MA/VT/NH Panning

[dvdtharaldson]

Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David

 

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[quantumleap39]

Ok I don't do the counts. But this is what I found after my clean out in Couch,, this past Friday. Pretty pan..

 

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[quantumleap39]

Sorry the photo above doesnt show be well the line of small gold. This was after aprox 2 yards of dirt moved. I clean up with a little gold trap and then into a Miller table..

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I went up to Vermont the last two weekends even though three weekends ago I said it would be my last time. When the outside temperature heats up the fever runs hot. Especially when you think about the impending ice age.

The first Saturday I went up with my wife, who I had promised to take shopping and hiking. I didn't get to do much prospecting due to a late start and an early sunset. I did get to dunk a few pans in a couple of brooks high up in the mountains. There were some gold mines on the streams but at a much lower elevation. The remote scenery was superb but the colors were non-existent. I was quite surprised, it was the first time I ever got skunked in Vermont. Total panning time was about an hour.

This past Saturday WMG and I went to my favorite spot on my favorite river in central Vermont. I had decided that I would dig farther down in a hole where I had good luck a few weeks earlier. I was hoping the farther down I went, the bigger the colors would be. That didn't happen, in fact the opposite happened. As I dug deeper and deeper there was less black sand and fewer and smaller colors. My back started to fail me so I knew it was time to stop. I ended up with 39 colors, three of which were plus 20. WMG stuck to the proven plan, which is to dig the top 8 inches of sediment, and had an epic day.

I felt as though if I was able to get down another eight inches or so I probably would have found another layer of black sand and more colors. For me that would be a physical impossibility at this stage of the game.

Best Colors and Happy Holidays to all,
David

 

[WesternMassGold]

.......... I ended up with 39 colors, three of which were plus 20. WMG stuck to the proven plan, which is to dig the top 8 inches of sediment, and had an epic day.
David

[/QUOTE]

Hi guys,went up to couch on Friday and met quantumleap39 , ran my sluice while he fed his trommel and ended up with 38 pieces.Saturday went with David to Vermont and oh Boy what a day i had.
Almost ended up with my first picker,size was right just not the thickness, it,s a nice size tho . The big piece on the bottom right in my pic. Total take from Vermont: 115 pieces



Mass gold on the left , Vermont on the right

 

[triple d]

WMG you definitely have a feel for the gold. Of that area of New England. Another great pan of the "yella" gold. And a bad case of the fever.

 

[brianc053]

quantumleap39, WMG and David - great work guys, and thanks for sharing pictures of your gold. I'm truly jealous.
I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving too.

- Brian

 

[WesternMassGold]

Just a little update concerning my last trip to vermont and Mass. For the first time ever i actually put the gold from that weekend on my scale and i ended up with 0.07 grams.It's not a lot but it was probably my biggest weekend ever weight wise. Got a bit more to go to the Million tho . lol. happy Holidays to all and may your pan be full with that yellow stuff. ( gold that is) hehe.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Well I did it. Yup, I took the plunge, just bought a BGT! 30 inch Prospector!

 

[WesternMassGold]

Well I did it. Yup, I took the plunge, just bought a BGT! 30 inch Prospector!

You Dog!! about friggin time you got a real sluice.Now we can have a sluicing competition, my Goldhog mats vs your Bazooka.Can't wait to see it in action.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I just went out for the final "last time" of the season. This trip reminded me of an old J.J. Cale song "they call me the breeze" "I just keep blowin down the road". That's exactly what we did. Prospected three different river systems that weren't even in my state. Drove from dawn till dusk. Luckily WMG did most of the prospecting, as not to put too much strain on my all ready messed up back. Now its pay back time as I am going to have to stay off my feet for a couple days.

I had the best luck in the Ottauquechee River system downstream from the gold mines in the area. It is a big river with a fast current so the colors were rather small. We also hit the well-known hot spots but didn't have much luck there. They have been prospected to death for the last 200 years and didn't produce well for us.

The biggest shock was my favorite river didn't produce well that day either, albeit in a different spot than where we have been concentrating lately.

My take for the day was 34 pieces, which represented about two hours of panning spread out over a whole day.

Best Colors to All,
Mr. Breeze

 

[WesternMassGold]

Funny , i went with David even tho i said 3 weeks ago it was my last time.I only got 22 pieces , worst ever result from vermont.But thats how it goes.Now i see Coming Tuesday is 57 degrees here.
Guess who is going out again ? lol. Going locally ,getting sick of driving 2 hrs plus.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Funny , i went with David even tho i said 3 weeks ago it was my last time.I only got 22 pieces , worst ever result from vermont.But thats how it goes.Now i see Coming Tuesday is 57 degrees here.
Guess who is going out again ? lol. Going locally ,getting sick of driving 2 hrs plus.

