Cache Creek Update Summer 2013

I have been in camp for three days, now, while Larry is in Cripple Creek at the Colorado State Gold Panning Championships. It has been a nice time for some much needed rest and decompression.  The only thing slightly in the way and of annoyance is the fact that the water main broke two days ago and I have been without water since then.

Now, ordinarily, one would hop in the vehicle and go to the nearest town to pick up 5 gallons, but, remember, Larry is in Cripple Creek for the weekend.... with the truck.  That means whatever water I have here is all I have.  As luck would have it, I was planning on catching up with dishes just before the main blew and had filled bowls and pans with water for a soak before I heated up the water to get them washed.  Hence, I was fortunate to have had about three gallons of grey water for toilet uses, etc. 

On top of that, a friend stopped by and left me a gallon of fresh water for coffee this morning, and as it is looking, possibly tomorrow as well.  Under other circumstances, I would be hiking to the stream or the lake to get more grey water tomorrow, but Larry and the truck will be back some time this evening.  Always fun at my house.  

I started this post yesterday before the water issue came up, about what is happening at Cache Creek this summer.  We were in there earlier this last week and I got some pictures of the road and the water flow, along with the big hole that the BLM filled up.  Almost all the trees are now marked with orange and you are supposed to stay 10 feet away from them.  As you would expect, everyone is complying....NOT.  I have pictures to prove it, too.  They were also told, but did not even stop digging to reply much of anything. 

Here is what the road in looks like now with the by-passed bog.  They left the road going down in there so you can still use the camping spots, but the other side has been bulldozed shut and marked.

Stream flow right now is reasonably good, but the new owner above is threatening to shut off the diversion.

Here is one side of the big hole, and the rest of it looks the same. I had to stand too far away to get the whole thing in, and then you could not tell what it was.  The BLM was not pleased with the type of work done in there this winter/early spring. Several 6 foot tunnels had been excavated, that they did away with. 

Here are three more shots of the big hole area.  The guy in the first shot with the yellow buckets is undermining the trees, while the other man had just talked to him about staying away from them.  It's depressing how little some people care about whether this area stays open or not.  We stayed for a bit and did some panning.  Brought out a nice little string for a couple of hours work.  

We have had some rain in the last few days, which is good for the fires still burning in Colorado and for the forests in general.  The West Fork complex in southwestern Colorado is expected to burn for another couple of months.

Gold is up a bit right now at $1235.50, and silver as well at $19.67.  Everyone is pretty much bearish on gold for now, which means we are near a bottom for it.  I expect a rally by October.  The announcement by the Feds last week did exactly what they wanted it to do....make everyone take a deep breath and hold it for a while.  LOL!  Check out www.vistaminingadventures.com and talk with Phil Sr. if you are looking for a place to play in the water on the Arkansas River between BV and Leadville, learning how to pan for gold or do a little dredging, so you can find some of that Colorado Gold.  As always......

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

Mt. Antero Aquamarines

Where to start in catching up? How about with mighty Mt. Antero and our search for Aquamarines with Brian Buschy and company. That's Mt. Antero's peak in the distance, and the slope, as you can see, is near verticle. Colorado gold and aquamarines is our quest, and making that happen is our challenge. Brian has invited us up for a day, but you can book a tour of the mine with Fun Time Jeep Tours at the Prospectors Village, right next to the Rock Doc, in Nathrop, Colorado.

Now, I know that we are all about gold, but I must tell you about one of our trips this last week. Under azure blue skies that faded into brilliant turquoise, we spent a day in the Mt. Antero area searching for aquamarines on a friend’s claim high in the mountains south of Buena Vista. OMG! What a fabulous experience!

That's the mine looking back from about half way down

While this trip was not for the faint of heart, or weak of body, it was exhilarating. (That's the mine where the blue specs are) The mountain views from near the peak of Mt. Antero, one of the fourteeners, was beyond compare, and I am hoping the pictures capture the colors as well as they were seen. Anyone who knows me has seen the gold ring I wear that sports a band cast from Arkansas River gold dust, nuggets from two areas in Colorado, a Kelsey Diamond, (Yes, we have diamonds in Colorado) and, yes, an Aquamarine from the Mt. Antero area. (Mt. Whites, to be exact. It sits just behind Antero). We found all of the components of the ring including the diamond that we found at the jewelry store already cut. HAHA. Everything else we hunted for and found ourselves. A TRUE Colorado gold and gemstone ring. Now don’t go getting your nose out of joint thinking that Larry has been left out…….his Colorado gold, nugget, and diamond ring is much more impressive, but mine holds the aqua. We had them done for our 25th wedding anniversary, which was quite some time ago, now. Since then we have found a lot more gold, and some very special types of gold from Colorado, but that’s another story.

View above the trail, but the trail looked much the same

So, back to Mt. Antero and hunting aquas. We left camp about 7:00 a.m. to drive up to the trailhead for the big mountain, and then creeped our way up the four wheel drive road for an hour over rocks. At just about timberline we met part of the mining company at their camp. Brian was already digging, so Randy escorted us up the mountain. The climb was steep and the air thin, but we made it without incident. They had also taken pity on us and walked us up the easy trail. Mountain goat Larry would not have had to take this route, but he did so for the ladies present.

That's the crew in the pit with Brian looking at the camera in the center

The last leg up the falls and scree tailings of the mine was almost verticle but we finally got sight of the pit. Buckets of material were screened for aquas and then dumped over the side. Rocks, too. A permafrost layer was uncovered that yielded several deep blue aquas as big as your thumb, and a few that were bigger. The color was as blue as the sky above our heads!!!!! After about 6 hours of digging, we decided we had better get ourselves out of there as the weather had turned colder and grey with the threat of rain. Down the mountain we went and then back down the horrible little rocky road for another hour of bouncing around. Glad we went. Glad to find a bed that night, too. Just look at that sky! Good Prospecting to You,

hookedongold.com