Hooked on Gold Prospectors Blog

Suction Dredging Ban NOT Overturned in California

2012-01-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to readers Rick Solinsky and Jerry Hobbs who were kind enough to let me know of an error in the last post, I am sharing some more information on the California dredging ban. I am posting what they sent me here:

We got rid of the injunction to stop issuingpermits, but now have the 2 laws, SB670 & AB120 to get rid of. There is ahearing on the 2 bills feb. 22, 2012.

I misinterpreted the original post and so did quite a few other people. Please note that the original link below is about the injunction to stop issuing PERMITS, and not lifting the dredging ban. http://www.plp2.org/forums/showthread.php?483-PLP-WINS!!!-injunction-overturned-Suction-Dredging-permits

Thanks again for the clarification. I received the last link from GPOC whom I must now inform of their own error. (I thought this was too good to be true)! I will go and add a comment on the other post as well. Rick, and Jerry, submit one too so we get the story straight.

I have deleted the other post the original post to help with the confusion.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

www.hookeongold.com

hookedngold@gmail.com

Looking forward to Summer's Golden Sunsets

2012-01-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

                                    Sunset at CORA, near Fairplay last summer

Sheesh! Every time I log into Blogger the format is different. LOL!

Gold price closed at $1667.00 for the weekend. Everyone is wondering what it will do in the coming weeks, too. Half of what I read says up and the other half says down. The Federal Open Market Committee meets next Wednesday and what they decide could make a difference....but maybe not. I think everyone agrees gold will go up some time this year, and possibly to $2000.00 an ounce. Not too far off its' annual average march of 10% a year for the past 10 years, so that is a safe bet.

Did you know that the average age of vehicles on the road went up this year? Yup, 10.8 years old. Now, if all of you who have cars on the road out there that are as old as mine, went out and bought a new car, the price of metals (especially palladium) might go up.....or not. However, Russia's stockpile of the metal becoming depleted and its' largest miner of nickel and palladium cutting production next year, might.

On the website, you should be seeing the menu being changed, and, hopefully, I found all the page links that needed severing. I saw that part of the menu buttons were still going to pages that I should have cut off last year. I don't know about you, but last year was a STRANGE year around here. Well, some years are just like that. The site should be tightened up and some information has been updated as well. I will get back to other pages and look at them for updates this next week.

On a personal note, we are making our plans for some time in Arizona in February. It is still up in the air as to whether we will make the 2012 Tucson Show, but we WILL be headed south some time in February.

I saw while I was doing updates, that Hooked on Gold has been online for 7 years! Lots of things have happened since then, too. Hope your week is a golden one and make sure you are out there finding gold or at least making plans to. I am looking forward to spending more time on what I started this website and blog for and less on the things that are just busy work.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
www.hookedongold.com
hookedongold@gmail.com

Happy Gold Prospecting New Year!

2012-01-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to All!

Blogger has made many changes since I was last here. However, I see the default font is still unacceptable and I can't seem to change it until the post is completed. (sigh) Always something, eh?

You will find updates going on on the site, so please bear with me as I change the menu, etc. The store is going away...just not enough activity to warrant keeping it going, and the price of gold is getting high enough I cannot keep up with gold nuggets any longer. Rest assured, however, I plan to keep up with the website. Hopefully, with less going on, I can blog more this year and worry about selling a whole lot less. I, also, am still getting form requests I assume for the Bucket Classifier. That page should have been gone years ago and I cannot find links to it anywhere. If you find one, PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHERE IT IS! If you have asked for it and not gotten it, it is because the page should be gone and what you are sending does not tell me what it was for. I also had forms for panning instructions at one time.

I DO hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season. Mine starts at Thanksgiving and ends with New Years, so the season encompasses many weeks.

December was cold and we had 16 inches of snow in Denver, half our snow for the winter. We are enjoying very mild temps the first of January, and I hope this doesn't mean February will be -40 degrees!

We are planning on a trip to Arizona for the Tucson show and to spend some time with friends there. I am looking over last year's calendar and am picking which stories to share with you this winter about our gold prospecting adventures here in Colorado. Finding gold in Colorado is becoming very challenging, although several areas still are producing enough to keep everyone happy.

Hope the beginning of your year is pleasant, and you find time to get your prospecting equipment in tip top shape for the coming season. Be vigilant out there and watch what is happening with the laws. Contact your representatives and make sure your voice is heard.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

www.hookedongold.com

A Summer's Worth of Finding Gold in Colorado

2011-09-09T08:48:00.000-06:00

Summer is winding down, and with it gold prospecting season here in Colorado. While many will continue to search for gold, most of us will be settling in for the coming of the holidays and winter.

The price of gold has been on a wild ride this summer, sitting at around $1860 now, and pricing it for sale has been tricky. If anyone has been on the store site, you will notice that it is disappearing and I am not sure I will continue to offer it, as the high price is pricing me out of the market, requiring a substantial investment in it to continue to offer smaller gold.

We have had a busy, busy summer, and, yes, I continue to get comments on the lack of blog posts. But to tell the truth, there is so much to report, it is hard for me to decide what to tell you. That, and the lack of time, has kept me from sharing more information.

I hear that Cache Creek is a complete zoo this year with over a hundred workers there on some days. We have had camp hosts who have been charging for lessons and help, selling their contraptions in the parking lot, cutting down trees, digging huge holes, people who continue to abuse the site, and threats from BLM to close it down. We have avoided it like the plague and have still been pulled into the drama.

GPOC needs to be more careful who they put in there, and the lack of real concern over who the hosts are or how long they are there has been a real concern for all members. Board members have not been kept up to date with what is going on there, not allowed to see the regulations for the area unless they go to Cache Creek and get their own copies. If GPOC is to continue this relationship with BLM, the quality of hosts needs to be addressed. If it is too hard to find volunteers for this, then we need to sever this relationship instead of putting people in there who have already shown themselves to be unreliable in their conduct, or to have them push the envelope until they are removed from the site and/or lose their club membership. It seems our camp hosts are no longer there to help the public, but for personal gain.

I am also hearing that the Forest Service may be overstepping their bounds in regard to the Arkansas River area around BV. We have heard they are riding herd over BLM area as well as Forest Service, and have heard that they are issuing tickets, but I don't know that for sure. They were not supposed to be doing that until all the signs were in place, and then only on Forest Service land. BLM should be taking care of the land they manage. The drama there continues as well.

Meanwhile, we have been happily looking for gold in other places, here in Colorado, and enjoying the peace and tranquility of South Park near Trout Creek Pass. Hopefully, your gold prospecting season has been as pleasant as ours, and that you have found gold to put in your bottle. We have found enough to make it worth our time finding gold in Colorado. Until next time...

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
www.hookedongold.com
hookedongold@gmail.com

2011-06-24T20:35:00.000-06:00

Recirculating systems we used in South Dakota on a friend's claim

Summer is here and with it, Gold Prospecting season!

