MA/VT/NH Panning

[dvdtharaldson]

Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David

 

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[LostinBolton]

Anyone going up to twin river this weekend?

 

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[dvdtharaldson]

I went camping last week, been going to the same place at the same time for the last 25 years. When I first started prospecting I used to practice panning at the river that runs through the campground. Never found any colors there and probably never will.

I rarely do any serious prospecting in Mass. Just not enough colors to keep me interested. But every time my camping trip rolls around I always take my pans. I headed up to Savoy to try my luck. Spent about an hour in the streams up there with nothing to show for my efforts.

On my way back to the camping area I decided to stop at a small rivulet and do just one more pan. I found a really small flake. It was in a stream that shouldn't of had any gold in it.

It always amazes me how I can spend hours researching and educating myself on geology, hydraulics, and deposition and arrive at a likely spot, prospect and then find nothing. Then try the most unlikely of spots and find color.

Sometimes I feel I should just throw darts at a map and try there.

 

[cobbler]

Little Tunnel Visions

I caught my first glimpse of Little Tunnel ravine a few years ago from the Benton trail looking for potential skiing opportunities, I was in awe at how rugged and remote it looked from high on the ridge. I've wanted to hike up the ravine ever since that day. Early in the year I found a few specs at the bottom of it when I was walking and panning Tunnel brook, that was all I needed to get plans of a trip rolling. I got my chance a few weeks ago when the wife and kid were away for the weekend so I jumped on it. As usual I looked on the net to see what I could find about it and came across a couple hiker posts on the Nine Cascades of Little Tunnel with some beautiful pics. My focus soon shifted to the rugged bushwack to the cascades, but I was still bringing my pans.
After bushwacking out of my way for an hour all the way up to the Benton trail, across the river and back down the road to what I was now sure was Little Tunnel I started my journey into the ravine. I knew the cascades were probably a couple miles in so I packed a small day pack with supplies and stuffed it into my prospecting pack planning to ditch my pans when the brook got too steep and rugged for me to pan. The final pitch up the boulder cascades to the big one was slow going and kind of sketchy territory. I took my time, didn't want to slip here, sometimes scrambling up the cascades in the water trying to stay on the moss which seemed to be grippier. The payoff for all the work was awesome, as I sat in the sun staring at the big cascade happy to be in the mountains. But it was short lived for I had to get down safely and get to some panning! Didin't have much time for digging after the big hike but I did find a Little color on a beauty of a day.



Got lots of other nice pics of gorgeous cascades just no time to post em right now.

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Hey Lostin, my crew and i will be on the Am for the next 5 days dredging. Look for a lot of people in a big hole! Stop by and say hi. We will have a community sluice or two set up.

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

Here is my take from the trip #2 and#3 at the wild Am. Trip #3 was yesterday.

I think that I am getting hooked on this yellow stuff

VPR

 

[cobbler]

Nicely done Packrat, you have a nice little collection started! I'm heading out tomorrow morning for the third "last time" this season. Still looking for a chunky picker or small nug. I know one is out there somewhere with my name on it!

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

Nicely done Packrat, you have a nice little collection started! I'm heading out tomorrow morning for the third "last time" this season. Still looking for a chunky picker or small nug. I know one is out there somewhere with my name on it!

Thanks cobbler! Keep at it and your time is comming for that nugget! I got out for a few hours today and got some chunky stuff, nothing that I can call a "picker" yet but I am happy with my results. Four 5-gallon buckets.

VPR

 

[chef440rt]

Looking good! Packrat

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

I got out this morning and found my first picker! Not the biggest piece of gold in the world but I am pretty proud of it. Todays take and a grand total career pile for me, not including todays gold.
I see a dredge in my future.....

VPR

 

[chef440rt]

I got out this morning and found my first picker! Not the biggest piece of gold in the world but I am pretty proud of it. Todays take and a grand total career pile for me, not including todays gold.
I see a dredge in my future.....

VPR

You've got the fever, from mini sluice to dredge in a few trips. I knew it would happen. Welcome to the club.

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

I made one last trip to the Wild Am on Sunday. It rained pretty hard on Saturday so I knew the river would be up. Great excuse to try out my new toy... I bought a GOLD-N-SAND X-STREAM HYBRID PRO. This thing is awesome! It allowed me to reach into places where I normally could not. I filled the 2-gallon bucket that comes with it six times. I did a little hand digging and classifying too. About four 5-gallon buckets of material through my mini sluice and I think that I had my best cleanout yet! Still not huge amounts of gold but I am quite happy.
First pic is from Sunday the second pic is grand total for my first nine trips.

VPR

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sets quite a nice step up in production vs. your previous average, congrats!

PS I love my gold n sand for cleaning off the bottom of my holes too

 

[TheGoldProspector]

I made one last trip to the Wild Am on Sunday. It rained pretty hard on Saturday so I knew the river would be up. Great excuse to try out my new toy... I bought a GOLD-N-SAND X-STREAM HYBRID PRO. This thing is awesome! It allowed me to reach into places where I normally could not. I filled the 2-gallon bucket that comes with it six times. I did a little hand digging and classifying too. About four 5-gallon buckets of material through my mini sluice and I think that I had my best cleanout yet! Still not huge amounts of gold but I am quite happy. First pic is from Sunday the second pic is grand total for my first nine trips. VPR

Awesome color! Love those GoldnSand tools!!
Heavy pans!

 

[survival_hippie]

has anybody had any success around the quabbin reservoir in ma?

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Hi Survival Hippie,

Welcome to the thread. I live just outside of Springfield and have done some panning in the streams out towards the Westfield area with very little success. I have never heard of anybody finding any color around the quabbin area. If I was going to try that area I would prospect the branch of the swift that drains the Cooleyville area off of Rte. 202. If you really want to find color head northwest ala Vermont.

Best Colors,
dvdt

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Usually around this time I like to reflect on the past prospecting season. When I started out this year I had seven small pieces of gold, which took me about three years to amass. I clearly wasn't a very successful prospector. Truth is there just isn't a lot of gold where I live in Massachusetts.

This year I decided to travel to Vermont to do my prospecting. That meant a lot less prospecting and a greater outlay of cash. I justified the greater expense because I was going to vacation in Vermont anyway. Now I had another reason to travel there.

Well I ended up this year with 28 pieces of gold after all was said and done. While that's not a lot of gold, it is a lot for me, considering my limited physical abilities. Gone are the days where I could prospect for hours . Now it's usually just a half hour or so at streamside. As long as I can shovel gravel into my classifier I will keep finding color, even if it is just a piece at a time.

What did I learn this year? Two things- patience and check all feeder streams. That's where I had the majority of my luck.

 

[triple d]

DVD you may already do this. But in New Hampshire and Maine. There is a lot of very fine gold. That likes to hide in the garnet and black sands. Really need a way to get the fine microscopic gold out. I learned this last winter. And thanks for your post. Always like to know whats going on in New England.

 

[vaquero44]

anyone in maine NH area doing nay winter prospecting?

 

[triple d]

Weather been good. But the water been too high. Near flooding most of the time.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

triple d,

The only way I have been successful in separating gold dust from heavy cons is to classify down to -50 and use my loupe. It is so time consuming, though.

I have often wondered just how much micron gold I am missing. A lot of times you see those glints of light in clean out bins. Or those same glints running straight out of your sluice. I suppose if there was a real lot of micron gold it would be worth messin' with. For me to bother with it, I would have to see evidence of a lot of it in my pan. Wishful thinking.

Best Colors,
David