crystalpayne
Full Member
We have decided we are going to go prospecting for gold, for the first time all by ourselves into the wilderness and the sky is the limit. Talladega National forest looks very promising, and we did hours upon hours of research. We found old mines and used Geological, Topo and Forest services maps we had locations A,B,C all the way thru G planned that looked very promising. All you can do is pan in some of these areas, we received our permits and we are ready. We are going to Utilize some amazing information people have offered us from Treasure net and we are going to succeed.
So Dusty does his shopping for Hiking gear/survival in the woods so we will be prepared if anything happens!
I Decorate my new Fanny Pack "I Love Gold Digging"
Of course I have my homemade Ima Gold Digger shirt on.
Packing list: 2 Gold Pans, 1/8 inch screen, 5 gallon bucket, shovel, sniffer bottle, Survival Stuff, One Very AWESOME I LOVE GOLD DIGGING FANNY PACK
Lets do this!
We started the 2 hour drive and arrived at about 10 am and we are ready to go. We go down the first dirt road where the map showed water, there wasn't water. The road was very wet still from rain earlier in the week and we are driving a SUV that is not 4 wheel drive, one side of us was about a 50 foot drop. I will not lie there were times I thought I was going to die, but I have faith in Dusty! So we go to plan B, and no there is no water where its suppose to be again. So we get the maps out and we are going to hike to the gold, surely the water is just over that mountain! (Ok, I call these mountains they are more like really big and very steep Hills) We decided to leave the gear in the car and start walking thru the woods to see if there is water over this hill. So walking down we are seeing bedrock, quartz and find this promising stream with lots of areas that appeared to have some good gold traps. The stream was in a ravine in between two very large and steep hills. So Dusty decided he is going to hike up the next hill and see if the River is over on the other side while I investigate the stream. Lets not forget our rookie mistake of leaving all of our stuff in the car (FAIL). So Dusty gets up to the top and says he hears the water but cant see it, but is sure its further down. So he climbs down and we plan to hike all the way back to the car and get our gear and play in the little stream, if there is no gold we will find this other river.
So we climb back up this Hill and when we get to the top we realize a couple of things. We are out of shape, we smoke to much and do not ever leave your crap in the car because you will hate yourself for it. So now we are regrouping and getting our stuff ready to go back down. We find a way down that is less steep and it leads right down to the creek, we can follow it down to my new found glory hole. HA!
So I make a decision to take off my tennis shoes (left them in the car) and go ahead and put my rain boots on (another reason I hate myself). I decide I am going to lead the way, I soon notice all I am doing is running into spider webs all while screaming,there's a spider on me...there's a spider on me...Jumping up and down and hitting myself all over like a maniac
, Dusty decides he is going to go ahead of me (oh did I not mention I am scared to death of spiders, I was once bitten and couldn't walk on my leg for over a month). Now I realize my decision to take of my tennis shoes was a huge mistake, rain boots are not designed to do any kind of hiking! My feet are killing me, but I am not about to walk up that stupid incline again to fetch my shoes.
We finally get down to the creek, we start doing test pans and aren't really finding anything. So we continue to follow it down and do a couple more test pans and eventually get to my Glory Hole. So I am screening and panning and seeing quartz, black sand, bedrock and one spec of flour gold. Bedrock is right at the surface but this is where my knowledge stops, I was clearly in over my head. I didn't want to leave it, I knew there was something I was missing but I will give Dusty's idea a try. Dusty thinks we are going to have better luck at this River just up the next hill. It was about a 1/4 of a mile hike.
So here we go, hiking up this god awful hill (I admit I was pouting a little, I didn't want to leave my spot)! We get to the top all the while cursing at myself, why I was so stupid to take of my tennis shoes... We get to the top, Dusty said listen do you hear water? No I don't hear water, all I heard was the blood flowing in my body at about 100 MPH from exhaustion! So we still cant see the water and we decide to start going down this hill. We see the old gold mine. About 100 yards into it, I am hearing water and see it a little bit thru the trees. Then we quickly realize the only way we are getting to this water if we become CLIFF DIVERS because it is about a 200 foot drop to this stupid river. At this point I am looking at my Walking stick and looking at Dusty and trying to talk myself out of beating him with it
! After looking up and asking God "Why do you hate me?!" We regroup and decide surely there is another way down to this water. There was a ravine that looked very steep and seemed to go on forever. We only had about 2 1/2 hours of daylight left and I know there is no way in hell we are going to make it back up that ravine, without having to camp in the woods. (with no tent) I absolutely at this point refuse to go rogue and sleep in the woods. I may not know a lot about nature but what I do know is, things that want to eat you come out at night. I can see the look in Dusty eyes, I think he secretly wanted to ruff it all night in the woods. He has read the books, purchased the gear and think deep down he wanted the challenge. My first warning should have been the youtube video he was watching before we left the house about surviving in the wilderness....Yea buddy not even on your Birthday, not this girl! He wanted to go down to the river but I refused, instead we decided to get back to the car and try out another spot.
