How did it get to be Tuesday!?!?  Yes, I know I'm behind in getting information to you, so here it is.  Gold is sitting at $1726.10 right now, in case anyone cares.

Mile High Gold Summit Part 3

Jefferson County Open Space was and remains very opened minded concerning prospecting for gold in Clear Creek Canyons Park Open Space.  The area runs from 58^th to the junction of Highway 119, except for about a mile above tunnel 3 where a grandfathered in claim is.  As those of you who are from this area know, the canyon has been heavily used by the public for a very long time, and the Open Space committee has their hands full with balancing all the users in the canyon.  They will, also, be constructing a bicycle/walking trail through it beginning now, and have three years to complete the project with grant money to do so.

Their representative, that day, was Colleen Gad who has been working with prospectors for many years.  In general, they are pleased with most prospectors.  However, this past year they have had increasing problems with people digging way into the banks.  Here, I MUST remind all of you…this is OPEN SPACE.  Their rules DO NOT include removal of ANYTHING.  Jefferson County Open Space is the ONLY open space group I know of that even CONSIDERS allowing prospecting of any kind on their managed land, much less MOTORIZED use.  

Here, again, HIGH WATER MARK MEANS AS FAR ALONG THE STREAMBED AS THE WATER WILL GO TO THE BANK, AND NOT UP THE BANK.  So, what does this mean?  NO DIGGING IN THE BANKS!!!!  It DOES mean you can dig up the streambed anywhere high water would cover it.  AND it means you can use a highbanker to do that in an area that allows MOTORIZED equipment to dig up the STREAMBED where the high water would cover it, in the Clear Creek Canyons Park Open Space.  Off course, that does NOT  mean you can do it on private property or someone’s claim that is not included in this park. (DEEP BREATH!)  It is YOUR responsibility to know where you are, AND watch the parking situation.  They WILL ticket you for parking violations.  Any questions on this you can email me.

FILL IN YOUR HOLES!!!!!  I am sick of repeating this, you lazy b*********s! You know who I’m talking to.  I am more than sick of doing your work for you.  YES! I fill in your holes with a pick and a #2 shovel, and I’m an OLD WOMAN.

Bucketing of material off the high benches is NOT ALLOWED.  You, also, cannot fill buckets with material, put them in the truck, and take them home or anywhere else with you.  This is Open Space!  You cannot take anything out with you but the cons.  ALL material must be worked where you are.  If you see anyone violating the rules and regs, get a picture of the vehicle, person and license plate and turn it in to police.  Ms. Gad gave us a hand out on the rules for this area.  Rather than put them all in this blog post, I will post them on the website in the next few weeks.

A question was asked about the rock piles along Clear Creek in the Open Space Park, and whether you can work them or not  The answer was NO as the Prebble Mouse was found living in the piles. 

We also had a discussion about the use of the Arapahoe City area, just east of the Coors Brewery property.  Right now, prospectors are being allowed to work here, but it is under the City of Wheatridge’s management, even though it is Jefferson County property.  It is a confusing situation, and Wheatridge is working with gold prospectors right now, however some issues are cropping up that may shut this area down.

First and foremost is the issue of working into the banks.  AGAIN, work in the streambed as far as the water will cover it when there is high water, not the banks.  Recently, there was a hole opened up in the bank that cut straight through it.  This will erode the bank at run off.  Volunteers are being asked to help with closing this hole.  If this sort of thing continues, it is most certain Wheatridge will take action to prevent it.  REMEMBER to work AWAY from the bike path.  Undercut that, and no one will be allowed to work in this area.

That’s all I have right now on Clear Creek.  I will be updating the website with this information in the next month or so.  Sometime between unpacking and Christmas.  LOL!  I do hope your gold prospecting season was a good one.  We had a lot of fun for the short time we had in the mountains this year.  Not sure who I will be reporting on next, but I have all day to decide.  As Always,

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau,

www.hookedongold.com

hookedongold@gmail.com

Mile High Gold Prospecting Summit Part 2

TGIF! That means more work for us, but it is work we choose to do.  Gold closed this after noon at $1730.80. Stock market stopped its sharp decline, too.  

Today, I am posting information about Clear Creek where it flows through Golden.  There has been some controversy over what the regulations mean here, although most of them should not be questioned like mining around the kayak runs and the new fishing improvements.  However, we got some very good explanations that clarify what exactly is meant by 'high water mark'. 

Mile High Gold Prospecting Summit Part 2

Now, let’s see…..I left you hanging wondering how I would go about organizing the information.  I think I will begin with the two speakers who were there about Clear Creek running through Golden, and Clear Creek Canyon. 

Clear Creek presents some unusual circumstances that you do not normally see. We have several counties that it runs through, as well as cities, and also includes a stretch of open space.  Our speakers addressed the part that runs through Jefferson County, and they were very informative about what is expected through this stretch. 

Ann Beierle, with the city of Golden, addressed the general regulations on Clear Creek through Golden.  She has worked in the past with several of the bigger mines in Colorado, and so is very versed in mining and knows the mining community well. 

Prospecting for gold in Golden means no mechanized equipment of any kind, including battery powered equipment. 

Stick to the stream bed and don’t dig deep holes.  It is a safety issue for everyone who uses Clear Creek in the summer for recreation.  No one wants a 5 year old accidentally stumbling into a 5 foot hole in the creek bed. 

