Hi, I am a new member and want to stay local and was wondering if there are any members in the Woodland Park area and if you guys ever have any get togethers? I typically dig on 700 acres of private land that we are caretakers for so I have not ventured out on my own, too scary.

Hi Chef Mel and welcome to the CP forums! Tough time of year for digging right now but spring is right around the corner.
The forums have members from all over including Woodland Park. When plans come together they will be posted in this section unless they are club members outings. Those we post in the club members protected section of the forum. I know everyone is chomping at the bit to get back out there digging again!!

Welcome! There are a few of us from the area that get together, we had two outings last spring up near Denver that were outstanding. Once it starts getting nice again people will start getting the itch to get out and dig.

Scary? Nah. You just have to dive in and start looking. A great location to start figuring out how to determine if an area is open to prospecting is the clear creek open space, it's a great combination of open land, with some restrictions and a claim right in the middle. That's where I started, and it's a very easy area to research.

Hey Brandon, are you gonna be back in time for another spring gathering this year?

June my friend. Earliest I'd be out would probably be around 4th of july time.

damn, well scratch that then. Hopefully you can make some time to head up to the claims though!
Would like to get you, Crusty, Caveman and a few others that still have a strong back (ok, YOU TOO Pat!) behind a pick & shovel moving a ton of dirt out there, it's just waitin' for ya's! Can run Scott's trommel there with my water situation now. Man, now I got the itch just thinkin about it. I'm planning a dig this spring closer to the processing ponds. I may have figured out where the old timers left off down there. Anyway, worth sampling... I've got some ideas.

I getting' a growin' need to scratch my itch, too...... I WILL be able to work something out this year to get up there, Chris!

Springtime up there is usually sometime in June which will work out well for Brandon but we'll need to hit up something before then.

I can't wait till spring I was out digging yesterday afternoon! The scary part for me is going out in the forrest alone, but I have been taking the 4 wheeler out to the old digs here on the property where I work. It is a sunny hillside and so far, no frost line. I found a smoky quartz and what I think maybe a piece of fluorite right on top of the ground. I've been doing a lot of research but have not figured what they were mining back then.

Question to any who may know- there is a section that has really black soil and less than 10 feet away the soil is a dark orange color. Is this a good sign? I'm trying to read and study everything I can get my hands on so I don't sound like a complete newb.

Anyplace on the river by the ranch you work would do nicely - if it's open by April or May. Otherwise - Clear Creek. There are a few spots down in the Denver area that
produce very fine, but very good (in the right spot) gold. Last year's storms should have stirred up some good stuff!

I'm going to try and throw together a nice dredge/highbanker setup before I get back, I need to find a decent pump to slap on the motor I have sitting in the garage collecting dust. Maybe I'll even be nice and clean out your pond Chris!

Chef Mel,

Welcome to the forum.

Woodland Park is a good place for a prospector to be located. Fossils, gemstones and gold/silver are all found in the vicinity. The burn scar sites in that area could produce alluvial gemstones due to the recent flood events. If you have a chance to sample creeks coming out of the burn scars, I encourage you to search for gemstones. Finding valuable gems would be a positive impact to the area that has seen far too much damage from the wildfires.

Hope you find that this forum is a great resource for your future prospecting adventures.

ASTROBLEME

Thanks, great advice. I live across the street from the burn areas. We were lucky that the fire jumped the street a bit further down from us near Rainbow Falls. The weather is so awesome right now I may head out tomorrow for some exploring.

Good luck!