So we start the climb down and back up these hills, at one point I am pretty convinced this is the end for me. We are exhausted but aren't giving up that easy! We get the Map out and decided to go to another spot.
So here we go, now we are on the HWY and one side is the Forest and the other is Privately owned. The road we wanted to take the bridge was out, to our right was a restaurant and to the left was a pull off to get to the creek we wanted to pan in. We pull off and quickly realize that this is owned by the restaurant. We decide to go in to the establishment and order us something and ask about this creek. So luckily we walk into the bar section and sit down. I order a Piece of Chocolate cake and one very much needed Vodka and Cranberry! The Bartender tells us we would have to ask the owner of the restaurant before we could go in that creek... So at this point I am not as stressed out, thank you vodka. We get our map and now it is on to plan...who knows at this point! We agree on a new location and we are on our way.
So after we went past our turn by about 5 miles we turn around and finally find the Road we were suppose to be on. We start down this dirt road and my first warning sign (you know the warning, that says get your A@@ out of there) should have been the two pitbulls standing in the middle of the road, that looked very hungry! Or maybe the Mattress, tires and endless supply of beer bottles someone kindly left on the side of the road....Well the straw that broke the camels back was when we came up to our creek the concrete barriers on the bridge were littered with graffiti one word stood out the most KKK! Tires don't fail me now, I could careless if there was a thousand pounds of gold, I am not getting out of this car to look at anything! So Dusty starts driving and I look for another location we can go, now we have about a hour of daylight left. Surely there is something better then this...HA!
So we start going to another area, we are getting closer and go thru this small town.. Every house has about 50 broke down cars in their yard. The glares we received from locals gave us the feeling that we weren't very welcome in these parts of the Woods! Welcome to Hillbilly Holler, and not the nice good ole boy hillbillies type! I had a flash back of the movie "Wrong Turn" and lets face it I am fresh meat. I have all my teeth and I am not related, I am sure in their eyes I would look good mounted on top of their fireplace! But we decided we will be safe just driving, we knew it was to late to go prospect but we can check out some creeks! So here we go on a forest service road. Again one side of the Road was Forest Property and the other was private property. No cars in site... Then we pull of the road (forest side) and out of no where this old beat up truck comes behind us. We pull away and he stays there, so we go to the next creek and we are stopped and looking and here comes this truck creeping back up. So we pull off again, all while I have a terrible feeling that this person is up to no good. So we see two houses and pull off there, I want this guy in front of us, so he passes glaring at me and I thought for a second I was going to have to utilizes my super ninja abilities! But he passed right by thank god, so we get turned around and decided to check out one more road! (Let me say this, Half of the members of my family are hillbillies, I have nothing against them )
So we get off onto another side road and see some vehicles and keep going, once again the maps shows the end of this road has water! Yea it didn't, but what it did have one very creepy old cabin that I am sure would be Charles Manson's dream house! Tires don't fail me again! Now I want to go home, I want to go home right now! I stink, every muscle in my body hurts I have scratches all over me I want this expedition to be over with! So we start up this very muddy dirt road and finally get to the main road.
On the long drive home, we both came to the realization that we are out of our league! We are finding the First Gold Club and joining it! I am not winging it again until I have full knowledge on prospecting. I woke up the next morning telling myself there has to be a better hobby then Gold Prospecting! Then I realize there isn't, I love this! Its my passion, I want it so bad! I can feel the gold at my finger tips, were most people might give up this gives me even more determination to keep going! I am not going to let a few spiders or really scary people keep me away from my dream! Call me crazy or insane just don't call me a quitter!
