Lets be careful out there

[Jeff95531]

You know it's coming and now we know when. My season will pretty much end with this...

Powerful storms to deluge northwestern US into next week may be a sign of winter conditions to come

I'll be going out today and where I went last time. Any prospecting done here from now on will be much higher up...

Current Smith River Levels and Conditions - Northern California

Stay safe and heavy pans.

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Damn good suggestion Jeff...

People need to realize that river levels are in a constant state of flux. Rain,
dam releases from upriver and other factors can raise/lower a river in a hurry.

Just last Tues. a man drowned in the Skagit, and his body was found just across
the river from my house. I watched as the Navy helicopter (one of them big buggars)
hoisted his body on board. The chopper was so close to my house the windows were
rattling so bad I thought they'd break.

http://www.goskagit.com/skagit/conc...cle_0d1cd291-67c7-5322-acb9-cd3383cd78ef.html

He was loading his boat onto the trailer at a ramp just 1/2 mile upriver from me, and
when his boat floated back off the trailer he stepped out into the current to grab it,
and got caught by the strong current. The river dumped his body just around a bend.

Be careful out there folks..it's much more important to go home alive than to reach
that one spot that means you take unnecessary risks to reach.

Gold is great stuff, but it ain't worth dying for!

 

[Tuolumne]

I was just up in CC and del norte picking pounds of gold!

gold chanterelles that is lol, this storm will bring up the coastal porcinis and my fav, the dune matsies around florence its primed for picking the other mother load....

How to read a gold vein: -look at the picture, how many golden nuggets do you see, which way is the pay streak running? how much overburden moss is hiding large mature heavy dense specimens?

First do a test foray and see if there is any color on spruce ground floor, prospect around the base of ridges, looking for proper habitat like hucklberry, salal, and other good indications that a mycorizal relationship with the golden chanterelles and the trees and shrubs are thriving.

Prospect this way until you see more color showing and there is need to settle down and claim all gold as far as you can see. Now the mining begins.

When mossing correctly you can ease the golden nuggets out and then pair with a knife the dirty end if needed, otherwise they usually come out very clean with no substrate.

Sometimes multiple specimens attached at the base together will be taken in one handfull, these are eureka type rare nuggets, and its structure is more sought after by collectors, and will sell at a premium at the local markets and fancy restaurants, and this feature is common in the mother load areas.

Once you are actively working your vein make sure to follow it horizontal and vertical from the first spot of location, use your back pack to establish your claim monument, that will be revisited for lunch break and yearly to maintain the active vein you will be working seasonally.

Leave babies to mature and selectively harvest in two weeks time.

take a look at the photo of the habitat, where does this vein go off too, each prospector has to work on "reading" the ridge and sometimes thinking outside the trail and making your own new finds as well as revisiting old sacred spots. When the river is too high in nor cal, mine the forest floor for gold!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Better safe than sorry Jeff! Move higher up the bank OR grow yourself a set of gills and webbed fingers and toes. RIBBIT!

 

[Jeff95531]

Just now started sprinkling here...so it has begun. Prospecting today was perfection. Got 5 gallons of 1/2" classified and brought it home. PRETTY SURE I saw at least one chunky flake in the first test pan. The digging was easy, walking was 60 to a hundred feet and found concave holes under rocks that went all the way down to bedrock. MMMMmmm.

My new home has a completely covered carport and deck...so BBQ'ing and sluicing no matter what the weather? Priceless!!! Sold my old home (travel trailer) to a previous neighbor looking to upgrade....Life can be good @ times.

 

[Laz7777]

I'm done for the season myself, just made my escape from the Sierras to AZ in times..heavy rains predicted through monday.

 

[Lanny in AB]

You know it's coming and now we know when. My season will pretty much end with this...

Powerful storms to deluge northwestern US into next week may be a sign of winter conditions to come

I'll be going out today and where I went last time. Any prospecting done here from now on will be much higher up...

Current Smith River Levels and Conditions - Northern California

Stay safe and heavy pans.

Never a bad thing to be reminded about river safety. The power of flowing water can be incredibly deceptive.

All the best as you play with your dirt in the comfort of your covered carport and deck,

Lanny