bear river campground

[mytimetoshine]

Just moved to the Sacramento area. Have been wanting to take my 4 year old daughter down to one of the many rivers nearby and of course try my luck panning. A co worker said the Bear river park and campground would be a nice spot for a young child. Already been advised by many that i probably wont find anything right next to any access point, but hey you got to start somewhere right? any advise?

 

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[mytimetoshine]

Great pictures! Looks like you're going to have to buy yourself a new gold pan, I think she's already claimed yours. Pretty good panning form for a little newbie too!

Oh for sure, I already promised her I would buy her one! Thanks for the kind words Killian!

 

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[mjarvis]

Made it out for an hour or two on Sunday with my parents and my little girl. It was a smaller facility then what I was expecting but then again I had no idea what to expect. Was also surprised that 90 % of the people there were panning or sluicing for gold. First we walked around the day use area for a couple minutes then drove over to the campground. Walked for a couple minutes down the trail, but my parents chickened out at the very first mud puddle in the trail LMAO. I knew it was going to be a limited experience when that happened. Found a relatively easy spot to get down to the water and got our feet wet. Oh man when its 105+ out, that fresh mountain water feels darn good on the toes! You could instantly feel the cooler air coming off it. Very refreshing. Was almost tempted to take a drink!
Ok, now to the panning! So i busted out my pan and shovel and tried to get some ground near a boulder. It was nearly impossible to get any material though. Felt like I was hitting bedrock on the first shovel, I was only coming up with a little rock but I filled my pan with it anyway and worked it down and NADA.....Barely a tiny bit of black sand and no gold. The whole time I was working the pan my daughter was begging me to give her the pan so I knew I wouldnt get much of a chance that day to find gold. My mom was sitting on a boulder and kept trying to reach down and pick out what looks like little pieces of gold with her fingers. I figured that wasnt gold as it couldnt possibly be that easy... Plus it was really hard to get with your fingers( i tried too,lol) we finally got a piece and it broke apart with a finger nail so,fail..I decided to just skip some rocks for a bit and let my daughter play with the shovel and pan. Once she was done mom grabs the pan and dumps out my daughters material...MISTAKE! LOL LITTLE GIRL MELTDOWN!!!! "grandma dumped out ALL MY GOLD" "grandma dumped out ALL MY GOLD" it was actually pretty darn cute the way she was saying it We were about to leave but I convinced everyone to let me try one more time. I was thinking I needed dirt not rocks, so I came out of the water managed to get a pan full of dirt from higher up on the bank. Much lighter and easier to pan( that pan of rocks was killing my forearms,lol). BAM ! waaaaay more black sand so I knew that was a better place to dig. Worked it a little more AND........I think I got a few specks! Very small so I couldnt be sure as I really have no experience. Of course my mom kept saying "thats just pyrite or fools gold" ...bla bla bla! Im like 80% sure its gold. I tried hard to get the biggest piece to break with my fingernail and it didnt so....hard to snap a good pic with my basic camera. Its pretty small so dont know if anyone can confirm it or not. Well anyways it was very exciting. Sucked it up in my snuffer and all I can think about is going back I GOT THE FEVER!!!!!! LOL.
As much fun as the idea of going back to find more gold is, I have to say the very best part was spending time with my little girl and watching her smile. She loves to help me with anything I do. She has soooo much energy you have to keep her active or she will destroy you. So this is the perfect activity for me and her to do. Looking forward to more outings with her. But were gonna leave the grandparents at home, There not on our level! ....Scared of a little mud puddle Phhff!
http://s879.photobucket.com/user/ericzimowske/media/firstbearrivergold1_zpsa3e72a7c.jpg.htmlhttp://s879.photobucket.com/user/ericzimowske/media/meandavabearriver_zps1f5e7c39.jpg.htmlhttp://s879.photobucket.com/user/ericzimowske/media/avabearriver1_zpsb77d0f90.jpg.htmlhttp://s879.photobucket.com/user/ericzimowske/media/avadiggingbearriver_zps5b7e5814.jpg.html

Nice job! Better than what I did on my first day. The Bear River is good the few times I've been I've scored pretty good.