Gold in Sacramento?

Well, I worked the tailings at Mississippi Bar yesterday. Probably not a great job, but I kept at it all day. Nada. I even went in to the trees in between the rows and panned some. I stuck to the sides of the tailings, checking and kicking - nothing but cobbles. I did not see clay, balls or not, so assume I'm missing something. I had fun looking at all the different types of rock. And there was some great quartz, all kinds of colors. But alas, no nuggies. Around 3 pm I tried a little digging up on the sides of the bluff heading towards the dam, at the end of Main Ave. Still nada.

I think that's a job for a detector. Didn't see anyone but dog walkers and bicyclists all day. Wonder if anyone would 'catch' me if I wandered around with a gold bug. It's amazing how much earth they moved with those dredges.

On another note, I hit Mammoth Bar on the Middle Fork AR today and had a blast. Of course, just as I was finding some spots to work, it was time to go. Won't be back in the area for quite awhile, so guess I'm done for a bit. I can definitely see that I need a bazooka. I saw good color and if I could have moved more dirt, I'd have had a great showing. As it is, I got my fix and a snuffer bottle of black sand to process.

My next trip should be Eldorado forest for an extended stay. And yes, I'm taking a homemade bazooka this time. Can't wait.
 

That sounds great, sid! Glad you were having fun. Keep at it and the gold will come to you!
 

Yay Sid!

Where's your pic of the gold?
 

I know, I want to show off. LOL. I will somehow get the pics off this SD card over to my computer and then I'll show off. I know it's just a little, but I do have to say I'm proud of it.

I'll have a little from Euchre Bar (419GottaMinute, :icon_thumleft: excellent suggestion!) and what ever I get out of my black sand from Mammoth Bar.

Gold looks so good peeking out from under that black sand, don't you think?
 

As good as it looks in my vial, I have to agree - real pretty when you first see it in the pan and somehow it always looks bigger at first (spare me the jokes guys LOL!)
 

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Euchre Bar. 1/2 bucket from under a tree.
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Mammoth Bar.
I kept the sand as I just know it's got more in there.
 

Lookin good Sid. My compliments on trying multiple places too - mining is fun but sniffing around prospecting new spots is a real kick!
 

Lookin good Sid. My compliments on trying multiple places too - mining is fun but sniffing around prospecting new spots is a real kick!

Yup. I'm more in exploring mode right now, but the first thing I wanna do when I get somewhere is pan. Then it's all about "Hmmm, check that trail out. Wonder if it'll take me over by those rocks."

How long until you quit picking up every cool rock for closer inspection? I must spend half my time doing that. And hunkering down to look under boulders or tree roots. Amazing how many of those spots have been dug out already.
 

Yup, and often those holes left open are unproductive but keep getting bigger since newbies see a hole and figure that's where the gold is. If you get good gold, I bet you do what you can to obscure your work so you can come back to it right?

I always try to kick a few rocks into the holes left by others.
 

Where's Euchre bar?

Dan. Take Exit 146 off I 80 above Colfax. Soon as you come off the freeway at the stop sign, look to your right. There's a road across from you called Casa Loma, (no outlet). Follow that to the end and you'll find the Euchre Bar trailhead. Quite a ways down to the bridge, but even longer on the way back up. Something like 2000 feet in elevation. Next time I make that climb I'm staying for a week at least :)

419. I thought so too. Someone had already hit those tree roots, but I scraped around with my screwdriver and got those little flakes. I'm just not running enough dirt right now. I gotta get my sluice together before my Eldorado trip.
 

Soo you hike all the way down? With your sluice/buckets/shovels/pans? Doesn't sound like there's much of a window for prospecting at the bottom. How long does it take? You said 2000 foot drop? How steep (or how long) is the trail? If its anything like humbug bar trail, no thanks. That was pure hell. I do however have children for pack mules lol
 

LOL. That's what I'm saying. Kids have to pay for those hot dogs somehow.

Yeah, it's a bit of a hike. I actually took a backpack with large tent, pans, shovels, sleeping bags, etc. Took me about 2 hours down - maybe 4 back up. Camped for 2 nights so I could spend some time there. If you start early with just gold gear, you should be fine. Maybe an hour or less down, 2 hours up. Give you 6 hours to play. Follow the south bank as far downriver as possible. Saw very little recent activity that far from the bridge. That's where I'll go next time.

Actually preferred the trip back up.

Does anyone know what month has the highest water levels?
Actually, just answered my own question. Check this site. http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=ca
 

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Sid: thanks for the info. I've been to a lot of places, but hadn't heard of that one till now. (There's thousands I'm shure)

Have always gone on my own as far as finding places. I usually just inspect the ol topo map for a day or so and try to find a 4x4 trail or ways down to places that if I were a map dowser would make sure the "pendulum" pointed to Lol.
Anyway I'm glad I found this forum. Lots of good info and people in my area. (No offense Colorado guy)
 

Quick pan and anyone else interested in north fork american river canyon trails, check out this site

North Fork of the American River

This is the blog you were telling me about huh? Just read 'The secret trails of green valley'. That's exactly what I needed. His map confirmed what I was thinking about the south bank. I would have liked to see that area upriver of Euchre bar. And below.

I met this old gentleman coming off the iron point trail while I was out there. He had an old topo map that showed a bridge down there that was no longer there. Wonder if it was on green valley trail. Also said there were a lot of trails that had been washed out years ago.

Great writings. Sorry he passed.
 

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