My last outing, A Weekly posting Options

[Denise]

Love the Fluorites!! Very cool finds Woody!

[Woody]

I've been stuck on the wash, rinse, and repeat cycle for quite some time now. That's why I haven't posted up in quite a while. But I have a ton of digital material on my computer that I need to get organized, so I've decided to restart this thread again. Here is a teaser of things to come........ garnets and gold.

[Woody]

Biggest one is about 3/4 inch. Some are completely faceted.

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[Denise]

Good to see you back and posting your prospected goodies Woody!
Those are some sweet Garnets, love how the colors vary!

Thanks for sharing pics with us.

[Woody]

Thanks Denise

Yeah, we have been having fun lately poking around in the creek. Of course the main intent was getting after the gold, but an added bonus has been the size, and amount of garnets. The gold looks
good in the picture, but it does not fill up much of a vial. Some of the Garnets however, are too big to even fit in a vial. They are not necessarily the gemmiest garnets I’ve ever seen but some are well
faceted. In the past I’ve always been a staunch advocate of telling people to keep their nose out of the pan, “meaning that if they were poking around looking at all the small pretty stones, …… then
they were wasting time and needed to be more focused”.

But when you reach into the dredge sluice while it is running and pick out a garnet the size of your thumb nail…. Well that takes a better man than me to stay focused. As it turns out all focus shifts
to garnet dredging, with a little gold on the side. During the clean-up of the sluice I first screened everything down to 3/4 inch. Anything still left in the screen gets chucked back into the creek and
then I classify all the material with a 1/8 inch screen. That’s where all the goodies are and I put everything into a 5 gallon bucket to be taken home and gone through at a later date.

The other day I took a coffee can of this Garnet Gravel and gave it to my sister that lives in the Denver area. She has two children that had a blast going through the rocks and picking out the garnets.
That was by far the best use for that material I’ve ever found. Throw a cup full of gravel and garnets in a pan, add water, Stir in a kid and….. Wal-La….. instant Rockhound!

So the next time someone tells you to keep your nose out of the pan…….. Don’t listen to ‘em. Shrug them off and just keep right at it. After all, ain’t none of us getting rich on the gold….. but maybe
you can find treasures elsewhere!

It feels good to be back, Woody~

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[Crusty]

Been great chatting with you! Look forward to seeing you up at the claim and spending some time around a camp fire!

[relicsncoins]

It will be interesting to see if that layer of garnets exists on our claim.

[Woody]

Hey relicsncoins,

Interesting that you would use the term, "Layer of Garnets", because that is exactly what we found in several different places. If you dig a hole straight down you will soon find that the garnets seem
to stop at a certain depth. At first I thought this was just a fluke in that particular hole I was working but the same scenario repeated in different areas.

Having pondered on this for a while, it kind of makes sense. Everybody that has panned for gold for any amount of time is familiar with the term "Flood Gold". Instantly we understand that the gold
most likely will only be found in the upper layers of material. Without going into the whatnots and whys of it, take that same principle and apply it here with the garnets and you get Flood Garnets!

Many years ago, I used to dredge a short ways up stream from here. It was in a Top secret, high level jujitsu clearance area only but the point I'd like to make is that those large garnets just ain't
there. So the large garnets are entering the drainage somewhere between the two locations and so far, the river has not flooded enough to mix up the entire stream bed. As long as you maintain a
short distance to deposit that material should only be found in the upper gravels of the stream bed. The further you get away from the source the deeper the material is likely to be . Unless you have
a flood of biblical proportions, then all bets are off.

The short answer is, Yeah you will have good garnets there to. Just be mindful that you could dig out from under it.

Good luck, Woody.

[johnnybravo300]

That looks like a good amount of fine gold there too. What is that, a gram or three? Nice cleanup.
And the garnets are amazing as well. I'm usually just trying to pan through that stuff as fast as I can but I should stop and look in there more often haha. Darn cool collection in the pan Woody. It sounds like the creek is giving up some secrets to you. Good job man.

[Woody]

Thanks Johnnybravo,

It looks better in the pan than it did on the scale. I'd be hard pressed to call it even one gram. Had fun sucking it up though. We haven't been back up there for a while now, water levels have been too high. Those banks of
the river are steep in that area and offer very little access unless you can walk along the sides, and with the water covering the entire floor it makes for a hard time just setting your foot. I'll post some reports when we get back to it
though.

[Woody]

For several years now I've been excited about finding some Colorado Zircons. The place I am finding them is not one that is a known location so that makes it interesting. I made a video that shows some of my finds
the last several years. I hope you enjoy it. Woody



Here is the link to the video https://youtu.be/IpiyNW3JOsU

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[MikeS]

Those are some nice looking zircons Woody!

I have not found any myself but I wouldn't doubt that I have thrown a few into tailing piles. lol

I enjoyed the video. Thanks!

[Woody]

Tunnel Vision.


This weekend I went out prospecting in the mountains to an area I had Ear-Marked a few years back. It was higher up than most of my endeavors which was perfect for a day just like now. The heat
down below was almost unbearable but here it would be tolerable at least. My prior trip to that location had shown good surface finds. Lots of faceted chips lay about and two seams of Microcline could
clearly be seen just a few yards above. It was a long walk into the area with much of the footing being on a steep slant. I was glad to finally summit the top and begin the gentle decent on the other
side.

It wasn’t long before I began to replicate the findings of my first trip. On a bended knee, I was able to pick up a handful of broken crystal pieces in a span of about three feet. I decided to work my
way uphill to the microcline outcropping and see what the source might have to offer. The material looked to be getting better the further I went. I was even starting to pick up blocky, well formed,
lustrous chunks of the feldspar. I had my blinders on and Tunnel Vision was set to high……….

About then something twitched just a few feet in front of my hand… A baby Fawn! And scared as the dickings. Instantly I backed away, knowing full well her mother had just stashed her away at the
sound of my approach. It is a common tactic they use at the first sign of pending danger, or the mother might go off foraging and leave the fawn in hiding. Either way that fawn was just fine right
where it was at and the only thing I needed to do was give it space.

So I turned right around and started heading out the same direction I came in on. I already had my camera in my hand so I snapped a quickie. Sooooo much mountain, Sooooo many places to
explore. I moved on about another quarter mile or so and got into some fair material. Before the day was over I ear-marked two other places that need more of my attention…. Some other day!

Have a good one, Woody

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[Crusty]

Awesome "find!" Thanks for sharing!

[swizz]

Outstanding Woody!