Well I have made it back to the snowy northeast and thought I would provide a summary of my trip. Hopefully this is helpful to those who may be considering a trip west to the motherlode for themselves. Many helped me on here and provided so much inspiration so I find it fitting to give back and offer up some of my own experiences. It was an amazing adventure! (and the fever is full blown now)
So I flew in Sacramento and ended up making Auburn my home base. I had a rental and this area sits within short drives of the places I wanted to try (based on pre-trip research).
Day 1: Yankee Jims, Auburn State Recreation Area. Figured this was a good location to cut my teeth given easy access, limited claims, number of reports from folks here. Arrived early, paid my fee, parked and headed up river towards Indian Creek. I was excited beyond belief to actually be there and after a hike in decided to begin the adventure. First shovel in the ground, pan it out and.. a small flake! For the experienced regulars, no biggie. For this guy.. pure adrenaline inducing fever! lol Anyway, this is where I raised the question about etiquette of jumping into others previous work holes (addressed in thread already). If you make it here, you will see that the ground everywhere has holes from previous prospectors. It is also where I gained an appreciation for the negative impact we can have on the public's perception of what we do. From here on, I tried my best to limit impact or at best, make sure I took a couple mins to cover up my work.
First spec of gold found...ever.
Day2: Early pre-dawn drive to Washington, CA and the South Yuba River. Wasn't sure of the whole 'hands and pans' rules along this river and also my pre-trip research showed bunch active claims so decided to head to Washington where I read somewhere the rules were more lax and there were unclaimed areas (true? still not sure but put my mind at ease). Hiked in from a parking area and after clearing several claims (well marked, labeled and on the BLM records) decided to set up camp. This was my first experience in the art/skill of prospecting. Tried to follow all the guidance (inside bends, behind boulder slow downs, etc) but in the end the whole, gold is where you find it came to hold the only consistent rule. I also learned that not all youtube video advice holds true. Found it difficult setting up my sluice. That perfect 4" drop with adequate water flow proved to be more of a task than expected. After moving all over the place, pulling some decent colors and flakes I finally hit the eureka spot. A beautiful exposed (low water) horizontal bedrock shelf that dropped about 3' to another bedrock ledge with deep gravel. Pulled some nice little pickers! Also learned that the gold was mostly in a layer just below the overburden gravel but above a hard clay layer. I learned to use the feel of the shovel, wiggling it deep into the gravel until i felt it break into the smoother sand layer. It is in this layer I found consistent gold. Given the temperature of the water and fact I was shoulder deep into it when hitting this layer I was unable to get past the clay and make it all the way to bedrock bottom. hmmm, if only lol Soaking wet, the sun set behind the valley and feeling hypothermic, was time to hike out. Good day
Day 3: Amador County, Dry Creek. Had read about this creek and wanted to try it out. For those doing google map searches for access points, this is a tricky one. Looks like plenty of access places but quite possibly the highest number of 'no trespassing' signs anywhere on the planet. After driving around decided to stop and chat with a local rancher who was fixing a fence. Nice guy, I explained my adventure and politely asked if there was anywhere he knew of that I could prospect. Well, I lucked out and he said I could park up the road on his property and didn't mind me poking around. Double lucked out when I found there was a spot of pooled water to pan. Was nice to be prospecting adjacent to car as I had done lots of hiking to this point of trip. Had fun, found a nice spot digging under the roots of a tree sitting on top bedrock. First experience finding lead, and tons of it in form of bullets (see pic, this is ONE shovel full of dirt). Had some decent luck with the gold but mostly smaller stuff. Consistent though. Would have been nice to have a little more freedom to explore but felt confined to the spot the owner gave me. No complaints though as it was nice to be able to look up at passing cars, runners, 4 wheelers and give a friendly wave. another good day. PS- Bedrock when it rains is slicker than snake snot. Took a few diggers
Day 4: Yuba river, Tyler Foote Crossing. First off, the road here is crazy. 4am, looking out window to a looong drop down a ravine is not for the faint of heart. I wanted to try this area though. Hike up to Kanaka creek but knowing the multiple active claim status of this area decided best to keep on trudging up river. Some VERY detailed claim markers in this area complete with topo maps attached to signs. Walked way in. Made it to a very narrow pass with a deep center pool. By this time, gone were any signs of humans. My kinda place. Decided to drop my pack, affixed my pan, shovel and rock hammer to my body w/ rope and navigated the tricky ledge to the other side (I am a climber/mountaineer and still was a little uneasy about this route). Can't imagine this spot is accessible during normal water levels from this direction). This made me even more excited to get digging. Found a beautiful spot, V shaped bedrock flow that was dry. Dug through about 2' overburden gravel and was rewarded to find the bottom of the V in the bedrock with nice dirt. Also found a few unworked 'holes' I will call them on the top of the bedrock where I was able to easily pull out the dirt with my hands and pan it. Pulled a few nice pieces! Sadly, my hike in despite starting at the break of dawn had eaten up much of the day (note to folks not familiar, this is mostly off-trail hiking with some thigh deep water traversing through current and rocks). It was cold, I was soaking wet and with light fading, forced to head back. Still, yet another great day!
Towards end of trip, I found myself a little too gold crazy. The joy of that first little flake faded to an unhealthy desire to get the larger stuff. Recognizing this and the fact that the whole point of this for me is to have fun, decided to head up to Lake Tahoe and take a break from the gold. It was smart and left me feeling great about this trip. For those thinking of a trip west, I HIGHLY recommend you come out. Nothing but a pure positive experience and I can't thank everyone enough who helped me along the way whether it be locating spots, researching or just inspiration. Can't wait for my next trip, with so much learned and so much more to learn. I'll be back for sure!
Me taking in the sunrise at Lake Tahoe
John
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