Prospecting the PNW

[BoulderTroll]

The first time I picked up a pan was the summer of 2020. I was about to go on a backpacking trip in central Idaho, and I knew the place had a rock mining history. So I bought a pan, watched some videos on YouTube, and set off to learn how to do it. When I finally did see that first color in the pan, I was hooked.

It’s been a few years and I have got a little more experienced. As well as spending hundreds of dollars some pocket change on equipment ;-)
I’ve been wanting to start a journal of sorts, and figured I’d do it here. I can share my experiences with others getting started, and seek some advice from those that know way more than me.

 

[BoulderTroll]

The next weekends adventure, checking out the views along the drive of North Cascades Highway. Took my oldest with me for the long drive the first stop was as to grab lunch and meet Dizzy. We had a nice chat, and he was very kind to pass along some of his old equipment so it can catch some more gold 😃

We continued on our way, stopping to see the sights, and then finally stopping at Ruby creek. I had read about it in “gold panning” book, and had always wanted to check it out. The book described it right, and there were some nice size flakes of gold in there. (blue pan) Even got a Ruby Creek Ruby! Too bad it’s not truly corundum.

On the way home, decided to stop to try a new place out, that gave up some really nice flour gold. The green pan is showing what I was getting per pan. So much black sands, I had to save a lot of it to go through later. Maybe that’ll be the first sand I can use on that miller table Dizzy gave me 😁

 

[DizzyDigger]

Well done! I know I'd be happy having that kind of color in a pan....

 

[BoulderTroll]

Another satisfying weekend adventure. Went back to clean up the area from the prior week. Got about .6g in the snuffer bottle, and about a gallon of black sands that might have the rest of the gram. For about 12 hrs of panning, I’m pretty content with the results.
Found a serpentine pebble with some really interesting designs on it. Explored another old mining area, and grabbed a few samples to play with at home. So far I’m keeping my streak of no hard rock gold found this year 😂

Mining is really hard work for the pup!

 

[Gare]

Do you kno9w where Murray or Pritchard ID are ? I used to hunt around there

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great to read that you and Dizzy got together…I love seeing members of tnet meeting up!

 

[BoulderTroll]

Do you kno9w where Murray or Pritchard ID are ? I used to hunt around there

Unfortunately, no. I've never lived aroundt he northern parts of Idaho. Very beautiful area up there though.

 

[BoulderTroll]

Been too busy to update!
After that last post, we started our big summer adventure. Packed the boys and the puppy to drive to see the family. Was fortunate to get to stop along the way and was able to meet someone else from the forum and help them move some equipment. And they let me stay on one of their claims. That’s where I got that nice ball of amalgam.
Then left the kids to go on a 4 day backpacking trip. The area we went has a history of producing some blue beryl, and was able to find a little patch of it sticking out of the rock.
Another hike in eastern Idaho, was able to find this cool looking fossil just laying on the trail. Can’t decide if it looks more like a tree nut, or a sea creature…. You tell me!
On the way back, was fortunate enough to stop at the claim and pulled my first real nugget! Thanks again for letting us stay! Definitely one of my most memorable prospecting experiences.
Other than that…None of the hard rock samples I collected from earlier in the year had any color. No surprise there.

 

[BoulderTroll]

It’s been a hell of a year! A work trip is causing the year to end early, but I have no complaints. Last year, I set a personal record of finding 2 grams. This year I was hoping for 4 grams…. Thanks to some help from new friends I met on this forum, I nearly doubled the goal!

The last few trips of the year was to my favorite river, and found another pocket I was able to pull nearly a gram out of. Also got a .3g picker, another new PR. After about 6 years, I finally feel like I’m getting an understanding of what I’m doing haha.

Bonus photo of a unique little picker that has a hole through it.

 

[BoulderTroll]

I tried to take advantage of the light snow pack this year, and got up to my favorite rivers to see what changes all our flooding in December brought. At first glance, there wasn’t a whole lot of changes except flood debris everywhere. Some places I saw piles of logs that were 10ft above the spring flood. And the more time I took looking, the more I could find. Stripped banks, exposed roots, shifting gravel bars, and giant log jams washed away.

I have a new pup that is my extra set of eyes and ears while I’m distracted in nature. He’s so far protected me from these kayakers, and chased away some young bears 😣

And I was able to come across a new spot! Here’s a pan loaded in big ironstone, and the gold that was under it all. A little over a day of work, a little less than a gram. Not shown is the little balls of amalgam that would probably push it above a gram. And that bigger, dark piece is also amalgam. I was a little surprised with the amount of Hg here.

