My prospecting trip

[RealityBitesParticipant 2198]

I just got back from a Prospecting Trip on the North Fork of the Feather River in Northern California
It was a lot of fun and hard work. I really enjoyed being outdoors and doing my own thing and not having some Nag along…
I chatted with a couple of guys when their wives were out of earshot…they seemed to be envying me and my freedom
I took some pans, and a sluice and other equipment…it was my first time running a sluice…and I got some lessons learned from the experience..

Lesson 1: You WILL SLIP and Fall in the River when you are carrying heavy things…and the cross current will carry you out to where the current is moving the fastest down stream…so it REALLY HELPS to have tied a Rope across the river to grab onto as you go under it!!!!

Lesson 2: if you wear chest high Waders they can fill with water when you fall in…and in that case they act like a parachute on the ground in a wind…they will drag you along in the river…and are heavy and also act as an anchor and drag you down.

Lesson 3: be prepared to lose stuff to the river when you slip and fall!!! I lost a glove and a piece of wood I was going to use to support a rock to weight down the sluice

Lesson 4: Classify all of the stuff you dig use at least a 1/2″ classifying screen although given average nugget size…a 1/4″ screen would be better.

Lesson 5: do clean outs between 5-8 5 gallon buckets

Lesson 6: use a magnet to get magnetite out of your black sands in your concentrates…it will make panning out the gold much easier…and use a drop of Jetdry in your panning water to break the surface tension, which will then allow gold flakes to fall down and not float away…

Lesson 7: Wear a Broad Brimmed Canvas Hat….when the sun is out, and dunk the hat in the water and put it on your head…keeps you cool…and Take plenty of breaks and drink lots of water!

[Buller100Participant 2189]

Sounds great fun , best of luck with he gold

[Daryll55Participant 2950]

Sounds like you had a blast! TBH, Imma lil jealous!
Are you going to do it again?

Marry again, Hell NO ! ( Even JESUS was hung on a cross just once)

[RealityBitesParticipant 2198]

Yeah…but next time probably just go alone…just me and my dog..I want to work my way up…panning and sluicing rivers known to having had Gold up to Spokane…say good bye to my friend buried up there…then work my way back down through Idaho, Colorado into New Mexico and then Arizona before going back to SoCal…and definitely work the Colorado river.
Just going to camp out…maybe take several months doing it…being out there…there isn’t the noise from the city or noisy neighbors….or car horns blasting….not many women…and the women I do run across just leave me alone…it’s very nice and peaceful.

Very serious about stringing up a rope downstream…it saved my ass. And Waders are pretty dodgy…if they fill with water…its like a boat anchor

[Daryll55Participant 2950]

From my fishing days I am wane to wear chest waders ever again. That “boat anchor” fill can kill you!

In my teen years my friends decided one day to swim to this island in a river. The current was a strong cross-current with the water deeper than normal due to rain on prior days.

Just “swimming” (more like breast stroke to save my life), was a huge effort that got serious as soon as I hit the water. The undercurrent was actually Stronger than the surface current!

That 75ft “swim” to the island carried us downstream about 100yds,exhaustedand chests heaving for air. We were wondering how we would get back.

Had someone been fishing(they would have to be crazy!), in water like that, with chest waders would have been a warrant to drown.

Marry again, Hell NO ! ( Even JESUS was hung on a cross just once)

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