Quote Originally Posted by Elessar View Post
I have tried a little panning in the Sierra's, Klamath River, Trinity River, and the Rouge River.

You're right! It is backbreaking, but interesting none the less!

In the Sierra's it is all over the place going up along CA 104 to Kennedy Meadows, but it is
flour gold, and not worth the effort for a panner to waste a day on unless they have a
very serious obsession!

You're right though...if you find a hoard, keep it quiet! Stake a claim perhaps??
But keep quiet!
All those pics I've posted from Disappointment Creek upriver from my cabin on the Talkeetna is an interesting site. The name doesn't come from the fishing - it's from many different miners who have gone bust trying to get gold out of there. The miners have been trying to make it work since the early 1900s.

Apparently the geology points to a SURE THING!!!! according to those that know where gold is likely to be, but Disappointment has beaten them every time.

Good for me, though, since that's my favorite fishin' hole! D9s would kind of ruin the atmosphere, but I wouldn't begrudge a guy giving it a whirl - there's other spots to fish on the river.



Also, if you're into prospecting - a tip I got from an old grizzled miner once : if you have a small backpack dredge, work the culverts under those backcountry roads. The riffles in those culverts are awesome gold catchers! He showed me a nugget the size of his thumbnail from a culvert out of Fairbanks from a tiny, unnamed creek.