NO DIGGING in the banks.  HIGH WATER mark means the high water covering the STREAMBED, not how high it goes up the bank.  Digging in the banks erodes the banks on a huge scale and undermines trails, roadways and deteriorates the integrity of the creek.

FILL IN ALL HOLES, even if you will be returning the next day.  Clear Creek is overused by everyone in the summer and it is a safety issue.  Just because most people are gone at sun down, doesn’t mean no one uses the creek in the evening or at night.  You must consider other users in this creek.

You may NOT prospect in the Kayak runs or where the new fishing habitat has been provided upstream from the Kayak runs to the 6^th Ave. Bridge.  Millions of dollars have been spent to make these areas user specific.  If you want to use certain areas specific to prospecting, get your groups together and spend the money to do so.  (That isn’t the cities comment, boys.  It’s MINE!  Put your money where your mouths are like all other special interest groups do.)

Avoid, do not interfere with others on the creek. It is a privilege to use the creek in Golden for prospecting, not a right and you can lose it if you abuse it.  Be respectful of the work done on the Golden Mile Stream Restoration and Fishing areas.  Follow established rules and do not damage stream improvements.  You have no right to dig around the structures built to keep the Kayak runs in place, nor to move the boulders that keep the creek in place through Golden. 

Improved area runs from approximately 4^th to the 6^th Ave Bridge. 

WOW! I thought I could get through both of these speakers today, but this is long enough now.  See you again soon.

As Always,

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

www.hookedongold.com

hookedongold@gmail.com

Mile High Gold Prospecting Summit

1^st Annual- presented by Gold-Unlimited.  Saturday, November 3, 2012.  

Gold is at $1714.90 this morning.  As promised, I am bringing you the first installment of the events that took place last Saturday.

Amidst all the problems and work associated with buying a new home, moving and selling the old home, we decided to take last Saturday afternoon off to attend a ‘gold summit’ put on by Gold Unlimited whose purpose was to get some information out to prospectors in the Colorado area about local regulations and what local entities are expecting from gold prospectors.

                                                                 

The 5 hour speaker lineup was informative and spanned general prospecting to hard rock, and even had one local celebrity from the Gold Rush show.  Pizza was brought in for participants who knew lunch was being served.  The venue was cold….I mean there was no heat in the room and the door was open the entire afternoon. It was sunny and 60 degrees outside, but for those who were inside sitting on metal chairs for hours, it was cold.  Thankfully, one of the speakers needed a bit of preparation time, or we would not have had a break at all.  Of course, you could leave at any time and miss part of what was being said.  Not an option for someone who needed to get the information down and written about in a blog.  I was chilled to the bone and shivering by the time it was over.

That being said, the rest of the afternoon was worth our time to listen to what was said.  If it hadn’t been, I certainly would not have stayed and froze all afternoon.  LOL!  Since there was so much that was gone over, I will post for several days so you can digest it in pieces.   Speakers were from Gold-Unlimited, Christie Wright from South Park Historical Society and Park County Mining Association, Al Mosche who owns and operates the Phoenix Mine outside Idaho Springs, Fred Dodge representing the for profit gold miners, Ann Beierle who discussed regulations pertaining to Clear Creek in Golden, Dave Winters National Forest Service Stream Biologist, Colleen Gad with Jefferson County Open Space, and Jake Wells with Denver Parks and Recreation. We also were given some information about Gold Unlimited and heard a history of Arapahoe City.

Everyone had a specific time slot to fill and the meeting moved along very nicely.  We were finished by around 5:00 p.m., in time for a nice dinner before heading home to turn all our clocks back one hour to end daylight savings time.   

Since this start is getting so long, I will stop it here and tomorrow I will start catching you up on the information that the speakers gave out.  You will find you know much of it, but there was much clarification on some of the terms used.  As usual, your interpretation and theirs is not the same, and I did ask for clarification so I understood it myself. 

As Always,

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

www.hookedongold.com

hookedongold@gmail.com

Miss Me? Lots of Information Coming Your Way

Gold is closing today at around $1716.  Up a bit from the summer, but still not close to the highs that were predicted for it.  However, the election results later today, and the end of the year could prove interesting.  

So, what have I been up to since August?  Buying another home, finding out that we no longer qualify for a conventional 30 year loan, moving, and now trying to sell the other house.  

How did we make the purchase? A 5 year adjustable.  It was the only loan we got offered that didn't make us put all our savings into a money market and withdraw it on a monthly basis until it was all gone. Anyone with an IRA knows you keep it invested so you can make money from it to make it last longer.  

On top of this, they would not even consider the part time job as income.  A REAL eye opener.  So, we are looking at an exit strategy in 4 years.  Yup, we will probably be selling this one and moving in 4 years.

Why bother?  My Mother could no longer navigate the stairs at the old home.  AND a good time to buy a house before they go back up.  Hopefully, we can exit before the whole money mess blows up.  Did I say that?  Oopps.  Sorry, I mean before our ARM gets adjusted.  LOL!

My real purpose here today is to tell you that I have a series of posts to bring to you about a gold summit that was held in South Denver to get some information out to folks about the Denver and Golden areas that I want to pass on to you.  The posts are already written, so I will blog every couple of days as I have time.  (Yes, I am still unpacking boxes.)  I wrote them while I was waiting for carpet to be put down at the Townhouse, btw.  Took me 3 hours! 

I will also be putting some of the information on the website so you can find it again.  Check back this week to read about the summit and the group that put it on.  As Always,

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
www.hookedongold.com
hookedongold@mail.com