Prospecting Safety - The Heat & The Snakes

SchoolOfHardRocks

Sr. Member
Apr 30, 2014
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Hello Fellow Gold Seekers!

It's been a while since I've posted here, been busy with normal life in addition to managing home and work life during the pandemic.

I have had the chance to get out and do some prospecting this summer, and have 2 pretty scary encounters to share...

In early July/ Late June - a prospecting buddy and I wanted to get into some old diggings in the beautiful and treacherous North Fork American River Canyon. We knew we had a long hike ahead of us (several miles in, 90 degree heat, & at least 2,500 feet in elevation gain/loss). Given that we have not hiked into this place together before, it took us about 3 1/2 hours to hike in (after a few wrong turns). When we finally arrived to the river - I was beat! I worked some bedrock under direct sunlight and began to feel a little woozy -Time to get in the water and do some sniping -that'll cool me down. I finished our short day of prospecting with a little metal detecting, and we took off on the trail to get back home. On our way out we missed the trail which takes you up the mountain and spent about 30 minutes hiking up and down the trail looking for the way up. Around this time, i began to experience some cramping in my left hamstring. I shrugged it off as typical, and expected it to go away. We found the trail and as we progressed up the trail (literally straight up -remember 2,500 feet!!), the cramping spread to the quad of my left leg. This caused me to overcompensate with my right leg, which quickly cramped up as well. The cramping progressed to the point to which i could not travel more than 15-20 feet without falling to my hands and knees and waiting for the cramping to subside enough so that i can keep going. My buddy patiently waited and hiked with me out of there, and we finally made it to the jeep after 7 pm (almost dark). If we would have had another mile or two to go - I would have had to spend the night on the trail which was riddled with poison oak, bear tracks and bear crap - not the place you would prefer to be. I made the drive home where the cramps got way worse -with both legs locking up. Looking back on this experience -I'm pretty sure i had some form of heat exhaustion.

Learnings from this experience: KNOW how long your hike will be, don't just "think you'll be fine". Take the sun seriously -Following this experience, the sun/heat is one of the greatest dangers out there. -Not just the bears and mountain lions and snakes (I’ll get to those next) that first come to mind.

My next story involves a different river in the central/ southern California sierra motherlode. I took my 8 year old son and 2 year old golden retriever out to the river to do some sampling and swimming. We hiked in real early and began working bedrock around 8 am. I was working bedrock on the downriver side of the outcropping, and saw a crack i wanted to work on the upstream side. As i approached the crack - My retriever was in my way, so i told him to move - He didn't budge, he was completely frozen. I didn't think anything of it and nudged him, which will usually lead him to moving -He still didn't budge. I physically moved him out of the way, got down on my hands and knees, and used my crow bar to pop some cobbles out of the crack. Then i hear: SSSSSSSSSSSssssSSSSSsssSS!!! right by me. After realizing that theres a snake VERY close to me i quickly ran to the end of the bedrock where my son and dog were and we tried to locate where the snake was.... After a little looking around, i saw the rattle snake under a huge boulder, right next to the crack i was working.
IMG_1661.jpg IMG_1660.jpg
The first picture shows the boulder that i was right next to as i worked the crack, the next photo is a close up of Mr. Buzztail under the boulder -He was a big one. We ended letting Mr. Buzztail enjoy that area and found another area upstream to work.

Learnings from this experience: Always check out areas (especially if there's kids/ dogs around) as i arrive to them. I'm lucky that my dog, son, and me made it out without any bites -Thanks Mr. Buzztail for rattling and not striking at me!

Be careful out there..& HEAVY PANS!
 

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Underburden

Sr. Member
Mar 22, 2012
484
1,125
Idaho
Detector(s) used
Gold Hog Stream Sluice
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Heat took me down last August and this year I'm waiting until early September to over exert myself. Got to be cautious when your odometer reads 70 years old. Staying well hydrated is key.
 

