Utah gold prospecting and rockhounding

[Asmbandits]

Getting out and making memories with the young ones is gold in itself, thanks for the tag along!

 

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[Johnnybravo300]

Best thing is your son will remember forever and if he keeps the itch as he gets older he'll be further ahead!

 

[fmrUSMC_0844]

I didn't get the extension. That will be my next purchase. Ill run the A52 in line with it until I do. Then the A52 will be passed on to my son. Now the updated delivery date is the 13th so Ill get time to mess around with it!

Right on, I'm excited for you! Did you get the extension? That sucks it arrives when you start your night shift. Let me know when you will be able to get out. We will break out the sleds, and haul up the piglets.

 

[utah mason]

Great day out with Kevin last Monday. It stormed Sunday so there was a bit of snow on the ground. But I guess the cold weather helps keep the beers cold. Perfect day to break out the ice fishing sled. Worked out perfect all our gear fit in nicely, we took turns pulling it so we weren't exhausted when we got there. We did have to pull it thru a couple of sections of dirt where the snow had melted by the end of the day. After a few test pans we decided on a area and set up the sluices.
Dennis was going to ship me out a explorer, but Kevin brought me the one he was using, which was great. But unfortunately stuck Kevin using the Angus Mckirk. The ggt seemed to work really well. Had a good amount of -100 to -300 in the clean out. It's a vast improvement over the bgt. I like the improvements Dennis has made. The longer straight trap is a great idea, I really like the elevated deck makes it easier to get a good flow while keeping the trap level. I'm glad he put another tube in the trap (sniper has two) I think this helps keep the trap fluid. Even changing the grizzly bars let's the rocks flow over easier. I think he hit a home run with this one! Looking forward to getting back on the river and testing it against the goldhog mats.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Seriously good times and probably the longest distance hand delivery of a sluice in a while!

 

[utah mason]

Made it out to test the grizzly gold trap against my goldhog mats. It was a beautiful Friday sun was shining, it was a bit chilly first thing in the morning 13° but warmed up nicely when the sun came out. I'm really impressed with the ggt. The clean up was about identical. Although the goldhog mats were probably at a slight disadvantage due to the water being a little rough, which I think affects the mats more then the fluid traps. But any product that can keep up with the goldhog is a great product. I need to borrow the sniper I gave to my friend and run it next to the explorer. Looking forward to using the ggt more. Great recovery and a ton lighter than my A-51. You definitely end up with a lot more cons with the ggt. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just more material to go thru.
View attachment 1535091

 

[KevinInColorado]

Agreed on the wAter conditions being an issue for mats. Tolerance for varying water levels and conditions is a key advantage of fluid beds On the other hand, almost everyone running riffles or mats has had their sluice scrubbed out by rising water at some point

 

[63bkpkr]

Hi UM,
A little brisk air & water temperatures, you survived and accomplished your dual trial comparison and thank you for sharing the results with all of us. How far are you from Salt Lake City, does not need to be exact? I may have a job in SLC and was just wondering how far I would need to travel to have some solitude, get away from work and enjoy the outdoors. I like the 2nd life for the child buggy!...................63bkpkr

 

[utah mason]

Hi UM,
A little brisk air & water temperatures, you survived and accomplished your dual trial comparison and thank you for sharing the results with all of us. How far are you from Salt Lake City, does not need to be exact? I may have a job in SLC and was just wondering how far I would need to travel to have some solitude, get away from work and enjoy the outdoors. I like the 2nd life for the child buggy!...................63bkpkr

It was slightly brisk, but this has been a warm winter. Sometimes when I go out it's in the negatives, but if your dressed right not a big deal. The nice thing about winter is the water levels are slightly lower, but still plenty of flow to run a sluice and keep the ice from forming in most places and the vegetation is thinner.
I'm in the Salt lake valley at the south end. It takes me approximately 15-20 minutes to get downtown. I can be to the top of big or little cotton wood canyon in about 35 or so minutes. And up American fork canyon in 35-40 minutes. there are lots of areas really close to get out and enjoy nature!

 

[utah mason]

There are plenty more places to get to within a couple of hours, too many to list. if you head out this way reach out I'll show you around.

 

[63bkpkr]

Thanks UM and you can count on my reaching out should I be employed in SLC!!

That just seems way too simple to go prospecting in less than an hour! I'm used to driving for 3.5 hours, locking the hubs in, go down the Jeep trail, park in the bears parking lot (they like to come and "Investigate" the cars for food or plastic gas cans), put on my backpack filled with toys and comforts (aka: detector & prospecting gear, food, camera, tent, etc.) usually weighing 85 lbs.

this picture is not even near the point of boots to the ground however, I drop down into that canyon in the background where I have found

this. And I enjoy doing this. Thank you for the invite..........63bkpkr

 

[utah mason]

Here's some pics and video from a day in late December. I've had the cons sitting in a bucket for way too long. Got a little busy with work and a I slipped on a stool my daughter uses to reach the sink and took a nice fall. Bruised some ribs and had a hell of a time doing anything that involved moving or breathing. That was new years day, great way to start the new year. Hopefully I got all the bad luck out of the way ; )
Anyway, I took the ggt back to the same area that Kevin and I went to. But I continued working the hole my son and I started 15 feet down river. Great day to be outside, but is there ever a bad day to be out? I was up there about three hours, not all was spent sluicing. Plenty of hikers and F.S. rangers to chat with. The rangers were super friendly and liked to prospect as well. They had never seen a fluid bed sluice before. They were amazed at how it worked. I'm sure the one will be placing a order.
I'm really happy with the way this sluice runs. Had a great clean up, lots of sub 100 gold. Some so small I couldn't see with the naked eye, I needed my loop. Looking forward to testing it against the sniper. I'm going to test it against the goldhog mats again, but try to set up in a better spot.

 

[utah mason]

It's been a busy couple of months. Finally had a chance to clean up some concentrates from a late January trip. I decided to haul up the gold cube. I wanted to test out the new 1500 gph pump. Beautiful day to be out, temps started out in the low 30's and ended up in the 40's. Which felt nice but made pulling the sled hell on the way down, several spots the snow had melted and I was pulling sled through mud. On the positive side it was a good workout : )
Cube ran pretty well, I had a couple of bigger rocks knock the spray bars out of whack, but a easy fix. I've been really happy with this spot, especially for how low down the canyon it is. Planning on going back up there next weekend with my son. He's been wanting to take the piglet out for a while, and my ribs finally feel back up to 100%. Can't believe it took over two months for them to heal, last time I broke them they healed much faster(old age sucks). So plan on seeing another entry soon. Heavy pans!

 

[63bkpkr]

UM, I still find it amazing that you are able to do day trips for prospecting, leave home in the morning and get back on the same morning! Nice gold, it may not be much each time however it all adds up, likely the real gold is just being 'out there'. Thank you for sharing................63bkpkr

 

[KevinInColorado]

Great to see you getting out with the GC!

 

[utah mason]

Great to see you getting out with the GC!

Thanks, I try and rotate thru my equipment, next in line for a workout is the piglet. I have been toying with the idea of adding another tray. Do you think it's worth it or not? Or should I add vortex or v-matting to the top slick tray?

 

[mytimetoshine]

welfare check on Utah?