Prospecting for Gold at Cache Creek and Moving our Camp

Prospecting for Gold with Friends at Cache Creek, Colorado

Gold was at $1256.30 when I started this blog today, but it has probably changed since the overseas market is open. 

We had an interesting week and did spend some time at Cache Creek with the new sluice box.  I really like it, and will give you a review on it at mid week. 

We are moving the trailer to its' new home on Tuesday, and will be raising the existing deck 6 inches today and tomorrow so that both trailers can use it.  The lot we bought had a trailer already on it, so we have plenty of storage space for all our 'junk'.

Cache Creek continues to have problems with people stealing gold prospecting equipment, so if  you are there, make sure you take your equipment out each night.  So far a highbanker and a sluice box have disappeared.  The sluice box was taken out of the back of pickup, so secure your equipment even in your vehicle.

Water diversions are still a problem at Cache Ck, too.  Make sure you are not diverting water away from the creek and others ability to use it.  Remember, you are not the only one there and the water must be made available to everyone equally. 

We observed, and educated a team of highbankers on the proper way to fill a pump with gas.  These people were filling their pump without turning it off or removing it from the waterway.  We saw them dump gas into the creek, too.  If you fill your pump while it is running, you run the risk of getting some of the fuel into the wrong area that may be hot enough to explode.  I sure don't want to be around if someone does that!  Make sure you are at least 5 feet away from a waterway before you put gas into your pump's fuel tank, and nver spill it into the water.

Tin Pan Propsector up north of Alam is staying pretty busy.  More people are stopping and we have had several who were here on vacation and had wanted to get to try panning for gold while they were in Colorado.  We were all glad to oblige them.  If you are  up that way, stop in and see what Chad has lined up for the season.  Snow is still too deep for a few areas, but we are finding some gold and getting better acquainted with the area in general.

Gotta run and get some more work done before moving day.  Take care out there while you are prospecting for gold in Colorado or anywhere else.  Water is still high here and we lost our 6th rafter this last week. 

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

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New Look for The Prospector's Blog.  Let me know what you think.

High Water in the Arkansas River Makes for Dangerous Rafting. Be Careful!

A Spring Time Snow in Colorado




So, how would you like to do some panning for gold in this stuff?  LOL!  This weekend has been a bit cold and wet, so we have been visiting with friends and planning this next week.

Gold closed last Friday at $1228.70 as we were getting the beginning of this storm, but it is clearing out now and we will have a cold night.  Next week is looking better weather wise, so we are looking forward to some more summer fun prosecting for gold. 

GPOC had a members outing in the snow this weekend, and I hear that all had fun slipping in the mud, finding gold and getting numb hands and fingers from the fridge water.  All the peaks were white this morning.

The parking lot at Cache Creek was scheduled to be expanded this past week, but we have not been up there since it was done.  I also hear that there is some very nice gold coming out of the area.

We did attend the 40th birthday anniversary at the Prospectors Village in Nathrop last weekend.  There were lots of folks there and lots of equipment was going out the door.  Cindy had a drawing for some nice prizes, too. 

Run off is so high that water coming out of several high country reservoirs has been shut down to help ease the rivers.  Where there is less control, waters are very high and swift.  Be careful when you are near the rivers and streams.

Later this week, I'll be telling you our tale about the Fairplay Beach, so stay tuned.  In the mean time have fun prospecting for gold in Colorado.....

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Fast Movng Water in Colorado Gold Prospecting Country

Well, run off here in Colorado has begun with a vengence.  The first rafting death has been announced near Vail, as well as a tuber on Cache la Poudre and a man using a cable trolley to cross the Colorado River all due to high water. 

Anyone near the rivers and streams needs to use extreme caution for the next month or so as stream flows are very high.  The Arkansas River is running almost to the bottom of the bridge at the bottom of the numbers and the lower gravel bar at Granite is almost covered.  The South Platte in Fairpay is running bank to bank, and the Big Thompson is running out of its' banks below Estes Park.  For your added information, I am posting a few examples from yesterday evening's levels.
 
