Mytimetoshine

[63bkpkr]

Once upon a time, long long ago we did some early in the season practice rafting on the SFAR, like to froze my tush on that one, nice water though. Your pictures show the country well!....................63bkpkr

 

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[mytimetoshine]

Once upon a time, long long ago we did some early in the season practice rafting on the SFAR, like to froze my tush on that one, nice water though. Your pictures show the country well!....................63bkpkr

You got in that water, your nuts! That is pure ice water this time of year lol. I like it.

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[goldenmojo]

Definitely Sounds Like It Was Cold.

 

[63bkpkr]

Mytimetoshine,

You learn quickly about me! Good!!

This is us putting in "Just" down river from the Euchre Bar bridge ~ 1974 with ~ 250 CFS water flow ~ 100F air temp, the crazy guy in the front is me.

 

[mytimetoshine]

I love seeing these pictures. Is that a backyard pool raft from Walmart?

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[mytimetoshine]

Met up with a friend after work and got an hour of steady mining in on an un named creek in El Dorado County. Work some clay and tree roots with my bazooka prospector. The bazooka is very underrated for working clay. just grab huge chunks and scrub and grind on the deck. you couldn't do that with a traditional sluice. a the biggest flake came from a mass of roots that I managed to dislodge and carry over to the bazooka took 10 minutes to work all the goodies out of it.

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[63bkpkr]

Raft

mtts,
Close, a 4 man raft retrofitted with two inner tubes inside the raft tied to the raft floor and raft air bags by 'D' ring-patches glued to raft. We've used that raft for three years of rafting and then it sat and then the seams came unglued, cheap rubber yellow duckie thing.

We also carried a patching kit and used it 'many' times - once cause the bottom of the raft found a two man cross-cut saw in the river and for many other meetings with sharp rocks and other stuff. The rafting down the NFAR is always exciting!.............63bkpkr

 

[mytimetoshine]

Saturday was a great day. A break in the relentless weather this year and it turned out to be perfect prospecting weather. 70 degrees and just slightly overcast.

I have been wanting to check out a certain section of river it's a big boy hike to get in there. Met up with SOHR. and hit the trail probably945am. Made short work of the down hill and we were in heaven when we saw the river.

Water was at 3000k CFS so we were extremely limited in what we could do safely. I think we were happy to finally get some prospecting done in this area.

Epic day and plans for future diggins. 8 miles and just shy of 3k elevation change makes you feel alive. Cheers!

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[Aufisher]

Awesome shots! That gold is stacking up quickly!

 

[63bkpkr]

Glorious Spring Vistas

MTTS,
Thank you for sharing the adventure! I know that building footing, I know that bridge rail and I know that shot up river where the flows come together - a nice hike! I've hiked that trail in the dark as well as in bright day light. Some of the other trails along the main river can get very serious, the result is more and more beautiful and wilder country with Sooo much exploring to do...............63bkpkr

 

[MadMarshall]

maybe a mile or so up one of those rivers and you might have found me. i was out thursday till Saturday afternoon in the area.. actually headed back as we speak.. just passed colfax. 20 more min. ill be walkin down to the cabin...

 

[63bkpkr]

Hey Guys,
Whats the snow load like past the gate on the FHDR?

The water flows seem to be high with several instances of late of quite high flows so is the snow thinning out higher up? I would assume that the lower roads are quite muddy.

Walkin down to the cabin - at the Rawhide?............63bkpkr

 

[63bkpkr]

MTTS,
A pack of dogs - I ran into a pack of Queens Land Healers (sp) off of Mosquito Ridge Road being led by a crafty/shifty female QLH. She set me up for an attack and I was bitten but fortunately not bad. They tried it a second time only I had my 454 revolver at the ready, the noise from it stopped the second attack and they did not bother me again. If 'again' had ever come they would all have been taken out! It is not the one that is making all the snarling and growling noises that is going to be the first one to hit you, check out over your shoulder for the one quietly sneaking up on you!.............63bkpkr

 

[mytimetoshine]

63
Bear and lion at least you can understand your in there territory but the dog thing makes me angry. Just idiot owners, if you let your dog's roam off the leash you better be able to command them to stop effectively. In my case the owner of the dogs was in sight but either didn't care or couldn't hear it. we were directly behind him about 50 yards and he was panning right on the river. it's understandable that he might not have heard the river was extremely loud but I've never had good luck with other people dogs..I can't tell you anything about the snow as I haven't messed with it but I think it's safe to say the snow melt will be nothing short of epic this year. I could hike the main trail at night, that's one thing, but the one along the river that we took, no way. There are 2 bad spots in the trail, the one with the memorial nailed to the tree. I didn't like that spot one bit. All it takes is your pack to bump the wall,turn your hips and your dead.