Gold you can run, but you cant hide!
My First Outing can be found here http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/331093-my-first-outing-nightmare-im-discouraged-i-will-not-lie.html
So Dusty does his shopping for Hiking gear/survival in the woods so we will be prepared if anything happens!
I Decorate my new Fanny Pack "I Love Gold Digging"
Of course I have my homemade Ima Gold Digger shirt on.Packing list: 2 Gold Pans, 1/8 inch screen, 5 gallon bucket, shovel, sniffer bottle, Survival Stuff, One Very AWESOME I LOVE GOLD DIGGING FANNY PACK
Lets do this!
We started the 2 hour drive and arrived at about 10 am and we are ready to go. We go down the first dirt road where the map showed water, there wasn't water. The road was very wet still from rain earlier in the week and we are driving a SUV that is not 4 wheel drive, one side of us was about a 50 foot drop. I will not lie there were times I thought I was going to die, but I have faith in Dusty! So we go to plan B, and no there is no water where its suppose to be again. So we get the maps out and we are going to hike to the gold, surely the water is just over that mountain! (Ok, I call these mountains they are more like really big and very steep Hills) We decided to leave the gear in the car and start walking thru the woods to see if there is water over this hill. So walking down we are seeing bedrock, quartz and find this promising stream with lots of areas that appeared to have some good gold traps. The stream was in a ravine in between two very large and steep hills. So Dusty decided he is going to hike up the next hill and see if the River is over on the other side while I investigate the stream. Lets not forget our rookie mistake of leaving all of our stuff in the car (FAIL). So Dusty gets up to the top and says he hears the water but cant see it, but is sure its further down. So he climbs down and we plan to hike all the way back to the car and get our gear and play in the little stream, if there is no gold we will find this other river.
So we climb back up this Hill and when we get to the top we realize a couple of things. We are out of shape, we smoke to much and do not ever leave your crap in the car because you will hate yourself for it. So now we are regrouping and getting our stuff ready to go back down. We find a way down that is less steep and it leads right down to the creek, we can follow it down to my new found glory hole. HA!
So I make a decision to take off my tennis shoes (left them in the car) and go ahead and put my rain boots on (another reason I hate myself). I decide I am going to lead the way, I soon notice all I am doing is running into spider webs all while screaming,there's a spider on me...there's a spider on me...Jumping up and down and hitting myself all over like a maniac
, Dusty decides he is going to go ahead of me (oh did I not mention I am scared to death of spiders, I was once bitten and couldn't walk on my leg for over a month). Now I realize my decision to take of my tennis shoes was a huge mistake, rain boots are not designed to do any kind of hiking! My feet are killing me, but I am not about to walk up that stupid incline again to fetch my shoes. We finally get down to the creek, we start doing test pans and aren't really finding anything. So we continue to follow it down and do a couple more test pans and eventually get to my Glory Hole. So I am screening and panning and seeing quartz, black sand, bedrock and one spec of flour gold. Bedrock is right at the surface but this is where my knowledge stops, I was clearly in over my head. I didn't want to leave it, I knew there was something I was missing but I will give Dusty's idea a try. Dusty thinks we are going to have better luck at this River just up the next hill. It was about a 1/4 of a mile hike.
So here we go, hiking up this god awful hill (I admit I was pouting a little, I didn't want to leave my spot)! We get to the top all the while cursing at myself, why I was so stupid to take of my tennis shoes... We get to the top, Dusty said listen do you hear water? No I don't hear water, all I heard was the blood flowing in my body at about 100 MPH from exhaustion! So we still cant see the water and we decide to start going down this hill. We see the old gold mine. About 100 yards into it, I am hearing water and see it a little bit thru the trees. Then we quickly realize the only way we are getting to this water if we become CLIFF DIVERS because it is about a 200 foot drop to this stupid river. At this point I am looking at my Walking stick and looking at Dusty and trying to talk myself out of beating him with it
! After looking up and asking God "Why do you hate me?!" We regroup and decide surely there is another way down to this water. There was a ravine that looked very steep and seemed to go on forever. We only had about 2 1/2 hours of daylight left and I know there is no way in hell we are going to make it back up that ravine, without having to camp in the woods. (with no tent) I absolutely at this point refuse to go rogue and sleep in the woods. I may not know a lot about nature but what I do know is, things that want to eat you come out at night. I can see the look in Dusty eyes, I think he secretly wanted to ruff it all night in the woods. He has read the books, purchased the gear and think deep down he wanted the challenge. My first warning should have been the youtube video he was watching before we left the house about surviving in the wilderness....Yea buddy not even on your Birthday, not this girl! He wanted to go down to the river but I refused, instead we decided to get back to the car and try out another spot.So we start the climb down and back up these hills, at one point I am pretty convinced this is the end for me. We are exhausted but aren't giving up that easy! We get the Map out and decided to go to another spot.
