Gold Prospecting at Cache Creek

nittany1

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
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722
Location
Sarasota, FL
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My son and I went prospecting at Cache Creek the other day. We actually took an unintended detour up Quail Mountain. We made the left in Granite but instead of taking the left turn towards Cache Creek we kept going straight and ended up at more than 12,000'. It was cold and you could see mountains going on forever as far as the eye could see. Cache Creek I think is at 9,200'. If you don't know about Cache Creek, it's on public land managed by the BLM. You don't need a permit to prospect or detect on BLM managed land, but the rules vary per location as to what kind of equipment you can use.

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After meeting up with a camper way up on Quail Mt he explained that we missed the turn off miles ago. We got turned around and found Cache Creek after we saw the sign. I set up my son's E-Z sluice because I wasn't sure how much water flow there was this time of year, I left my Keene in the trunk of the car. The E-Z is pretty good with low water flow but because of the miner's moss it's better with flakes than with fines and Cache Creek has a lot of fines.

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My son got bored of digging and decided he was going to make mud pies instead. It's funny too because in the mud pie pictured there was actually a flake of gold and he had no clue. He's 4 and he's a prospector already!

The parking lot wasn't very full I think because high bankers and other motorized equipment isn't allowed anymore. I would have more pictures but I left my memory card for the waterproof camera back at my cabin down at 8,200'.
 
Nice story sir. I haven't panned in a long long time. That's hard work esp. If you don't have slucebox. A dredge makes it so much easier of course. Thanks for sharing.
 
Wow that first pic is amazing and the one with your son is cool, looks like he's havin a good time with Dad. I've always wanted to try panning but I don't think there's any spots around my parts. GL&HH
 
So you're saying you dismembered your sons md pie for the gold...how greedy can you get...next you'll be taking his sand castles just for the rolex watch in it....:laughing:
 
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