Colorado -- Sluicing Cache Creek -- 22 May 2017

Hey Gold Adventurers...

Decided to hit the hills again, hike the mile or so in and out of Cache Creek and sluice for a little gold while we have some snow melt water running off...  This orange berm spot is only workable for a very short time, when there's excess water percolating and flowing at different spots on the property.  Usually dries up early June and it's too far to carry buckets to the creek proper.

Parked about 8AM and got back to the berm about 8:30 AM.  I was surprised to see that in the 5 days since I'd been there last, the snow melt water flow had actually dropped, not risen.  Still, my trusty Le Trap sluice is still usable, even with the heavy black sand and this low flow.

Low water flow upon my arrival:



My Le Trap setup and ready for some gold!



My new dig spot...  Sample panned around.  Wasn't all that happy with my last trip's gold take for all I shoveled & washed.  This spot had a think reddish layer about 1 to 2 inches thick that showed decent color:



Some gold showing in the top riffles...  YEAH BABY!



Some close ups of the pretty, clean Cache Creek gold:





I made 2 short videos:

First video of the day:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQh52uFFNFs

Last video before cleanup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lDDdAZgMNI&t=4s

O.K. I got my cons panned out and didn't do too bad.... Got 14.5 grains or .94 grams of nice, clean, chunky Cache Creek, Colorado gold:

Gold Pics:





So, just one more great gold prospecting "adventure" up in the Kolorado Rockies!

Hope you get out on a "Gold Adventure" of your own soon, come back to the Forum and post a Trip Report for all to enjoy...

Randy  C-17A  

Sir:

Man there is nothing better looking than Chunky Yellar Cache Creek Gold, thanks for sharing, hopefully we can do a little diggin before to long.......

Ron

Chief,

O.K. O.K. I'll save you some...

Come back from WYO soon...

Randy C-17A

Yep NOTHING better!

Looks real pretty in the pan. It's what mining is about.
And, I might add that the evidence that your destroying the planet is obvious. I should only take a couple billion years for the planet to be destroyed at this rate.

Dickb

Hey Dickb,

Ha. Funny... Destroying the planet...

Take a look at nature destroying itself:




This is all that's left of the Forest Road up Low Pass Gulch, North of Granite, Colorado. 2 years back a HUGE thunderstorm event hit the area............pounded rain by the inch. The creek came up so much it hopped the 2nd crossing point and flowed down the road to the first crossing point...

These pics are at the first crossing point, now impassable. Probably 100 yards of dirt road is now the new creek bed! So, nature "destroying" itself in a flash (flood) and doing more dirt moving than all the prospectors at Cache Creek in 17 years...

I notified BLM last year the road had been washed out for over a year. BLM said "we'll maybe try and someday take a look..." Ha. Still impassable up the road over 2 years later.....denying claim oeners, hunters, hikers, etc., access to THEIR BLM mis-managed lands.

Randy C-17A

I guess they have a really well thought out plan to protect Mother Earth from us plunders ravaging the planet.

I have a couple photo's taken at Lucky Strike that I'll be posting soon. You'll see how much more devastation is done when you have a determined plan to plunder the planet.
Them gold miners are really "BAD FOLKS".
Just got back home this morning in the wee dark hours. Another graduation tomorrow. YEA!

Dickb

Dickb,

I went back to Cache Creek on Tuesday, 30 June.... Miner Matt from Leadville was there too.

I dug and washed 32 mostly full 2 1/2 gal pails.

Only got .40 grams. Looks like that spot is petering out....

Will go back when the Chief gets well, he's been sick. He cancelled his trip over today.

Randy C-17A

get well soooooon Chief!

Good looking stuff Randy.

Jloyd, Russ, Dave, Dickb, et al...

Well, the Chief (Ron) and I were out there again yesterday at the Red Berm for the day.  Sadly, we're done there now.....despite the great water flow.  No more gold.  

I ran my Gold Bug Pro around the area, hoping for a picker or little nugget.  Nope.  Nothing but Magnetite chunks.  Wanted to be sure we weren't missing anything big, just under our feet.  Ha.  After that, I mostly sample panned the berm at every possible spot, color, texture and such and basically came up with zilch pan after pan.  Ron dutifully just worked the bank and shoveled direct most all day into his Le Trap, regardless...

I shoveled direct into my Le Trap ....on and off ....and after lunch cleaned up.  Very little color.  So, I went on an hour of sample panning around the area, looking for a new dig spot not TOO far from water.  Ha.  Not much luck out in the open, in rock piles, ditches, on a couple other berms...

After lunch I went out again looking for a new spot...  MAY have found one area worth working in the future.  Will try to go back Friday (tomorrow) and do a test sluicing run.

FYI:  My lunch was the best sandwich I'd ever had up at Cache Creek!  I had previously fried up at home 1 pound of bacon and made my self an on the spot BLT sandwich with 6 strips of bacon.  I gave the Chief the other 4 or so slices to put on his turkey & cheese sandwich.  YUM!  Nothing says tasty like bacon at 9,500 feet!     I brought the bacon, he brought the end of day beer.  Perfect!



So, towards the end of our day, from about 1 PM until we quit at 2 PM I just helped the Chief shovel anything and everything that looked like it MIGHT have some gold in it into his Le Trap, just to be sure we didn't leave a speck behind...

Ron will clean up his cons and give an Red Berm close out gold take report some day soon...

Randy  C-17A  

BACON!

Hi Randy:
YUM sounds great. I have 4 pork butts going in the smoker today for a party on Sat (60 +). Gonna be a fun get together for family.

As for the gold, it's there hiding on you, just have to find it. Here's hoping you find it sooner than later. Tomorrows the day! Give it a go and lots of luck hitting the jack pot.

As for CC, give everybody a small spot, let them pan it dry and hopefully they will give up and go away. Current BLM policy. HA!

Dickb

Dickb,

4 Butts in a smoker... Sounds like GREAT fun!!!

I'll let you all know how tomorrow's exploratory sluicing ops goes...

Yep. BLM's plan is Death by 1,000 Cuts. Herd us all into 25 acres of rock piles and trees and limited water and "program failure" so as to justify their already written into the plan: Alternative C. Which is closure to all recreational mineral collection activities.

Criminals all...

Randy C-17A