clear creek adventure, went to clear creek to test pan Options

[panner13]

had an hour to kill so I went to clear creek just west of tunnel one and through down a few test pans. got some small garnets. coulpe cool lokking stones and saw what looked like micro fine gold in my pan. not really sure but it moved last. anyway I was wondering, I hit mainly light sandy material and some small light gravel and I went about seven to eight inches deep behind a small boulder. or large rock I guess lol. how far down before descent black sand? can anyone say a rough guess.

[professor_kosher]

really it depends on a lot of factors, ive never been to clear creek but i usually have a few generals rules for behind boulders,
how far from the streem was it 2, 3, 8 feet?
what shape is the rock,
how much is sticking out?
how fast is the flow around the rock, (if and when there is)
personally if you have even a small sluice, i use a 30in for testing, ill spend 4 hours in a spot, all testing but slowily running material to see i wanna bring in the 12"X60" box in.

because i usually use a 30 incher in my testing i will dig out around a boulder 5 feet from the steep bank on 3 sides enough to roll the boulder down into the hole i dug. generally the rocks i do this to are around the size of mini fridges to full size fridges.

if that boulder turns up good color, i will do the same to every large rock in the boulder field.

its alot of work but some times it can "pan out" very very well.