The blog has had to take a back seat this winter and spring as we have had a lot of things going on in our personal lives that has had to take up a lot of time and energy, and has left little time to think about what to blog about. I have heard your cries and pleas to start it up again, and hopefully, things will settle down some so I will have more time to devote to it.

We have spent the past two weeks in South Dakota with friends who have a new gold prospecting claim there and were wanting some help with proving it. This type of work will usually cost you big time, but since they have been friends for a while, we decided to take some time to visit the Black Hills again and run the roads, see the monuments, and spend some time in the beautiful out of doors.

They have had an unusual amount of rain this year, and the wild grass is lush and being mowed everywhere. The white tails are abundant, and we have had fun watching a group of turkey hens and their chicks several days while they looked for bugs in our vicinity on our friends’ claim. We got a couple of pictures of the buffalo that roam the area of Custer State Park, too, and enjoyed driving through the one way tunnels and over the pigtail bridges on highway 16A. Of course, we took an afternoon to visit Mt Rushmore and had ice cream for lunch. :>D

I have not posted any new information on the Arkansas River changes for this year, as I cannot find anyone who will give me the information. I have been informed by the BLM that some of my information is incorrect, but have yet to get a call back from them to let me know what needs changing. I also have not heard back from GPOC’s president on the information, either, and there is a lot of information out there that is in conflict.

I also, have not heard that there have been any changes at Cache Creek for this year. Until I hear otherwise, I assume that everything there is the same as it was last year.

For those of you who have decided that I do not research my information, I most certainly do, and any information that I put out is the best I can get at the time. If I could get the powers that be to assist me better, I could report better. If you have an issue with any item on a page, it would be more helpful for you to reference the URL or the page rather than to assume I know what you are talking about. My site has over 70 pages, many with similar information on them and I cannot know what you are talking about if you don’t give me the page you were reading when you decided my information was incorrect. Nasty emails sent to me about it won’t help with getting the information corrected, assuming it is incorrect, since I have no idea what information you are questioning.

On a more pleasant note, we are headed home tomorrow and will be back in the Colorado Mountains some time next week. Looking for gold and finding gold in Colorado will be a top priority. Hopefully, we will have more gold in our bottles this year than we did last year. In the Mean Time:

Good Prospecting To You,

Shirley Weilnau

www.hookedongold.com

hookedongold@gmail.com

Gold Close Friday June 24, 2011 $1502.60

The Gold Prospecting Bog That Almost Isn't. LOL!

2011-04-18T14:39:00.000-06:00

Have you had a busy winter? I certainly have! It has been tough finding time to blog, even though there is a LOT to tell you.

We went to Tucson and visited friends in Arizona while we were there. We traveld around the Superstitions, Wickenburg and the Vulture Mine, but missed the Bradshaws and Links Creek this time.

Gold was selling high in Tucson, so we did not indulge in a buying spree as we have in past years. Many of the old gold dealers have gotten out of the business as the face of selling gold to the public is changing. We did visit the big show downtown one day and took a few pictures of the gold that was there. You did get to see the one big Aussie nugget.

What brought me to the blog today is the spot price of gold hoovering just under $1500.00 right now. I saw it was $1496 a few mintes ago and silver is at $43. Silver has really been jumping in the past couple of weeks!

What has kept me so busy the past few months has been health issues with my Mother. She has decided to quit her wandering ways and will share a permanent address with Larry and myself where she will be closer to family and can get the help she needs with the small things like getting to the hospital if she needs to. She is 81, so it's about time. She can fly out a visit whomever she wants to for as long as she wants to, but mov ing her every 6 months to 2 years is becoming hard on her, and I'm getting too old to want to do it anymore.

I spent some time this last weekend doing some information updates on the site. There are a LOT of new regulations for the Arkansa River in 2011 coming out of the BLM this spring and I will have some time to tell you some of it in May before we take off for prospecting season.

I have many questions coming at me about the GPAA claim on the Arkansas above Elephant Rock, so I will address that now. The BLM is requiring a plan of operation and a bond for any claim that wishes to allow motorized equipment on the Arkansas River. The GPAA has elected NOT to file the required plan nor to put up the bond necessary for reclamation of the area, so be aware that those claims will be restricted to panning and sluice boxes. Recirculation equipment can be used as well as metal detectors and dry washers, but anything that requires water being pumped from the river will not be allowed in those areas. You will have two agencies watching, so if you are out there with your dredging equipment they WILL find you.

Along with this restriction on the GPAA claims, be aware that all claims in the dam site area south of there have been dissallowed and there will be no public prospecting at Elephant Rock, the last I heard. If that changes I will let you know. Propsecting for gold in Colorado is a challenge every year. This one is no different.

Gotta run! May is coming up fast and I have a million things to do before Memorial Day weekend. I think of all of you often. I just do not have the time right now to talk to you very often. I'm sure you all understand. I WILL be writing to you as often as I can, and if you have any questions you know where to find me. hookedongold@gmail.com. As always,

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Gold at the Tucson Show

2011-03-01T08:47:00.002-07:00

What does 52 POUNDS of Australian gold look like? Came with it's own guard, too.

So how do you like that really big piece of gold in the picture? Gold spot price is sitting at $1423.30 this morning and silver at $34.37. They have both been holding at pretty high levels most of February.

How has your winter been going? Ours seems to be going by at a faster pace than usual, and we attribute that to a winter get away to Tucson and Arizona in general. The above nugget recently found in Australia, was one of the highlights of the Convention Show in Tucson the last weekend of the two week show there, where you can find almost anything you want in the way of fossils, gemstones, and rocks.

This is where you can have your pick of giant sized specimens from around the world, and it takes most of the two weeks to see it all. We were there for 4 days and saw most of 5 shows. We passed up gemstone shows this year in favor of more rocks and gold. :>D

Much has been going on this past month and friends on FB have heard a lot of it, but I will share more details with you here than on the wall. Thanks to all who have an interest in this site. Updates will be forthcoming and I would appreciate anyone who finds a broken link to let me know where they find them so I can fix the problem.

The site is large enough that I often do not find all my interlinks, so please do let me know if you find one and what page it was on. hookedongold@gmail is the way to tell me about those, and thank you for letting me know.

No word yet on Arkansas River BLM gold prospecting changes in Colorado. GeoCommunicator is on again and off again. Seems like they are trying to get it back online, but occasionally it isn't there. Gald to see it is making a comeback. LOL!

Back at cha in a few days. Spring is definetely in the air and we are looking forward to the Summer gold prospecting season. Get that equipment in shape now so you are ready to get out when the weather permits. That could be any time now for those who are hardier than I am. That wind off the snow to the west of Denver is C*O*L*D!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

A Happy and Golden New Year!

