Auburn SRA Newbie

[goatman]

First I want to say thank you to everyone who posts on here, there is such a wealth of information for a newbie like me. I’m not entirely new to prospecting, but might as well be as it’s been about 10 years since I last attempted anything.

From my research it seems like the Auburn SRA would be a great place to relearn the basics, but I’ve never been. I’m hoping someone can give me a quick rundown on a good place to go if I’m driving a small car. My wife and I don’t mind hiking, and I’m planning on just taking a couple pans and hand tools.

I’m not looking for any secret spots or anything, I just don’t want to get stuck or hurt the wife’s car . Although she said if can prove that I know what I’m doing and find something I can buy myself a metal detector…sweet. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Howdy, and welcome to the site...!

Don't know the area, but can see it is in some good gold country.

[personal opinion deleted by Dizzy. Sometimes I just can't keep my yap shut..]

 

[MadMarshall]

Iowa hill RD is paved and provides great acsess to the NF AMERICAN River Managed by the ARSA..Yankeejims Rd is a little rough but small cars have no problem only peoples nerves..Ponderosa way is halfway decent rd just seems hella long...Anyway

Auburn SRA

I recomend the NF American Less traffic and no Nudist's!!!Anyway good luck with Gold Hunting!!

And welcome to the Forum lots of locals around including myself!!!

 

[Hoser John]

Cherokee Bar outta KOOL or Drivers Flats off foresthill divide. Great bedrock to work-John

 

[2cmorau]

At the confluence of the North and Middle fork American, on the way down to the bridge that will lead to Cool, forest circus will be on the left good info on ASRA. go early parking fills up by about 9 or 10am, don't cross the bridge drive stright like going to old foresthill rd, park right after the no parking sign about a 100ft from the bridge, walk over the bridge just at the end of the bridge there is a path that leads down to the large bench/beach head to the upper portion and dig down to bedrock
MapQuest Maps - Driving Directions - Map
HH

 

[Fullpan]

Just curious - I never prospected the NF American, so have learned a lot on this forum about it. Question, has any body hit the NF way upriver, say around
Gold Run? or beyond?

 

[Fullpan]

Just curious, has anyone hit the NF American way upriver, say around gold run (canyon creek confluence) or fords bar?

oops, double post

 

[goatman]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Can't wait to get out there.

Dizzy, don't worry about the comment...I got a kick out of it. To clarify, I don't have to prove anything really - I guess it's more of bet.

 

[mytimetoshine]

Just curious - I never prospected the NF American, so have learned a lot on this forum about it. Question, has any body hit the NF way upriver, say around
Gold Run? or beyond?

Good question. Been looking at that on the map. You would think the gold would be really good there. Looks like some ruff country though. Is there a way to get down to the water? Looks like white water on the map too. Wouldnt it be fun just to hike along side the river all the way up to the source?!

 

[63bkpkr]

"The Source" of the NF of the American River is a trickle of water coming out of the ground out back of the Sugar Bowl Ski area, SB is just off Hwy 80 on your way to Tahoe/Reno. Walking from the Hwy 49 bridge out back of Auburn to the source, well one can not walk all the way. Seems some nearly straight up cliffs at Lovers Leap Gorge tend to cause some folks to go around. It could be done right now as the river is quite low but you will be swimming and towing your gear, of course if you have a Kayak then you could just paddle up stream though there will be a great deal of portaging. From LLG you come into Green Valley, go through the next gorge to enter the Euchre Bar area and not long after going under the foot bridge you will need to portage around some very BAD water - actually the water it wonderful it is just that a major portion of the cliff fell off and it will kill you if you try to go through it. From there, by water, you reach the Italian Bar Area (only soft drinks made with water served there), next is Mumford Bar, then Beacroft and a 15' + waterfall you will need to portage around on the left side going up river before the solid rock gorge with the 15' + waterfall at the upper end of it. After Beacroft there will be a long paddle till you reach Sailor Flat. Now up river from Sailor is some more river then it all goes underground and this is where the progress gets really hard as now you have to go over gigantic river boulders to make your way up the dry river bed. At some point you will notice Bear Poop on many of the boulders. Every year as the water decreases, pools in the area of the bear poop dry up leaving trout for hungry bears to find and eat and because bears will poop where it is convenient as well as wherever they want, they do it on the boulders. As you reach the back end of the canyon you will begin to find some water again. At the top of this creek is a pool about 60' in diameter with a 70'-100' waterfall plummeting into it. The last time I saw it the pool was likely 30' deep right under the waterfall. Snakes like this area as it is easier for them to catch the trout so be on the lookout for them and yes they do swim.

