A Summer's Worth of Finding Gold in Colorado

Summer is winding down, and with it gold prospecting season here in Colorado. While many will continue to search for gold, most of us will be settling in for the coming of the holidays and winter.


The price of gold has been on a wild ride this summer, sitting at around $1860 now, and pricing it for sale has been tricky.  If anyone has been on the store site, you will notice that it is disappearing and I am not sure I will continue to offer it, as the high price is pricing me out of the market, requiring a substantial investment in it to continue to offer smaller gold.


We have had a busy, busy summer, and, yes, I continue to get comments on the lack of blog posts.  But to tell the truth, there is so much to report, it is hard for me to decide what to tell you.  That, and the lack of time, has kept me from sharing more information.


I hear that Cache Creek is a complete zoo this year with over a hundred workers there on some days.  We have had camp hosts who have been charging for lessons and help, selling their contraptions in the parking lot, cutting down trees, digging huge holes, people who continue to abuse the site, and threats from BLM to close it down.  We have avoided it like the plague and have still been pulled into the drama.  

GPOC needs to be more careful who they put in there, and the lack of real concern over who the hosts are or how long they are there has been a real concern for all members.  Board members have not been kept up to date with what is going on there, not allowed to see the regulations for the area unless they go to Cache Creek and get their own copies.  If GPOC is to continue this relationship with BLM, the quality of hosts needs to be addressed.  If it is too hard to find volunteers for this, then we need to sever this relationship instead of putting people in there who have already shown themselves to be unreliable in their conduct, or to have them push the envelope until they are removed from the site and/or lose their club membership.  It seems our camp hosts are no longer there to help the public, but for personal gain.


I am also hearing that the Forest Service may be overstepping their bounds in regard to the Arkansas River area around BV.  We have heard they are riding herd over BLM area as well as Forest Service, and have heard that they are issuing tickets, but I don't know that for sure.  They were not supposed to be doing that until all the signs were in place, and then only on Forest Service land.  BLM should be taking care of the land they manage.  The drama there continues as well.


Meanwhile, we have been happily looking for gold in other places, here in Colorado, and enjoying the peace and tranquility of South Park near Trout Creek Pass.  Hopefully, your gold prospecting season has been as pleasant as ours, and that you have found gold to put in your bottle.  We have found enough to make it worth our time finding gold in Colorado.  Until next time...


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

Cache Creek Prospecting and Thanksgiving Greeting

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU!

The Labor Day Weekend Cache Creek Gang

We are pleasantly visting at our oldest son's house this Thanksgiving, with family and friends gathered around.  The turkey is nearly done, and we are getting ready to sit down. 

I thought I would take a moment to share a picture from one of last summer's gold prospecting outings with friends from Missouri.  We had our two highbankers running, and the gang cleaned out a tree that had died and recently been cut down at Cache Creek.  It produced some nice gold, which, unfortunately, we did not get a picture of.  I'll do that later and show it to you in another post.

Gold is at $1373 now.  Hope your Thanksgiving is a wonderful day filled with all the good things that you expect.  As we begin our Holiday Season, may we all be thankful for what we have, family, friends and each other.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

You Are NOT on the Wrong Page!

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

Colorado Gold Country and Spring

Aspens Leafing Out Above 10,500 Feet

Howdy to all you gold prospectors out there!  Gold closed on Friday at $1220.90 and the stock market was down over 300 points.  These two haven't gone in opposite directions for some time now. 

I had a bout with a 24 hour stomach junk this past week, but am feeling my old(?) self again.  Our phone connections this year are not working out well, so if you have been trying to get a hold of us, we are strictly on cell phones right now.  Email works, too.

The Aspens are finally leafing out on the mountainsides above Alma, and it looks like Spring is finally arriving in the Colorado high mountain gold country around Fairplay and Alma.  Montgomery Reservoir was emptied earlier in May and will be easily refilled with the snow still left on the slopes above it.  It will quite possibly be the end of June before the roads on Mts. Bross and Lincoln will be passable by 4WD vehicle.

Gold prospecting at Cache Creek is open and we hear many people are in there finding gold.  GPOC has a seasons worth of voluteers ready to be onsite this year to help you with the new regulations and fee structure.  The porta potties are in place and the BLM summer time employee is making the rounds on the Arkansas River and Cache Creek.  Looks like a good prospecting season there with things under better control, as well as all the other Colorado gold prospecting areas. 

GPOC members should be aware that he gate on the road to Beaver Creek will not be opened until the middle of June.

We are still looking for more permanent arrangements in South Park, but until we do we are in Buena Vista at Snbowy Peaks RV Park.  A great place to stay, btw, if you are in the Buena Vista area. 

