Out prospecting

Awright, I went inland today and headed for a spot that looked really promising on the maps. But upstream it proved more or less impossible to get down to the stream, at least without getting killed falling 150 meters (450') :-)

So I headed to a spot where the stream entered the river and then walked a bit upstream. But again I found only large rubbles and no sand/gravel... But there were mosquitoes(!) - millions of 'em ;-) Maybe even further upstream but that is a loong hike...

So I went for the second alternative for the day and that looked promising, plenty of water in the stream, a long rapid down the hill and there seemed to be some spots of sand and gravel. But the first two hikes and made me tired so I didn't feel like venturing out down that stream to the most promising part that was a bit downstream.

So I headed a bit East to a spot that looked promising and wasn't too far from the road.

So off I went and got to the spot after a long drive on a gravel road. And this also looked rather promising but mostly larger rubble and rocks - no gravel/sand. So I ventured downstream hauling all my gear with me. And after about 250 meter (750') downstream the creek widened a bit and the water slowed down and there were lot's and lot's of sand and gravel and also a suitable spot for my sluice. Lovely!

So I started digging up gravel with a shovel and ran that through a screen. After each full bucket of screened material I ran that material through the sluice. Three buckets later I could not wait any more so I started panning the concentrate and....

... nothing(!) Well nothing I could find out in the woods. So I ran another seven buckets through the sluice and then brought the concentrate back with me home. It took me 2.5 hours to run all ten buckets. Man I was tired ;-)