2011-01-02T13:51:00.002-07:00

From the Souk in Dubai
Happy New Year to All! We have had an extremely busy holiday season, and the whole family was sick through half of it. Flu shots are a good thing, but they only work partially when the bug has mutated away from the original. Still, the lesser version was WAY better than the full blown version the youngest son is battling now.

The New Year brought in plenty of blackeyed peas, beautiful sunrises, a clean house, snow the week after Christmas (so we didn't have to play the slip and slide while traveling), and a new job contract. It is starting out pretty darned good for us! We hope the same is true for you.

All of this bodes well for a long and productive gold prospecting season this summer. We plan to visit Arizona this winter, too, and do a little gold prospecting with friends while we are there. Wish us luck at finding that yellow metal!

The mountains in Colorado have 130% of their winter snow pack already. This could make for a very interesting year prospecting for gold in Colorado. No new news yet on what the BLM and Forest Service is doing for the Arkansas River or the South Park area.

Gold spot price closed on Friday at a resounding $1422.30, and silver was at $30.94. Gold didn't quite make its' predicted $1500 for 2010, but the silver spot price surpassed most expectations.

Off to a 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration this afternoon. Glad to see you all here. Hope the New Year sends you good things, including lots of YELLER GOLD! (Sorry Ben, I couldn't resist). LOL!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley

Cache Creek Prospecting and Thanksgiving Greeting

2010-11-25T13:07:00.001-07:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU!

The Labor Day Weekend Cache Creek Gang

We are pleasantly visting at our oldest son's house this Thanksgiving, with family and friends gathered around. The turkey is nearly done, and we are getting ready to sit down.

I thought I would take a moment to share a picture from one of last summer's gold prospecting outings with friends from Missouri. We had our two highbankers running, and the gang cleaned out a tree that had died and recently been cut down at Cache Creek. It produced some nice gold, which, unfortunately, we did not get a picture of. I'll do that later and show it to you in another post.

Gold is at $1373 now. Hope your Thanksgiving is a wonderful day filled with all the good things that you expect. As we begin our Holiday Season, may we all be thankful for what we have, family, friends and each other.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 11/20/2010

2010-11-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

Summer Camp in CORA at the end of the year

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1354.50

• Spot price last Gazette : Somewhere around $1230.00

________________

Gold ‘N’ Store

_________________________________

NEWS

Well, well. So, I am wondering this last week how I am ever going to get everyone caught up with all the news and info, and I remember the Gazette was one of the vehicles I use to do that. Funny, when you don’t use your tools for a while, how rusty they can become.

As usual, the price of gold is up more than it has been down. The last Gazette published in May shows it was over $1200 and now we see lots of days with the price over $1400.

As I have reported, the claims and open areas north of Buena Vista are closed to gold prospecting until the BLM has put into place a new plan for the area. In addition to this, the BLM is looking to require claim owners on all of the Arkansas River to self police their claims and leave BLM out of the enforcement of those areas. This isn’t a final on this issue, but they are strongly leaning to that side and GPOC is grappling now with how that would impact them and their liability on their Arkansas River claims.

In South Park, mine and claim owners are also having an ongoing issue with the U.S. Forest Service head. It seems that the attitude there is that if you don’t get the reports done, no one will fight you on it and you can shut down mining in the area very effectively. That department may find it a more difficult to do than they anticipated. There is word around that not just the small claim owners are unhappy.

The next order of business concerns the dredge piles on open space property in Breckenridge. We were finally able to meet with the open space people, and their decision on this matter was not to allow prospecting for gold,digging, panning, sluicing, or removal of material in the area. We have advised that they add signs to their already existing signs that address this issue so there is no confusion in the future.

With the Thanksgiving Holiday just around the corner, I’m going to keep this Gazette short. Getting back into the habit of sending this out each weekend is what was most important right now. We do hope you enjoy a wonderful Holiday Season and that you don’t fall asleep at the wheel driving home after all that pie and turkey. For those of you who do not celebrate Thanksgiving, we also wish you Happy Holidays and that this season finds you and yours happy and well.
As a last note, yesterday was our 39th wedding anniversary. Yes, friends, that means that Larry has put up with me for more than 40 years. I must have SOME redeeming qualities after all.

Have a great weekend. That’s it for me.

Until Next Week…..

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.

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Local and National Governments take stand on Gold Prospecting in Colorado

2010-11-03T13:15:00.002-06:00

Golden Aspen's changing near Fairplay, Colorado

October has come and gone, and there were so many things to catch up on before the Holidays begin, I have not taken time to chat with you. There is so much information to share, I am having trouble knowing where to begin! LOL!

With the mid term elections over with, perhaps we can, once again, learn how not to use the mute button on the remote while trying to watch the part of the news or any other program without it. Many things we had decided simply not to watch so that we didn't have to constantly have a finger on the mute button. I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way.

Have you been watching gold rise most of the Fall? It sits at $1333.40 as I write. Will it make $1500 before the end of the year? My crystal ball isn't sure, but it is highly likely that it will.

November 3rd, and here in Denver we are still waiting for our first snow fall. We did finally get a killing freeze a little before Halloween, and so, are now enjoying Indian Summer, and what a post season summer it has been! Highs are in the 70's at least two days a week, and we should be looking at mid 50's and low 60's. You know how much I LOVE summer, so I am happy that the good weather in holding.

News on gold prospecting in Colorado was not good at the end of the season. The BLM, Washington Department of the Interior, has given orders to the Canyon City office to close all mining claims on the Arkansas in the Buena Vista area that are tied to the old dam project. In fact, ALL prospecting in that area is forbidden until a new plan for the area can be worked out. This will probably take most of the winter to accomplish, so we are looking at Spring before we will know any word on even the public areas.

They will be confiscating equipment and no motorized vehicles will be allowed down the road. It is strictly for hiking, biking and walking. No camping is allowed in that area, either, until further notice. Residents in the area have been up in arms over the claims and camping going on there for some time. Apparently Washington's head of the Interior Department, has decided to uphold the old dam site claim from the 1890's and keep everyone out, thus ensuring the residents that they will continue to have their private hiking trails and river walks. Funny thing, though.....that dam site area apparently was originally for hydraulic mining, and not water storage or hydroelectric power.

We had an opportunity to meet with the Breckenridge Open Space people in October to open discussion about getting limited prospecting allowed on the dredge piles in the open space owned by both Breckenridge and Summit County. The meeting was short and there was some discussion and questions about commercial mining or selling the gold found back to open space, but the committee decided to talk about their ability to monitor the activities if they were permitted. A couple of weeks later we were contacted and informed that they would not be allowing this activity on the old dredge piles within the open space area. We suggested that they put up signage letting people know that the activity is not being allowed and that they risk confiscation or ticketing if they come into the area for prospecting of any kind. That also means rocks, people. No rock hounding is ever allowed on open space anywhere unless specified by the group in control.

