My first 10 pans

[Jeff95531]

OK, I got my new Garrett gold panning kit last week (awesome BTW) and want to share the results. About a week before my pans were due in, I was exploring sites. I found a small water fall (was dry at the time). Nearby the base I also found a 10"x 10" piece of moss upside down with an attached root system. I shook it out and knowing 2" inches of rain was coming, I blocked it in at the base of the falls, root side up. Then I got my pans and returned. I shook out all the sand and panned the results. Some flour gold, pretty, but not very much. I tried some exposed nearby dry channels and found nothing.
Next, I tried a large boulder sitting on bedrock. Crack and crevice collection and had to dig down to get to the lowest point in a hole in front of the boulder. 1 Pan, nothing. Second pan, one small place piece.
I should mention the spots I would like to get to are under water right now, and will be for the next several months, but well you know, I have to try.

Next, a new spot. Looked promising and...Eureka! a placer gold piece. Since I had already run into mica, I showed it to the wife and asked her to press her finger nail into it to see if it shattered. I watched and low and behold, I could see the dent. I said cool, my first placer piece...I'll get a vile. I went to the truck and got a vial and tweezers. When I got back, there was obviously a problem. OMG, she said, when you left the wind kicked up and it blew away! I'm so sorry. No problem honey, it was only my first!

Next a road trip deep into and up in the mountains. Since it was a ride and not a prospecting trip, I took what I could get.
Clay! Really? OMG!!! What a PITA! Does it ever clear up? Next was a snow melt ditch along the road. A downed tree with root system like a little sluice? Nothing. Nothing x's 3.

Back again to local. First place we stopped was because her phone rang and I made the best of it. 2 pans, nothing. Went to a spot I have had my eye on. Why?
Because my water addicted Lab found a hole near a large eddy that looks a lot like a glory hole to me. Tho the water is too high now, I wanted a better look. I got it! There is an obvious low spot with a channel leading to it from the river. Since it was still way to deep to prospect, I went to the front of the cut bank and dug out 2 pans of material from some roots-under the cut bank. First pan, nothing. Second pan, 2 placer gold. How big? Each one I found would cover a 1/4 of an eraser head. One looked like a slim shave of ice cream taken out with an ice cream scooper.

Am I sure it was gold? Pretty sure. I noticed the gold rolls out pretty easy if you want it to, and you keep finding the same pieces, as you pan it down. Mica crumbles, doesn't dent. And I really like doing panning in FULL SUN! No reflections, easier to spot.

So what have I learned so far?
It's not as easy as I wanted
It's not as much as I wanted
Never EVER mess with clay agian, OMG, does it EVER clear up?
I panned wrong the first couple of days, thank God for video refreshers the next day
It's so much fun, I am not disappointed because there is always next time.
Reading a river is like reading one for fish. Yes in some way, not so much in others.
I definitely need a hand held suction dredge for my honey hole when it dries up. Although I'm pretty sure I'm gonna start on it with a post hole digger.
I started to look at topo maps and when I looked at places I thought would be gold bearing site, I saw all these mines listed there.
Can't wait till my partner comes back to town so we can start on the sluice. Then build a suction tool. Then get some buckets!

So, I had to tell someone cuz my wife was there and she's heard each story at least twice and my brother-in-law prospecting partner is occupied with a sick relative so....I had to tell someone!! So what do you think? Do I have the fever? Am I doing well for a new guy?
Thanks for listening!

 

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[vpnavy]

I really enjoyed reading about your experience Jeff95531. Hope all goes great next time you are out.

 

[KevinInColorado]

You are doing very well for a new guy...solid prospecting definitely gains my admiration. Any idiot can dig where others point, you are getting out there and finding your own spots and that's very cool!

 

[63bkpkr]

Jeff95531,

Calm down son, calm down! You could pop a blood vessel being that excited. You did the right thing by bearing your soul here at Tnet as WE ALL Understand and we will read all of your posts and reply to them till you do calm down though that might never happen now that you've found some gold and somehow some of it blew away in the wind, the first piece no less. And yes real gold will flatten, and flatten, and flatten and keep flattening till all your finger nails are pushed back into the quick, there is nothing quite like it. Back "in the day" sign painters lettered glass windows/door windows with gold leaf that was so thin, seems like a waste to me so I just keep all those little pieces and hope they will unite some how, so far no luck.

Glad you are finding some and glad you can get out to find some And that the little lady will come with you, nothing like having that special someone come along with you on your adventures. In time they may even become her adventures especially when you come out with you first real nugget especially if there are a bunch of them that come along with the first one. There is nothing like even a small pile/vile of gold to wet a persons appetite. Less than a 1/4 oz. of gold is not much but it is quite heavy and impressive that way. It sounds like you are eyeballing places that are leading to some success, keep at it as that is how pay streaks are found. Just the fact that you found some tiny pieces of gold in the moss indicates that it is there and one can expect only tiny pieces in most moss as the moss is quite fine.

Best of luck and if you've nobody to share the excitement with well just come on back and post a page or two to let the steam out of the boiler before it blows, so to speak....................63bkpkr

 

[Jeff95531]

Thanks for the encouragement and support. I retired last April and moved here last July. Got the fever watching the last season of Gold Rush. Then I found out that gold country was literally right next door. I gotta tell ya, if the salmon aren't running you'll likely find me somewhere near the Smith River in my own little world. I have just about everything I need and a total investment of right at $100. Next project is a sluice. And BTW prospecting soooo beats work.

 

[Jeff95531]

And as for you 63BP
"In time they may even become her adventures especially when you come out with you first real nugget especially if there are a bunch of them that come along with the first one. There is nothing like even a small pile/vile of gold to wet a persons appetite. Less than a 1/4 oz. of gold is not much but it is quite heavy and impressive that way."

And you really think that helped? LOL

 

[B H Prospector]

Welcome Jeff, So happy you are having fun. We will all help in any way we can and always offer encouragement. Loved your story btw. Entertaining, you have a knack for story telling.

Good Luck!

B H Prospector