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.

Almost ready

Mining tools are out of storage and secured in our new place here in Lewiston. Picked up the new ATV and outfitted it with a drop basket, ATV TEK Arch Bag and front tool holders. Took it to mining country last week to look at access into a few spots I want to prospect. Only a few of the spots I wanted to explore were open to entry. We spent most of the day just riding around getting used to the new ATV and annotated the spots on my map we could access next week.

The water level is ideal in the larger creeks (below) but the remote seasonal creeks I want to explore are going to be just a trickle if I don't get on them soon.

Can't wait to get into the water because the air temperature around here has three digits ! 

New Year - New Me - New Gold

It's been a long haul since my cancer diagnosis and subsequent stroke, but I feel like a new man.
I went through two radiation treatments -one internal and one external. Lot's of fun...NOT.
My PSA numbers are .4 (point 4) and my testosterone is up to normal male levels.
Wife and I have spent the last year getting our house ready for sale and after only 12 days on the market, we sold it at full asking price. We'll be moving to the big city (Lewiston) where we won't have to deal with all the snow here in the high country.

Once we get settled into our new place and move all my mining gear out of the storage facility, my first move will be to the Can-Am ATV dealership to pick up a 2017 Can-Am Outlander Max 570 XT.

I've got half a dozen new prospects to check out and we plan on touring the back country in style.
I'm really looking forward to a fun and leisurely 2017 mining season.

A brief outing at MNS.

I found some basalt bedrock at the water's edge with cracks large enough to drive my 12 lb pinch point bar into. After removing the bedrock chunks, I would sweep the pay material into the lowest portion of the cavity and use my homemade sucker tube to draw out every last bit of pay dirt.

My first sample pan appears below. 

 I had to grab a picture as this sample pan was the best I've seen come from Mother Nature's Sluicebox. This is also the first time that I've worked the water's edge. 

 I pulled a half dozen more pieces of bedrock and worked about 6 more pans before calling it quits for the day.

I'm gaining my Testosterone back but it's still slow going in the physical exercise department, so I felt I did pretty well for my first Autumn outing at Mother Nature's Sluicebox.

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She's BACK

Mother Nature's Sluicebox has reappeared for another fall / winter season of gold mining on the Clearwater River. I spent a few hours checking things out the other day and discovered some interesting looking basalt bedrock at the water's edge. Next trip will have me hauling a 5' bar and other crack jacking tools.

Twisted my ankle coming out so instead of wearing rubber barn boots, I'll have to start wearing leather boots with some good ankle support. Ok John and Phil...time to HIT IT and GIT IT.

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

Back in late February I had my radioactive seed implant surgery. The first week of recovery was a little rough but tolerable. The second week of April, I started my 5 day a week - 5 week external beam radiation treatment. No big deal for the first three weeks, then came the side effects they warned me about. I won't go into detail but the February surgery recovery was pleasant compared to the radiation's effect on my internal plumbing. This is my first week without having to travel over an hour one way to sit through 15 minutes of radiation and then traveling over an hour back home again. I'm also so glad not to have any more hormone shots to drop my testosterone  levels to zero.  A man's got to have his testosterone in order to maintain muscle and I am one weak SOB right now. I've also gained over 25 pounds since surgery. I have been walking every day from 1 mile to 3 miles just to prevent any more weight gain. My only obligation is to have a blood test in a few weeks to establish my baseline PSA number and then quarterly blood tests to monitor any changes in PSA. Feels good to know that I don't have to worry about prostate cancer any more!

A few months ago, I bent up the last piece of aluminum I had in the shop to form up a 12" x 36" sluice box.
It's got 14" of slick plate, 6" of ribbed rubber and then 16" of ¾" raised expanded over carpet. My buddy was running a similar sluice last year in some fairly low flow current and he was doing pretty good.(see pic)

I know I won't have the strength to wrestle with large slabs of bedrock so my wife and I will be spending some time swinging our metal detectors over the numerous tailing piles in the area. She's got a Fisher Gold Bug (digital) with the optional 5"x10" DD coil and I swapped out my Tesoro Lobo SuperTraq for a Nokta FORS Gold+ with a 5"x10" DD coil and the optional 5" DD sniper coil. Her machine and my FORS Gold+ both run at 19khz so we'll have to maintain a little distance between us in order to avoid the machines from suffering 'cross talk', where one machine effects the other. I hope to regain some muscle mass and lose that extra 25 pounds  so we can get back to doing what we love to do...CHASE GOLD.

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Mining Town Landlocked by Land Slide

Imagine living in an old mining town with only one road in and out (no through roads).

Now how would you feel when a tremendous land slide blocks the road and you have no way in or out of town. It happened in Elk City Idaho last week. A hand full of locals are using their snow machines to ferry mail and medicines on old Forest Service roads. The local stores are quickly running out of food. My mining claims (now sold) were located on the Elk City side of this slide. This is not the first time a slide has happend at this location. The last one was about 4 years ago but this one is three times the size. I think the Idaho Department of Transportation should get together with the Forest Service for an easement to place a bridge across the South Fork Clearwater River before and after this slide area. An IDT road crew was on site clearing a few small rocks off the road and one crew member was filming the upslope area when suddenly all hell broke loose. A Facebook page has been established and you can view pics and the video HERE

This photo shows the slow progress of cleaning up, one week later. I can see dynamite being used to reduce the size of some of those larger boulders.