School is back in... Time to work!!!!!

Well it's better to take care of yourself Keith. I was glad for the buckets you had your partner drop off to me as they came in handy. Got my hands into something close to working shape after soaking them in lotion and bag balm all morning. The cuts on my finger tips are still painful if I grab something to hard or the wrong way but at least I've got functioning hands again.

Started doing the cleanup on the cons I brought back and have already found several "finger pickers". I got MAYBE a cup and a half done out of the cons bucket so I'm looking forward to many more nice pieces of gold out of it. At the rate this cleanup is going I am thinking I may pull in close to a half oz once it's all done. The picture that AzViper posted above came from the first 10 gallons I ran. Since the cons I've done so far were from the end of the run it's looking very promising indeed! If the gold is consistent then it will make for a nice payday for the trip. (Robi is already planning our next trip out there!)
 

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Sounds like a very golden outing :-)

Need any advice on gloves for next time? (Insert Sympathetic chuckle here)
 

LOL As cold as that water was in the mornings I'm thinking waterproof but yet fur lined.... ;) Actually I've got a plan for using medical exam gloves under some heavy cotton ones. The cotton ones were working well and standing up to the stress of scrubbing materials through the screen in the headerbox, I just need the exam gloves to give me the waterproofing part.
 

Harbor Freight sells waterproof gloves that go above the elbow for just $8. You could add glove liners made for skiers for added warmth. Also whatever outer glove to take the wear and tear if needed...but mine have held up very well.
 

Sounds like you got in some good mining time GI. I hope you make that 1/2 ounce or better, sure sounds like you earned it.

I really thank you for helping out Chris. Those Texas folks think gold is made in Llano by small gnats... I'm guessing it didn't take much of a nugget to bring on the happy dance? Even folks from Texas can get gold in Greaterville. ;)

Did you ever get your cold Guinness? A banjo serenade? Maybe a good rousing howl from Earl?

goldenIrishman said:
LOL As cold as that water was in the mornings I'm thinking waterproof but yet fur lined.... ;) Actually I've got a plan for using medical exam gloves under some heavy cotton ones. The cotton ones were working well and standing up to the stress of scrubbing materials through the screen in the headerbox, I just need the exam gloves to give me the waterproofing part.
Click to expand...

Those exam gloves aren't going to last 15 minutes GI. You will end up with ragged rubberbands around your wrists. :laughing7:

We use Atlas blue Fit 300 gloves for most of our mining. They are just a couple of bucks at Ace hardware. About $25 a dozen in bulk. They last a long time, they are comfortable, have a great grip and are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They are flexible enough to pick up nuggets in your pan. If you will be panning with them on keep a pair that are a size too small - they tend to stretch more when they are wet.

If you need to break ice before panning consider Atlas gray Therma Fit 300I. Same gloves with insulation. Not quite as flexible but a lot warmer. About 3 - 4 bucks a pair at hardware stores.

The linked pages are for information only - I have never ordered from that company. You can find these gloves at most hardware stores.

Neither of these gloves are meant to be waterproof but they are both a lot warmer than plain cotton gloves and they will handle the rough wear from mining (wet or dry) better than anything we have found. We also use them when riding trail or doing ranch work. Cheap and tough.

We haven't had much luck with 100% waterproof gloves. They all leak sooner or later - usually sooner.

Looking forward to reading about your cleanup and about your next adventure with Robi. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

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AzViper said:
Jeff sorry I did not make it down. I have been in a great deal of pain with my right should. I see the Orthopedic Surgeon on Tuesday. So my days of getting out may be numbered very soon. Whatever happens the surgery needs to be this year as the health insurance premiums are going through the roof come January. Recovery is 6 weeks to return to work but I am sure lifting will be out of the question for months. Could not come at a worse time as the trommel may not get completed.
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I'm really sorry to hear that Keith. It's been a bad year all around for you. I'm rooting for a quick recovery for you and your brother.

I tore both my rotator cuffs in the same month about four years ago. A doctor (and fellow rancher) in Cochise suggested I try mild exercise before going for the surgery. I couldn't imagine working through that pain but I'm really glad I followed her advice because I recovered quicker and without going through the additional pain, expense, and time of surgery. I'm not trying to diagnose for you but if you want to know what she had me do just PM me. Either way I feel for your pain. It's not something I would wish on anyone.