Ok, that's enough for now. New camp is closed for the winter and everything was put to bed about 4 weeks ago. There have been three pesky bears breaking into campers on the upper mesa, but everything else has been pretty quiet. We are settling into the holiday/winter routines and waiting for Spring and time to dig again. Hope your Fall has been as nice as ours. I'll have to be back to tell you about the last trip to Mt. Antero and our fossil dig at a friend's place east of Trinidad.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Back to Bring You More on Prospecting for Gold

2010-10-22T13:25:00.004-06:00

My, but gold has made a nice jump since I last visited with you! You have probably been wondering why I have been away for so long, but believe me it had nothing to do with boredom.

In August, I got a google alert that my domain name was used in a page title or a variation of the original domain. I have this alert sent to me for obvious reasons, but keeping an eye on who is using my brand name is the number one.

This alert took me to a page that had 5 links back to my site updating the page whenever I published anything. My blog was linked to it twice, and thus updated the page twice every time I blogged. Now, I'm a generous person, but I don't like someone else getting credit for my own work, and doing it without my permission. The page was made to look like I was selling the product, but it was not me, and for a product I would not sell. There was no contact information for this person, so the only solution was to stop posting and see what happened.

Well, I have waited long enough, I guess, as the links now go to golf sites, but the page still uses my domain name. So, now you know why I have been away so long. I have much to say, and it has been tough staying away long enough for this person to abandon the links. More this weekend, now that I have my explanation out of the way.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com
hookedongold@gmail.com

Gold Prospecting Season is in Full Swing....for Some of Us

2010-08-11T16:40:00.000-06:00

Colorado State Gold Panning Championship Winners - Ladies Division Right to Left, 1st Shirley Weilnau, 2nd Sue Drewes, and 3rd Linda Jent

A lot has happened since I last chatted with you. We have been very busy with all sorts of things, not all related to gold or gold prospecting here in Colorado. Since I last blogged, we have attended Burro Days, the Colorado State Gold Panning Championships have been held, a visit from our oldest son and his family, moving Tin Pan Prospector, RAIN, painting the shed and various other activities with friends. Little of this has had anything to do with sleep, and we spent most of last week trying to catch up on everything.

Burro Days in Fairplay had more people attend it than I have ever seen before. The roads were parked full some 5 blocks away from the Library. It looked like most people were having a lot of fun and, of course, I bought books from the library sale.

Three days were spent in Breckenridge at the Colorado State Gold Panning Championships, where we took a total of 8 medals. I brought home 5 (Firsts in Team, Women’s and Dry, Second in Old Timers, Third in State) and Larry, 3 ( Firsts in National Style and Team, and a third in Men’s).

Our two youngest grandchildren came to stay for a few days at camp along with their parents right after that, and we hiked them around and they went swimming twice. They were pretty worn out by the time they went home. LOL!

Tin Pan Prospector moved from their spot above Alma, across the road. We are still getting dirt moved around and the signs up in the right spots, but everything seems to be working out well.

We hear that things at Cache Creek are good. We also hear that some of the regulations are changing a bit in the prospector’s favor. They may be allowing people with hand equipment to come in and work over the 14 days for a $5.00 per day fee. That was what highbankers paid to stay past their 14 days with a second permit. I don't know if they have applied this to sluice boxes, recircs and gold pans or not.

Next Monday we will be attending the Breckenridge Open Space meeting to introduce what equipment and activities prospectors engage in to the committee, to begin the process of possibly opening up some of the old dredge piles above the Country Boy mine to recreational gold prospecting. The process will probably take most of the winter, as we also must get the items through the Summit County Open Space which controls the open space with Breckenridge. There are several on the committee who would like to see it opened, so we have a good chance of getting this through. We DO need help from any prospectors out there that live in Breckenridge or Summit County to lend a hand. We are commuting more than an hour and a half one way to attend meetings, and weather and highway conditions have been hampering our ability to get to these meetings.

Rain has been a BIG factor in our prospecting these past three weeks. Camp has had close to 5 inches and it has rained every day or night. Alma has had 7 or 8 inches. We are hoping everything doesn’t float away on us one of these days, and we are looking forward to some drier weather. We did get one coat of paint on the shed yesterday before it rained, and we would like to get the second on some time this week.

Other than those things, we have been enjoying our camp in CORA. Even when it is raining, it is peaceful, but the summer is going way too fast. We are hoping we have weather good enough to stay until October. Clouds are already forming over Mt. Bross, but they are white puffy ones, so far.

I have a review on the new blue Keene/Pioneer pan ready to post along with pictures. I’ll post that later this week so watch for it. Love my Safari sluice box!

Until later this week, I am hoping you are having one of the best seasons for finding gold you have ever had.

Good Prospecting to You

Gold Safari Sluice Box Review

2010-07-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

The Gold Safari Sluice Box

Guests are gone, new camp is shaping up, and some rearranging is finished. As promised, I have a review of the Gold Safari sluice I bought last year late in the season. Since it is gold propsecting season for everyone, I could not find their website active and there are none listed on e-Bay where I found this one. They may be out finding gold like the rest of us. LOL!

The first thing I liked about this sluice box is the 12 inch wide box and riffle system. This means that the box should be able to handle classified material pretty fast. The second was the combination of three different types of riffles, each meant to help catch material on it's way through. It also came with indoor/outdoor carpeting, which we have always liked better than miners moss. (Too many rocks hang up in it, and you have to run matting underneath.)

The one thing I did NOT like was that it did not have rubber mat or carpeting before the riffles, and it did not come with expanded metal. Both of these items we added.

The first set of riffles are short round bars. I wasn't too sure about this when we got the sluice box, but I was willing to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they worked in tandem to provide a calm area between them that dropped heavier black sand and gold into, leaving the second riffle to clear out the lighter sand. Very nice. The gold showed up, of course, right away in the black mat, and the wide box spread the material out so that I could spade classified material into it as fast as I wanted to. I watched the second riffle to be sure it was cleaning out adequately, and we went through 10 buckets as fast as we could classify it.

All in all, I like this sluice box. Be aware that you will need to add the rubber matting or carpet at the head of the box and expanded metal if you want to. The box sold for around $150.00, and if you can find one, I recommend it.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is a pic of the gold we caught with the sluice.

Small Gold Ore Crusher

2010-07-05T10:37:00.000-06:00

Crushing Rock

This week has certainly been a busy one! I DO hope you were watching gold rise and fall this past week. It was interesting to see it move higher and then dive by Friday’s close.

Picker that came out of the dirt pile at Tin Pan Prospector

I know most of you are waiting for my sluice box report. It is still on my to do list, but I found out my Mother was coming this past week for a visit and things have gotten put on a bit of a hold while we catch up. I have not seen her for over a year, so there is much to talk about and do.

The gold panning area at Tin Pan Prospector is showing some nice color. We panned out a picker on Saturday, and everyone else was happy with what they were finding.

Fairplay Burro Days is coming up July 23rd & 24th, so get that on your calendar and “Get Your Ass Up the Pass”! GPOC will also have their gold panning troughs out for the public again this year.

