Ready for Gold Prospecting

Camp is set up now for the summer here at Snowy Peaks RV Park, and we are a couple of very 'happy campers'. LOL! The weather is gorgeous, sunny and warm. We bugged out about 8 this morning, stopped into Frenchman's Creek to pick up the tailer, and got ourselves parked before noon. All afternoon we have been getting things situated and cleaned, and making lists of what we need to bring up next week. Wifi connection is great, and the dish is working, so we are all set for prospecting for gold, blogging, and relaxing. Looks like rain tomorrow, but we have plenty to keep us busy if it gets too nasty.

Gold closed the weekend at $930.90 a nice leap from this morning before we left. I found an article this past week on the mint at Carson City I thought you might like. If you ever find any gold coins made by this mint, be sure and keep them. They are usually in high demand and sell for very good prices.

Watch this next week for information on Cache Creek and the changes and new items coming to the area on the website. I have placed some of the information on http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com for members to read. Anyone can join the site and we have lively discussions going on about metal detecting, Cache Creek, and Lost Canyon.

Have to go get ice cream.....I know, but we gotta do what we gotta do. More later this week.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
P.S. We read this morning that mining companies are suing Ken Salazar, head of the department of the Interior, for canceling some of the scheduled auctions for leases earlier this year.

Gold and Winter Solstice

Gold's down this afternoon below $839.

Winter solstice has come and gone, and that means our days are getting longer. What does that have to do with finding gold? Well, that means summer is closer and we can get back to the mountains and get wet and dirty, and do some gold panning, highbanking,dredging and metal detecting in our favorite gold bearing areas.

It also means Christmas is close at hand and we at hookedongold are looking forward to having some much needed time with friends and family this weekend. We hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year! We will be hearing from our youngest son tomorrow who is in the Philippines, and my Mother is visiting for the Holidays. Chrtismas Day will find us spending time with relatives we have not seen in a while, and visiting with friends. Our Holidays are as busy as our prospecting season! Hopefully your is, too.

You can follow me this next year on facebook and twitter, and I'll get some links up for those so you can find me easier after the holidays are over. I have several new gadgets I will be trying out onsite early next year, so watch for some gadgets you can use to give us some feedback. If they work, we should be able to have some fun with them.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

NEW! RSS Feed Added to the Prospectors Blog

Mt Elbert has snow on it, again, and two ski resorts are opening today. Gold Prospecting season is definitely winding down here in Colorado.

It has been chilly here in Denver the past few days, and the house has been wanting some heat. However, I'm stubborn, and try not to turn the furnace on until around Halloween. I have been working on the metal detecting blog for you, and also got a reminder from Rock and Gem that my deadline for a January article is coming up SOON!

I've been reading that Blogger has an RSS feed that can be added to a blog, and I have finally had time to investigate it further. I should be in the "Links" at the bottom of each blog posting. This posting is to see if I can activate it and get it to work right. If so, I have an opportunity to post it to the RSS feed sites. That means that more gold prospectors will be able to find this blog and hookedongold.com.

We have had contact with the BLM about next year's plans for Cache Creek. The office is very busy right now, but they do have a vision in place and I will let you know what it is as soon as I know.

No one from GPOC has let me know who the new officers are for '09, yet, but then I've been too busy to even send an e-mail, either. Ever have a great idea, but have all the support stuff not cooperate? Well, that's where I am this week. I have a line on a full size metal detector for myself, and we may have the 2 1/2 inch proline dredge sold. (Anyone who knows me, knows that I use a Falcon to detect with, AND knows the technique I use, too. Do I find gold? You bet 'cha!) All for now. As always,

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau (MQS)

P.S. The new RSS feed link can be accessed at the bottom of the blog, or by clicking on the "Links To" at the bottom of each blog in the tags and then finding it at the bottom of the page it brings up. I'll work on getting the widget on the template later. Gott run! TTFN

Cache Creek-Signs to the Gold Area

Sign at the Parking Lot Entrance

Kiosk in Parking Lot

Signs at the Entrance to the Road and Then the Gate

Thought you might get a kick out of seeing the new signs up at Cache Creek. We will be back up this weekend to finish closing up camp, and we have friends up at Cache Creek that we will stop in and say “Hi” to, as well as get some pictures of the area and the trees that have been removed.

The Kiosk is too big for me to get all of the words big enough for you to read online, but I may get around to transcribing them into a word doc and publishing them for you later. Right now, we will make a few weekend trips to B.V. while the weather is still good and look at property for sale in town. Who knows what might turn up. It’s as good an excuse as any to get out of the city and we will probably do a little gold panning and metal detecting if the weather holds.

