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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums > Prospecting, Mineral Collecting and Treasure Hunting Forums > Prospectors and Rockhounding Field Work
johnnybravo300
Good day out there besides my tools icing up. It seems to happen this time of year. Whooohoo!
Crusty
Gotta love cold gold!!
swizz
Nice work Johnny! thumbsupsmileyanim.gif
It was -33 up here yesterday morning so that's distant dream for me right now. emoticon-object-024.gif
johnnybravo300
I talked my wife into feeding the sluice tomorrow. She said if she's cold no one will have fun hehe. She said we will take a thermos with hot cocoa and sandwiches. Sounds like a plan to me. I should take her more often! Whoohoo!
johnnybravo300
Another good day although I think I got more gold closer to the surface.
That dang elusive flood gold!
My wife fed the sluice and in between she was bringing me hot cocoa, rubbing my shoulders and shining my tools!! Maybe that's not all true.
The bazooka was flowing fast and deep and sucked up 8 buckets like nothing. Whooohoo!
I also found some weird wirey stuff. I'm calling it wire silver until I learn differently. Yeeaaahh! Wire silver!!
Crusty
Good stuff! Way to get out there!
johnnybravo300
Another fun day out there but not as rich as I expected. Time to move on down to the CRAZY looking area just below. I bet there's some gnarly pockets to be found there with all the gold traps! Whoohoo!
I broke two buckets from the cold and it snowed all day but what an awesome hunt.
MikeS
Nice color JohnnyBravo! thumbsupsmileyanim.gif

If that's surface flood stuff then there should be some hotter material in the right spots. Keep testing!
johnnybravo300
Heading out tomorrow should be a nice day. We are starting another section just downstream and I think it will be holding some decent pockets. There's lots of interesting features. I'll post up some pics of the results if I get anything. We're taking big snow shovels this time, and extra buckets. Yeaaahh baby!
Crusty
glad to hear someone is out getting some! I'm ready to get back in a cold creek!
johnnybravo300
We worked till we got too cold. Got a late start but did OK.
johnnybravo300
I'll go back Friday for sure, maybe this Wednesday. It's supposed to storm but if I can talk my daughter into going its always easier to suffer when someone is with you. If she won't go Wednesday I may wuss out!!
Crusty
QUOTE (johnnybravo300 @ Jan 18 2016, 06:10 PM) *
I'll go back Friday for sure, maybe this Wednesday. It's supposed to storm but if I can talk my daughter into going its always easier to suffer when someone is with you. If she won't go Wednesday I may wuss out!!



I hear ya... supposed to snow Thursday morning and only a high of 27; gonna hold out until Friday when it'll get to the 40s
EMac
I gotta find some time to get back up there; football is winding down, so Sundays are opening up soon! During the week is no good, and my Saturdays are currently shot.

I'm glad y'all are able to get out there. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif
johnnybravo300
We thought we'd get a jump on a nice day and start at 8 this morning.
Wrong effing morning.
The sun doesn't hit this canyon until about 10:30 and by then it was around 10 degrees.
By the time it was starting to warm up we had been wet and freezing for hours and my daughter had fallen down a waterfall and was soaked.
We only got to run a bucket or two through the bazooka before she couldn't take any more.
I'm spending the warm part of the day inside drinking cocoa and pouting.
Now I remember why I don't start until 10 in the winter.
Now that I can feel my extremities ill say it was fun!
Denise
Sounds like it was definitely an adventure! I hope your daughter is doing ok!! Not nice getting that wet in those temps. wacko.gif
Crusty
Definitely a challenge this time of year!

I hit Clear Creek yesterday; James showed up for a bit. Lots of ice; sun hit my spot at about 930 and went behind the other side of the canyon at 130. About to go clean out my Gold Hog mats now to see what I got!
johnnybravo300
Nice man!! What did you end up with?