Looking forward to getting back out there! My 9 year old says he wants to help, but this spot is too difficult of a hike for him to get there 😂 sorry little guy, this one is all mine!

 

[quintcork]

Hey nice gold! Is that from sluicing or just panning? I'm also taking advantage of that low snowpack to start hiking into the mountains early this season. Looking at going back to Lennox to summit dog mountain next week even though the final road up there had a landslide block it. That extra few miles will test my endurance.

 

[BoulderTroll]

Thanks! A lot of this is panning, unfortunately. The river surges pretty good in the spring flood, and no good spots to set one up here.
I took my kid to another place on the river to do some testing around.... but it wasn't great. He said he wanted to try the hike, made it just fine, and had some big smiles when he started seeing gold in the bottom of his pan. I might have myself an actual mining partner!

Good luck on that hike! That road up there takes some serious beatings from the weather. It would be really interesting to see what the floods did to the river there. Let us know how it goes!

 

[SlateBelter]

Very cool thread! I hope I end up with a little mining partner in a few years too. Things have been so dry in my region that my creek is dry as a bone. I might go try to clean out some cracks that are usually under water, and maybe look for some of the extremely rare fresh looking quartz that I’ve always been curious about dissecting and maybe crushing. Maybe El Niño won’t turn out the way they’re predicting, but as things stand I don’t see any hope in the near future.

 

[BoulderTroll]

Thanks for the comment! I hope the same for you, #1 goal for that is making sure it's always fun for the kiddos! I didn't expect that my kid's favorite thing is to crevice and collect material to feed the sluice. And him being excited to go out again this weekend just makes it 10x better.
Prospecting without available water is such a foreign concept to me, but must be nice since you can access so much more. I'm eagerly waiting for the water to drop so I can gain access to some more pockets.

 

[Assembler]

Very cool thread! I hope I end up with a little mining partner in a few years too. Things have been so dry in my region that my creek is dry as a bone. I might go try to clean out some cracks that are usually under water, and maybe look for some of the extremely rare fresh looking quartz that I’ve always been curious about dissecting and maybe crushing. Maybe El Niño won’t turn out the way they’re predicting, but as things stand I don’t see any hope in the near future.

Have you tried a metal detector on the dry creek beds / bedrock?
Any luck?

 

[SlateBelter]

Have you tried a metal detector on the dry creek beds / bedrock?
Any luck?

I’m in the southeast, so the odds of anything large enough to detect are absolutely minuscule, but if I had a detector I’d try it! I’ve found one micro-picker in those cracks so who knows… the REALLY interesting feature of the creek section I’m working is that the cracks seem to run horizontally underneath a 4ft deep bar of gravel and rock that has consistent flakey gold in it. I’d bet that those inaccessible cracks acted as a sluice for millennia and are absolutely loaded. If I owned the land I’d be sorely tempted to rent an excavator and explore.

 

[BoulderTroll]

Spending some time with the family in Idaho and took my boys for a little adventure down to the snake river. We spotted a little black sand so decided to try it. In just a few pans we got a lot of trash and a LOT of fly poop.
We are thinking of trying to find a place we can set up a sluice on the Snake near Twin Falls. Open to suggestions if anyone is familiar with the area.

 

[Assembler]

View attachment 2258072Spending some time with the family in Idaho and took my boys for a little adventure down to the snake river. We spotted a little black sand so decided to try it. In just a few pans we got a lot of trash and a LOT of fly poop.
We are thinking of trying to find a place we can set up a sluice on the Snake near Twin Falls. Open to suggestions if anyone is familiar with the area.

Perhaps there are some black sand layers dry benched up away from the creek / river worth checking out?

 

[BoulderTroll]

I found the pay streak! Hundreds of pieces of gold per pan! Too bad it doesn’t weigh up though haha.

Took my boys on our summer trip to see family in Idaho. We got rained out of our plans to camp along the salmon river on our vacation. So instead we camped a night on the Snake river. Figured it was a good chance to practice finding the pay streak on a large gravel bar.
We also stayed a couple nights in the Boise basin, did a little panning and sluicing. Always enjoy being in an area with lots of history to check out as well.

 

[SlateBelter]

Cool adventure! I’m jealous of the no hassle access you have in that part of the country.