San Gabriel East Fork

[oidium45]

Just wanted to share my weekends take. We hiked maybe 4.5 miles up so I brought the EZ sluice. I am not a big fan of it because it is finicky to setup and you have to feed it slow but it gets the job done in the end. Here is a short vid of the trip if anyone is bored enough to watch. :-P

 

[Mine Shaft]

Is there not gold closer where you park ? that seems like a long way for a little gold don't get me wrong i would be thrilled to find half what u found lol. Have you tried around silverwood lake ? i talked to a guy last year and he said they did pretty good just up the road from where i was panning. Congrats on your finds.

 

[oidium45]

Yes, there is plenty of gold closer to the parking. A few considerations though. First, the potential for bigger, chunkier gold is more likely further up. But you have to find it. Second, you "might" see 1 or 2 hikers the entire weekend up there vs people trying to walk across your sluice to criss the river. And lastly, no dirty diapers or garbage laying everywhere up there If I had put in a good days digging no doubt I would have done better. I probably ran somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 full buckets total.

 

[wildminer]

That extra effort payed off with some nice chunky gold. Good job and nice vid also.

 

[Hamfist]

That’s pretty good gold for 3 buckets of dirt. I’d be happy with that.

It’s so nice that far up the canyon that getting gold is just icing on the cake.

 

[Lamy Lineman]

I thought the State of Calif. closed the East Fork to all digging, & sluicing. Have they lifted those restrictions? I was up there in the 80's, past the bridge to nowhere, and a fellow was digging behind a huge boulder, and showed me a nugget the size of a quarter. A really cool place up there. Many big horn sheep, that would come down and drink water. Great post... Thanks

 

[Goldwasher]

it wasn't the "State"

It isn't closed there are a lot of people digging E.F.

hang out down near the diaper tossers and you might get harassed

especially if your not wearing a Dodgers hat or decide to wear a red bandana

 

[oidium45]

Hahaha so true...

The rangers do not seem to care just yet unless you piss them off. Just treat them politely "hello, good morning, etc..." and generally you will be fine. You will rarely see a forest service worker down past Heaton Flats though. So if you want to play it safe hike in a bit.

it wasn't the "State"

It isn't closed there are a lot of people digging E.F.

hang out down near the diaper tossers and you might get harassed

especially if your not wearing a Dodgers hat or decide to wear a red bandana