Found some chunky pickers and flakes sat.

Jack Hamilton · Jul 12, 2010

I went to the coolgardie area outside of Barstow Ca saturday. Weather was supposed to be nice but it turned out to be 107% I cut out around 2:30 to do some exploring and get out of the direct sun. This is my home made drywasher and the gold I found with it on sat. I moved over a yard of material through my drywasher not counting the rock that rolled off my grizzly.

strickman · Jul 12, 2010

nice color, wow 107 whew-that is a scorcher .

homefires · Jul 12, 2010

Man, Looking at that pile you earned the gold. :thumbsup:

golddust77 · Jul 12, 2010

Man that is some nice gold . and it does look like you earned it the old fashsion way thanks for the pics realy looks great .I dont know if i can hang with the 107 but it looks like you came out on top

eureka77 · Jul 12, 2010

Nice gold. :icon_thumleft:

Did training near barstow, forget the name of the base, the whole place smelled of gold. No time to look though.

Astrobouncer · Jul 12, 2010

Thanks for the pics, the Au looks good man. That's quite a tailings pile for that heat. :icon_sunny:

Jack Hamilton · Jul 12, 2010

I left home at 4:30 am. Had to make a couple stops on the way...130 miles. One was for coffee. One i missed my turn and had to back track a couple miles lol

Started diggin around 8am. dug for an hour or more. Sampled my cons to find about 10 flakes. My plan was to stay sat night and work again sun. The temp grew fast and wore me out. I was covered in dirt from drywashing. Even at a water bottle per hour I was feeling heat exaustion. My pan station had about 50 or so bees drinking in it and made me not want to play with the pan station hehe. I thought about setting up my tent, but thought it would be way hotter in there to pan. Figured I was exhausted and it would be better to go home, enjoy some ice cold beer and go through my cons in the comfort (if you wanna call it that) of my garage

I dont mind fine gold, but I really like chunky stuff alot better. Remember I am in my first year, so this is a nice score for me. :headbang:

Looking forward to drywashing near Randsburg, as I have nuggets from the area. Gonna have to wait until the weather forcaster can get it right though. Its just as hot up there. Randsburg has some nice claims. I've been to 3 metal detecting but didn't have my washer yet. The nuggets I have were given to me by a friend of a friend with a private semi commercial claim. I cant wait to find my own. Gold fever....no cure....but more :P

jog · Jul 12, 2010

Nice color!! By the looks of the pics, I was going to ask how far you had to travel to find shade. Besides the cab of the truck.
Have you thought of putting up one of those inexpensive tent style canopy's with the open sides right on top of your dig site.
Might help keep you out of the direct sunlight. Just a thought...
I have never done any dry washing but I enjoy the pics and it appears that your home made unit is working good.

TAKODA · Jul 13, 2010

Looks like just you and the desert . I LIKE it ! At least it's a " DRY HEAT " .... right ?

I wish I could get my truck that close to my digs ......... I'm a bit envious . Nice shine . :icon_thumright:

Jack Hamilton · Jul 13, 2010

In that area of the desert the gold is anywhere from just under the surface to a few feet down to a layer of caliche. There is bedrock on this particular claim a few feet down. In other areas of the same valley which is all claimed up you can see old mine shafts and view layers of gravel, caliche gravel, caliche. I did have an easy up shade with me but it was just too hot to even want to put it up. Thanks for all the comments. :icon_thumright:

GoldinSocal · Jul 13, 2010

Was that all ran without a cleanup? Any probs with the new washer? I read your other post when you finished up your drywasher, Good to see you got out to use it.

Is much of that area claimed up? Was that a GPAA claim? I'm asking cause i might be getting myself a drywasher sometime here in the near future, ill check out the geo communicator too but i like to hear what people know also.

Gold looks good.

Jack Hamilton · Jul 14, 2010

I ran the washer for about an hour or so and did a quick test pan to find about 10 flakes. 8 am to about 9:30-10. Then I ran it for a couple more hours. Took a break and ate lunch in my truck with the AC on hehe. I HAD to cool down it was really hot. I wanted to leave, but I had made the drive and had to dig for a couple more hours

Yeah, its a GPAA claim. Good one at that too, for so cal. Not alot of claims you get pickers and bigger until you go north. And, if anyone wants to share some close to me where I can get nuggets...I'm all ears. I wont post the particular claim in public. Thats saved for the claims book comments. If you live near me and want to prospect, hit me up...pm me. Looks like its going to be really hot throughout the week but the drywashing season is far from over. I'd really like to get up near Randsburg and dig on First Chance. Adk, or close one.