Get well soon. I'm eager to see how that beautiful trommel works out. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

LOL Well the one that brought on the "Happy Dance" I would guesstimate at about 4-5 grains. I have to admit that it was a very nice looking chunk. After his first clean out and test pan from the cons Chris admitted that the test alone (about a tablespoons worth) had more gold in it than he had gotten in Texas and New Mexico COMBINED. I'll let him explain that one to ya later.

I never did get that cold Guinness so I guess no one loves me anymore. (But Viper sent me a couple of buckets via his partner so I guess that's something) Didn't get to hear Chris play since he didn't have room for his banjo in the car. That little thing was packed to the gills with his gear. I didn't even get to hear Earl (the dog) howl even though Chris accidentally closed the car door on his tail at one point. (No damage done except to Earls pride) Earl earned his keep though by alerting us to strangers in the area well in advance of us seeing or hearing them. Those Texas Lacy dogs seem to be VERY smart.

I was thinking the exam gloves UNDER the cotton ones. Even if they only last 1/2 a day that's fine by me. We get them free so it's no loss.

Today I'll be working on getting more of the cons cleaned up but don't be expecting a report on the total amount until later this week as I've got a LOT of cons to go through. I also have to type up the full report for the trip with observations and all.
 

One week in the field (aka "The Great Escape")

As many of you that have been following this thread already know, I spent the last week doing the
mining thing out at our usual dig site in the Greaterville area. I had planned this trip for quite some
time and was glad to have a chance to get out there and really do some work. That this trip just
happened to coincide with the Munchkin being off from school was an added bonus. After spending
most of last summer "Munchkin Wrangling" I wasn't exactly ready for a repeat performance. Hence
the alternate title of "The Great Escape"

Now having spent most of the previous week getting everything sorted, packed and ready to go,
Robi, the Munchkin and I headed out to the site on Saturday morning. We were not in any big hurry
as I knew I'd have plenty of time for work once I was on my own. I was running light in that I only
brought my trusty old backpacking tent, sleeping bag and pad and non-refrigerated foods. Since I
was going to be solo, I didn't feel that the big tent, air bed, and several ice chests were needed. I
was roughing it once again. It had been a number of years since I had made this kind of trip and
I felt it was time for me to do so for a number of reasons. I'll not bore everyone with my reasons for
this trip other than to say it wasn't only for the gold in the ground. I'm going to attempt to take this
day by day and to be descriptive as possible due to the lack of pictures to go along with the naritive.

Day 1 Saturday
Left from the house and drove out to our dig site in the Greaterville area and arrived with plenty of
time to get the equipment in place an my camp set up before dark. Robi and the Munchkin helped
me to get everything from the truck to the site and then took off back to the homestead. I got the
sluice set up in it's usual place and started hauling water for the re-circ system. While getting
water I happened to meet the current caretaker and his wife who turned out to be great folks as
well as very helpful during my stay in the area. Fred has a passing interest in panning and told me
that he had never found ore than a few flakes in the area and asked if I expected to get much gold.
I explained that we had been getting pretty good gold from the area in the past and I expected that to
continue. I invited him and his wife to come out to the work site and see how everything worked.
I finished hauling the needed water to gt things started up and then set about making sure that my
area was presentable as I knew I had company coming. I found a fairly flat spot to set my tent up
on the hill directly above the work site. Tent ready to go... sluice ready to go, still got a couple of
hours of light left so it was time to start digging some dirt.

There were quite a few rocks laying around from our other trips to this site so I decided to get them
cleaned out and to classify the dirt mixed with them to start off with. I ended up getting 4 buckets
worth of materials for my efforts as well as a nice clean work area. I don't know about everyone else,
but I like to have my work area fairly clean as it makes it easier to keep track of where buckets of
dirt came from as I run them. I for one like to know where that big nugget came from so I can look
for its big brother! Anyway... by the time I got the area cleaned up and all the loose dirt classified it
was starting to get dark. I fixed myself up some food and then called Robi to let her know that
everything was fine and I had already started working. After we talked I stretched out in the tent to
do some reading. (ICMJ back issues of course!) After the efforts of the day it wasn't long before
I turned out the light and went to sleep.

