Decided to do a scout trip yesterday. The weather was great for February and the snow was almost all melted(low elevation).
First we explored an area not really known for quality finds but was interesting to see some different geology there. For the second half of the day we went looking for a claim that I have been wanting to locate on the ground for a while. We found a few of the claim markers and was able to take a look (look only!) at what they are getting into. In the end there wasn't much to take home except information, memories and a sunburn! lol!
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Taking a quick look at some pieces the claim owner left behind before putting them back right where they were.
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I have seen several people use these signs to mark their claims. I take issue with the use of "Federal Mining Claim" on these signs. I believe they should be corrected to say "Private Mining Claim". What do you think?
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I also notice these signs are missing an important piece of information that is required. The LOCATION DATE!

Looks like a great day Mike, fantastic pictures. I agree on the mining claim sign, could easily say "private mining claim" as long as it has the proper info listed with it.

Looks like a great way to get out and enjoy one of Colorado's awesome mid-winter spring weekends!

Cool trip Mike!
I have to take exception to the above quote. "Location Date" or other information is not required on those signs... in fact, those signs are not required at all by any mining law. They are just fluff in terms of legal information. You can hand-make any sign you want. Those pictured are sold commercially and another which is similar. I use both commercial versions, and lot of them. They are not perfect by any means but the only ones currently widely available. I'd like to see a better variety of signage but those are fine. Best thing is to make your own signs for your claim(s) if you have the will and means, I may some day for my claims but not a priority.
"Location Date" is required on Location Notices and Certificates Of Location.... those yellow signs are neither. The "Location Date" is required to be stated on the C.O.L./Loc Notice when posted on the claim. No physical Location Notice/C.O.L. sign or marker maintenance is required after that to justify the site's legality (although I highly recommend maintaining the physical on-site C.O.L. and boundary markers).
After a mining claim has been properly/successfully staked, recorded, and filed... no signs of any kind are required to be maintained or installed on the land. Claims remain legal and active with absolutely no signage.... otherwise vandals would have free reign as claim jumpers.

Not required but they sure do let folks know you're serious! Someone that takes that much time to make their claim visible is likely to be willing to follow up with someone ignoring all those signs!

Thanks swizz!

I should have been a bit more specific about the use of the signs. The sign in the photo and the others I have seen, seem to be being used as the Notice of Location on the "Discovery Monument" or disco marker. It is possible that they had a proper NOL then replaced them with these signs. I also recommend keeping up your posts and at least a simple NOL on the disco marker. I made my own to comply with Federal and State regs.

Those signs do not legally qualify as a Cert Of Location. Must display MTRS, mining district, etc., in addition to the other requirements to qualify as a C.O.L.
If what you are stating is true... that claim was illegally staked. Missing far more than just "Location Date".
On my first staking I accidentally left out something as simple as Meridian. I was contacted Certified Mail by the DOI/BLM and instructed to amend my C.O.L. with the Meridian or my claim would be voided within 30 days of notice. I'm not sure how anyone could pull off using those yellow signs as being even close to an acceptable or valid Cert Of Location.
If they once had a proper C.O.L. on site (at the time of staking) they are good as Gold. Doesn't need to be maintained on site. A physical copy of the original C.O.L. will be on file at the County and BLM HQ as all are. I doubt that they originally used that sign as an official C.O.L. and copied it into their files. It would have most likely been rejected. Their original C.O.L. may have "disappeared" from the monument, I think most do since they are paper. Mine are in waterproof sealed containers attached to my monuments and labeled. I used to have them taped to the discovery markers in Ziploc but the Bears wouldn't leave them alone. Now Bear proof...... I think.

During raspberry season I noticed teeth marks on my signage. Looks like I may have the same issue.

I think I should clarify my use of the terms Notice of Location vs. Certificate of Location.

The regulations for Colorado say to post when staking "upon such claim a plain sign or notice containing the name of the claim, the name of the locator, the date of the discovery." and in addition with a placer claim "the number of acres or feet claimed." This is the sign or notice that I refer to as Notice of Location(NOL).