Arkansas River running at the numbers 3650 cfs and 4050 at Royal Gourge
Clear Ck 890 to 935 cfs
Colorado River 15200 cfs at Glenwood Springs
Gunnison River 4700 cfs at Escalante

Panning for gold, sluicing and dredging will be dangerous, so be careful when you are near the water.  The high water also hides rocks and boulders that you can hit your head on, and people have been known to drown in a swift current in less that 18 inches of water.  Snow pack is still high, and we are expecting a long runoff season again this year. 

Finding gold is fun, but even more caution needs to be exercised at this time. 

We visited Cache Creek yesterday to see the beaver pond refilled.  Everyone has been happy with the new regs and that things are under better control.  Larry and I are happy that we were able to give the BLM suggestions that are working as the area is very popular and people love being there.  The parking lot will be enlarged this week to allow for more vehicles in the area, too. 

Have a great gold prospecting week.  I'll talk at cha again when I have a few minutes.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

A Windy Start to Our Gold Prospectign Season

I wish I had a picture to go along with the awful ride we had on Saturday to B.V. from Elbert, Colorado! We got waylaid for three hours in Colorado Springs after fighting 60+ mph winds for two hours towing the UTV from its storage place at a friend's home. We broke a tie down strap and almost ruined the doors before we stopped to take them off and tie them down, and then stopped at another friend's house to wait out the wind.

We pulled into camp about 7:45 p.m. and still had to do the basic unpacking before we could fall into bed and tackle the rest of the unpacking the next morning.  After we had accomplished that, we took a rest and headed down to GPOC's  Prospector III for some river time with the gold pans. 

There were several other members there dredging, sluicing and panning for gold as the river has not come up all the way yet.  Snow is still locked up in the mountains and the water is under ice on the lakes, but with this wind and the dirt being blown in from the desert, it will soon melt ice on the lakes enough to open the reservoir gates and send water down to Pueblo.  When that happens, the run off will begin on the Arkansas River and it could rise 2 feet rather suddenly.

We decided to make our trip home today as the weather is still windy and the temps are falling, too.  Not much we can (or want to) do in all this wind!  Since I missed the Gazette deadline, I thought I would send you a report today while I have some time.

The gate at Cache Creek should be open this weekend, if not sooner, and the area below Prospector III has been designated as an area for panning and sluicing only by the BLM.  One dredger has already been sited for violations in this area this spring, so if you think there isn't anyone watching, you would be wrong.

Tin Pan Prospector Outfitters has decided to open the pay for use public panning area at a spot north of Alma on highway 9 on the east side of the road.  (I'll get you a mile marker later this week when I know what it is.  It will be located about a mile north of Alma, though.) Anyone who is interested in additional gold panning, sluicing, highbanking or dredging will be directed from there.  There will be a building, signs and parking, as well as your friendly gold prospector to greet you. You will be able to giver 'er a try starting Memorial Day weekend. 

All in all, we are looking forward to a GREAT gold prospecting season here in Colorado.  Hopefully, we will see some of you here this summer, and remember to be careful around the water until July with all the water coming down out of the mountains. Those streams are sometimes deeper than you think and the currents are strong and swift along their downhill race to the sea. 

Also be mindful of the altitude you will be at if you are coming from much lower elevations.  Altitude sickness can put you flat on your back if you aren't careful with alcohol and salt intake.  A couple of easy days is always recommended until you get acclimated.  Have fun out there, obey the rules and regulations, fill in your holes, and be respectful of all others.  And above all, remember this is MY home!  Take care of it!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

'09 Colorado State Gold Panning Championships

Colorado State Gold Panning Championships '09

Yes, that's the 'get up' I wear to 'official' events. I think I'll post it on FB, too! :>D

Colorado State Gold Panning Championships in Breckenridge last weekend were hectic, but we were able to get through everything before close on Sunday.

Rain (and snow above 11,000 feet) greeted us on Friday morning and made it difficult to get started on time. Junior events had to be postponed until later in the weekend so that Old Timers and National Style could get completed on Friday.

Saturday morning we found ice on the truck windshield, but clear skies and sunshine at breakfast time. We squeezed one of the Jrs. events in the morning, and had a very full field of teams, women's and men's events, which left us with no time to finish men's on Saturday. Sunshine abounded, though, and everyone was in good spirits with good competition and camaraderie. Cleaning enough sand became a problem with equipment that kept breaking down, which also slowed everything down. Fortunately, we had a back up system that could be run to help get the sand cleaned of gold for competition.

