Golden Tunnel #1, ...the adventures of a Greenhorn! Options

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So, after having read up on some of the safer areas on panning, my girlfriend and I decided to head up to the 1st tunnel outside of Golden. I must admit, it was one of the better places that I've experienced. Lots of small gold flakes running around, but not much else, at least not in the area that we were around.

Having parked on the east side of the tunnel, I decided it was best to try to head up stream a bit more, on the other side of the bend. While walking down the path, I was trying to keep an eye out for the sedimentary layers that were exposed. Sure enough, I started to see signs of quartz popping up out of the rock face. Although, it was hard to tell what was gold and what was pyrite. I noticed another person who was working the east side of the bend and almost decided to head down and chat with him, but he looked deep in thought and work. So, we continued walking around the bend, I couldn't stand it anymore and found a descent area just at the peak of the bend.

Boulders, pools of water, sand bars, it seemed the perfect spot. I suddenly had a strong feeling of envy for those people working with dredges, sluice boxes, and high bankers. But, I told myself that I had to learn to pan first and work my way up the later with knowledge and experience before jumping into that large of commitment. I continued to take my shoes off and slip on some tall rubber boots and move out to my first victim...a large boulder that sat there mocking me.

It seemed like only half an hour went by before I knew my back and neck were hurting from being bent over for what was really an hour an a half. I knew at that point that I'd have to upgrade my equipment to using a "gold sucker" to work the cracks of larger boulders. Having realized the time that passed by, I knew that I should continue up stream about twenty feet to see if my luck might change, and also to see if there were any other natural signs that the gold flakes might share with me.

Another hour and a half went by, I was surprised my neck and back weren't hurting more...but I knew my right boot had a leak in it...the cold water actually felt pretty good in it. I stopped to look around my environment. I then realized that the bank line of the river had been higher at some point, probably in the spring time when the water could have been higher. I decided to move another 20 feet and work the bank line a bit.

I could see that the smaller flake deposits were stronger on the bank lining. I wondered how deep I'd have to dig to get to some kind of bedrock layer. The envy of a high banker really kicked in, but I had to keep telling myself..."baby steps." I needed to understand the signs first, get the techniques down and then upgrade. As I kept panning and digging, I would come across different shades of quartz. I wondered what signs might help in my investigation to understand gold mining better.

Before I knew it, my girlfriend reminded me that the sun was almost behind the horizon of the mountains. I felt that I gained that much more experience today, I was a bit wiser to my environment. I let my feet air out from the boots, especially the right one which was completely full of water from the cracks in the heel. I stopped and looked around realizing that I had completely missed the beauty of the mountains around me. Up in the sky you could see the paragliders dancing around each other.

Walking back to the truck, I had hoped to see the other person who had been panning also, but he was gone. I wondered if he managed to pan up any "goodies." I felt more relaxed and happy as we headed down the path. Nothing to show for the work, except the bit of knowledge that I had gained. Up the side of the hill and we packed up our gear and climbed into the truck...as we drove off, I knew that the experience in general was more precious than the gold...and it felt good...and I couldn't wait to do it again next weekend...