The Certificate of Location(COL) is what is filed with the county and BLM. which also requires in addition: Address of claimant(s), type of claim or site, and a complete description of the lands claimed.(MTRS, linear feet, acres, etc.)

I can find no regulations or laws that require any other signs on site other than the NOL when staking. I can find no regulations requiring to keep up posts or signs. However as I read it you do need to be able find the claim on the ground somehow with the COL info and landmarks and/or monuments on or near the claim.

That is correct.

Today was beautiful out, so my brother and I went for a scout trip up to Larimer County. We checked for claim markers and went to an abandoned mine area that was closed in the 90's. I was guessing that they were chasing beryllium minerals. Turns out they were chasing copper ore. We didn't find any of the minerals we were looking for(Chrysoberyl, Beryl, Topaz) but we did find some Malachite, Chrysocolla, Azurite, purple Fluorite, black tourmaline and some garnets.

Sullivan Park
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Abandoned copper mine in Sullivan Gulch
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Malachite, Chrysocolla and Azurite
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GLad to know someone was out enjoying the weather; I was trapped I a basement on a 12 hour shift.

Great pics!

Sounds like it was a great time Mike! Good to see you and Dave out enjoying this fine weather! It's a beautiful area with some sweet treasures, thanks for sharing pics. That first pic from your finds yesterday will clean up nicely with the pressure gun.

I'm so jealous, that looks like a great day! I'm chomping at the bit to dig with everyone on the 4th at the CP outing.

On Easter Sunday my brother and I met up with swizz to scout an area and prospect for a little gold and fossils. We found both! Another great day to make an amazing weekend!

Dave and Swizz
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Me running the gold wheel.
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Timber
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I found a decent leaf fossil with good detail that I took home.
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Damn that's a really cool fossil. Nice find!

Such an awesome day! Thank you again for the munchies too.
I had to work today but I think I'm gonna head back up there tomorrow and pick at that bedrock some more. I'm gonna bring some suction to work those cracks better. Maybe a quick fossil stop too!

awesome fossil!

Cool swizz, I think some suction on that bedrock could do really well. Most of the gold is likely hugging the rock or down in the cracks where our scoops just can't get to.
Good luck! Hope you find some nuggets and bugs(fossilized ones). If you get the chance grab a piece of that horsetail and compare it to those fossils you and Dave were finding.

I went on a solo scout trip a few weeks ago in another area known for Beryl. I found some clear broken chunks in the leftovers of an old prospecting hole. After a quick test I thought it was just quartz. I forgot about it for a few days. Then I did a more in depth test at home and came to the conclusion that I had found Beryl. Some of the chunks are clear enough to be of cut quality(Goshenite) or darn close. Now I am anxious to get back up there to prospect the area some more.
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Metamorphic rock with pegmatite running through it.
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Beryl
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great pictures and fossils. pssst, someone over the weekend got me hooked on crystals and gems,, not saying any names, Collin, stupid endless pocket, stupid earth and its treasures, now I am jonesing for both gold and crystals.

Ditto! Awesome finds Mike!

Ummm about it being "stupid," NOT!

ONE L, dammit!

Colin

Nice finds Mike S, as usual.

Dave, Ian and I met up with some club members this weekend to scout and prospect in southeast Colorado. We found interesting fossils and crystals in the septarian nodules.

The scenery
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Ian and Jason take a snack break while I am digging uphill.
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Jason displays his awesome Calcite find!
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Crusty digs in and finds Calcite crystals.
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Pieces of the septarian nodules
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Video from the scout trip.

Dave and I went last weekend to scout out a hopeful gold location. I found some of the glacial deposits I was looking for but none of them showed any color. It was a beautiful area to explore and I may come back some day for more testing.
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Yesterday I left work a bit early and went solo up to Rampart Range to scout out a hopeful crystal location. I found a little pocket of quartz crystals and a few loose ones. They were not very good quality but it's a sign that other minerals or better quartz may be near.
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Beautiful pics! I would be pretty happy if I found a Quartz pocket like that.

Nice group of Smokeys. We have been out to Topaz point twice this summer. That meadow with the creek , is that farther south toward Woodland Park ?

