Bedrock Crevice Sniping Tools

This is my arsenal of tools for worrying the bedrock. I added several smaller pry bars and also a magic fingers scraper. I will be adding a sheet of flexible plastic that I can sweep material onto in case my scoop & spoons are too large.That bulb snuffer has a ½" nozzle and works very good for sucking up material from the bottom of those tight spots and is handy for flushing material off the sides of a crevice. The Garrett pin pointer is more of a novelty item. The lack of a response from the pin pointer won't keep me from working a good looking crevice.

After I've gathered as much material as possible using the above tools, I'll be breaking out the Ol' Milwaukee wet/dry vac. It's powered by a Lithium Ion battery. I have two 5 amp hour batteries and a rapid charger. I believe two batteries will suffice for a day on the claims since this will be used just to vacuum the bedrock clean enough to eat off of.

The hose is 6' long when pulled to the full extent.

The hose and crevice nozzle store neatly inside the unit.

The collection tub holds two gallons of wet or dry material. The large HEPA filter is removable. for wet use. The entire unit with battery weighs in at only 10 pounds and measures 18" long x 8" wide x 12" tall.

New Gear

Over the winter I reduced my inventory of mining gear down to the basics. I plan on sluicing and sniping bedrock on my claims  in the Elk City area this summer.  I sold all my Bazooka and Grizzly gold trap sluices in favor of the Gold Hog Stream Sluice  I really like the rubber riffle system and the fact that he has developed a mat for fast high water situations and also for times of low water like in the fall when the creeks are extremely low. In the spring / summer when the water is ripping through the sluice, there will be no need of classifying pay material so we should be able to increase our daily throughput of material. The only mods I made were adding a handle and painting the tops of the legs a highly visible red so I don't poke an eye. Here's a few picks for your viewing pleasure. Now the long wait until spring!

Hibernation mode

Winter is coming and it's time to store the mining gear until next summer. I checked Mother Nature's Sluice Box and although the water level on the Clearwater is ideal, I'm not comfortable trying to negotiate the rough, ankle breaking terrain that makes up the gold capturing features of Mother Natures Sluice Box. My time now will be spent sitting by the fire with a comforting adult beverage.
Here's a shot of the view overlooking the 18th fairway. The critters are pretty tame around the golf course.

Easing into it

90+ degrees hot? I guess so. This little creek will cool you with just a glance.

A coyote hole that usually shows color offered up some good looking material so we ran a few pans.

We brought a few buckets back to camp for future panning. The hike in is a little rough but I made it just fine, even with my limited vision.

After running a few buckets of coyote hole mud through my sluice, a little bit of color was saved to a glass vial. 

We stopped along the Southfork Clearwater to check out the dredgers working their 30 day window of opportunity. Got a pic of AMRA President Shannon Poe modeling his new pair of skivvies.

Some 'Good Ol Boys' from Texas (John & Dave) were giving it a good show a little further downstream. They are parked a few spots from us at the RV park.

This is our camp that we are renting from the RV park owner. With 3 slide-outs. It is quite spacious.

When the owner heard of my medical & vision limitations, he moved a nice deck up to the entry door which made it so easy for me to gain access & egress. The guy is all right.

2018-The Reload

I'm going to give the 2018 mining season my best shot. I've got a pacemaker implanted in my chest so I won't have to worry about my prior heart problems. I also picked up a new, more powerful ATV that I've outfitted with a spare fuel cell, an ATV TEK internal framed cargo bag, a large steel drop basket and a pair of fender bags. Plenty of room to haul almost anything I'll use in my pursuit of the mellow yellow.

Cheating the Grim Reaper

I guess it's finally time to post an update. After suffering a stroke prior to my cancer treatment back in August 2015, my stroke induced double vision finally went away after 5 months. I went through my cancer treatment with great success. I thought I had clear sailing ahead until August of last year when I suffered another damn stroke. This one damaged the occipital  lobe of my brain which took away all vision left of center in each eye.(left peripheral).I had an Angiogram (no fun) and the doctor told me I had cheated the grim reaper based on the blockage of my carotid artery. He also told me my 2015 stroke was a Warning Shot. There is no medical treatment but I now take all the right meds to prevent another stroke. I do exercise my brain reading my collection of Tom Clancy novels and doing "word seek" puzzles. Since I now live along side the 18th fairway of the Lewiston Country Club, I thought I may take up Golf. If someone asks me what's my handicap?...I'd have to say TWO STROKES. I hope to get back to gold country again this summer even if it's just to visit my mining friends and watch them pull the gold off the bedrock. Next update will hopefully be 100% gold related.

Ready - Willing - Almost able

Did a little exploring in a section of river I had never found access to until this weekend. A steep trail up and around a gated area put me on some unfamiliar ground.

I found a likely looking spot and proceeded to scratch around until I found what I always hope to find...BEDROCK.

As you've seen in my past blog posts, I always use a viewing box to get a good look at the river bottom. In my opinion, it's the only way to really see the character of a stream bed. In this situation, the cracks in the bedrock were running with the flow of the river so I really didn't hold out much hope of scoring anything meaningful. After an afternoon of scraping, picking, prying and panning, I did manage a little bit of color.

I had intentions of working this spot for a couple of days, but one afternoon of work really took it's toll. I may be ready and willing, but I'm barely able to hit it like I used to prior to the fall of 2015. I guess a little more testosterone would really do me some good but until that happens, I've got to pace myself. I just feel lucky I'm able to do what little I can to put some color in the pan. I've got a new Grizzly Gold Trap sluice box ordered and as soon as they finish manufacturing their first batch, I'll return to gold country and hopefully find another spot that will give up a little more color.