So here we go, now we are on the HWY and one side is the Forest and the other is Privately owned. The road we wanted to take the bridge was out, to our right was a restaurant and to the left was a pull off to get to the creek we wanted to pan in. We pull off and quickly realize that this is owned by the restaurant. We decide to go in to the establishment and order us something and ask about this creek. So luckily we walk into the bar section and sit down. I order a Piece of Chocolate cake and one very much needed Vodka and Cranberry! The Bartender tells us we would have to ask the owner of the restaurant before we could go in that creek... So at this point I am not as stressed out, thank you vodka. We get our map and now it is on to plan...who knows at this point! We agree on a new location and we are on our way.
So after we went past our turn by about 5 miles we turn around and finally find the Road we were suppose to be on. We start down this dirt road and my first warning sign (you know the warning, that says get your A@@ out of there) should have been the two pitbulls standing in the middle of the road, that looked very hungry! Or maybe the Mattress, tires and endless supply of beer bottles someone kindly left on the side of the road....Well the straw that broke the camels back was when we came up to our creek the concrete barriers on the bridge were littered with graffiti one word stood out the most KKK! Tires don't fail me now, I could careless if there was a thousand pounds of gold, I am not getting out of this car to look at anything! So Dusty starts driving and I look for another location we can go, now we have about a hour of daylight left. Surely there is something better then this...HA!
So we start going to another area, we are getting closer and go thru this small town.. Every house has about 50 broke down cars in their yard. The glares we received from locals gave us the feeling that we weren't very welcome in these parts of the Woods! Welcome to Hillbilly Holler, and not the nice good ole boy hillbillies type! I had a flash back of the movie "Wrong Turn" and lets face it I am fresh meat. I have all my teeth and I am not related, I am sure in their eyes I would look good mounted on top of their fireplace! But we decided we will be safe just driving, we knew it was to late to go prospect but we can check out some creeks! So here we go on a forest service road. Again one side of the Road was Forest Property and the other was private property. No cars in site... Then we pull of the road (forest side) and out of no where this old beat up truck comes behind us. We pull away and he stays there, so we go to the next creek and we are stopped and looking and here comes this truck creeping back up. So we pull off again, all while I have a terrible feeling that this person is up to no good. So we see two houses and pull off there, I want this guy in front of us, so he passes glaring at me and I thought for a second I was going to have to utilizes my super ninja abilities! But he passed right by thank god, so we get turned around and decided to check out one more road! (Let me say this, Half of the members of my family are hillbillies, I have nothing against them )
So we get off onto another side road and see some vehicles and keep going, once again the maps shows the end of this road has water! Yea it didn't, but what it did have one very creepy old cabin that I am sure would be Charles Manson's dream house! Tires don't fail me again! Now I want to go home, I want to go home right now! I stink, every muscle in my body hurts I have scratches all over me I want this expedition to be over with! So we start up this very muddy dirt road and finally get to the main road.
On the long drive home, we both came to the realization that we are out of our league! We are finding the First Gold Club and joining it! I am not winging it again until I have full knowledge on prospecting. I woke up the next morning telling myself there has to be a better hobby then Gold Prospecting! Then I realize there isn't, I love this! Its my passion, I want it so bad! I can feel the gold at my finger tips, were most people might give up this gives me even more determination to keep going! I am not going to let a few spiders or really scary people keep me away from my dream! Call me crazy or insane just don't call me a quitter!
Gold you can run, but you cant hide!
My First Outing can be found here http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/331093-my-first-outing-nightmare-im-discouraged-i-will-not-lie.html
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My first outing was somewhat similiar but not quite entertaining as yours,,,Can't wait to read about your next trip,,Sounds like you surely have the "Fever" 
