The Gilded Couple (The Gilded Lens) - A golden journey.

[The Gilded Lens]

Hello Fellow prospectors!

I grew up in the heart of gold country and was the little girl that broke up her Nana's quartz flower-bed border thinking I was prospecting for gold! I didn't get any gold, but I did get some crystals and a punishment for bashing things with Papa's hammer.

Now that I'm all grown up and married I got the itch again and worse then ever. Got some pans and mining gear and drug the husband to the river this spring. Now, we are both properly hooked on the hunt! '

Thus far we've only panned although we have our hearts set on a Bazooka sluice. We live close to a great river, but the restrictions are heavy.

This is our take this summer going out most weekends with pans and hands only from our little spot behind a huge slab of bedrock. It's only a gram, but hey, we're still learning the ropes. We need a Gold Jedi Master to teach us.



We'd love wisdom, advice and stories from all great prospectors here! Also, any tips on how to find new diggins and help understanding mining law.

 

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[The Gilded Lens]

Went for a hike today. Did some test pans, a few flakes here and there. Gorgeous day though! First time "winter panning"



Giant ball of foam caught in an eddy.


The waterline from the crazy storm we had last week. Bigger one coming this weekend.


Looks like an old fireplace foundation?


Panned down river of the center boulder in summer until the naked hippies drove away. River's really starting to flow through here now.

 

[AlaskaGold]

Naked hippies for real? You guys don't have enough bugs. Beautiful area though, looks like you had a great day.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Naked hippies for real? You guys don't have enough bugs. Beautiful area though, looks like you had a great day.

For real. I was snorkeling while my husband was test panning a few feet away behind that big boulder in the middle of the river when the previously clothed couple came galloping towards me sans clothes. I looked up because I heard splashing. Lets just say those weren't the nuggets I was looking for! That area of the river is unfortunately frequented by rude, unclothed and high hippies and party types. This encounter and the lady simultaneously smoking a joint and breastfeeding was the worse encounter. They seem to view it as their portion of the river despite it being in a state park and in plain view of a wheelchair accessible family trail. I'm all for skinny dipping as I'm no prude, but not in public. There are some things you can't unsee. I've been cut on glass from pipes and beer bottles and yet these people never seem to get a hard time from rangers. The irony is that these rules aren't enforced, but "hands and pans" is. It's ridiculous to think that a sluice box would do more damage than all the glass, drugs and even human waste we've encountered.

 

[DizzyDigger]

TGL...got a feeling this is gonna be a great journal....

Got no issue with a woman smoking a joint, nor with breastfeeding...
....but pregnancy/breastfeeding + weed = child abuse IMO.

As for folks runnin' around nekkid...

​

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Agreed about the abuse Dizzy Digger. I'd prefer people smoke at home though as I don't appreciate second hand high and the odor makes me sick to my stomach. Everyone's body reacts differently to it. Also, pretty unsafe to be tripping over boulders and swimming under the influence. Personally, I've never understood the attraction. Don't want anything hindering my hunt for the gold LOL!

Thanks! We definitely need help learning how to read the rivers and creeks. Beyond looking downstream of boulders and bedrock traps and along inside bends we don't know much. Our spot we got the gram out of is actually in one of the pics, although it's now underwater.

Thanks to Treasurenet and the wealth of knowledge inside I found the LR2000 BLM site and that's got me thinking about new places, although most of them either don't have water or seem to be land locked. We have great creeks and could easily park next to a bridge, but I don't want to be on someone's property without knowing the land status.

 

[Jeff95531]

Keep hunting and researching for your good gold spot TGL. I would rather test and find none, so long as I can be alone with nature.
Good luck and heavy pans to you and your hubby.

(Nice gold BTW)

 

[KevinInColorado]

Good job getting that gold nice and clean! I just subscribed to your thread and hope I can help with advice...but I know I'm going to enjoy the fruits of your photography skills: wow!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hear hear! Looks like this is going to be a good journal indeed! (And NOT just for the naked hippies!)

I've been helping Jeff95531 with learning more about different aspects of mining and would more than happy to share with you and your hubby as well. With all of the resources available on-line now, you can do a LOT of research in a quick and effective manner. When it comes to prospecting and mining, knowledge IS power!

