First real panning trip, not practice - sore and skunked

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

We to the Lost River and then Tunnell Brook in NH today, I don't think I will try to do 6 hours of panning along with a 3 hour drive each way in a single day! When I tried to get out of the car BOTH my legs cramped up, doesn't help that I have bad arthritis in both knees!
Found lots of Garnets but no gold, although I keep hoping since I was basically concentrating the dirt and dumping it is my 5 gallon bucket to bring home, only panned a couple pans down, will work it tomorrow.

OMG I never realized what hard work panning is, first getting down to the river with the gear and not killing myself, second trying to dig down with a shovel in a rock garden. Couldn't get down too far, although I tried.
However I had fun and my wife had fun, she found a beautiful 2 pound conglomerate with sheets of mica, really nice.

I think from now on I will spend the night at a campground, there are plenty up in the National Forest and also Twin Rivers. THe wife asked what I want for Christmas, I told her a sluice!

 

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[TerryC]

Another fine tool from our resident inventor. Looks like a good one too.

I like that tool, Goodguy! TTC

 

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[Goodyguy]

Another fine tool from our resident inventor. Looks like a good one too.

I like that tool, Goodguy! TTC

Thanks Terry and Calisdad!

I use it all the time, it's my favorite way to feed my bazooka style fluid bed sluice.... just stand in the creek dig down and dump material into the sluice.

It also makes building a wing dam a breeze.... Use it like a hoe to rake gravel and rocks, I once used it to make a 10' wide wing dam when the creek was down and running slow.

GG~

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Goodguy
How does it handle larger rocks, our gold bearing streams here in NH are virtually all rock, as in the pictures, layer on layer of rock. It looks like it would stand up to them but I wonder.

 

[Lanny in AB]

We to the Lost River and then Tunnell Brook in NH today, I don't think I will try to do 6 hours of panning along with a 3 hour drive each way in a single day! When I tried to get out of the car BOTH my legs cramped up, doesn't help that I have bad arthritis in both knees!
Found lots of Garnets but no gold, although I keep hoping since I was basically concentrating the dirt and dumping it is my 5 gallon bucket to bring home, only panned a couple pans down, will work it tomorrow.

OMG I never realized what hard work panning is, first getting down to the river with the gear and not killing myself, second trying to dig down with a shovel in a rock garden. Couldn't get down too far, although I tried.
However I had fun and my wife had fun, she found a beautiful 2 pound conglomerate with sheets of mica, really nice.

I think from now on I will spend the night at a campground, there are plenty up in the National Forest and also Twin Rivers. THe wife asked what I want for Christmas, I told her a sluice!

I loved your pictures. I'm going to have to go along with GG on this--you need to dig deeper. Looking at your shot up the river, the way those boulders are sitting up in the stream--you may be close to bedrock. In fact, looking up the stream to the far left--is that a bedrock shoulder running down into the stream? If it is, dig until you hit bedrock--the bedrock always stops the gold. A plus in your favor is that you're finding garnets--they're a semi-precious gemstone and lighter than the gold, but they usually hang out in very close proximity to the gold.

All the best--loved your post,

Lanny