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,684
40,651
Maryland
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I quit in the heat. I have gotten a lot done this summer, but the outdoor stuff starts very early and ends by 11 am. I find few snakes in the house:)
 

goldenmojo

Bronze Member
Dec 9, 2013
1,865
4,753
N. California
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Bazooka Prospector-Sniper-Supermini Thanks Todd & Chris, Goldhog Multisluice Thanks Doc, My Land Matters Thanks Claydiggins, 6 Senses
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Hello Fellow Gold Seekers!

It's been a while since I've posted here, been busy with normal life in addition to managing home and work life during the pandemic.

I have had the chance to get out and do some prospecting this summer, and have 2 pretty scary encounters to share...

In early July/ Late June - a prospecting buddy and I wanted to get into some old diggings in the beautiful and treacherous North Fork American River Canyon. We knew we had a long hike ahead of us (several miles in, 90 degree heat, & at least 2,500 feet in elevation gain/loss). Given that we have not hiked into this place together before, it took us about 3 1/2 hours to hike in (after a few wrong turns). When we finally arrived to the river - I was beat! I worked some bedrock under direct sunlight and began to feel a little woozy -Time to get in the water and do some sniping -that'll cool me down. I finished our short day of prospecting with a little metal detecting, and we took off on the trail to get back home. On our way out we missed the trail which takes you up the mountain and spent about 30 minutes hiking up and down the trail looking for the way up. Around this time, i began to experience some cramping in my left hamstring. I shrugged it off as typical, and expected it to go away. We found the trail and as we progressed up the trail (literally straight up -remember 2,500 feet!!), the cramping spread to the quad of my left leg. This caused me to overcompensate with my right leg, which quickly cramped up as well. The cramping progressed to the point to which i could not travel more than 15-20 feet without falling to my hands and knees and waiting for the cramping to subside enough so that i can keep going. My buddy patiently waited and hiked with me out of there, and we finally made it to the jeep after 7 pm (almost dark). If we would have had another mile or two to go - I would have had to spend the night on the trail which was riddled with poison oak, bear tracks and bear crap - not the place you would prefer to be. I made the drive home where the cramps got way worse -with both legs locking up. Looking back on this experience -I'm pretty sure i had some form of heat exhaustion.

Learnings from this experience: KNOW how long your hike will be, don't just "think you'll be fine". Take the sun seriously -Following this experience, the sun/heat is one of the greatest dangers in these parts. -Not just the bears and mountain lions that first come to mind.

My next story involves a different river in the central/ southern California sierra motherlode. I took my 8 year old son and 2 year old golden retriever out to the river to do some sampling and swimming. We hiked in real early and began working bedrock around 8 am. I was working bedrock on the downriver side of the outcropping, and saw a crack i wanted to work on the upstream side. As i approached the crack - My retriever was in my way, so i told him to move - He didn't budge, he was completely frozen. I didn't think anything of it and nudged him, which will usually lead him to moving -He still didn't budge. I physically moved him out of the way and used my crow bar to pop some cobbles out of the crack. Then i hear: SSSSSSSSSSSssssSSSSSsssSS!!! right by me. After realizing that theres a snake VERY close to me i quickly ran to the end of the bedrock where my son and dog were and we tried to locate where the snake was.... After a little looking around, i discovered the rattle snake under a huge boulder, right next to the crack i was working.
View attachment 1855624 View attachment 1855625
The first picture shows the boulder which i was right next too as i worked the crack, the next photo is a close up of Mr. Buzztail under the boulder -He was a big one. We ended letting Mr. Buzztail enjoy that area and found another area upstream to work.

Learnings from this experience: Always inspect areas (especially if there's kids/ dogs around) as i arrive to them. I'm lucky that my dog, son, and me made it out without any bites -Thanks Mr. Buzztail for rattling and not striking at me!

Be careful out there..& HEAVY PANS!

SOHR,

Good looking on spotting the Rattler. You never know if one has crawled in under the boulder while you at the water panning. As for cramping I used to get it about every second trip to the South Fork. Cramps for hours after I made it home. An old miner told me plenty of Gatorade before and during the trip. After that no more writhing in pain.
 

Rail Dawg

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2015
491
890
Northern Nevada
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Sipping chilled pickle juice does wonders too.