Colorado State Gold Panning Championships will be the weekend after in Breckenridge, July 30, 31 and August 1st. All challengers are welcome!

It is quiet, friendly, and full of activity at our new camp south of Fairplay. So far, we are very happy with the area and the amenities we have here in CORA. We even used the pool this last weekend for some relaxing fun. We have many new trails to explore, mines to visit and gold to find here in South Park. With luck and what we know about this mineral belt, we are confident we will be able to assist with opening up some of the private and patented areas here. There is excitement in the valley again over placer and lode mining, but there is much work to be done before it will be a reality. When we are all successful, prospecting for gold in Colorado will become easier on this side of the gold and silver mineral belt.

Watch for the sluice box report. I really do like this new box. It has a triple riffle system that is interesting.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! AND you have this Monday to rest up from your celebrations.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Prospecting for Gold at Cache Creek and Moving our Camp

2010-06-27T14:37:00.001-06:00

Prospecting for Gold with Friends at Cache Creek, Colorado

Gold was at $1256.30 when I started this blog today, but it has probably changed since the overseas market is open.

We had an interesting week and did spend some time at Cache Creek with the new sluice box. I really like it, and will give you a review on it at mid week.

We are moving the trailer to its' new home on Tuesday, and will be raising the existing deck 6 inches today and tomorrow so that both trailers can use it. The lot we bought had a trailer already on it, so we have plenty of storage space for all our 'junk'.

Cache Creek continues to have problems with people stealing gold prospecting equipment, so if you are there, make sure you take your equipment out each night. So far a highbanker and a sluice box have disappeared. The sluice box was taken out of the back of pickup, so secure your equipment even in your vehicle.

Water diversions are still a problem at Cache Ck, too. Make sure you are not diverting water away from the creek and others ability to use it. Remember, you are not the only one there and the water must be made available to everyone equally.

We observed, and educated a team of highbankers on the proper way to fill a pump with gas. These people were filling their pump without turning it off or removing it from the waterway. We saw them dump gas into the creek, too. If you fill your pump while it is running, you run the risk of getting some of the fuel into the wrong area that may be hot enough to explode. I sure don't want to be around if someone does that! Make sure you are at least 5 feet away from a waterway before you put gas into your pump's fuel tank, and nver spill it into the water.

Tin Pan Propsector up north of Alam is staying pretty busy. More people are stopping and we have had several who were here on vacation and had wanted to get to try panning for gold while they were in Colorado. We were all glad to oblige them. If you are up that way, stop in and see what Chad has lined up for the season. Snow is still too deep for a few areas, but we are finding some gold and getting better acquainted with the area in general.

Gotta run and get some more work done before moving day. Take care out there while you are prospecting for gold in Colorado or anywhere else. Water is still high here and we lost our 6th rafter this last week.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Summer Gold Prospecting in Colorado

2010-06-22T09:23:00.000-06:00

Fire at Cache Creek

Yes, there was another RV that burned at Cache Creek last week. Right across from the trailer that burned last year. Make sure your propane connections are secure, and think twice about bringing a motorhome down through those dips. There is plenty of camping up above in the forest.

There was, also, a highbanker that was stolen from the area. The pump was left alone and only the highbanker was taken. Very strange.

Gold is at $1241 this morning, and we spent a delightful weekend at a family reunion and visiting with our kids. We will be moving the trailer this next week to a private campground where we have purchsed a lot and are looking forward to having more room to spread out again. The two sheds will help with all our mining junk, too, and we won't have to keep it all in the truck all the time. We can also begin collecting rocks again, and have friends over more.

Summer is finally here! This also means that we will get more river time and UTV time. I'm sure you are looking forward to more of this yourselves, as well. The rivers are still running very high, so be very careful if you are near those rushing waters. We are looking forward to a summer filled with prospecting in new areas and still lending a hand at gold prospecting in Colorado with Tin Pan Prospector.

If you are in the Colorado Springs area this weekend, stop in at the Western Mining Museum (exit North Academy entrance - east) for a rock exhibit put on by the local rock and gem clubs. GPOC always gets involved, too, and it should be a great weekend of fun.

Have a great week!

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

You Are NOT on the Wrong Page!

2010-06-13T16:15:00.000-06:00

New Look for The Prospector's Blog. Let me know what you think.

High Water in the Arkansas River Makes for Dangerous Rafting. Be Careful!

A Spring Time Snow in Colorado

So, how would you like to do some panning for gold in this stuff? LOL! This weekend has been a bit cold and wet, so we have been visiting with friends and planning this next week.

Gold closed last Friday at $1228.70 as we were getting the beginning of this storm, but it is clearing out now and we will have a cold night. Next week is looking better weather wise, so we are looking forward to some more summer fun prosecting for gold.

GPOC had a members outing in the snow this weekend, and I hear that all had fun slipping in the mud, finding gold and getting numb hands and fingers from the fridge water. All the peaks were white this morning.

The parking lot at Cache Creek was scheduled to be expanded this past week, but we have not been up there since it was done. I also hear that there is some very nice gold coming out of the area.

We did attend the 40th birthday anniversary at the Prospectors Village in Nathrop last weekend. There were lots of folks there and lots of equipment was going out the door. Cindy had a drawing for some nice prizes, too.

Run off is so high that water coming out of several high country reservoirs has been shut down to help ease the rivers. Where there is less control, waters are very high and swift. Be careful when you are near the rivers and streams.

Later this week, I'll be telling you our tale about the Fairplay Beach, so stay tuned. In the mean time have fun prospecting for gold in Colorado.....

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Fast Movng Water in Colorado Gold Prospecting Country

2010-06-06T06:40:00.000-06:00

Well, run off here in Colorado has begun with a vengence. The first rafting death has been announced near Vail, as well as a tuber on Cache la Poudre and a man using a cable trolley to cross the Colorado River all due to high water.

Anyone near the rivers and streams needs to use extreme caution for the next month or so as stream flows are very high. The Arkansas River is running almost to the bottom of the bridge at the bottom of the numbers and the lower gravel bar at Granite is almost covered. The South Platte in Fairpay is running bank to bank, and the Big Thompson is running out of its' banks below Estes Park. For your added information, I am posting a few examples from yesterday evening's levels.

Arkansas River running at the numbers 3650 cfs and 4050 at Royal Gourge
Clear Ck 890 to 935 cfs
Colorado River 15200 cfs at Glenwood Springs
Gunnison River 4700 cfs at Escalante

Panning for gold, sluicing and dredging will be dangerous, so be careful when you are near the water. The high water also hides rocks and boulders that you can hit your head on, and people have been known to drown in a swift current in less that 18 inches of water. Snow pack is still high, and we are expecting a long runoff season again this year.

Finding gold is fun, but even more caution needs to be exercised at this time.