If you are looking to find gold in Colorado and are curious about the Fairplay Beach this year, they are chargin $5.00 per person for the May - October 2010 gold panning and sluicing season, and you can obtain that permit at the City building in Fairplay.  The 'Beach" will be undergoing some improvements this year with the addition of a concert platform for groups the city is bringing in for entertainment, as well as adding music festival later this summer.  Also, the County is adding a pedestrian bridge across the S. Platte to help people walking from the residential areas on the south side get to the grocery store more safely than walking on the highway.  It is supposed to be completed sometime in August.

While you are there, drive up past Alma about a mile and half, just past mile marker 72, on your right, and check out Tin Pan Prospector for some fun.  Prices for panning, highbanking, dredging and metal detecting are reasonable.  Chad has his dredge in the water now and is driving to bedrock.  Stop by and say 'Howdy'!

That's all I have in my notes.  I'll be back to you from time to time.  Have a great week and a great gold prospecting season!  Until next time....

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 5/14/2010

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1231.40 – high $1250.40


• Spot price last Gazette : $1137.70

________________

Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events

May
• 1st May Day
• 9th Mother’s Day
• 29th – 31st Memorial Day weekend

June
• 14th Flag Day
• 19th-20th Kingdom Days-Breckenridge
• 26th-27th Western Mining Museum
_________________________________

NEWS

Ok, Ok, I got the message. LOL! I have several loyal followers who have reminded me that I haven’t been blogging recently and leaving all of you out of the loop of information. For your reading pleasure, this Gazette will be nice and long. :>D

As you can imagine, there has been a lot going on to keep me so busy I have not had the hour it takes to write some words for you. Last weekend GPOC had their annual Let’s Go Gold Panning Days at Point Bar, and, from what I am told, it was its’ usual rounding success with gold prospectors all over the place. We missed this year as my kids have been bugging me about not ever being home for Mother’s Day, and so I opted to indulge them this year. They were grateful and treated me to a BBQ and a dinner out later with lots of hugs and time with grandchildren, too. Instead to digging dirt, I spent my time chasing bubbles with our youngest grandson and listening to our granddaughter try to talk. We will be afield soon enough.

Gold is advancing once again this week on the heels of the Greece bailout. Europeans are not happy with this state of affairs and are buying gold as a hedge against the European economic problems they see coming in the future. At this rate I will have to raise gold prices again.

Memorial Day will be here before you know it. You will find many fairs to attend to kick off the summer season. If you are in the Colorado Springs area, GPOC will have their panning troughs out at Territory Days in Old Colorado City. For those of you in the mountains for the weekend, Tin Pan Prospector will be opening up their gold panning area for the season, too. Chad will be located in Alma this year and NOT on Highway 9 in Fairplay. You should be able to find signs in the Fairplay area to give you directions to where he will be located. He has two new areas for you to try out and Alma is more central to those locations. Right now he is looking at two sites and will make a decision soon where his staging and panning area will be. Stay tuned, as I will give you that location as soon as it is known.

Snow seems to be plaguing us this year, as we had more this past week. Still waiting for Spring weather so I can put away my winter clothes! Had the furnace on yesterday, too. Sure hope El Nino breaks soon so we get some warmer weather!

As a final note, I have had many forum members ask me about this website.  It is ONLY the forum that I must cancel.  Ning.com has decided to begin charging for all sites and so I will be dismantling the forum tomorrow.  Rest assured, I will be continue with my main website and this blog.

Have a great weekend. That’s it for me.

Until Next Week…..
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 OPEN TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until OCTOBER 1st.

http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.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.

Summer Season for Finding Gold Coming Soon

YUP!

Closing gold price for Friday  $1158.40

Last week  $1137.70

Things are popping here at our house and are happening very fast.....well almost everything is happening fast.  Some very important business is progressing very slowly which adds to our frustration levels and anxiety over getting things finished before we begin our prospecting season.

Summer activities are mounting up and the spring throw out and paper round up is not accomplished.  Time is becoming short to finish.  The gloomy weather hasn't helped get any of it done, either.  I did not have time to get the Gazette together yesterday, but I didn't want to let another week go by without a posting.

We continue to look for a place to put the trailer on the Fariplay side of the Mosquito Range and haven't decided what to do yet.  We will soon, however.  We do have temporary arrangements made until we settle down, if needs be.  The number of areas that will be open for Tin Pan Prospecting is amazing, and there are lots of new places to hunt for and find gold.  We will be using all our gold prospecting skills to pinpoint the best areas.  Knowledge, experience, rods and pendulum don't fail me now!  LOL! 

