Out huntn new ground

[Featherdfishead]

Well i finally got out for a day with my new wheels. I have a bad head cold, short of breathe and dizzy, so came home earlier than usual but had a good time. First i hit a spot were the locals dig quartz crystals after finding records that the area was also mined for gold matrixed with the crystals historically. This is Quarz stringers in Granitics. Sadly when i got to the spot it had recently been dug hard by the local tweekers whom were kind enough to leave beer cans and Snapple and vodka bottles strung up and down the hill side. Beer bottle caps and crap all over. Looked around abit but headed to another spot up the mountain.

Enjoying my new scoot as i buzzed up the road i relished the breeze and 85 degree temps knowing that soon it'll be climbing to the 100's. My next stop was to check the creek level and investigate a nearby old adit to look at the geology of the vein the old timers were fallowing. As you can see from the pic the waters still high but with very little snow pack it'll be dropping quick over the next few weeks. This streams produced pounders in the past The adit, to my never to surprised amusement was full of garbage bags and an old fridge that i assume from the only recent tracks besides mine were the same awesome folks that left crap all over the crystal diggings. Rrrrr - what can ya do though huh.

Off to yet another spot and after a short hike some bedrock to detect. Scanned along for about an hour, dug afew old nails and noticed some recent scour exposed bedrock from the heavy rains earlier this season but no gold - just smelln the skunk.

Hiked above these workings to investigate the fringes of the site but found no other detectable ground. Feeling poorly i decided to head back out and return when i was feeling better to the recent scoured areas and test pan my way up the small stream. The newly exposed bedrock look ed very promising and i'm curious if i'll be able to pick up an indicator in the area. This area was serpentine bedrock and gabbro soils.

Loving my Zuma - put nearly 200 mls on it in the last 3 days. Didnt discover any new areas worth detecting but the smells and sights of spring abounded and brought me much joy. I'm feeling the itch for some gold but have committed to exploreing for new areas with my time instead of scouring old patches for crumbs. Although i'll be doing that if i don't hit a screamer in the next few weeks just to get my fix.

Hope you all are enjoying your spring/summer thus far and Get some Gold!
AjR

 

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[Pappyjac]

Looks to be a promising area there must be something there. We have a couple streams like that in Wyoming that I will be prospecting for sure. Even if I don't find any thing it will be a nice outing if I don't see any grizley bear lol. Don't give up on it yet yours is there to find good luck!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Well i finally got out for a day with my new wheels. I have a bad head cold, short of breathe and dizzy, so came home earlier than usual but had a good time. First i hit a spot were the locals dig quartz crystals after finding records that the area was also mined for gold matrixed with the crystals historically. This is Quarz stringers in Granitics. Sadly when i got to the spot it had recently been dug hard by the local tweekers whom were kind enough to leave beer cans and Snapple and vodka bottles strung up and down the hill side. Beer bottle caps and crap all over. Looked around abit but headed to another spot up the mountain.

Enjoying my new scoot as i buzzed up the road i relished the breeze and 85 degree temps knowing that soon it'll be climbing to the 100's. My next stop was to check the creek level and investigate a nearby old adit to look at the geology of the vein the old timers were fallowing. As you can see from the pic the waters still high but with very little snow pack it'll be dropping quick over the next few weeks. This streams produced pounders in the past The adit, to my never to surprised amusement was full of garbage bags and an old fridge that i assume from the only recent tracks besides mine were the same awesome folks that left crap all over the crystal diggings. Rrrrr - what can ya do though huh.

Off to yet another spot and after a short hike some bedrock to detect. Scanned along for about an hour, dug afew old nails and noticed some recent scour exposed bedrock from the heavy rains earlier this season but no gold - just smelln the skunk.

Hiked above these workings to investigate the fringes of the site but found no other detectable ground. Feeling poorly i decided to head back out and return when i was feeling better to the recent scoured areas and test pan my way up the small stream. The newly exposed bedrock look ed very promising and i'm curious if i'll be able to pick up an indicator in the area. This area was serpentine bedrock and gabbro soils.

Loving my Zuma - put nearly 200 mls on it in the last 3 days. Didnt discover any new areas worth detecting but the smells and sights of spring abounded and brought me much joy. I'm feeling the itch for some gold but have committed to exploreing for new areas with my time instead of scouring old patches for crumbs. Although i'll be doing that if i don't hit a screamer in the next few weeks just to get my fix.

Hope you all are enjoying your spring/summer thus far and Get some Gold!
AjR

QUOTE]

Love that you got out for some spring gold hunting, nothing better for the gold prospecting soul!

Thanks for the write-up and the pictures.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Hoser John]

Sounds like allergies,try organic wildflower honey from your local area as within a week or so of a tablespoon a day it goes away. Just saying....I know dozens who listened up and now no mo'trouble every spring,summer and fall. Plenty of energy too...John

 

[Featherdfishead]

No Grizzly's here luckly Pappyjac - thanks for the Kudos

Thanks Lanny its been beautiful but drieing up quick.

