Mytimetoshine

[mytimetoshine]

Quick recap of last week's after work diggin:

Monday I decided to take apart and get my Gold and Sand hand dredge working right as I wanted to work an area I prospected the week prior. This is a rather large granite bedrock outcropping not normally exposed but this year it is accessible by the non diver. These are huge almost perfectly reqtangular slabs of bedrock with straight vertical and horizontal cracks. When they meet there is some nice large deep diamond shaped pockets. This is the material I tested last week. I got good results so I thought I would clean up with the hand dredge... wrong! Hit it Monday and really hard Tuesday for a total of about 3 hrs.. problem is its smooth bedrock covered in half inch thick alage. Slick as ****, makes for very slow production. On top of that there is very little current so combined with the algae it's a bit funky. Then you add the highest concentration of crawdads I've ever seen and it's a bad spot overall. Unless you want to get a good crawdad fry goingThe fist person that sucked out those cracks with a dredge probably had a bonanza though now it's just black sand and a very few small flakes. I haven't cleaned out the black sands yet but it's probably .05 for both Monday and Tuesday... yuk..

Tuesday was a different story. All I'm gonna say is I set up my Bazooka prospector and for once had the perfect flow and drop. It was ripping a 2 gal bucket in 30 seconds. What a joy this thing is when it's set up right. I had to haul buckets about 25 yards but with the 2 gal bucket it's not bad. I find that when I try to do half 5 gal buckets I always overload and it wears you out. The 2 gal is a also easier on your back while feeding the Zook ;P regardless of bucket size I realized that if you put the material in side to side it clears the grizzlies much better. I would use both hands to put in a couple gaint hand loads moving the material back and forth then when the bucket was half empty I poured straight from the bucket still side to side to keep the grizzlies clear. Only got 1 and a half hours in as it is now dark at 715.. lost count but I estimate 20 2g buckets. Pretty happy with the results.

 

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[Jeff95531]

Good report! I been trying new things and getting next to nothing back too!

Yep them rocks are like coated in STP. And double yep on 5 gallon bucket weight. My last one was nearly full of 1/2 classified (mostly dry at that) and by the time I scrambled back up to the road I was wondering what the heck I was thinking Where did you find your 2 gl buckets?

 

[mytimetoshine]

Good report! I been trying new things and getting next to nothing back too!

Yep them rocks are like coated in STP. And double yep on 5 gallon bucket weight. My last one was nearly full of 1/2 classified (mostly dry at that) and by the time I scrambled back up to the road I was wondering what the heck I was thinking Where did you find your 2 gl buckets?

Currently I am using the one that came with my gold and sand hand dredge, lol but I saw a nice variety of pails at homedepot last trip there.

 

[Duckwalk]

I might look into ordering these. I dont have much extra money to gamble with on things im only going to use on occasion...

http://www.amazon.com/Argee-RG503BL...d=1443451695&sr=8-3&keywords=3+gallon+buckets

 

[Jeff95531]

Currently I am using the one that came with my gold and sand hand dredge, lol but I saw a nice variety of pails at homedepot last trip there.

Think I'll check with our ACE, HD and TV today. The last bucket I got was at HD and I regret the bright orange color...thinking of going cammo.

 

[Jeff95531]

The reviews are as good as the price ducky. Thanks!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Make sure you are getting "90 mil" thick plastic, not 65 or 70...so those buckets stand up to having rocks dropped in em and you heavy derrière on em!

You can see the thickness on the underside of the bucket as "090" or "065".

 

[mytimetoshine]

Had an awesome weekend. I got the invite from Mike691 to come up to his claim and hang out and work. I really glad I decided to make the trip which is a pretty long one. About 6hrs round trip.

So I hit the road at 445am to meet up with Mike at a park and ride about 30 min from his claim at about 745. We hung out for about 15 min and had breakfast that Mike was gracious enough to pick up for us. Then 30 min to the claim. This was my first time really driving dirt roads and......it's fun! Lol. Put my Chevy in 4 wheel and followed behind Mike in a nice dirt cloud he was kicking up. Made it no problem except I was scratching a lot of branches down the sides of the truck, figured I'd have a lot of scratches but ended up fine. Mike called it pinstriping which I though was pretty funny. Hadn't heard that one.