Sunday morning also was sunny but without ice on the windshield, and we started the day squeezing in the last Jrs. competition and then finishing men's before moving on to State in the afternoon. There were 25 competitors signed up and I dropped to judge so we could run dry and speed simultaneously, which helps to speed things along. This gave us just enough time afterward to run World's Dry before we had to begin tearing everything down to go home.

This had to be one of the toughest years to get everything in with rain, equipment, and the large number of competitors, but everyone had a great time and most of the weather was very good. More pictures will get posted in the next week as I get them resized, as well as announcements of the winners, hopefully tomorrow as I go through and find them all. We have video to post as well, as soon as Larry gets it put together. Have you ever seen anyone pan for gold blindfolded? Well, we did a panoff blindfolded. It was really something to see! Lots of fun. Had to have two competitors that were evenly matched to do it, and they both did a good job.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

HookedonGold Gazette 11/14/08

Yup, that's what gold looks like!

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $742.30
· Spot price last Gazette: $733.90
________________

Calendar of Events
NOVEMBER
· 2nd End of Daylight Savings Time
· 4th ELECTION DAY Get out and VOTE!
· 11th Veterans Day
· 12th GPOC Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m.
· 27th THANKSGIVING
_______________________________________
NEWS

You would think that with most of our gold finding season behind us, an early Thanksgiving feast finished, and the fact that it isn’t quite Christmas shopping season yet, that we would be having a nice, quiet reprieve before the holidays, right? NOT! In fact, our lives seem to have been even BUSIER than they were this summer. I really didn’t think that was possible, but it has taken me three days to catch up on the household things that are URGENT since Wednesday. When I realized it was time to publish the Newsletter, well, the list of things to write about was done, but that was it. So, I am a day late, but by Wednesday, I was THREE days late.

You read about part of the newsletter items yesterday in a blog post, and so, I will finish today with what else is going on. The biggest news in Colorado mining this past week has been Freeport-McMoran’s decision to postpone the opening of the Climax Moly mine indefinitely and layoff 25% of their workforce at the Henderson mine. They are planning to complete the construction going on at the Climax mine, but opening it has been delayed due to the slow down in steel production and demand. You can read more about it at http://www.fcx.com/ .

We had our first measurable snow yesterday here in Denver with a quick storm that moved in early in the morning and left almost a quarter inch of the stuff, which melted as soon as the sun came out later in the day. That means we did not make the latest date for snow fall in the Denver area, which would have been Nov. 22nd. I-70 and the mountains have had several good snows over the past couple of weeks, and most ski areas opened early.

Blog posts you might be interested in include one by an artist on panning at Panning For Gold, this newsarticle from Vancouver on new panning regulations http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/536229.html , and several that are commenting on the gold markets and what they may do this next year. Open Letter on Gold Demand and Supply, 'GOLD TO BREAK TO UPSIDE, DOLLAR TO COLLAPSE', and Gold Outperforms... Everything .

As to the gold ETFs, you are essentially buying paper, and the paper has been trading at a discount to the real price of gold. Invest in the real thing, if you are looking to do that. Gold miners should go up with this trend in a bull market in gold, too.

Are you still out finding gold? If so, comment to our blog and let us know what you are finding. If you receive RSS notifications, Hooked on Gold website now has an RSS feed you can subscribe to. You’ll find it on the home page.

Well, that’s it for today. I could go on about my trip up to Greeley to deliver a new distributor to Bella Health Systems, but that isn’t about this kind of “gold”. See you next week, and hopefully there will be more time for some extra blogs this week. As always…..

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
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www.hookedongold2.com Metal Detectors at Auction
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Hooked on Gold Gazette 10/03/08

Sterling Silver Gold Nugget Ring sz 9
$205.00 shipping included


$9.00 & $18.00
Gold Panner Prospecting Scenes

18K REAL gold accents

Pyrite Panner $8.00, Geode & Pewter Figures $15.00

Geode $32.00, Amethyst Wagon Wheel $26.00

Sluice Box and Blue Agate $45.00

Free Shipping on most items

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $834.80
· Spot price last Gazette: $877.80
________________

Calendar of Events
OCTOBER
· 1st – Arkansas River is now closed to motorized equipment until March 1st
· 8th – GPOC General Meeting
· 31st – Halloween

NOVEMBER
· 2nd End of Daylight Savings Time
· 4th ELECTION DAY Get out and VOTE!
· 11th Veterans Day
· 12th GPOC Regular Meeting 7:00 p.m.
· 27th THANKSGIVING
_______________________________________
NEWS

So how about that gold swing this week, eh? Up around 925 again and then back to where it is now. There was better news with Wachovia today as they accepted a buy out from Wells Fargo that did NOT include Federal money.

