Gold Season in the High Country Winds Down

ASPENS at TWIN LAKES just north of Cache Creek



Oh my gosh! Where do I begin? Our last five days in high country gold placers has been GREAT! The Aspens cooperated by turning that lovely buttery color that gold is, and matched the yellow stripes down the middle of the highways. Most of the color above 10,000 feet is gone. Frost was abundant at the 9,000 foot level, and those camping this past weekend at Cache Creek broke ice from their equipment before they could begin highbanking.

Groups from GPOC and GPR joined others out for a great weekend, with several people coming in for just a Saturday or Sunday's fun in the creek. The weather was cool, cloudy, and spit drizzle both days, but all in all it was a great weekend with friends, and making new friends. Gold was found by all, and some more than others. The "glory hole" is not showing any color like it was a couple of weeks ago, but still much small gold is coming out of all of the holes. Oh, one word about Cache Creek....when you get to the white/greyish sand, don't go on. Several have dug 3 feet of it and still not run out of it.

This next week I should have time to add to calendars. We have taken a ton of prospecting pictures that I will have up on the site later this week. Also, many very nice fall pictures will get added. During this summer season we have come across several nice prospecting ideas for Christmas, and Cafe Press will give us an opportunity to get t-shirts, calendars, mousepads, and what not to you for the holidays. I have been thinking about the calendar for some time now, and hopefully have enough pictures to fill one for you. I could go on, but let's save it for another day.

Gold Prospecting cont.

Caught walking through camp!


WOW! Tomorrow for the report on our metal detecting trip ended up being over a week! Needless to say, things got a bit hairy just before the Denver Gem and Mineral Show last Thursday.

We spent two days metal detecting in a new area and found a piece each day in the same area. The pyrite here is just beautiful, as it is colored with copper from the area. Larry came across a chunk of azurite that popped out of a hole. It is about 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2. Deep blue with some greenish turquoise and chrysicolla in it. Both days were warm with a crisp breeze that told us fall was just around the corner. Leaves were turning quickly as well.

GPOC had their panning troughs up at the Denver Gem and Mineral show in their usual place, the north east corner of the Merchandise Mart exhibit hall. Larry was busy in the troughs for the three days, and I was kept busy in the T.L.E. International booth showing some of the most fantastic Colombian emeralds you ever saw. We also had a house full of guests staying to do the show from GPOC, and we all enjoyed the weekend with friends, except Eric who had to drive back to Pueblo and ride back up with Woody so that someone was available to get the truck back to Colorado Springs. Seriously, GPOC, was there no one who would inconvenience themselves less than this to get the truck back? SOMEONE who lives in the Springs should have had this duty!

This week has been "crash" week. The rest has been good so that we can hit the hills again this weekend. We had a group going to Cache Creek on Saturday when we attended the GPR meeting Wednesday and found out the Hawleys were also headed up there. Several others from that group decided to join everyone, so it looks like the creek will be very busy this weekend. We will be running the metal detector over the rocks already thrown out to see if we can run across any gold still in the rock. The next week we will be highbanking some of the area as well as metal detecting. Looks like a good weather week, too, to end our mountain prospecting days for another year. October will give me time to work on pages and get a new template started. Get out and see the fall colors...they are promising to be fantastic. But, don't wait. The gold color won't last long.

Gold Prospecting Labor Day Week with Hooked on Gold

Twin Lakes, Colorado




Wow! What a golden week! We have been back about a day and a half, and you can imagine all that needs to be done with the Denver Gem and Mineral Show starting tomorrow. Where to begin! What to tell you! Since it has been almost two weeks since my last blog, I will need to put on my thinking cap to remember everything you will want to know.

Our first weekend was a BLAST with a total of 10 participants gathering to do some panning and sluicing on the Arkansas to teach the newest member of the group the basics. Everyone found gold who looked for it, and those who came from lower altitudes got a day to acclimated to the altitude. Our "Chuck Wagon Cook", Elkhorn Jack, put on a feed for us that night of a wonderful chili, cowboy bread, and peach cobbler. You can watch for him next year on Cable T.V. putting on his Chuck Wagon cooking show. YEEEEHAAA!

Sunday found us up Flume Creek, west of Cache Creek and south of Twin Lakes, checking out a possible placer claim. Fabulous views were in store for the group, along with a placer mining site worked as late as the depression. The area is overgrown with willows and dificult to navigate, so we will pass on the claim. Access is by foot trail up about 500 feet above the parking area at about 11,000 feet. The old cabin is caved in, but has a marker nearby with an explaination of its' use and last rebuild. After the hike a look about, we headed back down to the BLM Cache Creek open area for an afternoon of finding gold, talking with those mining there, and deciding where to dig. We set up sluices and panned the pleasant afternoon away and decided where to set up the highbanking equipment when we got back. We all pulled out some nice course gold from the area, along with somne nice flakes. All for now. I'll tell you about the metal detecting we did the next day, tomorrow. Good prospecting? You bet cha! Pictures coming, too.