I don't know if you've been to Clay Diggens' site yet, but it's well worth the time to go check out. I've been using it to research new areas here in Arid-Zona and am loving it! By using the different layers on the Az claims map, I've located really good areas that are within 15 miles of the place I'm fixing to buy outside of Kingman. I've been able to locate well over 100 historical lode and placer mines and know EXACTLY what areas are claimed, private property or managed by BLM, State, BIA etc. Plus Clay just made available the same type of map for California! Http://www.mylandmatters.org Should be in your bookmarks if you really want to get serious about finding gold!

Another very good site is the USGS map store. There you can download maps in PDF format for free. The advantage of having them in PDF format (besides being no cost) is that they include the satellite views as a separate layer that can be turned on and off at will. I've already downloaded 103 maps for Mohave County here in Arizona and all it cost me was a little time. (Ok a LOT of time with this slow internet connection) Also as PDF files, if you decide that you really need a hard copy, you can go to Kinkos' or Office Depot and have them printed out. The USGS Store - One stop shop for all your maps, world, United States, state, wall decor, historic, planetary, topographic, trail, hiking, foreign, satellite, digital

By taking time and doing some serious research on the computer, you can save a lot of time out in the field. Depending on how far you want to take your prospecting, it might also be a good idea to at least become familiar with the basics of mining law. You should also learn about the different govt. agencies that operate in the area you're working in as well as their limits of authority.

GI

 

[goldenmojo]

From your hippy encounters it sounds like you need to change you name to The Girded Lookers. The third picture in you second post looks really good. There is a nice pinch point at the top of the pic with the huge boulder on the right. I would go just down stream from that and roll whatever small boulders you can out of the way. Catch it where the line extends across where the bar is starting to kick out. Good Luck and hope to hear lots of good things here.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Hear hear! Looks like this is going to be a good journal indeed! (And NOT just for the naked hippies!)

I've been helping Jeff95531 with learning more about different aspects of mining and would more than happy to share with you and your hubby as well. With all of the resources available on-line now, you can do a LOT of research in a quick and effective manner. When it comes to prospecting and mining, knowledge IS power!

I don't know if you've been to Clay Diggens' site yet, but it's well worth the time to go check out. I've been using it to research new areas here in Arid-Zona and am loving it! By using the different layers on the Az claims map, I've located really good areas that are within 15 miles of the place I'm fixing to buy outside of Kingman. I've been able to locate well over 100 historical lode and placer mines and know EXACTLY what areas are claimed, private property or managed by BLM, State, BIA etc. Plus Clay just made available the same type of map for California! Http://www.mylandmatters.org Should be in your bookmarks if you really want to get serious about finding gold!

Another very good site is the USGS map store. There you can download maps in PDF format for free. The advantage of having them in PDF format (besides being no cost) is that they include the satellite views as a separate layer that can be turned on and off at will. I've already downloaded 103 maps for Mohave County here in Arizona and all it cost me was a little time. (Ok a LOT of time with this slow internet connection) Also as PDF files, if you decide that you really need a hard copy, you can go to Kinkos' or Office Depot and have them printed out. The USGS Store - One stop shop for all your maps, world, United States, state, wall decor, historic, planetary, topographic, trail, hiking, foreign, satellite, digital

By taking time and doing some serious research on the computer, you can save a lot of time out in the field. Depending on how far you want to take your prospecting, it might also be a good idea to at least become familiar with the basics of mining law. You should also learn about the different govt. agencies that operate in the area you're working in as well as their limits of authority.

GI

Oh wow, thanks! Gonna check out those sites right now! I remember looking at mylandmatters.com a couple months ago and being bummed they didn't have CA. Super excited they do now! Sounds like exactly what we need to figure out if there's any way we can get into this creek I've been wanting to prospect forever. We used to swim there growing up as a road goes over it. The bridge is washed out now and the road is all but an quad trail now and last I've heard it is somehow private property now even though it is still technically the middle section of this road that's been around since the towns. There are tons of places and bridge crossing but I wanna be educated before I just go exploring.