OK, it does look pretty bad out there, but few of us remember the G.D., so I thought I would share a list I saw earlier this week with you.

In the crash of 1929 the Dow Jones industrials plunged 40% in two months; this time around it has taken a year to fall 22%.
The jobless rate jumped to 25% by 1933; it is little more than 6% today.
The gross domestic product shrank by 25% during the early 1930s; it is up over 3% during the past year.
Consumer prices fell by about 30% from 1929 to 1933; and the last time I looked they were still rising.
Home prices dropped more than 30% during the Depression vs. about 16% today.
Some 40% of all mortgages were delinquent by 1934 compared with 4% today.
In the 1930s, more than 9,000 banks failed compared with fewer than 20 over the past couple of years.

AND gold was priced at $17.00 an ounce. There are pictures of lines of people on the South Platte here in Denver panning for gold or using sluice boxes to eke out some gold dust to buy a loaf of bread during the Great Depression, and accomplishing it. Colorado has weathered these things pretty well over the years, and I expect we will this time, too. Gold and Silver do well in times of crises, so I would suggest you find you some or buy a few bullion coins just in case. Heck, they’re nice just to collect!

Hey, has anybody been watching platinum lately? It closed today at $962.00 with news that the auto industry will require less platinum for car production. Build fewer cars with catalytic converters, and what cha think happens to the price of platinum? Copper is way down, too, what with fewer homes being built. Maybe those copper thieves will leave homes being built alone for a while. Oh, yah. There ARE none.

There was one other important thing I saw. Spending and money bills are required by the constitution of the United States to be introduced by the House of Representatives. So how come the spending bill that just passed today was started in the Senate? Has the Senate overstepped their authority? They also put in provisions to prevent the judiciary from prosecuting them or the Secretary of Finance. I’m pretty sure they only did that ‘cause they know it was illegal for the Senate to start this bill. Remember that both your Presidential candidates voted FOR this bill.

Is this good for gold? Most analysts say most probably. The dollar is up, though, and gold is back down. How long can that happen after 1 trillion additional dollars have been printed? Some are saying this is stop gap until the new administration is in office. I don’t know, but I still think I’ll buy a few more gold coins for Christmas.

GPOC’s regular meeting will be this next Wednesday night, and they will be electing their next year’s offices. I know that our present President will be leaving us and want to say what a most excellent job he has done for us the past three years. Eric Vesterby has to be one of the all time great presidents GPOC has ever had. I have been a member for about 18 years, and I have to say, things have run pretty smoothly under his wing. His cool head when things got tough to handle, and his all around command of things has served us well. We will miss your leadership, your good nature, your patience and above all your friendship to all who are members of this organization. Maybe now you can find the time to go prospecting with everyone who has asked you over the years, and you could not find time for, with all your commitments and duties for GPOC. Our next president has very big boots to fill.

And now, I will return you to your regular program and say farewell until next week. I won’t promise my soapbox will be put away, what with all the political stuff going on, but I will try to bring you some interesting news that does pertain to gold and prospecting, as well as your daily life. I’ll be working with the store pages this week, getting pictures up and links solidified. I could not believe I was putting up the November calendar today and seeing how close it is to Thanksgiving. That means Christmas is around the corner and you will be looking for gifts for that special prospector in your life. We still have a wonderful supply of prospector scenes to choose from, and if we run out here, we can have one delivered to you a couple of days later than I can get them to you from my house. My supplier is really fast on deliveries. Anyone looking for gold nugget jewelry can visit the jewelry pages found under goldnstore as subpages on the menu on that page. I will also be updating the calendars I have on Cafepress to ‘09’s with new pictures. That’s it for this week.


Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now closed TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until April 1st.
_______________________________________
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongold2.com/ Metal Detectors at Auction
info@hookedongold.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.