Climbing the waterfall takes you to the upper reaches of the NFAR though by now it is a creek. Early in the year Kayakers put in way up this creek at "The Ceaders" which at that time of year it is a raging beast and go all the way down to the Colfax Bridge's. They hit it at say around 2000 cfs when the water temp is likely 40 degrees or a touch lower. I would not do that for all the tea in China as they go over All of the water falls. Of course a lot of the river boulders are well under water, maybe even the ones up river of the Euchre Bar bridge, maybe! It has to be one exciting ride but I will pass on it. In the valley areas the fishing should be OK, in the gorges it is questionable to nonexistent save for the gorge between Italian and Mumford as there is at least one good spot there, the pool just down river from the hardrock mine on the left wall (going up). However the 2008 fire has caused a Huge weed growth along the valley trail and I am not certain just how far down river the burn area extends but it ends between Beacroft and Sailor Flat. Ugly trail hiking in that mess!!!!!!!! Some beautiful water and canyons and side creeks, all of it old mining country and some of it is amazingly Rough. Bears, Bob Cats, Rattle Snakes, Deer so likely Mountain Lions, some night time animals, banana slugs (empty your shoes in the morning or pay the price), black beetles that bite and leave a very sore bullseye from the bite and bears(yes I've repeated myself but with good cause). The bears will attack your hanging food bags and will destroy tents unless you leave them open when you are not in them. They are a pain in the butt! The trout like worms and lures IF you can find any Trout as the river has been over fished since the late 70's, quite a shame. Blackberries once it gets hot enough for them to ripen and they are GOOD! I've enjoyed BDU Boonie hats full over the years so I know why the bears like them. Wild grapes as well. Foxtails, small stickers and lots of PO so bring your lotion. Oh, and skeeters (mosquitoes) and bats and dragon flies and butterflies, "Oh My".

So Fullpan, that is a little bit of what it would be like to go all the way to the source of the NFAR. Anyone doing that would be a "Real Man" by the end of the trip even if she were a woman to start with!...............................63bkpkr

 

[Fullpan]

Ha, I knew I could draw you in to talk about your "back yard"!! But seriously, ever sluiced around Canyon crk (drains the gold run diggings)? Must be a
hotspot of mercury in that area.

 

[sidvail]

So far my favorite is Euchre Bar and above. Hell of a hike though, so may want to pick an easier spot. Ponderosa Way was fun and easy to get to - can drive all the way to the river unlike Euchre Bar. Mineral Bar also a great spot (Iowa Hill road) and easy to get to. I have yet to try Yankee Jim's so will let others tell of that. I drove out to Ruck-a-Chucky's on Drivers Flat road but have not prospected there yet - sure looked nice though. Confluence area below auburn was disappointing to me but other's have had better luck. A lot of free parking in that area also whereas Ponderosa, Mineral Bar and Driver's flat road demand use fees.

 

[63bkpkr]

Fullpan, nope, I've never "played" in that area so I'm gonna take a look at my maps and see what I can see. Yes, I have been playing with the NFAR for a long time, I am familiar with certain portions of it, rafting it is quite a thrill and I ALWAYS enjoy going back to it as there is still more for me to see.

Sidvail, the Euchre Bar Trail is a nice trail, from your comment though I would suggest some serious exercising and muscle building before you take on any of the higher trails. In particular Beacroft or Sailor are about 3 EBT's in one, the Walker mine trail is 4+ and is a tough trail (even tough to locate the top end of it), Itallian Bar is easy 2 EBT's and Mumford is 1.5. Green Valley is more than the EBT and then one must find their way down through the bottom end of the forest through many downed trees, ticks and such. Sure is pretty country though and worth the effort!
Then there is the confluence area below Auburn, be careful in that water where the two meet!!! I saw a 10" dredge processing plant down there one year that had an armed guard walking the length of the unit. I would have loved to have had a look at their finish screens!.............................63bkpkr

 

[goatman]

Quick thanks to everyone for the info. My wife and I drove out to Mineral Bar for a few hours. We found a few flakes. Nothing to write home about, but that's not the point. Beautiful weather and beautiful country up there. We'll be back.

 

[goldchaser3]

Hey Fullpan, the Goldhound club usually has one or two outings every year in that area. I know they have one planned for 8/17 going downstream from the Iowa Hill bridge, and they usually have an upstream trip sometimes earlier in the summer. I've been on one where some of the folks hiked all the way up to Pickering Bar, which is just downstream only about .5 miles from where Canyon Creek joins the river. I've heard the folks that make the trek have found some good nuggets. It was about 100 degrees when I went and I discovered very quickly I wasn't in shape enough to make it that far, given the heat. I was being cautious since it's the trip back that's always the hardest. :-) There has to be a shorter way to get there, though. I was just checking out Ford's Bar Road as an option and came across River Ridge Road on Google Maps - a couple of hills away. At the dead end towards the river it looks like there's a house and a strange looking black oval with a small circle in it at the end of the road!

 

[Fullpan]

Yes, I see the house and circular pond? with fountain? in center. Also, just to the right a road/trail zig-zags all the way to the river. Fords bar rd. makes it all
the way too, after looking closer. Don't know if public or private access tho. If you got to river there , its about 1.5 miles to canyon crk. probably have to "boulder hop" all the way up. Anyway some thousands of yummy looking bedrock cracks in that area!! And canyon crk. looks cleaned out of hydraulic debris
with lots of br exposed (overlay shows mining claims in cc - use judgement)