From your hippy encounters it sounds like you need to change you name to The Girded Lookers. The third picture in you second post looks really good. There is a nice pinch point at the top of the pic with the huge boulder on the right. I would go just down stream from that and roll whatever small boulders you can out of the way. Catch it where the line extends across where the bar is starting to kick out. Good Luck and hope to hear lots of good things here.

LOL! Naw, I definitely don't need photographic evidence of that! Bleck! Who said anything about girded?

Here's an arrow pointing to where we found our tiny pile. The red is the freshly receded water line from our last storm and we have a flood watch here for thurs-friday. The blue line is where the water was during summer months. I've never seen the river so low or slimy as it was this summer.


I can attach a satellite view as well of the stretch of river if that helps.

Oh! I have a question for you guys. Can you carry a sluice box through a state park trail (the park signs say hands and pans) with the purpose of hiking out of state park boundaries? There is BLM and DOS (no idea what DOS land is) out of the state park but we'd have to walk through the park with the sluice to get there unless we wanted to be billy goats and slide down the ravine.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Good job getting that gold nice and clean! I just subscribed to your thread and hope I can help with advice...but I know I'm going to enjoy the fruits of your photography skills: wow!

Thanks Kevin! You are one of my go to guys for that Bazooka I still want. Have a nasty medical bill standing in the way telling me I have to pay for the three stitches and the manly scar I have on my middle finger from when I shut the truck door on it.
I'll have to bring my real camera out there next time.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Hummmm... As long as you're not using it in the hands and pans area I can't think of any reason you couldn't carry it through the State Park. If anyone (aka Ricky Ranger) gives you any grief, politely remind them that it's PUBLIC LAND and that going the other way to get to your destination would be dangerous. If Ricky Ranger is stupid enough to try and confiscate it, remind him the HE will be the one you go after in court. Not the Park Service. A lot of those people don't realize that they can be held responsible for their actions if they exceed the mandate of their particular agency.

BTW.... What type is your "real" camera? I'm old school in that I still shoot on film but with glass form 24mm up to 1000mm I'm pretty much set for anything. At least Sony has some DSLRs that will accept my Minolta glass now. I just need to justify the price.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Hummmm... As long as you're not using it in the hands and pans area I can't think of any reason you couldn't carry it through the State Park. If anyone (aka Ricky Ranger) gives you any grief, politely remind them that it's PUBLIC LAND and that going the other way to get to your destination would be dangerous. If Ricky Ranger is stupid enough to try and confiscate it, remind him the HE will be the one you go after in court. Not the Park Service. A lot of those people don't realize that they can be held responsible for their actions if they exceed the mandate of their particular agency.

BTW.... What type is your "real" camera? I'm old school in that I still shoot on film but with glass form 24mm up to 1000mm I'm pretty much set for anything. At least Sony has some DSLRs that will accept my Minolta glass now. I just need to justify the price.

Ok. I've never actually seen a ranger outside of their little air conditioned shed where they collect your money for parking (totally bogus) but we're not stupid enough to actually use a sluice there (too bad because I did find a spot where I got 20+ flakes of super fines per pan and a baby bazooka would gobble 'em up!) because I'm sure they'd fine us and not the glass breaking party goers. I didn't know that about exceeding their owl laws. Good to know!

Well I haven't done film for a couple years now, but I have a Nikon N65, an old broken brownie medium format, an off brand TLR camera and some black and white enlargers. I can develop and print black and white film, just haven't done it for awhile. I do love how it separates the "look at my new costco DSLR" momtogrophers from the actual artist though as it makes you really work for your craft. There is no looking at the screen and hoping you got the focus and exposure right for that wedding. No re-shoots!

For digital I have a Nikon D5000 although I've outgrown it. I'd love to get my hands on the D610 or the D800 which are nice full frame sensors. I have a few mid-range lenses, but not their top of the line yet. I have a Sigma F2.8 18-55mm and a Nikkor F4.5-5.6 85-200mm and a F4.5-5.6 70-300mm G and a couple of older kit lenses that came with the old N65.

Wow 1000mm will reach out and touch you! That's gotta weigh a ton though, what's the aperture on that bad boy?