So we set up camp, Mike cracked a beer and we headed down the trail to the creek. I lasted all of 10 minutes before I went back up and grabbed some cold Sierra Nevadas. But hey, at least I gave it some effort right? So he gave me a quick run down of what he been doing and then we fired up the gear and proceed to mine the meat! It was really fun and a lot different then what I'm used to doing and seeing. Nice change of pace. Mike is a really good dude and it was a pleasure to meet him and hangout. We called it pretty early Saturday and just camped out till it got dark and then hit the hay. Mike had warned me that it gets cold at night but I was feeling warm from the beers and digging so o didn't put on any extra layers before bed. I slept like sh!t..lol. I kept waking up tossing and turning cause I was cold and had to pee. Finally about 1 or 2 am I get up to go and it was freezing! It was a pretty funny thing if you had been able to see me shaking uncontrollably, trying not to get my leg wet and then scramble back to the tent and struggling to put jeans and a sweatshirt on. Lol. Then in the morning Mike said I was saying all kinds of crap while I was sleeping..haha good times.

I woke up and could hear the generator down at the creek and the unmistakable sound of shoveling rocks onto the high banker. All I needed was coffee which Mike had left out for me and I met him down there. We finish the dig by sucker tubing the bedrock, had a few more brews and cleaned it up. Left camp at probably 130 or so and started the long drive back. Beatifull country that's for sure. Mike claim is a little slice of heaven.

Thank you Mike hope to do it again sometime. Some of my photos didn't turn out very good unfortunately..might had something to do with the adult beverages but don't judge me lol.

Oh and almost 2 catastrophic events right before we left. Mike cooked up the gold and went to his truck to get a vial for my cut and a breeze came by out of nowhere and blows the paper and gold off the scale!!!! We got lucky though as it all landed in a small pile on top of the cooler. We had already weighed it and the re-weigh didn't show any loss. Then I'm putting the last of my stuff in the truck and I noticed my vial on the ground next to the door... came out of my pocket while moving stuff....that would have been a major major buzz kill when I got home and couldn't find it...Phew ! Disaster overt ed twice!

 

[goldenmojo]

No wonder you were freezing with no roof on the cabin. Sounds like you guys had a great time though and got some nice chunky gold. Congratulations.

 

[Jeff95531]

Fantastic story and gold. Thanks for sharing. It's always afternoon somewhere!

 

[Asmbandits]

Another awesome adventure in the books! Glad to see your still getting out a lot, I haven't been doing any prospecting lately with so much going on keeping me busy.. Hopefully I'll get in a trip or two before it's too late!

 

[mytimetoshine]

Another awesome adventure in the books! Glad to see your still getting out a lot, I haven't been doing any prospecting lately with so much going on keeping me busy.. Hopefully I'll get in a trip or two before it's too late!

Let me know when your free And we will plan something. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be dragging my daughter out with me on Saturday morning if that works for you.

 

[mytimetoshine]

No wonder you were freezing with no roof on the cabin. Sounds like you guys had a great time though and got some nice chunky gold. Congratulations.

It was pretty cool to see that old cabin out there. Not from the 1800's but still old and amazing that someone was living out there at one time.

 

[mikep691]

Thanks for joining me and hope it was educational as well as a little profitable. You really got a kick out of the "modern" day hydroliking. And we did it without breaking any laws.I always say gold bearing creeks are like women. They give you just enough to keep you coming back for more, but they can close the door as easily as open it. I haven't posted on my thread yet because the phone was complaining about transferring pics and vids to my desktop, and having just wrapped up back to back 15 hour days, traveling 850 miles, I'm too whooped until tomorrow. Dora is mad at me for being late getting back. Thursday is another long day then hopefully I'm back at the Meat Friday afternoon.

 

[mikep691]

Had an awesome weekend. I got the invite from Mike691 to come up to his claim and hang out and work. I really glad I decided to make the trip which is a pretty long one. About 6hrs round trip.

So I hit the road at 445am to meet up with Mike at a park and ride about 30 min from his claim at about 745. We hung out for about 15 min and had breakfast that Mike was gracious enough to pick up for us. Then 30 min to the claim. This was my first time really driving dirt roads and......it's fun! Lol. Put my Chevy in 4 wheel and followed behind Mike in a nice dirt cloud he was kicking up. Made it no problem except I was scratching a lot of branches down the sides of the truck, figured I'd have a lot of scratches but ended up fine. Mike called it pinstriping which I though was pretty funny. Hadn't heard that one.