We visited Cache Creek yesterday to see the beaver pond refilled. Everyone has been happy with the new regs and that things are under better control. Larry and I are happy that we were able to give the BLM suggestions that are working as the area is very popular and people love being there. The parking lot will be enlarged this week to allow for more vehicles in the area, too.

Have a great gold prospecting week. I'll talk at cha again when I have a few minutes.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Colorado Gold Country and Spring

2010-06-05T09:39:00.000-06:00

Aspens Leafing Out Above 10,500 Feet

Howdy to all you gold prospectors out there! Gold closed on Friday at $1220.90 and the stock market was down over 300 points. These two haven't gone in opposite directions for some time now.

I had a bout with a 24 hour stomach junk this past week, but am feeling my old(?) self again. Our phone connections this year are not working out well, so if you have been trying to get a hold of us, we are strictly on cell phones right now. Email works, too.

The Aspens are finally leafing out on the mountainsides above Alma, and it looks like Spring is finally arriving in the Colorado high mountain gold country around Fairplay and Alma. Montgomery Reservoir was emptied earlier in May and will be easily refilled with the snow still left on the slopes above it. It will quite possibly be the end of June before the roads on Mts. Bross and Lincoln will be passable by 4WD vehicle.

Gold prospecting at Cache Creek is open and we hear many people are in there finding gold. GPOC has a seasons worth of voluteers ready to be onsite this year to help you with the new regulations and fee structure. The porta potties are in place and the BLM summer time employee is making the rounds on the Arkansas River and Cache Creek. Looks like a good prospecting season there with things under better control, as well as all the other Colorado gold prospecting areas.

GPOC members should be aware that he gate on the road to Beaver Creek will not be opened until the middle of June.

We are still looking for more permanent arrangements in South Park, but until we do we are in Buena Vista at Snbowy Peaks RV Park. A great place to stay, btw, if you are in the Buena Vista area.

If you are looking to find gold in Colorado and are curious about the Fairplay Beach this year, they are chargin $5.00 per person for the May - October 2010 gold panning and sluicing season, and you can obtain that permit at the City building in Fairplay. The 'Beach" will be undergoing some improvements this year with the addition of a concert platform for groups the city is bringing in for entertainment, as well as adding music festival later this summer. Also, the County is adding a pedestrian bridge across the S. Platte to help people walking from the residential areas on the south side get to the grocery store more safely than walking on the highway. It is supposed to be completed sometime in August.

While you are there, drive up past Alma about a mile and half, just past mile marker 72, on your right, and check out Tin Pan Prospector for some fun. Prices for panning, highbanking, dredging and metal detecting are reasonable. Chad has his dredge in the water now and is driving to bedrock. Stop by and say 'Howdy'!

That's all I have in my notes. I'll be back to you from time to time. Have a great week and a great gold prospecting season! Until next time....

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Memorial Day in Colorado Gold Country

2010-05-31T07:06:00.000-06:00

Opening Day for Tin Pan Prospector

Memorial Day. Remember and thank all who served or gave their lives in service to this country. I am truly grateful for their dedication and sacrifices for my freedom. This weekend we remember it twice. Yesterday which was the actual day, and today which is the observed day. You have all been in my thoughts this weekend.

Well, I’m sure all of you are wondering what I have been up to since the Gazette missed it’s deadline. You probably know we opened up camp a week ago, and since then we have been unpacking, stuffing everything into nooks and crannies in the camper, having a bit of fun and working our tails off trying to get to Alma by 9 and help Tin Pan get started for the season.

Chad has his summer operation located north of Alma, 1 ½ miles from the South Park Saloon, just past mile marker 72 on the east side of the road. There’s a bit of a dip getting off, so be careful. There is plenty of parking area, and panning is at the back near the old bridge. He plans to crib the back of it up to make it look more like a mine entrance. Should be good for some photo ops, and he has some good areas for prospecting for gold, gold panning, dredging, and highbanking in Colorado.

We have had several highbankers and sluicers in to try it out, as well as panners out for a lesson. The weather has been really good, with mornings cool and afternoons quite warm and sunny. We are seeing a lot of fines and some larger flakes coming out of the top of the bank, and more fines and flakes out of the stream. The dirt and gravel are all loose and part of moraine slump, so volume is going to be the name of the game. Gold in the stream runs all the way through the loose gravel with the biggest being located on bedrock about 20 feet down.

Snow around the Orphan Boy mine should be about melted, and we should be able to get in there and prove that stream soon. The mine dumps are showing some very interested waste rock. You can go and pick up a few for a $10.00 fee per day, as well as the usual highbanking, dredging and metal detecting fees posted on his website. Drop by if you are around and say that you read about it here. We like to know where people hear about Tin Pan.

Other than working to get all this started, we haven’t had much time for anything else. Gold is looking like it has found a resting place for now and closed Friday for the weekend at $1219.40. You will find an abbreviated store on the website for the summer as lugging everything around and shipping is a problem. eMail me if you saw something you wanted and it isn’t there right now. I can always ship when we go home for family stuff and pick up supplies.

Have a great gold finding season.
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

A Windy Start to Our Gold Prospectign Season

2010-05-24T14:55:00.001-06:00

I wish I had a picture to go along with the awful ride we had on Saturday to B.V. from Elbert, Colorado! We got waylaid for three hours in Colorado Springs after fighting 60+ mph winds for two hours towing the UTV from its storage place at a friend's home. We broke a tie down strap and almost ruined the doors before we stopped to take them off and tie them down, and then stopped at another friend's house to wait out the wind.

We pulled into camp about 7:45 p.m. and still had to do the basic unpacking before we could fall into bed and tackle the rest of the unpacking the next morning. After we had accomplished that, we took a rest and headed down to GPOC's Prospector III for some river time with the gold pans.

There were several other members there dredging, sluicing and panning for gold as the river has not come up all the way yet. Snow is still locked up in the mountains and the water is under ice on the lakes, but with this wind and the dirt being blown in from the desert, it will soon melt ice on the lakes enough to open the reservoir gates and send water down to Pueblo. When that happens, the run off will begin on the Arkansas River and it could rise 2 feet rather suddenly.

We decided to make our trip home today as the weather is still windy and the temps are falling, too. Not much we can (or want to) do in all this wind! Since I missed the Gazette deadline, I thought I would send you a report today while I have some time.

The gate at Cache Creek should be open this weekend, if not sooner, and the area below Prospector III has been designated as an area for panning and sluicing only by the BLM. One dredger has already been sited for violations in this area this spring, so if you think there isn't anyone watching, you would be wrong.

Tin Pan Prospector Outfitters has decided to open the pay for use public panning area at a spot north of Alma on highway 9 on the east side of the road. (I'll get you a mile marker later this week when I know what it is. It will be located about a mile north of Alma, though.) Anyone who is interested in additional gold panning, sluicing, highbanking or dredging will be directed from there. There will be a building, signs and parking, as well as your friendly gold prospector to greet you. You will be able to giver 'er a try starting Memorial Day weekend.

