M & M Mining the Northern Sierras

[mikep691]

STOP RAINING for cryin' out loud. Middle Feather can't handle much more.

 

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[mikep691]

Yesterday, there was no snow left on the ground at home. This morning, I woke up to white out conditions and 6" fresh powder. Today is also my father's birthday (he left us last August). I've decided this mining season will be dedicated to him as we started prospecting together in 1981. He'll be along for the ride with me all season this year. Happy Birthday Dad. Love Ya and miss ya.

 

[mikep691]

All told, I got well over a foot of snow in the past 24 hours. Drifts were 3-4 feet around my vehicles. The dog likes snow, but she don't like her butt puckerin up. Even with 4WD, I nearly couldn't get out of my driveway this morning. I am SO ready for July.

 

[Vance in AK]

I feel your pain. Back down to -20 at our place in Alaska this morning. Glad I'm down in tucson for a few days at a conference but every day of below 0 probably puts ice out back another 3 or 4 days. Yuck.

 

[mikep691]

Even though I have a hard time getting down my 1/2 mile driveway (now a snow covered muddy river), I'm still planning for my season to begin by Easter. We'll see if Mother Nature cooperates with that plan though.

 

[63bkpkr]

mike - it would be nice if your Easter prospecting were to work out as hopefully that would require a mild spring which would keep California safe from additional hydrological mishaps. I have also been hoping for a mild spring or at least not a super hot spring as that could put some extra pressure on dams across the NorCal watershed and "we the people" do not need that. Enjoy the year while sharing with your Dad!.................63bkpkr

 

[mikep691]

If this little warm up holds long enough, I'm planning a day trip to the claim this Sunday. I'm packing light, and may run the sluice for a couple hours in the new (old) location. That's if I don't have to cut too many trees from the road in.

 

[mikep691]

I received a disappointing text this morning. The real bummer is I didn't ask for it. Our third associate on the claim is local to the claim area and he sent me an unexpected text this morning stating that there is still too much snow to safely get to the claim. He said The Meat was very busy too. I'm forced to put off my day trip for a couple more weeks. So, I'm prepping equipment, and smoking baby back ribs this weekend instead of getting some gold.

SUX

 

[mikep691]

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful, the ribs were great too. The highbanker pump fired right up and is creek ready. I just need to pick up a couple cam fittings for my 1 1/2" lay flat hose and load her up. Reno area forecast for this upcoming weekend is temps in the 70's so it's game time. I won't have new waders for a couple more weeks so I wonder if RTV will make my old ones hold out for a few more trips? Worth a shot anyway. Now if I can just get the damn chain saw to run right.....

 

[oldbones]

Looks like we have some more winter weather coming in Monday

 

[mikep691]

Looks like we have some more winter weather coming in Monday

As long as it's Monday, and I get to the claim on Saturday, I'm good with that. My forecast shows a slight chance up here so it may not add up to much. This is just a warm up trip to get things on the gold finding path. Easter is my goal for a full weekend of mining. After that, every weekend that Mother Nature, and my wallet, will allow. The planning stages are in place for Memorial weekend. Hefty, bring your waders this time, and come on back up.

 

[mikep691]

The highbanker is creek ready. My welds are pretty ugly but who cares as long as they hold? Did a water run, found that someone had put the spray bars in backward, then ran out of gas. With weather approaching through next weekend and plans for April 1st, There is no chance to make it to the claim at least until April 8th, then Easter one week later. It's Game on after that.....

 

[mikep691]

Another gloomy lookin' weekend in the Northern Sierras. Since I can neither afford to nor want to dodge rain drops while mining, it looks to be at least two more weeks before I can get to the claim. If i get a semi-dry portion of the day today, I'll finish dialling in the highbanker. Maybe run a wheel barrow of field dirt through it to see how the material passes. Actually, the dirt here at home does have some gold in it. Lots of small quartz shards too. Other than the bigger rocks in our creek, this dirt is near the same consistency of the pay gravels.

Running some dirt and maybe finding a little gold, could be what's needed to scratch the burning itch that's been nagging me for the past four months. That or a tube of analgesic cream......

 

[mikep691]

Easter is here. Mother Nature has more weather for Sunday, so my first trip to the claim will be Saturday. Pretty excited, and just hope the last few little winter blasts don't screw up my plans. Mining starts NOW!!!!!

 

[mikep691]

https://youtu.be/K3Q38QCYYFM

A little wet test of equipment....

 

[mikep691]

Well, I'm back from the first visit to the claim, sort of. I didn't actually make all the way there. The last half mile was .... well.... undoable:


...And there was still snow...




Not seeing the order I uploaded these pics, I'm still bummed, so there a few of the creek and a couple of the Middle Feather at the LaPorte bridge. Half the north bound lane just north of the bridge is a casualty of winter. It's washed into the creek.








Couple short vids too:
https://youtu.be/YMqSHEH5ncs

https://youtu.be/FxUH8yN7zig

https://youtu.be/U2yrqQo620U

 

[Au dave]

Nothing worse than getting blocked by nature at the finish line. Iv'e got into the habit of carrying the chainsaw every trip and found that its never needed .... until I forget to put it in ... better luck next run.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk

 

[Hunt4gold]

You're almost there - good luck!

 

[mikep691]

It was a good day of testing yesterday. I took my young landlord with me to Meat Creek for his first prospecting trip. We has a nice Stihl chainsaw ready to whoop on that downed tree but Forest Circus beat us to it. They cut a section out of the log so we didn't need to cut our way to the claim. The snow was still a tricky adventure though. Gotta love springtime mining in the Sierras.



We did make it there though, I then gave Adam the nickel tour of the claim. Back to the truck, and started unloading, and then packing everything down the hillside to the creek. The snow was still 18" thick in some places making the trek an adventure in itself. Once we got to my area of interest, the Meat was moving more water than ever. I think sometime in August it might calm down.



We had to set up the highbanker close to the side of the creek, out of the fast current, not an ideal location but for a good test run, it was OK. Waders are now a requirement as the flows were definitely above rubber boot height. Even thigh highs are no good when I tend to step in the 3' test hole we were digging. Yup, I filled one wader TWICE.

We worked together expanding this test hole in the creek gravels which is several feet above the visible bedrock. The first morning run was quite disappointing, nothing but very small fly poop in the pan. But the second half of the short day had much better results. While not yet up to the quantity that the meat is known for, the results were impressive as the hole got deeper. Final clean out:



I decided to give Adam my cut of the gold for his first prospecting trip, and now he's hooked. He wants me to get the NOL started for the last 40 acre block of Meat Creek that's still unclaimed.

Here's a few short vids of the day:

https://youtu.be/WrWdGrHAL0E

https://youtu.be/cYyYolLti2Y

https://youtu.be/r6Y_C6kLtKg

https://youtu.be/4s8OSbmTvPc

 

[N-Lionberger]

putting Adam to work?

I have a similar highbanker, didnt like the spray either, replaced them with saw slitted bars, works way better.