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Gold Fever

AbsoluteApril

AbsoluteApril

mighty blue justice
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One of my co-workers goes gold panning a few times a year. I'd always wanted to try it, so he set up a trip this past weekend and a group of us went up to Roaring Camp Mining Co in Pine Grove for some camping and treasure hunting good times.
http://roaringcampgold.com/

First some scenic shots of the camp, it's an old 49ers gold camp from the 1800's.

RoaringCamp6_12a.jpg


RoaringCamp6_12b.jpg


RoaringCamp6_12b2.jpg


They also have some good trout fishing in those rivers
RoaringCamp6_12b3.jpg


Getting to work!
RoaringCamp6_12d_Buddy3.jpg


RoaringCamp6_12d.jpg


RoaringCamp6_12m_Dan2.jpg


The mining company provides a seeded pile and we also did some digging around of our own but mostly worked in the pile since we were only there for one day. So... lugging bucket after bucket from the pile down to our area.

Then you fill your pan with the goods:
RoaringCamp6_12h.jpg


Take to the river's edge and shake shake shake
RoaringCamp6_12i.jpg


Also take some buckets to work through the sluice box
RoaringCamp6_12f.jpg


RoaringCamp6_12e.jpg


and ta-da!
RoaringCamp6_12_Gold.jpg


Whoo hoo!
I had such a blast and can't wait to go back. Way more fun that I thought it would be. Also a lot of work, but it didn't feel like work.
 
Then after the long day we all got filled up on some new york strip
RoaringCamp6_12n_dinner1.jpg


Didn't see much wildlife, a deer, quail, couple western fence lizards. I did get some decent shots of a big ol' banana slug:
RoaringCamp6_12l_slug1.jpg


RoaringCamp6_12l_slug2.jpg


Then Sunday on the way home we stopped by the Indian Grinding Stone Historic State Park
GrindingStone6_12c.jpg


Some of these holes were really deep!
GrindingStone6_12d.jpg


me again, cause why not
GrindingStone6_12e.jpg


And then a quick stop at Sutter Creek, looked like it might be a decent place for some herping one day
SutterCreek6_12a.jpg


thanks for looking!
 
Yeah, that does look like fun. Probably better odds than playing the lottery....

I got interested in metal detectors a while back, and they had models that were optimized for detecting gold. I wound up buying a more general purpose machine, but honestly never got around to playing around with it. They are actually a bit complicated and require quite a bit of actual hands on experience to be any good to you. From reading up on it, it's actually quite an art to making sense out of the audio and visual clues a detector will give you. But much of your learning curve will involve digging up a bunch of aluminum can pop tabs. Evidently aluminum reacts quite similar to gold in many of the non specialized detectors.

Usually the detector coils are water proof, so I wonder if they would be of any use in a stream to help pinpoint gold to give you better odds of actually finding something? Could also be helpful if the detector could indicate how MUCH gold might be at any given spot.

But heck, then again, maybe that would take some of the FUN out of it... :shrug01:

So how much gold, in weight, did you actually find?
 
ooo I like that idea of using a metal detector! I've always wanted to play around with those. I'll have to ask my friend if he's ever thought of using that or seen/heard stories good or bad. Thanks for that idea!

WebSlave said:
So how much gold, in weight, did you actually find?
Click to expand...

Approx 1/2 a pennyweight, estimated worth of about $30-40.
 
you guys should try it, it's a lot of fun - especially when you see that sparkle in the pan. :D

We're already planning another trip
 
Wow, that actually looks like it would be really fun. I'm going to have to see if there is anything around my area like that. Thanks for sharing the photos & feel free to pass on any tips.
 
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