All in all, we are looking forward to a GREAT gold prospecting season here in Colorado. Hopefully, we will see some of you here this summer, and remember to be careful around the water until July with all the water coming down out of the mountains. Those streams are sometimes deeper than you think and the currents are strong and swift along their downhill race to the sea.

Also be mindful of the altitude you will be at if you are coming from much lower elevations. Altitude sickness can put you flat on your back if you aren't careful with alcohol and salt intake. A couple of easy days is always recommended until you get acclimated. Have fun out there, obey the rules and regulations, fill in your holes, and be respectful of all others. And above all, remember this is MY home! Take care of it!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 5/14/2010

2010-05-14T18:33:00.001-06:00

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1231.40 – high $1250.40

• Spot price last Gazette : $1137.70

________________

Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events

May
• 1st May Day
• 9th Mother’s Day
• 29th – 31st Memorial Day weekend

June
• 14th Flag Day
• 19th-20th Kingdom Days-Breckenridge
• 26th-27th Western Mining Museum
_________________________________

NEWS

Ok, Ok, I got the message. LOL! I have several loyal followers who have reminded me that I haven’t been blogging recently and leaving all of you out of the loop of information. For your reading pleasure, this Gazette will be nice and long. :>D

As you can imagine, there has been a lot going on to keep me so busy I have not had the hour it takes to write some words for you. Last weekend GPOC had their annual Let’s Go Gold Panning Days at Point Bar, and, from what I am told, it was its’ usual rounding success with gold prospectors all over the place. We missed this year as my kids have been bugging me about not ever being home for Mother’s Day, and so I opted to indulge them this year. They were grateful and treated me to a BBQ and a dinner out later with lots of hugs and time with grandchildren, too. Instead to digging dirt, I spent my time chasing bubbles with our youngest grandson and listening to our granddaughter try to talk. We will be afield soon enough.

Gold is advancing once again this week on the heels of the Greece bailout. Europeans are not happy with this state of affairs and are buying gold as a hedge against the European economic problems they see coming in the future. At this rate I will have to raise gold prices again.

Memorial Day will be here before you know it. You will find many fairs to attend to kick off the summer season. If you are in the Colorado Springs area, GPOC will have their panning troughs out at Territory Days in Old Colorado City. For those of you in the mountains for the weekend, Tin Pan Prospector will be opening up their gold panning area for the season, too. Chad will be located in Alma this year and NOT on Highway 9 in Fairplay. You should be able to find signs in the Fairplay area to give you directions to where he will be located. He has two new areas for you to try out and Alma is more central to those locations. Right now he is looking at two sites and will make a decision soon where his staging and panning area will be. Stay tuned, as I will give you that location as soon as it is known.

Snow seems to be plaguing us this year, as we had more this past week. Still waiting for Spring weather so I can put away my winter clothes! Had the furnace on yesterday, too. Sure hope El Nino breaks soon so we get some warmer weather!

As a final note, I have had many forum members ask me about this website. It is ONLY the forum that I must cancel. Ning.com has decided to begin charging for all sites and so I will be dismantling the forum tomorrow. Rest assured, I will be continue with my main website and this blog.

Have a great weekend. That’s it for me.

Until Next Week…..
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

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Summer Season for Finding Gold Coming Soon

2010-04-24T07:34:00.000-06:00

YUP!

Closing gold price for Friday $1158.40

Last week $1137.70

Things are popping here at our house and are happening very fast.....well almost everything is happening fast. Some very important business is progressing very slowly which adds to our frustration levels and anxiety over getting things finished before we begin our prospecting season.

Summer activities are mounting up and the spring throw out and paper round up is not accomplished. Time is becoming short to finish. The gloomy weather hasn't helped get any of it done, either. I did not have time to get the Gazette together yesterday, but I didn't want to let another week go by without a posting.

We continue to look for a place to put the trailer on the Fariplay side of the Mosquito Range and haven't decided what to do yet. We will soon, however. We do have temporary arrangements made until we settle down, if needs be. The number of areas that will be open for Tin Pan Prospecting is amazing, and there are lots of new places to hunt for and find gold. We will be using all our gold prospecting skills to pinpoint the best areas. Knowledge, experience, rods and pendulum don't fail me now! LOL!

Remember that Mother's Day is coming up. Visit the Gold 'N' Store for a special, in stock piece of gold in white quartz, gold nugget, or gold in black quartz jewelry for Mom. While you're there, pick out what you want for Dad. Gold nuggets are going fast this year. There should be some new gold nuggets posted by Monday.

Hope your prospecting season is good this year. We plan to find gold! How much, I can't say. But, the potential is very good. Back to you later this week.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Time is flying by. Gold Prospecting Season is near!

2010-04-21T16:06:00.002-06:00

Fire in the Sky last summer

Going back over some of the pictures from last summer has reminded me of all the friends we made and the people we talked to, the sunsets and the sunrises, and the fun and aggravation. We are now preparing for another summer season of prospecting for gold in the high country and find we must leave some of our musings behind.

Today, I was made aware that ning.com has decided to do away with their free sites in favor of their paid sites, and I have had to make the decision whether to pay a fee to keep the forum going or bring it to an end. Sadly, I have decided not to continue with it.

While there were many who had an interest in the forum, it does not seem to get enough use to warrant my paying for the site. Keeping up with hookedongold is quite enough where money expenses are concerned. My hosting comes up again this year, and while the monthly cost isn't much, (and I have an AWESOME host, BTW!) it is still an expense. A two year renewal is always more cost effective, and so I must weigh those expenses against also paying for another site, and the numbers don't add up to the positive.

Anyone who had a membership on the ning site has been contacted and been told that they might want to log in and delete their pictures, etc. before I take it down some time in May.

To all who joined and joined in, thank you. I appreciate you and your input. Perhaps I will find another avenue to bring the community together again. In the mean time, you can always find me here.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley,
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookeongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 4/16/2010

2010-04-16T20:05:00.004-06:00

An Interesting Collage of Trees I Shot Last Summer

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1137.70
• Spot price last Gazette : $1162.20
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store

Calendar of Events
APRIL
• 1st Happy April Fool’s Day
• 2nd Good Friday
• 4th Easter
• 14th GPOC meeting
• 23rd – 25th Denver Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Spring Show
_______________________________________
NEWS
Well, here it is Friday again and time for your Gazette. This week has certainly gone by fast and the weekend will be even busier than this last week has. Hope you all got your taxes filed on time this past week. If not………

I want to start out by thanking my customers. I have to say I have some of the nicest customers on the planet! They are patient and work with me, and I want to take this time to thank them for everything they have helped me with this past month. Selling on line is not easy, but with folks like all of you, it becomes a pleasure! Several have gotten extra special additions to their orders for their assistance in troubleshooting little things in the store I would not know about without their help. THANKS!