The desert can kill you in a day or two max.

Chuck
 

Bodfish Mike

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Dec 12, 2014
499
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Bodfish and Marin county CA
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very nice of him to rattle for you -- I've walked up to one all coiled up and ready to go without a rattle at all -- lucky for me
I'm always looking down.
Once I was at rapid spot with lots of water sound and heard a faint sound -- Yep 2' away he was warning me.

A GPS and Gatorade will help.

Cheers Mike
 

Seden

Sr. Member
Jan 28, 2008
281
321
GoldenMojo, I had a claim out in the North Mojave and found that adding a teaspoon of sea salt to the Gatorade makes it even more effective against cramps. I was talking to my firefighter buddies at work and mentioned the teaspoon of sea salt and one guy said "for cramps right?" and I said yep. Those guys know how to deal with the heat!

Far as rattlesnakes I working in this dry creekbed in Newhall and directly in back of me was a 1' drop with some rocks and such. So I'm working away and my mining pard says "you might want to come down stream a bit and look what was down there. Sure enough, it was Johnny no-shoulders and a quite well fed one at that. So we started throwing rocks near it (rattlesnakes do not like vibration) and sure enough it moved. Then I went back to work and not 20 minutes goes by and there's another large rattlesnake coming down this adjacent little creek bed.

Then on the other side of the hill from this spot I was working this small feeder creek and saw what was left of this old dead bush and proceeded to dig it out. I get it out and lift it up and SURPRISE!, a medium size rattler dropped down from the roots onto the tip of my boots! Save me a couple red bulls that day (<: Be careful out there.
 

Goodyguy

Gold Member
Mar 10, 2007
6,489
6,895
Arizona
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Whites TM 808, Whites GMT, Tesoro Lobo Super Traq, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Suction Dredges, Trommels, Gold Vacs, High Bankers, Fluid bed Gold Traps, Rock Crushers, Sluices, Dry Washers, Miller Tables, Rp4
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Taking your own shade while running a drywasher in the desert also helps.
canopy.jpg


This was 3 days ago, 110 degrees in the shade.
Nice breezes intermittently though.
 

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Steve1236

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Sep 14, 2017
702
971
Az
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That's why I respect rattlesnakes, there pretty cool about warning people before biting in most cases, snakes like the bushmaster do the exact opposite, I'm glad you guys are good, that snake is cornered with no where to go except towards you, those are sometimes the situations where people get bit without warning. Heat I here you on that, learned my lesson digging up fire agates in the summer, I had water I still got really sick, nauseous, my breathing got heavy really dizzy and shaking, yeah that was no fun and not doing that again.
 

Rail Dawg

Sr. Member
Oct 11, 2015
491
890
Northern Nevada
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MineLab GPZ 7000
Garrett ATX Pro
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About every other year we come upon some hapless tourists who think rental cars are made for desert 4-wheeling lol.

P-rated tires are good for what 30 miles on a desolate dirt road? The donut tires last max 10 miles lol.

“How much water you all have?” They each hold up about a half a liter.

I get the feeling our European and Asian guests are clueless just how big we are.
 

Joanne

Full Member
Aug 2, 2015
124
299
Las Vegas, NV
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Last year I was up at the Delamar mine for a few days of exploring. It was a cool but sunny afternoon and I was walking downhill through the brush on the way to camp. Just as I stepped down off of a rock I heard a short rattle. Can't mistake that sound! Fortunately I had stepped down onto my left foot and he was to the left of my foot. That let me make an immediate spring off to my right and away from him. What was super lucky was that he was all stretched out sunning himself when I startled him. He wasn't in a position to strike, so my jump got me clear. Had he heard me coming earlier and got coiled a bit, I would have certainly gotten struck. My left foot landed within about 3 or 4 inches from him.

