DizzyDigger
Gold Member
- Dec 9, 2012
- 5,850
- 11,601
- Detector(s) used
- Nokta FoRs Gold, a Gold Cube, 2 Keene Sluices and Lord only knows how many pans....not to mention a load of other gear my wife still doesn't know about!
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
Over the past few months I've had good days, bad days, worse days and now, finally, fairer days.
The SOB that thinks it owns my body seems to come in waves, and it's always bad at the changes
of seasons. Why? Beatshelloutame, but even though the disease does continue to "progress" (an
MD's polite way of saying "It'll get worse"..lol), it is still episodic, meaning I get breaks from it for
a day, week and sometimes even a month. Those days are special to me, as, other than the
balance and hearing stuff I can pretty much function like a normal human.
Did make a couple short trips last week (3 hrs. ea.) and it was a real battle packing my sluice
up the creek, over downed trees (big'uns) and then classifying, etc. So, instead of all that
work tomorrow I'm just taking along the pans and basic gear, plus a good lunch. Beauty is
it all packs pretty well into the camo daypack (left over from my bowhunting days), with only
the handle of the shovel sticking out the top.
For those new to prospecting/panning, the above is about all the gear (more actually) than
you'll need to have a good start at getting some gold in your poke. I'm leaving the crevice
gear at home (rock pick, chisels, brushes, etc.) as I'm familiar with the ground I'll be working,
and a shovel and trowel are all that I'll need for digging, but I am bringing along my favorite
moss tool, as it can get deep into the small cracks under the moss and clean out the remaining
material. Also plan to bring along my reliable Fuji digital camera; it's no DSLR, but it takes
decent pics and has a decent macro lens (don't be expecting any big gold..lol).
I may not get rolling till about 1000 (it's 0300 now), but that will still allow time
for all the panning I can handle, as the creeks only 20 min. from home.
Here's a pic of the same area I'll be digging around:
Fortunately, I'll just be working the top 6" of material, as it's a seriously rocky
bank area. The vast majority of the flood gold sits in that top 6" layer, and it's
really just a matter of washing off all the rocks well, and cleaning out every grain
of material from between rocks as you move them out of the way.
Instead of digging and sweating it'll be nice to just sit beside the creek panning. Once
away from all the noises of man, I can actually hear pretty well. There's a large herd
of Elk up there, and they're right in the middle of the rut. Bulls will be bugling in the deep
woods around me, and if I'm lucky one of the herds will cross the creek nearby.
The SOB that thinks it owns my body seems to come in waves, and it's always bad at the changes
of seasons. Why? Beatshelloutame, but even though the disease does continue to "progress" (an
MD's polite way of saying "It'll get worse"..lol), it is still episodic, meaning I get breaks from it for
a day, week and sometimes even a month. Those days are special to me, as, other than the
balance and hearing stuff I can pretty much function like a normal human.
Did make a couple short trips last week (3 hrs. ea.) and it was a real battle packing my sluice
up the creek, over downed trees (big'uns) and then classifying, etc. So, instead of all that
work tomorrow I'm just taking along the pans and basic gear, plus a good lunch. Beauty is
it all packs pretty well into the camo daypack (left over from my bowhunting days), with only
the handle of the shovel sticking out the top.
For those new to prospecting/panning, the above is about all the gear (more actually) than
you'll need to have a good start at getting some gold in your poke. I'm leaving the crevice
gear at home (rock pick, chisels, brushes, etc.) as I'm familiar with the ground I'll be working,
and a shovel and trowel are all that I'll need for digging, but I am bringing along my favorite
moss tool, as it can get deep into the small cracks under the moss and clean out the remaining
material. Also plan to bring along my reliable Fuji digital camera; it's no DSLR, but it takes
decent pics and has a decent macro lens (don't be expecting any big gold..lol).
I may not get rolling till about 1000 (it's 0300 now), but that will still allow time
for all the panning I can handle, as the creeks only 20 min. from home.
Here's a pic of the same area I'll be digging around:
Fortunately, I'll just be working the top 6" of material, as it's a seriously rocky
bank area. The vast majority of the flood gold sits in that top 6" layer, and it's
really just a matter of washing off all the rocks well, and cleaning out every grain
of material from between rocks as you move them out of the way.
Instead of digging and sweating it'll be nice to just sit beside the creek panning. Once
away from all the noises of man, I can actually hear pretty well. There's a large herd
of Elk up there, and they're right in the middle of the rut. Bulls will be bugling in the deep
woods around me, and if I'm lucky one of the herds will cross the creek nearby.
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...and I'm sure you're right about that pay streak. Sometimes I use those little wire flags they sell at Lowes to mark your sprinkler heads, buried wires and such...to mark where I've dug so I know exactly where that pay streak is when I come back. Much more subtle than leaving a big hole, which advertises my digging (and might get filled in with sand the next time it rains anyway). Nobody else bothers them or even knows what they mean ;-)
