The "digging clams" post got me to wondering if any of you ever fly to secret spots to pan for gold, and have any luck?

i've done some here in San Diego county. Got some flakes and small stuff. Just about any stream that flows out of the sierras is good and here in our local mts..But then, "Gold is where you find it"

I just bought my first gold panning kit. Can't wait to use it. I've been invited to an actual gold mine up some where south west of Salmon. I'll try to make it over there next summer.

a good friend and his family own a gold mine near denali park. we fly into their strip often to pan gold and camp and get chased by grizzlies

Quite a number of years ago my dear old dad bought me a membership in the "Gold Miners Assn" or some such, he thought it would be a fun gift. Guess maybe he was a frustrated treasure hunter. I wasn't too interested, but what their deal was was that you could go to any of their claims & dig/pan/whatever for gold. They had claims in just about all the states. Probably all were played out but who knows?

Eric

I have to confess- I actually do have a secret gold panning spot down in So Cal where I grew up. But I'll let the secret out to you guys cuz you're all my buds. It's at Knotts Berry Farm, in the old west section.

Growing up, my mom and dad had a few small dredges, one even had a diver air-delivery system with a SCUBA-like regular. You could remain underwater and chip away, sucking the goods up with the dredge hose. We had a large creek running through our 40 acres, so hot summers were spent hunting for creek-born gold.

I think we found one decent sized "nugget" in all those years, and it was prob 5mm in dia.

As a Dall sheep hunter, I would never tell another sheep hunter where I like best to go hunting -- same sort of thing goes for where I can find a little gold! But it is out there.

Nizina

Haven't done any fly-in prospecting. But I've played around with a mini sluice at Petersville and Nome Creek. Nothing much, but a few flakes big enough to point to and say "See...that's gold!"

There's a few places I've got marked to try once I get the Bear flying.

Phil

hotrod150 wrote:Quite a number of years ago my dear old dad bought me a membership in the "Gold Miners Assn" or some such, he thought it would be a fun gift. Guess maybe he was a frustrated treasure hunter. I wasn't too interested, but what their deal was was that you could go to any of their claims & dig/pan/whatever for gold. They had claims in just about all the states. Probably all were played out but who knows?

Eric

Sounds like the " buzzard" special... I have always wondered what happened to that guy and that TV show..

Ben

[/quote]

Sounds like the " buzzard" special... I have always wondered what happened to that guy and that TV show..

Ben[/quote]

I think he had a heart attack and died and his kids or somebody didn't want to keep the show going.

He did die and that's the story. His shows were fun and that IS how I got started. Once I started to find gold it was down hill or hooked from there. I haven't done much in the past years but there was a guy dredging at Warm Springs Idaho one year when I flew in there to soak in the hot springs and fish. Don't know how he was doing but there must be gold there as he was pretty busy working his spot on the stream...

Student BCP wrote:

Sounds like the " buzzard" special... I have always wondered what happened to that guy and that TV show..

Ben[/quote]

I think he had a heart attack and died and his kids or somebody didn't want to keep the show going.[/quote]

Correct in part and wrong in part. He did die. His kids did take it over. The show is still on the Outdoor Channel, cept it's now two different shows with each of the sons in one. The kids apparently have done well enough with it that they now own the Outdoor Channel. The club is the Gold Prospectors Ass'n of America. They still have claims all over the US that members can pan, sluice, and dredge on. They also have an annual trek to a claim outside of Nome, Alaska. I've been also known to wet a pan and a sluice or two. BTW, the mag you see on the Mag stands entitled Gold Prospector's Magazine is by the kids.

No shit I thought it was history.. THat's great. I'm glad they carried on the old man's passion.. I'll have to look it up on the net. I'm sure they'll have a web site. I've never seen it on the outdoor channel although I think there are two outdoor channels or something like that and we only get one in San Diego...Thanks for the info...

AKGrouch wrote:.......The club is the Gold Prospectors Ass'n of America. They still have claims all over the US that members can pan, sluice, and dredge on.......

That's the group I was trying to refer to in my earlier post.

hotrod150 wrote:

AKGrouch wrote:.......The club is the Gold Prospectors Ass'n of America. They still have claims all over the US that members can pan, sluice, and dredge on.......

That's the group I was trying to refer to in my earlier post.

Here ya go.....

http://www.goldprospectors.org/

Used to live up in the Motherlode. Sonora, Calif. A popular airport there is Columbia. There is a California State Park about a 20 minute walk from the airport that a lot of people visit on the weekends. It's the restored old ghost town of Columbia dating back to the 1850s. It's got a main street with a bunch of side streets. Lot's of shops and a bar. Pony rides. Stagecoach rides. It's got a gold panning area and you can see the old hydraulic mining area there too. We lived up the mountain further. There's a lot of gold in them thar hills. People we knew would disappear on the weekends and come back Monday. Wouldn't tell you where they went to. Best time is late spring thru summer. New stuff being washed down all the time.

average guy wrote:Used to live up in the Motherlode. Sonora, Calif. A popular airport there is Columbia. There is a California State Park about a 20 minute walk from the airport that a lot of people visit on the weekends. It's the restored old ghost town of Columbia dating back to the 1850s. It's got a main street with a bunch of side streets. Lot's of shops and a bar. Pony rides. Stagecoach rides. It's got a gold panning area and you can see the old hydraulic mining area there too. We lived up the mountain further. There's a lot of gold in them thar hills. People we knew would disappear on the weekends and come back Monday. Wouldn't tell you where they went to. Best time is late spring thru summer. New stuff being washed down all the time.

Hey Mark!!!! Could all this be true?????

Nizina wrote:As a Dall sheep hunter, I would never tell another sheep hunter where I like best to go hunting -- same sort of thing goes for where I can find a little gold! But it is out there.

Nizina

I posted a picture of a ram that two boys, that belong to a WWII friend of mine, shot. I flew them just to see how the country laid, before they went hunting the following week.

skybobb wrote: I posted a picture of a ram that two boys, that belong to a WWII friend of mine, shot. I flew them just to see how the country laid, before they went hunting the following week.

Yah. Its always best to fly an area before making that long walk in. Kind of makes all of that "devils club" and alder patches worth it.

Nizina