The first 2 pics of my brother standing in the creek was taken near Rabbit Ears Pass. We were looking for gold up there but no luck.
The 3rd pic is a view of Jackson Creek south of Devils Head.

After years of talking about it, Dave and I finally went to Chaffe County to look for gold and crystals. We found both!
On Saturday we set up camp next to a gold bearing creek then Dave and I went for a hike up to timberline to look for granite that showed signs of pegmatite. We found lots of quartz veins running through granite and schist formations making for a very interesting mix of minerals there. I found a few tiny quartz crystals in the granite and found a few tiny crystals of quartz and epidote(I think) in the schist. I didn't bring back any rocks from up there but Dave brought back this nice example of columbite-tantilite.
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We decided to leave early to get back to camp and do a test pan of the creek. On the way out Dave twisted his ankle badly. Luckily he was able to slowly make it out of the rough area we were in and back to the car. We got back to camp and Dave rested a bit while I grabbed a pan and went over to the creek to give it my first test. I moved a rock about the size of a basketball and took two scoops with my shovel into my classifier and pan. I counted 24 pieces of gold from it and a few were chunky and decent size so I went back to camp for my gold wheel.
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I ran 1 bucket of material through the wheel.
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Dave joined in to pan and "ice" his ankle in the cold water.
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Dave also found this little treasure while panning in the creek. Goethite or hematite pseudomorph after magnetite.
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That's looking pretty good man! Nice! I was wondering what you found while there, and that looks decent. Looks like I'll see ya'll this weekend!

The Gold is impressive, that looks promising.

For the weekend Dave and I invited Club Members to come along with us to Chaffe County for more scouting and prospecting. We camped and prospected the creek for gold upstream from where we went last weekend. We prospected near camp at first. There was gold but the amounts were not as good as I had seen downstream prior. After a walk downstream I realized the original creek had been diverted and very old looking workings were evident. I walked downstream to where it appeared that the old creek bed and current one met back up. I started to see better gold there but after 2 days of working it, it still did not look as good as the spot Dave and I tried downstream. So on the 4th we went back to the lower spot and had a half day where the gold looked even better than before.

Here is where I worked for the first 2 days.
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Dave works his turbo pan.
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Crusty runs his sluice
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Emac wrestles his dredge/highbanker
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James, Cyndi and AJ work an old rock/dirt pile with a highbanker.
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I didn't catch a pic of Jason working his sluice but I caught him while relaxing at the temporary shelter and fire we made near the dig area.
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I will try to get pics of my total haul when I get the chance.

Carol is right Crusty, that is a great photo of you.
FB folks are right too, it could easily pass as an old photo.
Think I might submit this for the homepage pic. lol
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It is a great pic; thanks for catching it!

Eric and I were talking and if I find the gold continues up and/or downstream, I'd like to get y'all's thoughts on jumping on your bandwagon and adding another claim on one side of you & Dave's. Haven't looked at the map to see where boundaries would fall and if there is enough room, but I do think it would be cool if we did secure 3 (or 4 if Emac does and there is room) claims along the creek. Would keep us in the gold for a long time and give club members a good chunk of ground to work. Something to discuss over the campfire this weekend :)

Absolutely! I'd feel like a bit of a mooch taking advantage of Mike and Dave's location skills, but I'd get over it.

Certainly let you guys pick your spots and we can fill in around you. Let's chat this weekend!

Thanks for catching pics of all of us out there!

Dave and I spent the weekend testing for gold in a few different creeks. My older brother Terry showed up with the kids to learn how to pan and sluice.

The first spot I tested showed some small flakes in the top layer but I didn't see any color in my test pans when I dug down. This spot has granite bedrock showing on the banks. There may be some old deposits sitting on the bedrock if I can hit it in the riverbed.
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Then I met up with Dave at spot#2. It was not showing any color in our test pans.
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Then my brother and his family met up with us for some gold panning/camping. Since the color didn't look good there we decided to go to where we have already been finding it. The kids had a fun time playing in the creek and camping with their uncles. I sent them home with a vial of the gold we found over the weekend.
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