After my heart quit racing, my exploring partner had a discussion about the whole thing and learned a couple of lessions:
- I have a first aid kit, but it wasn't where he would have been able to find it
- Neither one of us knew the proper first aid procedure for a rattle snake bite
- We were in an area where there is rarely a cell signal so our phones would have been useless
- I have a SPOT tracker, but he didn't know where it was or how to use it

Yeah, we sound like idiots. But does everyone in your party know the proper answers to those questions? It sounds corny, but I've started holding short safety briefings with anyone that I go out with. I let them know where the safety gear is. I show them how to turn on the SPOT and which button to push in an emergency. We should probably write down a contact name and number for each person in the party in case someone has a medical issue.

He was plenty mad that I interrupted his nap...
DSC_2663a.jpg

Joanne
 

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et1955

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Jan 10, 2015
911
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Shoreline,wa
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Equinox 800
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Hey SHR, I was just thinking of you, I was mining at the place I took you, last week, found a rich spot over 200 flakes per pan and you ounce stood on it, LOL. My method to prepare for a trip is Pizza and Beer, always works for me. As I always said get in shape to mine not use mining to get in shape.
 

wildminer

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Dec 2, 2015
610
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Jefferson Coast
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Lots of good advice. Long ago I learned to use a walking staff to bang on the ground to warn the rattlers of my approach. It is also in my nature to "dispatch" the critter not out of vengeance, but to prevent the critter from harming another person or or pet. always bury the head to prevent a yellowjacket from injesting the venom and then stinging someone. Any opinions on what the first aid is nowadays for a rattlesnake bite? Last I heard it was to ice the wound, keep calm, elevate the heart and seek a doctors care. Don't make an incision to suck out the venom. This may not always be possible. What's the answer?
 

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SchoolOfHardRocks

SchoolOfHardRocks

Sr. Member
Apr 30, 2014
380
910
Gone, With the Wind
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Hey SHR, I was just thinking of you, I was mining at the place I took you, last week, found a rich spot over 200 flakes per pan and you ounce stood on it, LOL. My method to prepare for a trip is Pizza and Beer, always works for me. As I always said get in shape to mine not use mining to get in shape.

Hey Ed!! I think of that trip often. I learned a lot. I remember you telling me that the gold was on the top 6 inches... I kept wanting to think the good gold would be deeper, and by the end of the day realized -you were right, that the gold was on the top 6 inches LOL!! Now whenever a fellow prospector shows me a new spot, i tend to listen to their advice a little better now!

Beautiful lush forest you took me to, and we got some decent color for just panning. The sad thing is - The room keeper at the hotel i was staying in threw away my snuffer bottle thinking it was trash LOL... adds to the story i guess :dontknow: Hope all is well my friend!
 

Bodfish Mike

Sr. Member
Dec 12, 2014
499
1,354
Bodfish and Marin county CA
Detector(s) used
Garrett , Whites
keene puffer drywasher , Keene A51 Sluice
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Lots of good advice. Long ago I learned to use a walking staff to bang on the ground to warn the rattlers of my approach. It is also in my nature to "dispatch" the critter not out of vengeance, but to prevent the critter from harming another person or or pet. always bury the head to prevent a yellowjacket from injesting the venom and then stinging someone. Any opinions on what the first aid is nowadays for a rattlesnake bite? Last I heard it was to ice the wound, keep calm, elevate the heart and seek a doctors care. Don't make an incision to suck out the venom. This may not always be possible. What's the answer?

I've got a dirty joke about this -- not appropriate to tell here.
But the punch line is "looks like your going to die"
 

et1955

Hero Member
Jan 10, 2015
911
1,780
Shoreline,wa
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Lots of good advice. Long ago I learned to use a walking staff to bang on the ground to warn the rattlers of my approach. It is also in my nature to "dispatch" the critter not out of vengeance, but to prevent the critter from harming another person or or pet. always bury the head to prevent a yellowjacket from injesting the venom and then stinging someone. Any opinions on what the first aid is nowadays for a rattlesnake bite? Last I heard it was to ice the wound, keep calm, elevate the heart and seek a doctors care. Don't make an incision to suck out the venom. This may not always be possible. What's the answer?
I prefer a #2 shovel and while I don't have deal with snakes, bears, cougars and bobcats are always around the places I go and a #2 shovel makes a lot noise when it hits the ground or rock.
 

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