 

[goldenIrishman]

Because it's a "Cat" lens it's a constant f16. Got to have a LOT of light or some pretty fast film. I wish I could have swung the price on their APO telephoto, but it cost as much as a small car at the time. The Minolta system is still my main camera but I also have an old Vivatar manual SLR that I use for macro/micro work with extension tubes. People seem to enjoy giving me old 35mm cameras. I'm up to a half dozen of them some of which I've never used.

Sigma puts out some nice lenses. Sure, they're not like the Nikon glass but they're also not nearly as costly.

I am mostly self taught as I picked it up while in Korea in the Army. We had a great crafts shop there and I learned to process my own B&W as well as color slides. When I got out of the Army I started buying photography books and learning from them. At 36 years old I decided to take a class at the local Junior College. The instructor said to bring in all our gear and some examples of what we'd done. I showed up with 3 large camera bags and 60 slides in the protector sheets. I aced the class then and there and was made an assistant instructor. Easiest "A" I ever got in college!

Although I'm pretty good with PhotoShop, I still like my film. There's things you can do with it that digital just can't do. (yet) It's just that it's getting harder and harder to find 35mm film. It used to be everywhere and now it's becoming a specialty item. I was heart broken when Kodak shut down the last processing center that did KodaChrome! That 25 asa speed could really capture the colors and was great for landscape and close up work.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Scarlett...those are some nice pics, and I was wishing you'd have
used your D5000 for that shot of the river (the purple one). Good
to know you've got a decent DSLR, cause I'm looking forward to
more of your pics.

I'm a photog as well, and had to close my business when I got sick.
Hated doing it, but I can't look through the viewfinder for too long
without feeling sick (get too dizzy). Commercially, I mostly shot
homes and properties for real estate sales, but my best skills are
in landscapes and image processing.

When the new full-frame Nikon's came out in the past few years
I really wanted to upgrade from my D90, but just couldn't justify
the expense. My D90 with the 18-55 and the F4.5-5.6 70-300mm
have done a fine job.

I never cared for the HDR look, so I use a program that allows
me to smoothly blend multiple RAW frames prior to processing.
Makes for a very realistic image with a natural looking dynamic range.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Because it's a "Cat" lens it's a constant f16. Got to have a LOT of light or some pretty fast film. I wish I could have swung the price on their APO telephoto, but it cost as much as a small car at the time. The Minolta system is still my main camera but I also have an old Vivatar manual SLR that I use for macro/micro work with extension tubes. People seem to enjoy giving me old 35mm cameras. I'm up to a half dozen of them some of which I've never used.

Sigma puts out some nice lenses. Sure, they're not like the Nikon glass but they're also not nearly as costly.

I am mostly self taught as I picked it up while in Korea in the Army. We had a great crafts shop there and I learned to process my own B&W as well as color slides. When I got out of the Army I started buying photography books and learning from them. At 36 years old I decided to take a class at the local Junior College. The instructor said to bring in all our gear and some examples of what we'd done. I showed up with 3 large camera bags and 60 slides in the protector sheets. I aced the class then and there and was made an assistant instructor. Easiest "A" I ever got in college!

Although I'm pretty good with PhotoShop, I still like my film. There's things you can do with it that digital just can't do. (yet) It's just that it's getting harder and harder to find 35mm film. It used to be everywhere and now it's becoming a specialty item. I was heart broken when Kodak shut down the last processing center that did KodaChrome! That 25 asa speed could really capture the colors and was great for landscape and close up work.

Wow F16, so it's a beast AND a light hog! Sure thing about the Sigmas. If money were not issue I'd already have the "holy trinity" of Nikkor lenses.

Thank you for service! :noteworthy:

Yeah, I hope that film comes back with a bang. Especially in the digital age I believe it is important to teach film before digital because the basics will never change and film makes you work for it and it's a strong foundation to build upon. Similar to how ballet is the core of the dance world and must be learned before hip hop and whatnot.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Yeah, I hope that film comes back with a bang. Especially in the digital age I believe it is important to teach film before digital because the basics will never change and film makes you work for it and it's a strong foundation to build upon. Similar to how ballet is the core of the dance world and must be learned before hip hop and whatnot.

