Randy Sluicing Cache Creek, CO - 9 Jun 13

[C-17A]

Hey Gold Dredgers,

I got out last Sunday to do some sluicing and enjoy the incredibly nice, warm, sunny weather here in High Colorado...

First, I stopped by the mighty Arkansas River to check things out... But, as I expected it was a whitewater torrent, way high, and all my favorite spots under water. I stopped by two spots, but neither were safe/workable. The rafters & kayakers were in hog heaven, however...




So, I drove up to Cache Creek, a BLM property, open to all with non-motorized/non-mechanized equipment, just West of Granite, CO.

I setup in my favorite spot, and saw how fast, murky, high Cache Creek was as well....flowing like a big dog! In no time I started diggin' up in the gulch about 100 yards up and carrying 2 1/2 gal pails of heavy gulch material down to sluice.



A gent was upstream about 50 yards running his homemade version of a Bazooka Gold Trap, diggin' in the lower bank right next to the creek for his material. He said his unit worked well and he was getting good color in that muddy soil. Good for him.

I was surprised to see just how much "work" people had been putting in the gulch, way up where I normally dig... The whole inside bend of a sharp elbow bend was completely gone and undercut a ways too. That was a LOT of material dug and carried to the creek for sluicing. Hope those hard workers got some good gold!

I ran bucket after bucket, admired the simply awesome day. With the weather nice and warm now, I just wear an old pair of swim trunks, my scuba booties to keep my feet cool in the water and my knee pads...no long pants or bulky waders required now.

Heavies building up in no time:



Stopped for a sandwich about noon and had about 9 pails run by then, as I'd been there about 2 hours. I could see some small flakes & specks in my sluice in the sun, even thru the murky water. Nice. Didn't get skunked.

What an awesome day!



About 4 PM I strained my back a little lugging a bucket down the gulch, and decided I'd had enough fun for the day.

Ready for a cleanup:



So, I did a cleanup and gathered my equipment and hiked back up the hill to the Jeep with my cons to pan out at home.

At home it only took me about 30 minutes to pan out my cons....nothing big this trip, but some nice, bright fine gold. Yeah...



I did one video of me sluicing and talking about the nice day here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqKNn8ru ... e=youtu.be

Hope you get out soon and get some "wild" gold of your own, enjoy nature, burn a few calories, have some prospecting fun!

Cheers,

Randy "C-17A" www.goldadventures.biz

[dickb]

Nice report Randy.

It's dredging season and highbanking and sluicing according to the BLM. Anybody want to try and run a dredge or sluice in the Ark with the flow that you see in Randy's pictures. With the rafters and kayakers running the river and that kind of flow rate, it's impossible to stay in position and work a dredge. I'm not even going to mention the word safe. Think that the folks that make these rules, might think about that when they make them up?

Just saying...............

Dickb

[russau]

DickB id give my right arm tobe dredgeing in the Ark right now! but i think them days maybe over for me! randy, Thanks again for the tag-a-long! atleast i can still do that!:)

[C-17A]

Dickb, Russ,

Ha yes..........the Ark is a tad too fast and high to do anything by risk your sluice box, life...

Here's a pic of the gold I got last Monday, 3 June 13, up at Cache Creek. Not much, but 2 little chunky pieces in there...



I met a brand new local prospector, Tom, and took him out for his first-ever prospecting "adventure". We panned, sluiced and carried buckets of gulch material for about 4 hours. We each ran a sluice. He had my Le Trap and I ran my Wolf Trap.

Tom got a similar amount of fine gold for his "hard fun"... Had a great out in the hills.

Hot up here in BV! Was 88 yesterday for a high. Breezy and a little cooler today, but the UV index has got to be OFF THE CHARTS!

Randy "C-17A"

[dickb]

Hi Randy:

I been watching what you have been finding for gold for quite a while. It looks to me that you may be finding gold that is a little bigger and chunkier out here in CO than what you were getting in GA. From the color of both areas I'm guessing that both areas are about the same level of purity.

Do you think that's about right?

I know any gold is good gold and I never found a piece that I wanted to throw back because I thought it was too small!

Keep looking.

Dickb

[Hoser John]

Looks like a great day to be alive in the rockies-party on-John