So we set up camp, Mike cracked a beer and we headed down the trail to the creek. I lasted all of 10 minutes before I went back up and grabbed some cold Sierra Nevadas. But hey, at least I gave it some effort right? So he gave me a quick run down of what he been doing and then we fired up the gear and proceed to mine the meat! It was really fun and a lot different then what I'm used to doing and seeing. Nice change of pace. Mike is a really good dude and it was a pleasure to meet him and hangout. We called it pretty early Saturday and just camped out till it got dark and then hit the hay. Mike had warned me that it gets cold at night but I was feeling warm from the beers and digging so o didn't put on any extra layers before bed. I slept like sh!t..lol. I kept waking up tossing and turning cause I was cold and had to pee. Finally about 1 or 2 am I get up to go and it was freezing! It was a pretty funny thing if you had been able to see me shaking uncontrollably, trying not to get my leg wet and then scramble back to the tent and struggling to put jeans and a sweatshirt on. Lol. Then in the morning Mike said I was saying all kinds of crap while I was sleeping..haha good times.

I woke up and could hear the generator down at the creek and the unmistakable sound of shoveling rocks onto the high banker. All I needed was coffee which Mike had left out for me and I met him down there. We finish the dig by sucker tubing the bedrock, had a few more brews and cleaned it up. Left camp at probably 130 or so and started the long drive back. Beatifull country that's for sure. Mike claim is a little slice of heaven.

Thank you Mike hope to do it again sometime. Some of my photos didn't turn out very good unfortunately..might had something to do with the adult beverages but don't judge me lol.

Oh and almost 2 catastrophic events right before we left. Mike cooked up the gold and went to his truck to get a vial for my cut and a breeze came by out of nowhere and blows the paper and gold off the scale!!!! We got lucky though as it all landed in a small pile on top of the cooler. We had already weighed it and the re-weigh didn't show any loss. Then I'm putting the last of my stuff in the truck and I noticed my vial on the ground next to the door... came out of my pocket while moving stuff....that would have been a major major buzz kill when I got home and couldn't find it...Phew ! Disaster overt ed twice!

Don't worry about yammerin' in your sleep, Rockguy snores so loud, I don't need to leave the lantern on to deter the bears....

 

[mytimetoshine]

This week's after work digings were not very productive. I didn't get skunked though so that's good. I ran my 30" prospector for about a total of 3 hrs and about 40-45 2gallon buckets of material. Only ended up with .05 and one piece of lead shot...yuk! I think it's safe to say that hole is done.

I ran into Jbond on Tuesday but didn't know it. On wed we were both back at the same spot so we got to talking and then Tnet came up and we both had a good chuckle about it cause we had tenative plans to meet up anyways.

 

[utah mason]

Think I'll check with our ACE, HD and TV today. The last bucket I got was at HD and I regret the bright orange color...thinking of going cammo.

A good place to get buckets is construction sites. Find new subdivision there will be plenty of houses in different stages of development. Look for either jobs where stucco finish color coat was just applied. They take a little bit to clean. My favorite are paint buckets. Especially if they are still fresh, you can turn them over set them on the ground for a day then just peel paint out(most of time comes out in one piece ). A quick scrub with some dishsoap and ready to go. I use buckets everyday for hauling mortar around, but nothing I buy comes in a bucket. So there like gold for me. There are very few things I would jump in a dumpster for, but a bucket seems to be #1. I may have 10 or so on each job and 50 or so at shop. But I still look in every dumpster first thing when I pull up to new job. And the buckets you'll find on site will be the heavy duty buckets. Plus now your taking plastic out of land fill. Free, less garbage = win win for everyone

 

[mikep691]

Best place for buckets is your local deli. Yeah they're white, but free is a good price.

 

[mytimetoshine]

I prefer the white Ace buckets but have a couple blue ones from Lowes as well. Lmao, I'm not diggin in the dumpster or shopping at the deli though. Cmon they cost like 4 bucks brand new and last forever. Lol

 

[utah mason]

I wish they lasted forever i go thru about 70-100 buckets every year (thats being SUPER conservative) multiply that 4.00 a bucket. I have better things to spend $ on. Ill take the 1 min it takes to grab out of dumpster.(job dumpster nothing nasty in there just construction waste lumber and such) years back i had a mason who worked for me whos neighbor was baker. Gave us buckets that use to have chocolete in them. Never could get the smell out of buckets, smell Had me always craving a chocolete donut. ; )