Gold is bouncing around this week, but has still managed to stay above $875. I am still hearing noises like it will make it to $1500 by the end of January. Speaking of gold, I just remembered that we finished cleaning up the cons from the September trip and the total was about 6 grams for 5 days. We did better last year when we could get to the layer at the creek level. When we uncovered it a few weeks ago, it was under water. BUMMER!

Watch for the newsletter tomorrow afternoon. Until then

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau

Gold surges upward

Denver Gem and Mineral Show has come and gone, and after 10 days of placer mining and metal detecting, one of packing everything up and getting things ready for the winter, and one to do laundry before spending four days in booths, I had to take a couple of days to catch up on SLEEP and rest. Today was a busy day for me and for my favorite metal GOLD. What with the financial markets tanking again today, there is a lot of fleeing into gold and silver, and gold is up over $100.00……TODAY! $886 as I write.

Christmas is coming in a few months, and while I know you aren’t ready to let go of summer yet, (first day of fall is Tuesday?) I wanted to remind you that we have lots of items for prospector gifts in our gold ‘n’ store, so pop on over and take a look. I have another gallery to put up of jewelry that has more on it than is showing right now, so come back in a day or so and see what else we have on hand. You can also order anything on the extended jewelry pages at about 40 % off the price that may be quoted on a page other than what we have in stock. I work with a company that has been in business for 42 years and takes great pride in their nugget, gold in white quartz, gold in black quartz and silver ore jewelry in 14 K gold or sterling silver. Lots to choose from. Mining scenes, too. Something for every prospector on your list starting at $5.00.

Gold Prospecting cont.

Caught walking through camp!


WOW! Tomorrow for the report on our metal detecting trip ended up being over a week! Needless to say, things got a bit hairy just before the Denver Gem and Mineral Show last Thursday.

We spent two days metal detecting in a new area and found a piece each day in the same area. The pyrite here is just beautiful, as it is colored with copper from the area. Larry came across a chunk of azurite that popped out of a hole. It is about 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2. Deep blue with some greenish turquoise and chrysicolla in it. Both days were warm with a crisp breeze that told us fall was just around the corner. Leaves were turning quickly as well.

GPOC had their panning troughs up at the Denver Gem and Mineral show in their usual place, the north east corner of the Merchandise Mart exhibit hall. Larry was busy in the troughs for the three days, and I was kept busy in the T.L.E. International booth showing some of the most fantastic Colombian emeralds you ever saw. We also had a house full of guests staying to do the show from GPOC, and we all enjoyed the weekend with friends, except Eric who had to drive back to Pueblo and ride back up with Woody so that someone was available to get the truck back to Colorado Springs. Seriously, GPOC, was there no one who would inconvenience themselves less than this to get the truck back? SOMEONE who lives in the Springs should have had this duty!

This week has been "crash" week. The rest has been good so that we can hit the hills again this weekend. We had a group going to Cache Creek on Saturday when we attended the GPR meeting Wednesday and found out the Hawleys were also headed up there. Several others from that group decided to join everyone, so it looks like the creek will be very busy this weekend. We will be running the metal detector over the rocks already thrown out to see if we can run across any gold still in the rock. The next week we will be highbanking some of the area as well as metal detecting. Looks like a good weather week, too, to end our mountain prospecting days for another year. October will give me time to work on pages and get a new template started. Get out and see the fall colors...they are promising to be fantastic. But, don't wait. The gold color won't last long.

Gold Prospecting Labor Day Week

Well, it is almost time to go and spend some very quality time with friends for a fun filled week of prospecting before we close up camp until next May. We keep adding people to our group, and it looks to be a VERY enjoyable Labor Day weekend and week. Breakfast will be served to participants Saturday moring at camp and then all will depart on their particular prospecting adventures while the rest wait for those still coming in. We have FANTASTIC weather predicted until next Thursday, when we are supposed to get some rain, which should clear up in time for the next weekend. Will we ALL find gold. If everyone is searching for it we certainly will. We have a new person joining us this year from Oklahoma, and we have learning activities lined up for him that should give him plenty of stories to take. (Bryan and Brenda and the Boys are jealous) Several GPOC friends will be up to do some shoveling, highbanking, panning and eating. Several metal detectorists will be covering ground looking for nuggets and we may even get the dredge in the water. The NEWSLETTER will not be delivered the next two weeks due to time constraints for vacation and our VERY short week before the Denver Gem and Mineral Show. (We have two days before we must be at the show and work. Then there is the GPOC meeting in Colorado Springs to attend.) Hopefully all of you are going to be out finding gold this weekend, as well as bidding a fond farewell to summer until next year. That also ,eans new pictures will be on the website after the 15th, so watch for some great times recorded on film. For those of you who are wondering, gold closed today at $673.20 Good Prospecting to You.