Still got my original Asahi-Pentax 35mm that my father bought
in Japan about 1970. It's worn, but still shoots just fine. It
came with an f/1.8, 50mm lens that is superb for portraits and
those wide-angle landscapes. Consider what Ansel Adams had
to work with, and the images he captured back then. Did hear
that he was a real wizard in the darkroom, but his compositions
are tough to beat.

 

[The Gilded Lens]

Scarlett...those are some nice pics, and I was wishing you'd have
used your D5000 for that shot of the river (the purple one). Good
to know you've got a decent DSLR, cause I'm looking forward to
more of your pics.

I'm a photog as well, and had to close my business when I got sick.
Hated doing it, but I can't look through the viewfinder for too long
without feeling sick (get too dizzy). Commercially, I mostly shot
homes and properties for real estate sales, but my best skills are
in landscapes and image processing.

When the new full-frame Nikon's came out in the past few years
I really wanted to upgrade from my D90, but just couldn't justify
the expense. My D90 with the 18-55 and the F4.5-5.6 70-300mm
have done a fine job.

If I might make a suggestion? Take the large name/copyright off
of your pics and instead use something small in a lower corner.
Copyright is automatically implied in any original work, plus with
today's digital processing it is easy to remove logo's, etc. should
anyone seriously want to steal your work. Large logo's and
large copyright's distract the attention of the viewer, and make
a great pic look average due to the distraction.

Hope you don't mind, but I had a go at one of your pics. It's
a beautiful shot, and I'm guessing the sky was a bit hazy that
day. I always love bringing out the best an image has to offer,
but if it concerns you I won't work on your pics. Unfortunately
that upper left sky was "blown" due to the brightness even after
I dropped the exposure 2 full stops, but I did my best to tone
it down. I rarely use a CP filter, but that would have been a good
application for it. Here is the reprocessed version and the original:

View attachment 1089743

View attachment 1089748

I never cared for the HDR look, so I use a program that allows
me to smoothly blend multiple RAW frames prior to processing.
Makes for a very realistic image with a natural looking dynamic range.

Thanks. Yeah that was just an iPhone shot. That's a real bummer about the whole dizzy thing. We will have to get you a giant 8x10 digital back so it doesn't make you sick

Copyright is implied, but any idiot with a cursor and google feel they are entitled to anything that comes up in "image search". If they are going to steal no watermark or lack of will keep them from doing it, but I can at least let them know who they thieving from and make them do some Photoshop work. LOL. If it's watermarked, it's probably been on my Facebook page which is even worse than google, so I stamp 'em, even though they're unsightly. Especially for portrait work.

The "haze" is probably from a Photoshop action. I don't like overtly blue-tones, unless it's all over and artsy. Yeah, there's no detail in the clouds, it was either lose the mountain shadow detail or the clouds. I shot that through the truck window off a dirt road. It's what I'd call my in-between stuff. In-between snap shot and actual shot. I don't much care for the HDR trend either. I'm all for bringing out details and making it look like the eye sees the subject, but most HDR just looks tacky and over processed. If you can't help yourself and just have to play with an image of mine, just ask and delete afterwards

Here's something make up for the river shot being an iPhone image. Beautiful lake, but you won't find any gold in it. The colors are true and not altered.

View attachment 1089774

 

[DizzyDigger]

That's a gorgeous shot..talk about Fall colors!

Images deleted..no worries. I spent a couple years hanging around
on "Cambridge in Color", which is a superb website for both amateur
and pro's to share their work and enhance their skills. It was common
there for others to critique each others work, as "iron sharpeneth iron",
but I certainly do understand wanting to maintain your work as-is.

Here are 2 images that were each comprised of 5 frames, then I blended
the RAW frames sans any enhancement, followed up with normal processing
in Lightroom.

Pics should be viewed at max size.



This first one (above) is called "Valley of the Shadows"; name taken
from a poem by E.A. Poe called "El Dorado".

And this second one was shot from my backyard right after our
first snow of the year. 5 RAW frames blended. At full size you'll
see the pair of Bald Eagles sitting in the treetop.



OK...enough photo stuff.

Do you folks live where you can prospect year-round? I love
the Sierra Nevada high country (like Truckee), but it sure gets chilly
up there in the winter!