Rouge River Oregon

[TheNewCatfish]

I am looking for any first hand information about panning and prospecting along the 200 mile stretch of the Rouge River in Oregon.

 

[Fullpan]

I know the dredgers from the New49ers are pretty much all jammed into the stretch of Rogue between Gold Hill (just east of Grants Pass) and the gold
ray dam site. On google e. it shows at least 20 drede ops there.

 

[TheNewCatfish]

I'm also curious how you would describe the people in Oregon. For instance, Colorado is exactly the opposite of New Mexico, where poverty is so incredibly harsh it's almost unbelievable. The people of New Mexico are o.k., but the poor souls don't have a "pot to piss in". I'd advise anyone who is sane to steer clear of Albaquerque, but Santa Fe is nice. Some of the State Park and Forestry people can be abnoxious to backpackers. Colorado on the otherhand is a campers paradise. The BLM Rangers will hold you to the "letter of the law", but unless you find yourself in Alamosa,or Pueblo it's pretty nice. The only bad thing i can say about Colorado is there's too little gold there and too many wolves for my liking. As for Arizona, skip it altogether unless you arrive with a truckload of money (otherwise they don't have any use for you), and don't go through Phoenix unless you're trying to commit suicide. Again. Lots and lots of wolves to go with the mountain lions. So what does everyone think about Oregon ?

 

[KevinInColorado]

I think thenewcatfish means coyotes when he says wolves...there are NO wolves in Colorado. The smallness of our gold is pretty true tho compared to some places.

 

[TheNewCatfish]

No wolves in Colorado, huh ? Visit the Cache Creek BLM up by Leadville. The two wolves up there have been visiting campers there for years. Had'em stop by my campsite one night for dinner. It's a little CREEPY, cause they are afterall WILD ANIMALS. But the GateKeeper at Cache Creek and they guy who cuts timber up above the BLM sees em all the time. You hear'em every night too howling and chasing elk up and down the mountainside. Take it from a Texan boy, these ones ain't no cyotes.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Maybe the coyotes down in TX are mini critters but those really are CO coyotes not wolves. The last were killed around 1940. Here is the info: http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeSpecies/SpeciesOfConcern/Mammals/Pages/GrayWolf.aspx

 

[TheNewCatfish]

Since the mid 1990's when wolves were reintroduced in Wyoming, wolves have been seen in Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Biologists have been collecting wolf scat and other physical exidence of wolves in Colorado since 2010. All you have to do is google two words "Wolves and Colorado" and you can read about them yourself. Or you could go camping up at Cache Creek one weekend and you'll hear'em for sure. Anybody whose heard a coyote "yipping" at night and also heard a wolf "howl" will tell you those two animals don't sound ANYTHING even remotely alike. You also only have to SEE a wolf face to face once and you won't ever confuse one with a coyote again. In fact. You WON'T hear any coyotes at Cache Creek (I didn't while i was there), because wolves kill coyotes.