Finding Mountain Gold

Speed Panning-loading the pan prior to a competitors run


July 17, 2007.
July is going by in a blur! We are getting ready for guests and getting away for another week of fun in the mountains finding gold. The July 27th newsletter will not go out due to time and internet connections. E-mail will be answered every couple of days as we find time to go to town and download it. Are you finding gold? We will be highbanking and metal detecting this trip along with meeting with friends and other prospectors. The Colorado State Gold Panning Championships are coming up quick! They will be held the first weekend in August in Breckenridge, Colorado. Come out and see some of the fastest panning in the state, or the country, for that matter. The Team competition is a blast with each person drawing for their place on each three man team. Three days of fun! Gold is holding this week in the $665 range. Watch the rivers in Colorado. They are still running pretty high.

New Gold Blog Look

Blogger has added some realy neat stuff like news feeds and video streams at the left hand side of the page. Check them out! I have gold panning, metal detecting,and gold prospecting videos steaming on the side for you to click on and watch. Also, newsfeeds about mining in general. You can click on the titles to change the newsfeeds to what you would like to read. Stories about mining, mining stocks, silver mines, gold mines, and more! Have some fun with this one!!

Gold Question of the week Where is it?

Howdy all. As you have noticed this week's Question on gold is not on the Hooked on Gold site. The reason is that my server, clickincome.com/clicksitebuilder is down and has been since yesterday morning! No way of telling when we will be back online, so be patient until they get it fixed. This is just the latest in a number of frustrations with this company, and we will be looking at taking the major site to another server. Can't call. No one answers the phone and online or email tech support, usually right there, must be inundated with mail as there was no response from them either. So, you will need to wait for your chance at winning the gold for now. Also, the blog! Good thing for Blogspot or I would have no way to communicate with you. Unfortunately, their builder is very easy to use and I will hate to leave it. Who knows. Maybe the "fixes" will make it worthwhile to stay with them. Don't know. I need more pages and the upgrade just costs too much. The mentoring program was good, but not long enough and I can find lots of the same information on the web for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, when I began as a complete novice,I didn't know any better. I will be putting together a program that a newbie can use at their own pace instead of a 12 week slam telephone course and then access to a mentor by e-mail for a year. There were a thousand questions that have come up since my year is up that I can't get an answer to. Yes, I am ranting, and fuming, and down right mad! If there was any way to ask for refund from these people I would. However, they are very careful to not guarantee ANYTHING and, believe me, the cost is way too much for what you get. Also, don't fall for the "You gotta have a merchant account to take credit cards with". Believe me, PayPal works fine until you get to the point where you are BIG, and then you will have a $5,000.00 month limit. In the meantime, it will cost you about $50.00 a month PLUS the 3% on the credit card amounts. Their affliate programs are coming off my site and offering my "Free gifts" with them are ending, too. Enough on that for now.

Gold is up again at $663.30 as I write. We will be headed this weekend for a tour of the gold, gemstone, mining museum at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Looking forward to another tour, as it has been a few years since we were last there. We will be meeting with some of the members of the Denver GPR club at 9:30 a.m. in the north parking lot. Everyone is showing us their metal detecting finds for the past month, and we have been having grandchildren and throwing out household stuff and trying to get things back under control before the season starts....again! Looking over my gold nugget inventory, some of my prices are looking cheap agin, so you might want to grab some of it before I am forced to raise them due to the continued rise in the replacement price of gold.

Gold, Gold Prospecting, Metal Detecting, Videos

WOW! I found a collection of gold prospecting videos that I have posted at http://www.thevideosense.com/user/MQS/ The permanent link is in the right hand linking column. They include a video by Tom Massie about the early years of George "Buzzard" Massie and the beginnings of the GPAA, a story of the Klondyke, a video on a restored mining town in Australia, one on a gold panning demonstration, specimen gold from the 16 to 1 mine in California, vacation footage, metal detecting, and more. The library will be added to every week as we find videos to include, and we will be posting our own as well. Grab a cup of "joe" and plan to set a spell and be entertained. A couple of these are half an hour of pure pleasure!