Remember that Mother's Day is coming up.  Visit the Gold 'N' Store for a special, in stock piece of gold in white quartz, gold nugget, or gold in black quartz jewelry for Mom.  While you're there, pick out what you want for Dad.  Gold nuggets are going fast this year.  There should be some new gold nuggets posted by Monday.

Hope your prospecting season is good this year.  We plan to find gold!  How much, I can't say.  But, the potential is very good.  Back to you later this week.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 3/20/10

Just a reminder of what Summer looks like in Colorado

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $ 1108.00

• Spot price last Gazette : $1118.70
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events
MARCH
• 1st Motorized equipment season begins on the Arkansas River
• 14th Daylight Savings time begins
• 17th St. Patrick’s Day remember to wear your green
• 20th Spring Equinox
• 28th Palm Sunday
• 30th Passover

APRIL
• 1st Happy April Fool’s Day
• 2nd Good Friday
• 4th Easter
• 14th GPOC meeting
• 23rd – 25th Denver Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Spring Show
_______________________________________
NEWS

It's SPRING!  Can you smell it?  How is the weather in your part of the world? We are in our typical spring pattern with very warm days and then snow and 20 degrees. We have yet to officially reach 70 degrees, though, but the 68 was really nice.

Gold prospecting news is scarce and non existent, and so I have not had much to write about the past couple of weeks. As March comes to a close soon, we are still looking for weather good enough for our first weekend gold panning and sluicing trip. Birthdays and snow have been hampering our efforts to play in the dirt and water. The ice has a bit to do with it, too. LOL! With all this ‘time on my hands’ you would think I would make a bit more progress with website and blog changes, but, alas, time seems to slip through my fingers like sand through a gold pan. Perhaps I will find gold at the bottom like I do in my pan.

I hear via the grape vine that there is a lot of gold prospecting activity going on at Point Bar near Salida. The weather there should be rather nice right now between storms. I also hear that the new claimants of what used to be the ‘Star Jade’ located just north of the GPOC claim that is north of Buena Vista, are letting it be known that prospectors will no longer be welcome on that claim and to keep out. They are placing a notice in the GPOC Quill informing members that the claim is closed to all prospectors and that they must not look for gold on that claim. These new claimants are board members of GPOC.

The only news I found that was interesting enough to share with you in the past 2 weeks is this bit about another use for gold in the medical field.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/gold-nanoparticles-and-lasers-kill-crazy-cat-lady-brain-parasite Since we all know that we do not use up gold, I wondered after reading it how they removed the gold from the body.  If it was left in place, would too much sun on your head heat your brain up too much? LOL! That’s probably more from me than you want.
Until next week…….
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 OPEN TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until OCTOBER 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ A prospecting forum and social posting community
hookedongold@gmail.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.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 2/27/2010

Point Bar State Recreational Area

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1118.70

• Spot price last Gazette : $1118.90
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
• Tucson Show in Tucson, Arizona
• 2nd Groundhog Day
• 4th Heritage Lecture at the Western Mining Museum SOLD OUT
• 7th Super Bowl Sunday
• 12th Lincoln’s Birthday
• 10th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Sprgs.
• Denver Museum with GPOC
• 14th Valentine’s Day
• 15th Presidents Day
• 22nd Washington’s Birthday
• 26th – 28th Gem and Mineral Guild Spring Show – Jefferson County Fairgrounds

MARCH
• 1st Motorized equipment season begins on the Arkansas River
• 14th Daylight Savings time begins
• 17th St. Patrick’s Day remember to wear your green
• 20th Spring Equinox
• 28th Palm Sunday
• 30th Passover
_______________________________________
NEWS
It was tough to find any news on gold or gold prospecting this past week. The Olympics dominated everything, as it should, so everything that had a link to gold was about gold medals.

Gold made a bit of a comeback in the markets late this week so those of us who will be prospecting for gold soon are happy the price is only down 20 cents over last week. Of course, it does help to make the backbreaking work a little easier to take when you know your gold will bring a nicer price when you sell it……if you sell it.

Some more information has come our way concerning the Point Bar claims that were claimed last year by someone from Texas. As you will recall, he listed one on E-Bay right away and sold it. He then found at least two others to buy into a third of the claims that were left, and then sold the last third on E-Bay this last week. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d like to own a third of three mining claims with two other people I may or may not know. These types of partnership never turn out well, but hopefully those involved here will get along. We all know that won’t happen, though. Remember also that these claims are not patented and so the claim owners will only be allowed to camp there 2 weeks out of six. Oh, and it looks like our friend from Texas made about 8-10 thousand dollars on the claims that he will probably never visit again and has made a mess of Colorado claims that have been available to the public for a long time now. ‘Moneygrubber’ is all I can say.