Mrs cp, my daughter is fine, she's tough. She almost lost my scooper when she fell so I was more concerned with chasing that but it got stuck under the next ice dam downstream.
I told her good thing i found the scoop, it would have been too cold for her to walk back to gunnison haha!
swizz
Met up with Crusty and James on CC today for some winter diggin. Also got to meet Nate who stopped by to say hi. What a blast! emoticon-misc-004.gif
It was really windy in the morning but leveled off by noon to be a great day. I'm going to head back there tomorrow morn to do it again with the Crustmeister. signs026.gif
Crusty was dredging and has a great hole going. James had a great setup with the GoldHog highbanker running all day.
I'm hand classing to 1/2" and then feeding it to my Angus Mini Long Tom. This is the hole I punched today.
January Gold Diggin by GhostCreekMine, on Flickr

My Angus was showing some nice color in the upper V-Mat. This means I'm probably gonna have a good clean-up. happy088.gif
Gold in V-Mat by GhostCreekMine, on Flickr
swizz
We are going to be on the river tomorrow hand sluicing if anyone wants to join us.

Here is my cleanup from that last dig. Lots of small stuff (-#30 to -#100), still looking for my CC picker. kick_can.gif
CC sample by GhostCreekMine, on Flickr
swizz
Another great day on the river yesterday with Crusty, Joshua, Jason, and Benji. cheers.gif
johnnybravo300
Whoohoo look at that yellow!
Im hoping to get back out tomorrow and do some digging. Im sure there will be snow to move again after this last storm but its been really nice and warm and I can't resist with you guys posting pics.
I'll be going solo but maybe I can get a good day in. I did buy some new buckets and I'll have to say, the black rubbery heavy duty weatherproof ranch buckets work awesome when its cold. I knew i should have tried these a long time ago. Murdoch's in Salida has stacks of them for 5 bucks a piece.
Nice gold!
johnnybravo300
I was hoping crusty would post up what he got with his dredge?
Crusty
QUOTE (johnnybravo300 @ Feb 10 2016, 04:02 PM) *
I was hoping crusty would post up what he got with his dredge?


I posted it in the clear creek thread. Headed back out Friday to do some more sucking!
johnnybravo300
Man I almost forgot what it was like to sweat! The bazooka was eating it up as fast as I could feed it. Got some good clean outs and I may need to go back there. It's now my super secret waterfall spot and there seems to be decent color there. I wish I had a hand dredge. I see a goldnsands in my future.
Back to finish digging out the cave today as soon as my daughter gets here! Whooohoo!
swizz
Looking good Johnny B! thumbsupsmileyanim.gif
Three of us got out on CC again today and will be there again tomorrow. Anyone is welcome to join us. Awesome temps and great Gold in our sluices today. Crusty, thank you again for the Amish Mac Salad!! worthy.gif
Crusty
I had an "OK" day. ;)

Look forward to tomorrow!
swizz
I'm catching up with Crusty on the cold weather gear. cool.gif
My heated footbeds gave up the ghost last year so I just invested in a pair of these: Lenz Heated Socks ($100 off!)
Looking forward to some more cold gold with you guys & gals this winter! emoticon-object-024.gif
relicsncoins
I was thinking about just using the chemical foot warmers, the little packets that you put in gloves or boots.
swizz
The biggest problem with the packet toe warmers is that they require oxygen to work well. They are nice for a little while in waders and then they fizzle out because the neoprene booties allow a tad of moisture in (by design) to function. They are better than nothing though.
Crusty
QUOTE (swizz @ Oct 27 2016, 08:57 AM) *
I'm catching up with Crusty on the cold weather gear. cool.gif
My heated footbeds gave up the ghost last year so I just invested in a pair of these: Lenz Heated Socks ($100 off!)
Looking forward to some more cold gold with you guys & gals this winter! emoticon-object-024.gif

Score!
Crusty
QUOTE (swizz @ Oct 27 2016, 08:57 AM) *
I'm catching up with Crusty on the cold weather gear. cool.gif
My heated footbeds gave up the ghost last year so I just invested in a pair of these: Lenz Heated Socks ($100 off!)
Looking forward to some more cold gold with you guys & gals this winter! emoticon-object-024.gif


I checked out the 1800 batteries, but they cost as much as a set of socks and the 1200 batteries. Would be cheaper to get a second set and have the back up batteries from that.
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