Prospecting in winter, bad idea?

[firebird]

Do people still prospect during winter? I'm from California so I don't really have any first hand experiences of what real winter is like, so I'm curious to know what people do in other states when it's too cold.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

that's a good record kevin . what area or altitude are you digging in. summit county is a hard place to prospect in the winter. I have tried in the I-70 corridor, Blackhawk and rollinsville areas, boulder, nederland and ward areas. tried fairplay, alma, Leadville and south of there. the production is to slow and with more hazards. are you playing down on the front range.

Most of last winter I was digging in Clear Creek Canyon on a honey hole I’d found. I was at about 7,500 feet there. Beyond that it’s more often down in Denver Metro in winter. Things freeze pretty solid up here in Summit CO during ski season

 

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[spillercanyon]

Since I'm there four or more days a week I cover up some wood and have a warming shelter storage area set up. I can have a small fire and have soup or stew in a thermos.

That's a great idea! I haven't covered anything and once winter sets in and the sun doesn't shine down there, the wood stays soaked. I'm going out to cover wood in the next week or so and stay a little warmer this winter. I'll be thanking you again this winter when it comes into use.

 

[TAKODA]

I go year round as time permits . Alabama/Georgia don't present winter time
problems very often . At least not to me . I'm outside most of life hours anyhow .
For me , winter has it's own benefits in finding some gold . Just depends on
where you at and what you can do I guess .

 

[mendoAu]

If I want a quick fire with wet/damp wood and want to spend more time mining than trying to get a nice toasty fire to warm up with I take a couple ziplock bags of Matchlite charcoal and a cheap (dollar store) box of steel wool pads (the no soap kind). Gets things off to a good start. It also pays to find a spot with a bedrock crease to clean off so you aren't trying to build a fire on wet dirt.

 

[Rail Dawg]

We’re up here in Rye Patch prospecting away lol.

Highs of 39 lots of snow coming tomorrow.

We ain’t skeert.

 

[Goldwasher]

We’re up here in Rye Patch prospecting away lol.

Highs of 39 lots of snow coming tomorrow.

We ain’t skeert.

Sounds like heaven. I love the desert Nov. to March.

 

[spillercanyon]

Went out a few days ago, it's not only a good time to go prospecting, it's the best! The leafs are off the trees and bushes and the grass hasn't started growing yet so deposits are the easier to see. I went out with the intention of cleaning a particular crack but I always spend a little time looking for another (better deposit). I found a bench I have walked by dozens of times, it is normally hidden by both bushes and grass, but with their absence, I was able to see that there is a pile of moss covered round boulders 25 feet or so above the creek. I will head back out next week and test.

 

[spillercanyon]

We’re up here in Rye Patch prospecting away lol.

Highs of 39 lots of snow coming tomorrow.

We ain’t skeert.

It's the winds that get to me. Good luck!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Usually around here, the ground freezes solid, the rivers too, and any panning water is a solid as well, but we do get warming periods that thaw things out for a few weeks. However, the only gold work that usually gets done is with a detector when the snow gets melted off in the previously mentioned warming trends.

I've panned in late fall storms before, with so much snow I had to wade through the deep stuff to get to the water!

Sometimes, a person just has to prove that it's too late to prospect to understand that it really is too late . . .

At other times, even when it's very obviously too late, I've still tried, but that's about scratching the itch . . .

(This photo was one of those times when it was almost too late . . .)

(Not my dog teams, just for fun.)


All the best,

Lanny

 

[Rail Dawg]

Prospecting in the snow today was actually easier than without it!

The coil on the metal detector skis across the snow plus it’s easy to tell where you’ve been lol.

Had a couple heavy snow showers and we were laughing at ourselves.

It was a great time!