Day 2 Sunday
The next day started off quickly. As soon as I had made up some coffee and had a quick bite to eat,
I started running the materials I had classified the previous evening. I needed to do something to loosen
up some. It turned out that my tent site had a MAJOR lump in it that was located right in the middle
of my back! Needless to say I fixed that problem A.S.A.P. The water in the sluice was cold but not
nearly as cold as it would be getting later in the week. Since I was running "clean up" materials I
wasn't really expecting to get much out of it. After I had run the first ten gallons through the sluice
I shut it down and did a quick cleaning out. My usual method is to always check the first run to
make sure I'm on the gold and not wanting to change my way of doing things I panned the cons
down. I was about 2/3 of the way to where I'd grab the magnet and clear out the magnetic sands
when all of a sudden I saw that nice bright glint that we all know and love. Sure enough there in the
corner of the pan was a nice little nugget. I didn't even need tweezers to grab it out of the pan! I
placed it into a vial and continued panning down the cons. Right after I had cleared out the
magnetic sands I did a little swirl for a quick check and low and behold there was yet another flash!
It was yet another nice chunky little nugget. I place this one in the vial with the other and finish
panning everything down. I found several nice pieces of color mixed with the black sands and soon
had them sucked up with the pipette and stored in a separate vial. I dumped the two little nuggets
out into my pan and placed a dime for size next to them and snapped a pic with my phone. That
is the picture that AzViper posted for me while I was still out in the field. (Hard enough to get cell
service there at times so WiFi it pretty much out of the question.) Knowing I was on the gold still I
kept digging, classifying and running materials for the rest of the day. I wasn't panning down every
clean out. Instead I was rinsing the mats into a bin and then getting them back into the sluice so
I could keep moving materials. The cons were then transferred into a bucket. Later during the day
I made a quick trip to Kentucky Camp to refill my canteens and got a text from AzViper that his
partner had dropped off some buckets for me. As I hiked up the hill to the gate to pick them up,
I ran into the caretakers and started talking to them for a bit. I had the vial with the two nice little
nuggets in it with me, so I showed it to Fred so he could see there was more than "fly specks" in
that area. He was impressed and lamented that he hadn't brought his pan with him but he'd be sure to
do so next year when they returned. So... Buckets in hand I returned to my camp to make some food and
get some rest. As I had put in a good days work it didn't take long for me to rack out after checking in with
"The Boss" and letting her know I was doing fine and that progress was being made.

Day 3 Monday (Columbus Day)
I slept much better since smoothing out the area under the tent, but sleeping on the ground was starting
to get kind of old already. I also noticed that the morning temp was a bit cooler than it had been the
last couple of mornings. I received a text from Chris H that he was on his way from Houston and would
be out to join up with me the next morning. Now...I had never met Chris in person before and had only
been introduced to him on-line a couple of days before. He knows Clay Diggens and since Clay knew
I was going to be in the area he had asked me to help Chris out. As Chris was almost a total noobie I
was more than glad to do so. As I'm sure many of you have figured out by now, I have no problem with
helping people learn how to prospect. Chris' experience was limited to working in Texas rivers and a couple
of days on a GPAA claim in New Mexico. I figure that there is plenty of gold to go around in the area so
I've got no problem sharing (with in reason). After talking with Chris on-line I learned that NOT
EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas. They may have big hats, big trucks, big steaks etc etc etc but their gold
is one step removed from microscopic in size. I knew I could get him on some nice gold quickly and was
looking forward to seeing his reactions on his first clean out.

Anyway.... I spent much of the day just as I had the day before. More digging, classifying and sluicing.
I did get a lengthy visit from Fred and his wife during the day. I explained my system to Fred as he had
never seen a highbanker. let alone a re-circulating one. He thought it was the cats pajamas and hung
around asking questions while I finished the current run and did the clean out. I went ahead and did a
pan full of the cons and he got very excited when I did the shake and swirl and out popped several nice
chunky little pieces. LOl I think I know what Fred is going to be doing most of the time when they
return next year. Maybe a bit of explanation is required here. Kentucky Camp is a "Heritage Site"
and the caretakers are volunteers that stay there for a month at a time. Fred and his wife have been
the October caretakers for the last 6 years now and plan on returning as such for as long as they are able.
Next month there will be different caretakers and the next month etc etc etc So far everyone I've met
that is associated with Kentucky Camp has been great and I don't expect that to change with the next
caretakers. Feed and his wife allowed me to recharge my batteries a couple of times while I was out
there and without their help in that respect I'd have been hard pressed to get as much material run as
I did during my trip.

