goldenIrishman
Silver Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2013
- Messages
- 3,465
- Reaction score
- 6,154
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Golden Valley Arid-Zona
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher / Gold Bug AND the MK-VII eyeballs
- Primary Interest:
- Other
Well folks, we managed to get out to California for a week of business mixed with some prospecting. The business part turned out to be a hurry up and wait thing, (not unusual when dealing with my siblings) but the prospecting part was a lot of fun.
We took the scenic route from the house to the San Diego area by turning off onto Sunrise Highway from I-8. We hit one of the overlooks near Laguna Mountain that allowed a great view down towards Banner Grade. I spotted what looked like it could be a great place to do some prospecting and made some notes so I can research land status for a possible visit on the next trip. Knowing that I was standing on a gold bearing ridge made the washes and stream beds look mighty tempting. Just need to make sure I'm not going to be claim jumping when I get back out there.
So it was on to Ramona (my old stomping grounds) to deal with the siblings about them buying me out of the property we inherited together when my mom passed away. That went nowhere fast to say the very least. The one great thing about it was that I was able to see my dad and introduce Robi to him. It was strange seeing the old man bald as a cue ball but at least he wears it well.
Our first day out prospecting was to the GPAA claim that was about 15 miles back up the mountain near Julian. Rough bush getting to that sucker to say the least. Lots of poison oak and very little water flowing in the creek. We managed to find a couple of puddles to do some panning in and could see where others had been working the claim. Having been to this claim before I knew that trying to drag buckets home from it would be a MAJOR P.I.T.A. so I didn't bother hauling any down the hill with me. We bagged up some rough panned cons, threw them into one of the packs and hauled ourselves back up the mountain to the parking area.
The next day we headed down to Torrey Pines so I could see if anyone I knew was out flying R/C sailplanes off the cliffs. Seems that the area has been taken over by the Para-sail pilots as there wasn't a single plane to be seen in the air. We then drove up the coast as I gave Robi the nickle tour of the coastal towns. We stopped at Cardiff Beach where I used to go for body surfing only to find out that they were charging $6 an hour for parking in a lot that I had used for free for over 30 years! We headed back to where we were staying and made plans for the next couple of days.
The next two days were spent down at the beach copping some rays and enjoying the cool breeze and the sights. We (or rather Robi) had made some plans for later in the week to visit a mine in Pala to go hunting for gems. This little outing turned out to be a lot of fun and the people that ran the mine were great. We found Tourmaline, Aquamarine, and several other gems as we dug through the tailings pile. We brought home a couple of 5 gallon buckets of materials besides what we had stashed in our gallon baggies which were almost full already.
Our last day prospecting was supposed to be with a couple of old friends in the Ramona area but things came up and they couldn't make it out. the area we had planned on hitting turned out to be dry as a popcorn F**t so there wasn't going to be any on site panning at all. I switched up the location for one in the Cleavland National forest that I had always wanted to check out. We lucked out that there was still some water flowing and we were able to do some panning. Found a little color in our first couple of pans and since it wasn't a major hike to get back to the truck I loaded up a couple of buckets to bring back with us. One thing I learned during this trip is that Robi does NOT like playing mountain goat on the narrow fire roads! I've driven on them all my life so they hold no fear for me at all. I guess it's all in what you grow up with.
So it was back to dads' place to load up some exotic hardwoods he turned me onto and then pack up for the long drive home. The trip home was longer than the one out because we (spell that Robi) wanted to go up through Blythe and see a friend. This added a couple of hours to the driving time but we did get to check out the area near some of the GPAA claims in Riverside County for future consideration. All this did was make me want to go out and get a drywasher even sooner.
All in all it was a fun trip even if we couldn't get all the business taken care of at the time. I got to see a number of old friends and introduce Robi to them. I got to visit some of my old stomping grounds ( and go into shock at how much some of them had changed) and enjoyed a "Munchkin Free Zone" with my lady love.
All the materials we brought back have been run and we didn't hit the mother lode but did find some flour gold. Having been pressed for time we couldn't do the prospecting the justice the areas deserved but we will make up for that on the next trip.