OK enough of my soapbox as this whole deal makes me sick and I try not to be to critical of prospectors, but I’m pretty sure this person is no prospector and was only interested in the money that could be made by selling these claims, which they did in less than a year. However, I also have new news about the water. Read on.

It seems the person who originally did the platting of the new claims was not entirely accurate and there is substantially more water available to the open area. I am just now reading this new information and the map provided isn’t real clear, so I will need a little more time to decipher where the open area begins and ends. The claim owners may not be aware of this yet, and so their markers will most probably have to be moved.

Spring is almost upon us and the opening of the Arkansas River to motorized equipment is on MONDAY! While we continue to be plagued with colder than usual weather, warmer weather will prevail at some point. That means we will all be able to do more prospecting for gold soon. Even metal detecting for coins has been impossible with the ground staying stubbornly frozen. Summer plans continue to be made, though, and our new areas for exploration are numerous. Setting up camp for this summer will also be interesting. I’m not sure I will have any kind of internet connection, so we may be hit and miss with blogging as connections permit. We are truly looking forward to working with Chad Watkins this summer and helping him get TinPan Prospecting up and running strong. Visit us this summer for some interesting gold prospecting when you get tired of fighting the public areas.

Trying to find other news from around the web was pretty difficult this past week. I visited a lot of blogs that had two short paragraphs with little content or they didn’t really have anything to do with the subject of gold, but Florida golden sunsets, etc. I did find a couple of interesting videos to share. The first one is an interesting one about one way to find underground streams and using culverts as a sluice box at
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-pan-gold-ancient-riverbeds-high-benches-302352 , and another from Australia testing out a new small highbanker. Looks like it works pretty good, too. http://downlinesecret.net/33949/highbanker-banjo-first-test-alluvial-gold-prospecting-in-australia

Off to Jefferson County Fairgrounds and some rock hunting under roof. Have a great week out there, and if you are on the Arkansas let us know how you are doing. Oh, and before I forget, Blogger’s new platform has changed again and is even more difficult to work around and so I will be moving this blog to a wordpress blog and using another of my hookedongold domains to run it with. I’ve been waffling about this for almost 2 years now and this final change has pushed me there. I’ll have a new template and format so the look will be a bit different, but more in my control, and we know everything is all about control, right? LOL! The old one is looking a bit messy and I can use some better aps in the wordpress version. It probably will take me a few weeks to get everything set up, so you won’t be surprised next week, but it will happen as soon as I can get everything uploaded to the server and arranged in the new template. I’ve used wordpress for a couple of other blogs I’ve run and like it much better. Hopefully you will, too. That’s it for me. How about you? :>D

Until next week…….
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: 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 MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ A prospecting forum and social posting community
hookedongold@gmail.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.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 12/19/09

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1115.10
· Spot price last Gazette : $1150.10
________________

Calendar of Events
DECEMBER
· 9th GPOC Christmas Party
· 21st Winter Solstice
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
· 31st New Year’s Eve
JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Golden sunshine greets me today and it is very welcome! As those who follow know, windows7 conversion has been keeping us busy, along with all the regular holiday things. With Christmas only a week away, we are scrambling to get everything ready. We are also still awaiting the birth of our first granddaughter. Mom is very far along with the beginnings of labor and she may have her bundle of joy before Christmas. With this birth looming, our Christmas get together is up in the air as to when it will happen. No matter when that is, it will be joyous!

Gold prospecting for us has been limited to the stores, but we do have a metal detecting opportunity in the next few days. We are also predicted to have a white Christmas this year, although not much of the white stuff is supposed to be on the ground. The ski areas have gotten hammered again and they are happy with their good fortune.

Predictions for where gold will be in the next few months have been mostly down. The most relevant predictions are putting at around $950, although I have seen predictions in the mid 800’s. This will be a buying opportunity for those who buy gold as it will begin another uptrend soon.

If you haven’t checked out the store, you might want to. I have at least one 14K gold nugget pendant whose price is just above spot. More gold nuggets and gold jewelry was posted, too.

Speaking of the store, I was able to find the error that gave the error messages and have corrected it, so the checkout cart is working again for all products. Now, the trick will be to transfer the program to the new computer without having to rebuild the whole thing again. Already tried the transfer suggestions that came with the software, but that didn’t work. In the mean time, the old computer will do the work just fine. I have some interesting options for the gazette’s format that I didn’t have with XP that I’ll try out in the next week or so. Watch for some changes as I play with the new formatting tools.