I'm going to take a break now from this and go get some sleep. I'll be back tomorrow evening with more
of the story.... TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
 

Clay Diggins said:
I'm really sorry to hear that Keith. It's been a bad year all around for you. I'm rooting for a quick recovery for you and your brother.

Get well soon. I'm eager to see how that beautiful trommel works out. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
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Barry it has been a rough year, first losing my mother Dec. 28th, now my brother, then my sister, and now my shoulder. Been dealing with the shoulder for a few years. I think back on the heavy poundage bows I use to pull back and shoot. I believe many of my issues were the direct result of having bows with 125lbs pull before the cams kicked in did not help. The arrows flew like a bolt of lightning from the rest but I am paying for it now. If I was ever told by an officer to lift my hand above my head I be in trouble and he would think I was playing games. I can't lift my arm 90 degrees to my upper torso. I may get out to Gulch one last time this Saturday if I can swing it.

Did get some good news today. My brother is doing much better, eating and gaining weight. His PET test is coming up shortly so will know more on his outcome. Thanks Barry for all you do to help others and myself.
 

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Keith,

I know how a heavy bow can mess ya up over a long period of time. I shot a 75 pound BushMaster for years and had to give it up due to the shoulder getting torn up so bad. I don't know if you've ever shot a BushMaster but they're VERY shockey on release. Also no "Training wheels" to make it easier. ;)

Everyone else: I'll try to get the rest of the report typed up tomorrow. I finished panning down the cons I brought back but still have several buckets of classified materials to run before I can give a final total for the trip. After the marathon panning session today I'm ready to relax.
 

Part Two

Day 4 Tuesday The arrival of Chris and Earl

Well Tuesday started off pretty much like all the other days so far. Drag myself out of the tent, get some coffee in me as well as some food and then make a water run to Kentucky Camp. I knew that Chris and Earl would be showing up so I was trying to hurry and get my chores done so I would be able to help Chris get set up and running as soon as possible. I had already made my first trip with water when I thought I heard a car up on the road. I hiked up the road to the gate at the top of the hill to let them in so the gear could be off loaded. When I got up to the gate I found that no one was there. Feeling kind of lazy that morning, I decided to hang out at the gate for a bit to see if they showed up. It didn’t take long before I could see them heading my way. What struck me as funny was the fact that I could only hear the sound of tires on gravel and no engine noise. Here I see this fairly tall guy, a medium sized dog and all this gear stuffed into a Prius! The thought of a can of Sardines came to mind right away. To make a long story short, I led them down the hill to where he needed to park and we got him, his dog and all his gear unloaded.

We started out towards the work area. Chris hauling his backpack and dog and me hauling a 15 gallon drum of water on my hand truck. It didn’t take but a few minutes and we were where I had decided that I’d set Chris up at to start digging. This was an area that Robi and I had done some work at before so I knew that there was gold in it. We dropped off the gear, slipped Earl off his leash so he could run and explore and I proceeded to give Chris the nickel tour. ( I charged him a quarter for it though. JK) Chris was kind of surprised when he saw my setup and the size of the hole I was working. I explained that it was only that large due to Robi and I having worked it for several weekends before this trip out. As soon as I showed him the vial with the two little nuggets in it, Chris was ready to get to work. We got his little Prospectors Choice highbanker set up and ready to go and he was soon digging where I had showed him. I was nice and allowed him to load his system up with water that I had hauled out, so while he was digging I made yet another run to get more water. (Did I mention that I like to have plenty of water?) As soon as I got back with more water I started running my sluice off of the materials that I had built up over the previous days. I like to think that I’m a fairly nice guy for the most part, but if you’re working your own system, you dig your own materials. It didn’t take long for Chris to have a couple of buckets worth of materials classified and ready to run, so that’s exactly what he did. I decided to come down to his dig area to see this little highbanker in action. When I first saw it I was thinking to myself, “Isn’t that cute? I wonder what it’s going to be when it grows up” The part of his system that impressed me was the fold out 100W solar panels he used to power everything. Considering that this thing had fit into his backpack it moved water and material better than I had expected. It didn’t take all that long and Chris had run both buckets worth of materials through his system and was ready for his first clean out in Arizona.