John - I have a few jars of good ole local honey that i just stared eating a bunch of a few days ago just in case. I've never had allergies but who knows. Thanks for the Tip and have a good one man.

AjR

 

[Hoser John]

Tons a au 2 u 2 through clear eyes-John

 

[timemachine]

Cool wheels that's gotta be easy to transport, too...good idea!

 

[Featherdfishead]

I'm hopeing so John - Thanks!

Yes Timemachine its a great ride. Its a Fuel Injected 125cc and only weighs 260 lbs so its very zippy and easy to rip around. I've put nearly 300 mls on it since i got it last wednesday. It cruises easily at 55 with my 215 lbs plus about 50lbs of mining gear, water and snacks with a max speed of 65 mph. and it gets upwards of 89 mpg - currently looks like i'm getting about 65 - 75 mpg with my street and dirt road riding. Its just shy of 800 mls so just getting broke in thus the gas mileage will likely get alittle better and max speed alittle easier to sustain. I can also do all the maintenance or repairs myself cutting more cost from transportation budget.

The really cool part is its made for dirt as well as street. The shocks and Air filter and Tranny all have oil filters to help deal with the dust just like dirt bikes. Also its got more after market parts to Mod it than any other scoot or motorcycle for that matter. People build them into street racers or trail bombers. I plan on putting on a BBK kit to bring it to a 155 or 164 cc as well as putting on heavier shocks, swing arm and tires as my winter project this next year. This will give me a cruising speed of 65 and max of about 75-80 mph with more pull for the steep mountain roads i drive. I'm not a speed junky so does me great. There are no freeways were i live but everyone still drives 65 - 75 even though spd lmts 55.

Guy's have cruised these things all over the world - there really dependable and solidly made. If people here in america weren't so macho about there rides i'd bet their would be many more around. Me i can ride a scoot because i let my actions prove my manhood and not products.

Check out Yamaha Zuma 125 off road riding on google there's all kinds of cool videos of guys mashing them. I figure that with using it on my 50 ml a day commute and on the weekends for mining i'll save the cost of the scoot in gas savings in 2 years. And as we all know Gas is a big expense getting to our mining spots - cut that and increase the value of my gold finds. Mother in law has offered to pay for life insurance - funny to me but what ever.

Have a good one and go get some Gold!
AjR

 

[Jim Hemmingway]

Thankyou for posting your latest adventure AjR, we enjoyed the read and the scenery photos are great… what a beautiful country. It’s a shame about the polluters scattering their garbage around, very difficult to understand why anyone would do such a thing… particularly nowadays with so much emphasis on keeping our environments clean.

You've mentioned the quartz crystal occurrence with gold in the past. The quartz crystal you previously posted was exquisite, we love to see such minerals every bit as much as precious metals. One of our regulars here for years… Kuger… posted a handsome, valuable quartz crystal with lots of embedded or attached gold not that long ago. I seem to recollect it was a California specimen, but not sure exactly where it was found.

Doggone it… I know I’ve commented before about it, but that is a real handsome bike you have there!!! I’ll bet you’re having lots of fun buzzing around. I think it would get me to more places quicker, but I wonder if it might be too much fun. I might not be willing to park it and actually do some detecting. Then I wonder if that would really matter, but I suppose there would be implications… you just wouldn't find anything. So I guess you can see that such simple decisions can confuse the heck out of me. Hope you’re feeling better soon AjR… all the very best.

Jim.

 

[Featherdfishead]

Once again thanks for the kind words Jim - it would be a good time to sit down in person with you and BS deep into the night - oh what we could learn from one another. And yes the Zuma is a joy, I'm sure it influenced me cutting out early the other day as with my head cold the cruising breeze was much nicer than the baking sun and piercing threshold in pounding head. But no gold in the gas tank by cruising around.

Went for a short ride yesterday evening after supper and snapped afew pics with you in mind. To the Romantic in us all - I'm truelly blessed to live were i do.

Pics fallow in order from facing west and turning to the north with me standing near the southern tip of the valley just up the road from my house. The rock formation behind the Zuma is to the east behind my house. Its part of the Moffet Formation that i mentioned previously and is very old limestone geology, Its named Facey Rock after a Mormon pioneer family that's still present in Scott Valley. The last pic is looking back south westerly twords the south end of the valley with Callahan nestled just out of the left side of the pic in the far off foot hills. Theirs Gold in them there hills!

Enjoy my friend
AjR

 

[Featherdfishead]

Off this morning to hunt some more new ground. Plan on hitting a hillside riddled with pit mines and also a steep ravine that was bucket mined and bulldozed in the 50's. An old timer told me of logging while the mine was still being worked. He told of watching bulldozers pushing the hillside down and bucket after bucket scrapping up the bedrock. The area was planted into a tree farm in the 80's but i'm hopen theirs still some bedrock exposed. The pit mines are sporadic but riddle an entire mountain side and have also been logged in the past but not replanted. I'd love to score a piece today as i find nearly all my gold in the water or riparian zone and am yet to find a specimen or pocket piece. I'm sure afew detectorists have been in the area but not many.

Until next time - Go Get yourself some Color!
AjR