Gold panning kern river

[ProspectorALEX]

Does anyone pan at the kern river?? Does anyone get a gram in a whole day of work? Would anyone meet up and show us a few good spots for me and my dad to go to. Thanks. Alex. ( if you don't know I'm only 11.

 

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[russau]

theres a member here named Kernriverrich i havent seen him post here in awhile, but he would be able to answer your question! and im sure there are more guys here with experience on the Kern.

 

[goldog]

Good to hear from you Alex. Merry Christmas to you and be sure to send our best to your parents too.. I see you are looking for spots to prospect again. Glad you are still at the game.

Kern river is a good place to try. It is remote (a long drive), big and cold. I'm not sure how it is running now but be very careful in the Kern. The cold deep currents will wash even an adult to his or her doom.

What equipment are you using now? If you are just panning or sluicing, a gram a day is a lot to hope for anywhere. Even with mom and dads' help. Remember it is the outing and adventure that counts though. Kinda' like fishing. I make a goal of a dollar worth. That way I can at least come close.

I'm near the San Fernando Valley. I'd be happy to share my dollar a day spot as well as other areas I know of. Maybe you could do better. As I recall you are in the desert. There are probably more dry-washing areas near you than creeks.Even in Big Bear Lots of people here in So Cal will help you to find a spot.

Have your parents PM if interested.

 

[ProspectorALEX]

We have a gold cube

 

[KevinInColorado]

Alex, here's what a local guy posted about the Kern a while ago:i have found gold in the kern river in bakersfield,ca at a local park (hart park) and in the canyon off of hwy 178 and i've scouted keyesville near lake isabella were the first kern county strike was in 1851. i heard it was tricky there but i do plan of trying someday soon fingers crossed i have never been scunked yet.

Also I found this comment on another S Cal spot you may want to try: Cajon Creek off of Swarthmouth Road has produced nuggets recently.

Piru Creek
A suggested prospecting site in southern California. It's the Piru Creek area in the Los Padres National Forest. It is located just north of Los Angeles in the Gorman Region on Interstate 5 in Ventura county. this is a very scenic and accesable area for the Southern California Prospector It is a year round creek good for panning and sluicing. The gold is fine flake with an occasional nugget.

Alex, I wish I could help more but I'm in Colorado so...yeah.

 

[ProspectorALEX]

We have some cons from the kern that we are going to finish today. Wish us luck. Alex

 

[rodoconnor]

Alex, Piru may be closed due to the toads and condors. You don't want to hurt their feelings! There are some awesome spots on the Kern. Keyesville has been worked to death and then some. Orange C. 49ers has a claim or 2 on it [ China Gardens is 1] that are very good. Sampling is the key buddy. You'll do well. Merry Christmas and hope you have a good year

 

[rodoconnor]

Alex BTW , you might consider getting Sam Radding's book on building your own prospecting equipment.You can build up quite an aresenol of gear for next to nothing. Build yourself a little drywasher and it opens up a whole lot of areas for you to work

 

[Ace 250]

Go to Hart park their a lot of fine gold up there . I got a 20$of gold of that spot

 

[IDdesertman]

Some additional info on the Kern River...

Kern River Gold Prospecting - California Gold Mining - Sierra Nevada

 

[ProspectorALEX]

Thanks

 

[chkn]

We'd love to hear your stories kiddo. Even the little things make our day!!!

 

[ProspectorALEX]

Once me my mom brother and sister went to the kern. I was sluicing while my mom was digging/playing with my brother and sister. while she wasn't looking a bucket floated on the water and went down river. We thought it was gone but we got lucky and it got stuck on shore. My mom thought it was funny but I got upset. Kinda ridiculous that it got away from my mom but that's just what happened that day and I hope that it doesn't happen again.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Cool story, glad you were able to recover it. Even grownups do derpy things! A friend of mine was using his sucker bottle to get flakes that landed in his v matting on his sluice. He set the bottle down on a rock ...and never saw it again! Oops, guess it floated away when the creek level raised. lol!

 

[augoldminer]

The best area on the lower Kern i have found is not on the river.

Go to hobo campground (miracle hot springs) and go above the canyon road you will see a small ranger station and overflow camp ground.

Hike back into that canyon there is good gold in that canyon.

There is even a stage station. I used to camp in the building when mining back in the late 1970s.

A little further back there are good rock sheets with some nice cracks that held good gold.

I can no longer hike back in that canyon so i might as well let others in on my secret spot..

You might want to go armed there are pot growers that have used that canyon.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Cool story, glad you were able to recover it. Even grownups do derpy things! A friend of mine was using his sucker bottle to get flakes that landed in his v matting on his sluice. He set the bottle down on a rock ...and never saw it again! Oops, guess it floated away when the creek level raised. lol!

Kevin, is there a trick to snuffering gold from V mat? Seems anytime I have tried I disturbed the water and made the gold move. Being a chicken I have been afraid to do so since, I fear I'm kicking gold into the water flow. I know my riffles will catch it, but still... Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Kevin, is there a trick to snuffering gold from V mat? Seems anytime I have tried I disturbed the water and made the gold move. Being a chicken I have been afraid to do so since, I fear I'm kicking gold into the water flow. I know my riffles will catch it, but still... Any thoughts or suggestions?

Sure, you have to sneak up on it from downstream...just like being downwind when deer hunting! Don't let it know you're coming until it feels the suction ;-) Get that tip down in the water, inch upstream in the sluice toward the flake and then release your suction.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Gotcha, makes sense. I was trying to do it from the side. Thanks for responding.

 

[8KCAB]

The best area on the lower Kern i have found is not on the river. Go to hobo campground (miracle hot springs) and go above the canyon road you will see a small ranger station and overflow camp ground. Hike back into that canyon there is good gold in that canyon. There is even a stage station. I used to camp in the building when mining back in the late 1970s. A little further back there are good rock sheets with some nice cracks that held good gold. I can no longer hike back in that canyon so i might as well let others in on my secret spot.. You might want to go armed there are pot growers that have used that canyon.

Went and checked this out yesterday. Didn't do any panning, just hiked a bit.

Indian tree? at mouth of canyon:






Nice creek:







Do you remember how far up the stage stop was? I found a likely shelf, had some modern looking concrete things:

 

[munkirinch]

That looks to be a very old sluice