After washing out his mats, Chris set to panning down the cons. I can tell you that I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a look of total concentration on some ones face while panning in a very long time. He finally got it worked down enough to start checking for gold and when he did so I saw his face light up like a hundred watt bulb plugged into a 220V outlet! As a matter of fact, Chris looked like the cat that had just eaten the canary. I took a look in his pan and saw what would be to anyone that has worked the Greaterville area an average amount of gold. Then I remembered that he had been working a river in Texas and it all made sense. (Did I mention that NOT EVERYTHING in Texas is bigger?) Well the color in his pan lit a fire under my new friend and he went back to digging with a vengeance. I went back to my “little hole in the ground” and kept work for the rest of the day. As the sun began to set, Chris ran out of power since the angle of the sun was no longer high enough for his solar panels to deliver enough power to his pump. Chris packed up his cons and the gold he had put into his vial and headed back to his motel room for the night. I fixed up some hot food, checked in with the boss, did a little reading and then racked out for the night.

Day 5 Wednesday

Well day five for me started with coffee, breakfast and a handful of aspirin. This sleeping on the ground isn’t so easy as it used to be when I was younger! The lumps seemed to get bigger every night and I wasn’t sleeping all that well because of them. It didn’t take long for food and aspirin to have their desired effect and I was feeling almost human once again. Chris showed back up and after a few minutes discussing the plan of attack for the day we were both hard at it.

One thing was becoming clear to me as I worked to get more materials classified and run. Simply put, I work better when Robi and I are out there together. It was getting harder and harder to stay motivated for this project. What had taken an hour on the first couple of days was now taking me almost two hours two get done now. Everything seems to go faster when Robi and I are out there “Tag Teaming” that bank. With me digging and Robi running materials through the sluice it makes for a good combination.

Every once in a while I’d hear a whoop coming from Chris as he would test his latest run from his solar powered system. He was taking a tablespoons worth of cons from each cleanout and panning them down. Every time he was finding some nice gold and it was like a shot in the arm for him. He’d go back to digging with renewed vigor and it wasn’t long before he would have enough materials ready to run another batch. This got me thinking. I’ve been running and not doing any panning for most of the day other than my morning test pan. I decided to go ahead and pan down some of the materials from the current run that I was just finishing up. I shut the sluice down and let it start draining while I went down to see how Chris was doing. He had some nice color in his pan and after talking for a bit I headed back to my area to start cleaning out the sluice. I pulled the carpets and rolled them up to get them out of the way while I rinsed the “sweepings” into my pan. Once the sluice bed was cleaned and the tailings dumped I started panning down the “Sweepings”. (I call them sweepings because they remind me of dirt that’s been swept under the carpet) It didn’t take long and I was soon down to black sand. After cleaning out the magnetic sands with my magnet I cleared out some of the remaining blonde sands and started looking for signs of color. A couple of swirls later I found a couple of small pieces which showed me that there was something in the last run at least. After verifying that I hadn’t lost the trail of the gold I dumped the cons into the bucket and cleaned out the mats so I could pan that material down as well. The last mat didn’t give up any color which to me was a good thing. The second had a couple of small colors in it which it about what I expected. When I panned down the first mat I was rewarded with several nice flashes of color before I had even hit the pan with the magnet. I cleaned everything up a little better and did a quick swirl. First thing I saw was a pair of nice pickers that I grabbed out right away and put into my picker vial. A bit more swirling and after seeing how much color was in the pan I dumped it into the cons bucket. Just verifying that I was still getting some nice return for my efforts went a long way towards improving my motivation level.

The rest of the day was spent digging, classifying and running materials with a couple of trips down the wash to check on Chris. Earl decided to come on up and visit me about the time I decided to break for lunch, but for some reason I think the food had more to do with his visit than my charming personality. Maybe next time Chris and Earl are out I’ll see if I can lure Earl away by tying a pork chop around my neck. I seem to remember that working when I was a child.

Chris did his last clean out of the day and headed back to the hotel for the night while I had some dinner before I checked in with the boss yet again. I was lucky in that I had pitched my tent in a place that just happened to be able to get a signal on my cell. As I was talking to Robi, I noticed that the temp was really starting to drop. The sky was clear as a bell and I knew that without any clouds at all it was going to be getting COLD! I’m just glad that my sleeping bag is rated down to zero.

