Colorado -- Panning the Arkansas River -- 9 Mar 2016

Hey all you Gold Adventurers...

Well, I wanted to get out of the house (again)......hit the Ark and do a little sample panning on a friend's claim and then do a little fly fishing too. So, I did.

Arriving the Ark about 1 PM I decided to check out a small, flat bench area. With the river so low now areas normally under water are accessible. It was in the shade and with the nights here still well below freezing, it was pretty much frozen solid. I scraped up a couple sample pans with material on the surface and panned them. Some black sand and a little fine flood gold. I dug a hole at the water's edge and the darker material had better color. That was my 3rd pan.







I carefully worked my way up river....looking for anything interesting, any spots that might be good. Right now the river is real low. I am guessing probably 180 to 200 CFS at the Granite Gauge. Right now one could almost walk across the river in a wet suit at several flat, level, gravely places.

It took me a good hour, slowly working my way up the river to the top of the claim. The steep bank and rocks made walking hard. Along the way I found 2 maybe 3 spots that could be worth coming back to in the future. Some pans had black sand & no gold at all. The best pans were from material just below the surface in the orangish/reddish glacial Cache Creek clay material. The Arkansas norm...

Here's a view at the top of the claim looking down and across the river:




Here's a look at the whopping 1.3 grains or .08 grams I panned up in about 10 or 11 sample pans:




Well, no Bonanza.............but I didn't get skunked!

After panning all I cared to I walked back to my Jeep, got out my fly rod and fly fished for about an hour. I was able to harvest one nice 12 inch Brown trout. I caught him on a bead head Zug bug nymph, drifting my fly behind a big boulder then down stream. I can tell you, it was good eating!



So, another great couple hours outdoors, out on the Ark. Hope "you all" get out soon too, have some fun, find some gold.

Randy "C-17A"

It appears that we are tooooo late for dinner!

Good Gold, Good Fishing. What a great adventure.

John,

WELL.................WELCOME to the Forum buddy! Glad you could finally get registered, past the Forumotion roadblock.

Now, you can start posting us dome Trip Reports and video links to some of your gold prospecting exploits under the Eastern U.S. heading.

Thanks for joining and checking my Trip Report out.

Heavy pans,

Randy "C-17A"

Admin wrote:John,

WELL.................WELCOME to the Forum buddy!  Glad you could finally get registered, past the Forumotion roadblock.  

Now, you can start posting us dome Trip Reports and video links to some of your gold prospecting exploits under the Eastern U.S. heading.

Thanks for joining and checking my Trip Report out.

Heavy pans,

Randy  "C-17A"  

Yes I will post some stuff for sure. How have you been my friend??

John,

Again..................welcome aboard!

I have been sick the last 2 to 3 weeks, actually. Started with the flu for a week or so, fever, aches, pains, chills.....not last 2 weeks have been a chest/head infection that makes me hack & cough all the time.

May go to the doctor soon if things don't clear up.

Anyways, hope to get out more, prospect more. Just need some of the snow & ice to melt off up at Cache Creek.

Be good, stay safe.....stay healthy!

Randy C-17A

Randy,
Hope you get better soon buddy. I was sick last year at this time with that crap and I was down almost two months. Get well soon.