I hope you make it out this year. bad conditions or not it's always a great time camping and prospecting with friends, sometimes even more so.



MM-
In retrospect that's where we kinda wanted to end up. but we took the lower trail and....well it's just plain hard to walk pass any of that beautiful bedrock. The fever just hits and before you know it your scratching away at it like some fiend, lol. It would be great to meet up some time, I love to hike.



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[utah mason]

People who have aggressive dogs and don't keep them on a leash need to be publicly flogged! A dogs temperament says a lot about the owner. All my dogs have been super friendly with people and other dogs. But they get a ton of attention and love.

 

[63bkpkr]

MTTS,
You got me on that spot, the Memorial Nailed to a Tree I've never seen, it must be on 'the trail' along the river, yes/no? The only old trail along the river in that area I'm aware of is on the Doerr side of the bridge but when I saw it there was a cliff section where the cliff portion of the trail was Gone with Very Bad Rapids below for a good distance and likely no way to survive the ride IF one fell in. Of course that would have been back in the early 70's so things could have changed. On that trip and along that old trail my buddy called to me saying "what is this"!? It was a fawn tightly curled up on the ground with only the nose twitching just a little. Lovely little thing!............63bkpkr

Is snow still covering the mountains up river?

 

[MadMarshall]

63 the memorial is on the low trail just up from the bridge before the confluence.. Miner slipped and fell back in 80. This low trail abruptly ends after a little ways. Anyway I didn't go to the RH cabin yesterday there another cabin a few miles away.. I did stop by and talk to the Caretakers last Saturday at RH and catch up on some river gossip.. As far as I know the snow pack is decent this year. You can see snow upriver around Blue Canyon.. On the other side of the river snow is on the mountiantops upriver above Humbug.. I aint been past Elliot ranch yet this season. This year the flows are likely to be a pain till mid end July. Makes traveling the river very difficult and all that more dangerous.

MTTS its a great area riddled with history and the gold aint that bad either. This area is better managed when the river is lower . just know where you are at there is some private property in the area.. I have been exploring the area for a long time and every time I find something new.. Just yesterday I found this mine.. Just off the euchre bar trail on one of the switchbacks..

 

[63bkpkr]

Thank you MM,
I've only been up the left Tributary by swimming the river so I've never been on the lower trail.

Next, and thanks even more for the sighting information on the snow up river as it is the best information I've been able to get! Yes, if the sun does not come on strong in May/June then the River will have a high flow through some point in July. I've known the snow to have only melted off of the ~6500' level some time after the 4th of July and then the river was high to into August. Other years the snow has been gone much earlier............63bkpkr

 

[mytimetoshine]

Saturday I met up with Golden Mojo and Sideways Sherry for a fantastic day on the river. It was great to meet Sherry she is a bundle of energy and kept me with a slice of watermelon in my hand all day. Gold mining is great but even better when someone is handing out refreshments!

Me and Mojo poked around for a little bit till Sherry clued us in on the pay streak. I decided to pan on the spot for about 4hrs and was doing OK then Joe made friends with a guy who had a wing dam on the edge of the pay and got his Bazooka Prospector next to him. He had to leave at about 4 and showed me a good cleanout to I set up right where he left off with my Prospector and cleanup the hole.

Great day with great people. Probably over did it, I think I dug from 10-6 and never really took a brake. I'm paying the price right now. haha.

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[63bkpkr]

that is some murky looking water so it must still be running higher than normal as well as fast and still churning up the stuff on the bottom of the river. I would also suspect it is still a bit on the cool side. Thanks for sharing the glitter pictures as well as the river shots. Someone handing out watermelon, man what a Treat!!.............63bkpkr