Day 6 Thursday (The great freeze out begins)

Well after a rather chilly night in my tent I woke to find that outside my sleeping bag it was flat out cold! I didn’t want to get out of the bag, but I knew that Chris and Earl would be there soon so I needed to get moving. I bundled up in loose layers like I had been taught by Uncle Sam but soon realized that I had forgotten to bring anything to keep my hands warm. My work gloves I knew would still be soaked from the sluice so my only option was to wear my “Air Force” gloves until things warmed up a bit. If you were ever in the Army, you know what I mean. Lucky for me the stove was already setup so all I had to do was pour some water to heat for my coffee. Just one problem though. When I went to open my canteen I found that the lid was frozen closed! A little twisting and swearing and I managed to get it loose only to find that the water within looked like a half melted Slurpie. I knew it had gotten cold last night but I didn’t think it had gotten THAT cold! Looking around my work area I noticed that there was a film of ice on every bucket that had water in it. Strangely though there wasn’t a speck of ice on my sluice reservoir. I knew that Jet-Dri was a surfactant but never knew it also worked like anti-freeze.

Chris showed up to find the same situation in his work area. Poor Earls’ water bowl was frozen solid and Chris’ buckets were also frozen up. He made the mistake of trying to dump the muck out of his reservoir only to have the entire bottom break out of it both from the weight of the mud and the cold. Chris couldn’t believe what had just happened and after a little thought on how it could be fixed, he decided that the only way he was going to be able to work was to head to Wally-World and get a new one. I headed over to Kentucky Camp to get us some fresh water and found that the water there was flowing freely. I figure that there had to be several degrees difference in temp between our work areas and the Camp. As soon as I returned to our work area with the water and Chris returned from Wall-World, we both got our systems working and tied into it yet again. I don’t know about Chris, but for me the trip was taking its toll on my body. I was hurting to the point that aspirin was really a waste of time and the only thing that was going to get me loosened up again was to get working and get my muscles warmed up. Even so the entire day was not exactly my best effort. I was tired and starting to get worn to a frazzle from the hard work and lack of sleep. My hands were getting so chapped that I could hardly use them.

As the day started to get late, I could already feel the temp starting to drop so I knew it was going to be yet another cols one. I hadn’t managed to get everything done that I wanted to so I figured I’d work late into the night in an effort to get caught up and stay warm at the same time. As I had a large cleared area right next to where I’ve been digging, I built up a nice little fire ring and gathered up some wood before it got fully dark. As soon as I had finished dinner, I got a small fire built in the ring and got to work digging and classifying materials for the next day. By the time 10PM rolled around I was beat and the temp was getting low enough that the fire was not really effective so I headed to my tent and crawled into the sleeping bag for the night. Sometime around 2AM it got REALLY cold and I had to scrounge around in the tent for my knit cap to keep my head warm.

Day 7 Friday (The Ice-Man Cometh!)

Well by this time I’ve pretty much figured out what I came out here to re-discover about myself. Yes… Sadly I have to admit that over the years I’ve gotten soft. When I was younger it was nothing for me to take off into the wilds for a couple of weeks and not think anything of it. Now I have to admit that I’m become what I can only describe as something of a whimp. I wanted an air bed, a cooler and all the things I used to despise others for when I saw them dragging such luxuries out to go camping. I was tired of being cold and sore and pretty much working without any help. Thank goodness that I knew that tonight would be my last night out there since Robi was going to be out to pick me up the next day. Our afternoon was broken up by the arrival of Mickey and company. Yet another pair of prospectors out of the Houston area. (I was starting to feel as if Texas was trying to annex the southern part of Arizona here. Then again, who could blame them for wanting it? ) We chewed the fat for a bit and they showed me their Gold Cube system. I got them hooked up with Fred the caretaker and we showed them were to get water for their system from and they were soon off to an area they had picked out from a map of the area.

