Colorado State Gold Panning Championship Winners - Ladies Division Right to Left, 1st Shirley Weilnau, 2nd Sue Drewes, and 3rd Linda Jent
A lot has happened since I last chatted with you. We have been very busy with all sorts of things, not all related to gold or gold prospecting here in Colorado. Since I last blogged, we have attended Burro Days, the Colorado State Gold Panning Championships have been held, a visit from our oldest son and his family, moving Tin Pan Prospector, RAIN, painting the shed and various other activities with friends. Little of this has had anything to do with sleep, and we spent most of last week trying to catch up on everything.
Burro Days in Fairplay had more people attend it than I have ever seen before. The roads were parked full some 5 blocks away from the Library. It looked like most people were having a lot of fun and, of course, I bought books from the library sale.
Three days were spent in Breckenridge at the Colorado State Gold Panning Championships, where we took a total of 8 medals. I brought home 5 (Firsts in Team, Women’s and Dry, Second in Old Timers, Third in State) and Larry, 3 ( Firsts in National Style and Team, and a third in Men’s).
Our two youngest grandchildren came to stay for a few days at camp along with their parents right after that, and we hiked them around and they went swimming twice. They were pretty worn out by the time they went home. LOL!
Tin Pan Prospector moved from their spot above Alma, across the road. We are still getting dirt moved around and the signs up in the right spots, but everything seems to be working out well.
We hear that things at Cache Creek are good. We also hear that some of the regulations are changing a bit in the prospector’s favor. They may be allowing people with hand equipment to come in and work over the 14 days for a $5.00 per day fee. That was what highbankers paid to stay past their 14 days with a second permit. I don't know if they have applied this to sluice boxes, recircs and gold pans or not.
Next Monday we will be attending the Breckenridge Open Space meeting to introduce what equipment and activities prospectors engage in to the committee, to begin the process of possibly opening up some of the old dredge piles above the Country Boy mine to recreational gold prospecting. The process will probably take most of the winter, as we also must get the items through the Summit County Open Space which controls the open space with Breckenridge. There are several on the committee who would like to see it opened, so we have a good chance of getting this through. We DO need help from any prospectors out there that live in Breckenridge or Summit County to lend a hand. We are commuting more than an hour and a half one way to attend meetings, and weather and highway conditions have been hampering our ability to get to these meetings.
Rain has been a BIG factor in our prospecting these past three weeks. Camp has had close to 5 inches and it has rained every day or night. Alma has had 7 or 8 inches. We are hoping everything doesn’t float away on us one of these days, and we are looking forward to some drier weather. We did get one coat of paint on the shed yesterday before it rained, and we would like to get the second on some time this week.
Other than those things, we have been enjoying our camp in CORA. Even when it is raining, it is peaceful, but the summer is going way too fast. We are hoping we have weather good enough to stay until October. Clouds are already forming over Mt. Bross, but they are white puffy ones, so far.
I have a review on the new blue Keene/Pioneer pan ready to post along with pictures. I’ll post that later this week so watch for it. Love my Safari sluice box!
Until later this week, I am hoping you are having one of the best seasons for finding gold you have ever had.
Good Prospecting to You
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