We took the scenic route from the house to the San Diego area by turning off onto Sunrise Highway from I-8. We hit one of the overlooks near Laguna Mountain that allowed a great view down towards Banner Grade. I spotted what looked like it could be a great place to do some prospecting and made some notes so I can research land status for a possible visit on the next trip. Knowing that I was standing on a gold bearing ridge made the washes and stream beds look mighty tempting. Just need to make sure I'm not going to be claim jumping when I get back out there.
So it was on to Ramona (my old stomping grounds) to deal with the siblings about them buying me out of the property we inherited together when my mom passed away. That went nowhere fast to say the very least. The one great thing about it was that I was able to see my dad and introduce Robi to him. It was strange seeing the old man bald as a cue ball but at least he wears it well.
Our first day out prospecting was to the GPAA claim that was about 15 miles back up the mountain near Julian. Rough bush getting to that sucker to say the least. Lots of poison oak and very little water flowing in the creek. We managed to find a couple of puddles to do some panning in and could see where others had been working the claim. Having been to this claim before I knew that trying to drag buckets home from it would be a MAJOR P.I.T.A. so I didn't bother hauling any down the hill with me. We bagged up some rough panned cons, threw them into one of the packs and hauled ourselves back up the mountain to the parking area.
The next day we headed down to Torrey Pines so I could see if anyone I knew was out flying R/C sailplanes off the cliffs. Seems that the area has been taken over by the Para-sail pilots as there wasn't a single plane to be seen in the air. We then drove up the coast as I gave Robi the nickle tour of the coastal towns. We stopped at Cardiff Beach where I used to go for body surfing only to find out that they were charging $6 an hour for parking in a lot that I had used for free for over 30 years! We headed back to where we were staying and made plans for the next couple of days.
The next two days were spent down at the beach copping some rays and enjoying the cool breeze and the sights. We (or rather Robi) had made some plans for later in the week to visit a mine in Pala to go hunting for gems. This little outing turned out to be a lot of fun and the people that ran the mine were great. We found Tourmaline, Aquamarine, and several other gems as we dug through the tailings pile. We brought home a couple of 5 gallon buckets of materials besides what we had stashed in our gallon baggies which were almost full already.
Our last day prospecting was supposed to be with a couple of old friends in the Ramona area but things came up and they couldn't make it out. the area we had planned on hitting turned out to be dry as a popcorn F**t so there wasn't going to be any on site panning at all. I switched up the location for one in the Cleavland National forest that I had always wanted to check out. We lucked out that there was still some water flowing and we were able to do some panning. Found a little color in our first couple of pans and since it wasn't a major hike to get back to the truck I loaded up a couple of buckets to bring back with us. One thing I learned during this trip is that Robi does NOT like playing mountain goat on the narrow fire roads! I've driven on them all my life so they hold no fear for me at all. I guess it's all in what you grow up with.
So it was back to dads' place to load up some exotic hardwoods he turned me onto and then pack up for the long drive home. The trip home was longer than the one out because we (spell that Robi) wanted to go up through Blythe and see a friend. This added a couple of hours to the driving time but we did get to check out the area near some of the GPAA claims in Riverside County for future consideration. All this did was make me want to go out and get a drywasher even sooner.
All in all it was a fun trip even if we couldn't get all the business taken care of at the time. I got to see a number of old friends and introduce Robi to them. I got to visit some of my old stomping grounds ( and go into shock at how much some of them had changed) and enjoyed a "Munchkin Free Zone" with my lady love.
All the materials we brought back have been run and we didn't hit the mother lode but did find some flour gold. Having been pressed for time we couldn't do the prospecting the justice the areas deserved but we will make up for that on the next trip.
Last edited:
Upvote
0
wow strange brew. God I love my Trust as hastle and TAX FREE. Sorry to hear of hastle,sure brings out the greed when death occurs.....RIP dear lady,sorry for your loss. Being a motherless child(at any age ) sucks-John
Never hurts to have a lady that doesn't mind me going out and digging in the earth whenever I am in the mood.
My mom just turned 87 and I'll be going back to FL for the very last time in 30-90 days to hopefully sell the house and get her. BTW, anyone looking to retire to FL on the cheap? 
Didn't start out that way...till she saw the gold. Go figure
