My son and I are newcomers to prospecting and this winter we have been doing a lot of reading up on it, watching videos, collecting and making gear, practicing some panning and waiting for some nicer weather to get out on our first field trip. Becoming a member of CP has offered some great information also in research and regulations. We have appreciated communicating with some of you that have been around a bit. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us and welcoming us to the group.

This weekend we had planned on going to one of the researched areas available to members of CP. We had all our gear packed and ready to go. Got up early on Sunday and headed up the mountain. When we arrived at the spot, to our dismay, we discovered a lot of snow pack and deep snow drifts were going to prevent us from accessing the creek. Guess we should have need that one coming. Of course my 17 year old son wanted to tie a rope to a tree and just slide down the drifts but they were about hip deep and I am not as spry as I once was so figured getting back up at the end of the day would be more than I bargained for. This area will be awesome later when the snow melts. Very beautiful.

We decided to head back down the mountain and spend the day on Clear Creek off of Youngfield Rd.

We did some test panning and decided to work a couple of eddies along the creek edge where the water had kicked out. I found a nice spot to try and set up my sluice. With the Gold Hog matting I had in my A52, I knew I needed something fast and steep according to Doc's advice. I dont think I had this quite right and maybe was blowing out too much material. I had the speed but maybe not the pitch and too much water. I can definitely see the advantages of a sluice stand. More tinkering...

We had a fun time and our butts were thoroughly kicked by the end of the day. We did find some gold, but very small and not a lot. Its all about the hunt for us anyway.

I think it was a good first trip on the water. We learned a lot and we both only look forward to more trips to come. See you all out there someday.

Here are some pics (sorry I was too excited and forgot to take more...)

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Video of sluice running ....

A52 with Gold Hog 3-30-14

Nice pics and vid Ken, thanks for posting them up to share. Looks like you and your son had a great day at the creek even though the snow up a bit higher was too deep at the researched club area you wanted to visit.
Definitely can understand about coming back up hill after hiking in with snow of that depth, that would be a tough trek for sure.

Hard to tell about water depth/speed or sluice angle in the short vid but looks like it should have been close to good on the set up....maybe just a tad bit "fast" when material was put in.
It should take about thirty seconds maybe to run a generous scoop clear through the sluice, then what the riffles have a hold of should stay in place unless the sluices set up changes somehow with a rock moving or something.
We also have some tips for sluice set up and running in the field on our plans and tips page that might help a little.
Looks like it might have been a tad bit chilly too out there but nice day all in all for your first with some nice colors to show.....SWEEET!

Keep up the good work and even those lil' colors will start adding up in the vial. That's always a plus to beautiful day on the creek which is "golden" all in itself!

Glad to see your plan B allowed you to do some prospecting and a little color. I am sure the experience with your son was the biggest treasure of the day!

You were outside,you were spending time with your son,you found gold with your son! thats a win/win/win situation in my books! Memorys are worth more than gold!

Awesome Ken! Thanks for sharing those pics and what a great day you had..... I'm jealous!
Very nice colors.

The key to the Gold Hog Matting is water velocity, not volume. I'm still having fun with that myself!