Yes! Year round prospecting...make it happen!!

 

[WesternMassGold]

well tomorrow is gonna be 67 degrees here and i wanna go so bad , but its raining pretty heavy. If it stops early enuff i will be going out and try to get in 1 more day of sluicing.
is there such a thing as "Santas Gold"? i hope so.Going on Christmas is crazy ( my wife says). I told her if it gets to 55 or warmer in January i'll go again.
Wondering if anybody else is crazy enuff to go tomorrow?

 

[dvdtharaldson]

My bazooka came in yesterday, and its still in the box today. I made a deal with the wife that I wouldn't open it until Christmas. Why, you ask? I Dunno. I swear that I can hear it taunting all the other gifts at night.

 

[WesternMassGold]

My bazooka came in yesterday, and its still in the box today. I made a deal with the wife that I wouldn't open it until Christmas. Why, you ask? I Dunno. I swear that I can hear it taunting all the other gifts at night.

That poor Bazooka is probably sitting in that box crying for water.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

My cellar got flooded due to the heavy rain so the zook doesn't have to cry anymore. Now its my turn.

That poor Bazooka is probably sitting in that box crying for water.

 

[brianc053]

My cellar got flooded due to the heavy rain so the zook doesn't have to cry anymore. Now its my turn.

Oh no! We all hope you didn't lose too much. Was it a finished basement? (not that it's much better when an unfinished basement gets flooded...). I'm sorry you have to endure that on a holiday weekend (or any weekend for that matter).

My quick flooded basement story: After hurricane Sandy we came home to find the unfinished basement flooded. We had Christmas and other decorations stored in bins on shelves, and the lower bins floated upward, causing the whole shelving unit to tip over. We came home to a basement swimming pool where Santa was floating around with some Thanksgiving turkeys and the Easter Bunny with all those plastic eggs. On the plus side, all the weird / ugly Christmas decorations that we'd received from family over the years were ruined...darn, we had to throw them away.

I hope there's a silver lining in your flooded basement.

- Brian

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Oh no! We all hope you didn't lose too much. Was it a finished basement? (not that it's much better when an unfinished basement gets flooded...). I'm sorry you have to endure that on a holiday weekend (or any weekend for that matter).

My quick flooded basement story: After hurricane Sandy we came home to find the unfinished basement flooded. We had Christmas and other decorations stored in bins on shelves, and the lower bins floated upward, causing the whole shelving unit to tip over. We came home to a basement swimming pool where Santa was floating around with some Thanksgiving turkeys and the Easter Bunny with all those plastic eggs. On the plus side, all the weird / ugly Christmas decorations that we'd received from family over the years were ruined...darn, we had to throw them away.

I hope there's a silver lining in your flooded basement.

- Brian

Brian it really wasn't that bad. It is an on going problem I have when ever we get a lot of rain in a short amount of time. A mop and bucket quickly solve the problem. Hope to be able to dig with you in '16.

David

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Every year around this time I like to reflect on what I have learned during the past prospecting season and to look forward to the up-coming season. This was the year where a lot of what I had learned in previous seasons came together for me.

The biggest mistakes I was making were digging in the center of the stream and not correctly choosing where to dig along the stream course. I still don't like digging in the stream banks do to the negative effects on the ecosystem, but now I concentrate towards the outer two feet of the stream. I have always heard to dig on bedrock, dig deep, and dig on the inside bends. While I believe that these tenets are generally good advise, they don't always lead you to the richest spots. My experience in the northeast has shown me that the majority of the colors are found within the first 12 inches of sediment.

As far as bedrock goes, a lot of times its a waste of time. This past year I dug on bedrock until I couldn't move anymore and found nothing. I decided to dig on the other side of the stream, where there was a lot of cobble and found the most productive hole of the year.

The most important thing I learned this year involved finding the right benches to dig. You constantly hear of inside bends, bedrock, and low pressure areas; but for me its all about the strong side benches. They far and away have been the hottest spots.

The last thing that helped my totals was learning how to speed pan the lights. Once I got to the heavies, using the wash and tap method to bring the colors into view was crucial. Once I saw the first couple of colors the whole shooting match went into the cons bucket to be classified and panned later.

Also having friends like Kevin and WMG didn't hurt either. I think they were the real catalysts for my metamorphosis in prospecting, no pun intended.

As far as next year goes, I hope to spend a little more time in New Hampshire playing with my zook.

Happy New Year,
David

 

[KevinInColorado]

I'm glad to be counted your friend David! We had a great time together this past year and both learned a lot. Thanks for being an important part of MY gold adventures in 2015!!