Chris had decided that he wasn’t going to be going home today. Instead his plan was to come back out and do a final run through his sluice then pack up and head back to Houston. Have I mentioned that he’s got a BAD case of “The Fever”? Anyone that is so into prospecting that he’s willing to work half a day then drive non-stop to Houston from Greaterville has got to have it bad.
He was having the time of his life and I have to admit that I had really enjoyed having him out with me even if he was whimping out and staying in a hotel. Next time I think I’ll just tie him to a tree at night…..

Anyway, we worked all day and Chris even stayed until well after the sun had moved out of position for his solar panel power system to work. He wanted to try to make up some of the time he had lost the day before with his run to replace his reservoir. He took off for his motel room just before it got dark enough to need a flashlight to find his car and I set to digging and classifying materials to bring home with me the next day. Once again I was working by lantern and fire light until 10PM before I decided I had had more than enough and crawled up the hill to my tent and some well deserved rest. That night I was lucky in that it didn’t get nearly as cold as it had the two night before.

Day 8 Saturday (Homeward Bound)

Well needless to say by this time I was worn out and so I decided to sleep in for a bit. I had been getting up well before sunrise the entire trip and I decided that since this was going to be my last day out there I was going to indulge myself a little. Well my plans were soon shot down by the early arrival of Chris and Earl trying to get a jump on the day to make up some more of the lost time. Since I pretty much already had all the materials I was going to take home ready to go, all I had to do was get my camp and gear broke down and ready to haul out to the pick-up point. I had already hauled the first load when Mickey and company showed back up and offered to help me haul stuff out. I thought that was downright nice of them and gladly accepted the offer to help.
We hauled the stuff that was ready (aka the materials to go) and then I set to getting the rest of the camp broke down. Trying to pack the sleeping bag into its stuff sack should NOT be a painful job. My hands were so chapped that I could barely use them. What should have been an hour job to get camp broke down turned into two and a half hours due to my failing hands. I eventually managed to get everything packed and ready to roll up to the pickup point when I heard Robi driving in. By this time Chris had finished up his last run with the sluice for the trip and was cleaning it out. We decided to tag team the haul out and soon we were both ready to load up and get the heck out of Dodge! I was exhausted but I knew that Chris would soon be in a lot worse shape than I was. Chris had to be back in Houston by 6pm their time to do his radio show. I could tell that he would have much rather stayed and kept digging and sluicing but he had commitments that had to be met.

When Robi saw me, she flatly announced that she’d be doing the driving home and I wasn’t about to argue with her about that. We got everything loaded up and tied down and were soon saying our goodbyes to Chris, Earl and Fred the caretaker. Once we got off of the washboard road that is the only access to the area and hit the highway, it didn’t take long for my eyelids to slam shut on me. It seemed like it had been ages since I had slept without being cold and I was taking advantage of it while I could.

SO…. All in all I feel that the trip was well worth the effort. I rediscovered a lot about myself as well as made some new friends. Would I do it again? Maybe, but I’d much rather have my Robi with me than to be out there by my lonesome. In fact we’re heading back out there this weekend………. :headbang:


I have finished cleaning up the cons I brought back, run the materials and panned them down. I still have to do a final run through on all the tailings as well as do the shake and bake on the black sands to make sure I've gotten all of the gold out. So far I've pulled just a little over 2 grams out but could get quite a bit more after I do the final processing. Am I disappointed in the take? Of course I am. But that's part of the game isn't it? We hunt and it hides. Sooner or later I'll hit a really nice pocket and it will make up for the poor showing on this trip. :blackbeard:
 

Thanks for the whole story, I love getting to really imagine your adventure via the ride-along :-)

PS here in CO mountains you can get freezing overnight temps virtually anytime so it was fun to read about your chilly adventure!
 

Yeah... It was a bit of a surprise when I found the canteens had Slurppies in them! I had checked the long range weather forecast before I had left and it wasn't calling for anything below 45 at night. All this tech stuff and they still can't get a forecast right! Still it was a learning experience. The lesson? "Plan for the worst but hope for the best. Tis far better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it!" I won't be caught short out in the field again.
 

Thanks Jeff, for sharing your trip with us. Sounds like its time for some thermal underwater, huh? Can't wait till I get to come play with you guys out there.
 

Makes me wonder....

I mentioned Mickey and Company in my report on my week long outing. Chris sent me this via E-mail as he found it posted on the GPAA forum.

