way through the day I looked out and saw there was now river/stream cobble on their piles. I told the wife that as soon as they left for the day I was going out to steal me some dirt from their piles, thinking they would leave it there. They worked til dark and put it all back in the holes to open the road before they left, dammit!