No time this week to look for much information for you. Also, be aware that there will be no regular gazette next week since it will be Christmas! :>D I’ll get a blog up so you get next week’s gold close and let you know how the metal detecting went. Have a great Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas!

Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

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: 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 MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/
hookedongold@gmail.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.

Point Bar and Other Updates on Gold in Colorado

BLM Volunteer Day at Cache Ck. 9-26-09


Coyote holes and diggings too close to trees were filled in by volunteers.

More of the crew, here. Signs were posted concerning the power line pole easements and a boundary established with a branch with sign attached. This boundary is NOT arbitrary. It is established by the power line owner and Colorado State Law.

Summer has definitely ended here in Colorado. For those of you who regularly look for the blog, I applogize for not updating it lately enough for you. My only defense is the amount of work that has been going on with Cache Creek, Point Bar and the Denver Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show. Those items coupled with closing our summer camp and getting things back up and running in the winter quarters has left me with little time to update the blog.

First up is to inform you that the Newsletter will be brought back this Fall, if not this Friday then next Friday. For anyone who does not remember it, I post it on Friday evening after all the markets have closed so you have up to date info on gold prices for the weekend.

Next, I will be bringing you new information about Point Bar Recreational Area near Salida, Colorado, and you will find out more about what changes may be in store for Cache Creek for next gold season. In the mean time, there is plenty to catch up on about what has been going on in the past month, so look forward to several posts this week and next concerning all the changes and news about gold, finding gold, and some of your favorite places to play in.

I found an interesting article today about gold nuggets and nugget shooting. You can read it at http://salars.net/treasure/nugget-shooting . More info in the next few days.

Good Prospecting to You,
www.hookedongold.com
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Review of Tin Pan Prospecting in Fairplay

We had the opportunity to stop in at Tin Pan Prospector/Outfitter, the new panning/prospecting pay for use area located west of the highway 285 bridge, just south of the light, in Fairplay this weekend. The operator, Chad, was informative, pleasant, and really knew his stuff.

We tried out the panning ‘tub’ and were surprised at the amount and size of the gold we found. Panning is 10 bucks a day per person, and from what we saw, it is one of the best values around that we have seen lately, as you can see above.

That's your host, Chad. Great guy!

Tin Pan Prospecting is located south of the light at Fairplay on highway 285 on the west side of the bridge that crosses over the South Platte River.

Gravel is brought in from off the property, for panning, so we decided to try out the highbanking area for a couple of hours. We had two shoveling and one classifying, and came away with roughly a gram of gold for our efforts, which we all thought was a pretty good deal.

Most of the gold was nice sized flakes right out of the moraine bank, and Chad told us we had brought back more than what had been showing in that area. He proceeded to take material from our bank back to the panning area. Highbanking runs around $30.00 a day with your own equipment, and there is equipment for rent on site starting at $30.00, too. Sluicing, dredging, and metal detecting are available, but dredging is closed on the river for this season.

This pan shows what we got out of the $25.00 can o dirt. They also carry $10, $15 and $50 cans.

Chad tells us that the company will be adding several new properties next year to those already available to prospectors. You can even purchase a season pass that gives you access to all the properties. They will be looking at the possibility offering weekly or monthly rates next year. For the money, it looks to me like this is a good deal, and you will have access to patented and private property claims. We were impressed with the areas they are looking at having available for next years’ season. I know where we will be spending more of our own prospecting season next year. Heck, I know where we will be spending some of THIS years’ season that is left to us. LOL!

Their website is located at http://www.coloradogoldprospecting.com/ , but the prices quoted there are higher than they are presently charging. Chad says he will be open daily until after Labor Day weekend, and then you will need to call during the week to use the property. He will stay open to the public on weekends until the season winds down and snow is falling.

So, what do I think? I liked the atmosphere, the property, how it was managed and most of all the gold. Pictures prove my point. I also purchased one of the $25.00 cans o dirt and weighed out ½ a gram (7.5 grains) of nice sized flake.

Looks good in the pan above, doesn’t it? Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will find that much, but at least you can see what I got. They offer $10.00, $15.00, $25.00 and $50.00 cans o dirt, but they are out of the 10 and 15 dollars cans right now. Nice gift idea for that prospector you know for Christmas or a drawing at a club meeting.

If you are looking for a good place to spend some time panning, this is one to try out and lessons are included with the price. If you are looking for where you want to play in the dirt next year, consider Tin Pan Prospecting's season pass. Remeber, you will have access to all their properties for the season. Good people to work with, and a lot of really good gold. They also work with groups and offer a variety of outfitter prospecting experiences, including BBQ and camping arrangements. Stop by their spot just south of the light in Fairplay on highway 285. You won’t be sorry!