____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Well, I'm back from prospecting at Kentucky Camp. It was a nice trip and we got some gold to boot. After exploring the area we settled in on Kentucky gulch just outside the gate at Kentucky camp. We set up a recirculating sluice and worked it for three days. Haven't cleaned out the cons yet but may have ~1/8 oz. It was a fun experience but I didn't see enough gold to justify the amount of work needed to get it out. Of course I've never come close to breaking even on a gold trip but I've never worked as hard as I did at Greaterville. Setting up a recirculation system and hauling water to it is backbreaking work. Literally. My back is still giving me some problems but doing better.

BUT, there is an abundance of gold in Kentucky gulch. It seems to be uniformly distributed. We averaged 2 to 4 nice colors per classified 5 gal bucket. All the gold we saw was small but it was steady. If you're new to gold prospecting and want a place where you're almost guaranteed gold Greaterville is probably it. It's also a pleasant environment for the most part. The caretakers (for October) were very nice. There are vault toilets nearby as well as water and shelter.

We took our detector up to Harshaw area and immediately came upon a rattlesnake. Never saw the snake but we were upon him and the rattling was loud. The grass is high and lots of brush up there. I'd recommend leggings, wish I'd had some.

Thanks to Clay Diggins for all the help. Thanks also to Chris Hirsch for going first and sharing his learnings. Thanks also to Jeff for sharing his knowledge.

I don't know if I'll return to Greaterville. The recirculation system is a challenge and very physical, but I would like to try some detecting there with snake leggings."
___________________________________________________________________________________________

I'm going to keep my mouth closed for a change as I don't want to cause any hate and discontent with our Texas brethren. If you want my thoughts about this "report" PM me and I'll give you the skinny on what really happened from my point of view.
 

goldenIrishman said:
I don't know if I'll return to Greaterville. The recirculation system is a challenge and very physical, but I would like to try some detecting there with snake leggings.
Click to expand...

I think you just need to relocate further up the mountain towards the source where your not having to haul water the distance that you are.. Lots of land to be worked and bigger gold to be found. Its there waiting to be discovered. I went on Saturday and was shocked of all (700) the whitetail hunters in the area. I was amazed how some of these crazy hunters got their 5 wheels into some of the locations. We had a gentleman stop by for a few hours to watch us gig and process bucket after bucket. He had a Keene drywasher and was afraid to gig outside of the clubs claims, until I explained to him about this land. We also had a man and his son stop by and wanted to know what we were doing as they were hunters. They saw from a distance all the buckets and was curious what we were doing. I told them we were hunters as well but without riffles.

Lots of road hunters that have no clue how to hunt Coues Whitetails. I think many just drove around on their quads with their riffles over their shoulder and most likely never left the saddle of the quad.
 

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That text between the line is the post from the GPAA forum Keith. Mickey is not a member here although I did tell him about the site.

Isn't hunting deer from a quad kind of futile? I've always heard that Coues were really shy and run from most everything louder than a mouse fart. Not being a hunter of anything except paper targets with my bows I've got no idea.
 

Great story Jeff...thanks for sharing. Hope to join up with you one of these days...with a cooler, beer, air mattress etc. Putting stuff in a cooler can keep it from freezing...I'm just saying:tongue3:
 

Well I doubt I'll be doing another solo trip anytime soon. The larger tent that I can actually stand up in, a couple of coolers, the stove, THE AIR BED and my favorite prospecting partner are all going from now on! Considering that it was mid October and we were already hitting freezing temps out there tells me it's going to be a cold one this winter. Still it could be worse. I could be stuck in Nome for the winter with nothing to do but watch crazy people trying to dredge the frozen sea.

I'm upset at the post the was done on the GPAA forum by that rookie. My first impression of him and his partner was "OMG!!! It's a Todd Hoffman wannabe!". He didn't want to listen to advice from someone that has been working that area for months (aka me) and then claims that the gold is sparse in that area. Don't blame the gold, blame your foolish belief that you were going to be getting an ounce on every clean out. Any system that requires 50 Gallons of water to setup and requires that you classify down to 1/8" is NOT the type of system you want in that area. Testing in that area with PANS is pretty much a waste of time. Run at LEAST a couple of buckets through your system as a test to see if you're on the gold or not. Considering that I usually get at least a dozen pieces of gold in each bucket I'd like to know what his idea of "Nice" is.
 

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