Oh, boy! Things are finally warming up here in Colorado, and although the mountains continue to get snow, even the ski resorts are giving up their seasons. Runs are getting slushy and messy, and run off will begin soon. My March energy bill was 30% higher than the year before due to all the cold weather. Glad it’s gone for another 6 months or so, and I can finally get out there and find some GOLD!

Don’t forget the Denver Gem and Mineral SPRING Show coming up April 23rd through the 25th at the Holiday Inn North off of I-25 and Broadway. We always find something new and interesting there. A good time to meet up with friends and have some good conversations, too. If you are looking for gold nuggets, meteorites, opal, gemstones, jadite, turquoise, tiger’s eye, or any other type of gem grade stone, you should check this show out.

Larry got his ‘new to him’ fully enclosed UTV yesterday. You remember what a fiasco last year’s experience was like. It did teach us that an enclosure is beneficial to us when we are a 12,000 feet metal detecting for gold and silver and it starts to rain. Not many places to get into shelter up at that altitude. This grandma needs a little more comfort now, so we found a great deal on a used Polaris that was enclosed. Yeah, I know. I’m a whimp. What’s your point? LOL!

I hear from around the web that we have people already coming our way from out of state to begin their summer prospecting for gold on the Arkansas River. Chad at Tin Pan Prospecting (LINKTHIS) reports that he is getting lots of calls for reservations this year, too, for the Fairplay area. Sounds like a busy season for gold prospecting.

I’ll post some links for you next week. The Gazette is getting pretty long and I want to get it out to you. International California Mining Journal had an interesting article on finding gold in Maine, if any of you are from that part of country, as well as what is going on with the dredging court battles in California. Always a good read for what’s current. That’s it for me, folks.

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now OPEN TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until OCTOBER 1st.

http://www.hookedongold.com/

http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ A prospecting forum and social posting community

hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 4/09/10

2010-04-09T19:42:00.004-06:00

Easter Sunrise in Salida, Co.

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1162.20

• Spot price last Gazette: $1108.00
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events
APRIL
• 1st Happy April Fool’s Day
• 2nd Good Friday
• 4th Easter
• 14th GPOC meeting
• 23rd – 25th Denver Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Spring Show
_______________________________________
NEWS

It’s not my fault! I TRIED to publish the Gazette last Friday/Saturday, but Google’s silliness for April Fool’s Day must have messed up bloggers interface. I was not able to publish anything. It kept giving me an error message that would not resolve or go away. So, I will attempt to publish this week, and try to find the time to put up wordpress. (sigh).

April. The sounds of birds and the smell of daffodils blooming are in the air. We have had our first 70 degree day and the air at times smells like freshly sun dried sheets. We did take off last weekend to investigate Fairplay (which still had about 8 inches of snow) and Salida. We found our first gold of the season, too, although not much. However, any gold is good gold. :>D The days would have been pleasantly warm if not for the 30 mph wind.

The news out of Point Bar changes regularly. Those who have been in the area report that there still are no markers, (nor did we find any) and I understand that a third revision of the claims there has been made. I’ll keep you posted as I get information. Point Bar is still getting some use and those in the area tell me the river has begun to rise. Looks like we are in for another long runoff season, so be careful near the water.

This weekend we are looking forward to some more prospecting closer to home so we can enjoy the warmer temps, not drive most of the weekend, sleep in our own bed without noisy neighbors keeping us awake all night, and still find some gold in our pans. That also means I’ll have pictures to publish here, on FB and twitter.

Check out these links for some interesting information

http://www.outdoorchannel.con/Adventure/GoldPropsecint.aspx

http://goldsearch.blogspot.com/2010/03/going-for-gold-with-vision-backpack-few.html

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now OPEN TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until OCTOBER 1st.

http://www.hookedongold.com/

http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ A prospecting forum and social posting community

hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Here's to Gold and Sunshine Awards

2010-03-22T11:10:00.001-06:00

Today's post is more about golden friendships than gold. However, one is not as enjoyable without the other. The blogger's sunshine award is circulating and I have my own winners to share. The first goes to His Happy Apple, whose many blogs on several subjects spans many interests from photography to gold prospecting to home schooling.

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather". ~John Ruskin

More recipients will be announced as time allows.

Snow continues to be forecast this week and our gold pans and sluice boxes lay in wait for mud, dirt and water to be thrown into them. Each weekend we hope for an outing and each weekend, are greeted with stormy weather and cold temps. Still waiting, waiting, waiting.

I had several comments on the Montana video. If you haven't seen it yet, get on it! Almost as much fun and watching a baby giggle on youtube.
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

What Are They Doing In Montana?

2010-03-21T09:11:00.000-06:00

So, I finally get a gazette posted, and what do you suppose happens, but I find this video this morning on mining for sapphires in Montana. The video shows the process one mine is using there, but they are pulling out more than just sapphires. If you are into gold prospecting, you will really want to see the end of this vid. Oh, the sapphires are really nice, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJtp-so9uc4

Happy first full day of Spring to all of you. I DO hope your gold pan is full of gold this year, and you find some golden moments to cherish as well.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 3/20/10

2010-03-20T11:11:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder of what Summer looks like in Colorado

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $ 1108.00

• Spot price last Gazette : $1118.70
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events
MARCH
• 1st Motorized equipment season begins on the Arkansas River
• 14th Daylight Savings time begins
• 17th St. Patrick’s Day remember to wear your green
• 20th Spring Equinox
• 28th Palm Sunday
• 30th Passover

APRIL
• 1st Happy April Fool’s Day
• 2nd Good Friday
• 4th Easter
• 14th GPOC meeting
• 23rd – 25th Denver Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Spring Show
_______________________________________
NEWS

It's SPRING! Can you smell it? How is the weather in your part of the world? We are in our typical spring pattern with very warm days and then snow and 20 degrees. We have yet to officially reach 70 degrees, though, but the 68 was really nice.

Gold prospecting news is scarce and non existent, and so I have not had much to write about the past couple of weeks. As March comes to a close soon, we are still looking for weather good enough for our first weekend gold panning and sluicing trip. Birthdays and snow have been hampering our efforts to play in the dirt and water. The ice has a bit to do with it, too. LOL! With all this ‘time on my hands’ you would think I would make a bit more progress with website and blog changes, but, alas, time seems to slip through my fingers like sand through a gold pan. Perhaps I will find gold at the bottom like I do in my pan.

I hear via the grape vine that there is a lot of gold prospecting activity going on at Point Bar near Salida. The weather there should be rather nice right now between storms. I also hear that the new claimants of what used to be the ‘Star Jade’ located just north of the GPOC claim that is north of Buena Vista, are letting it be known that prospectors will no longer be welcome on that claim and to keep out. They are placing a notice in the GPOC Quill informing members that the claim is closed to all prospectors and that they must not look for gold on that claim. These new claimants are board members of GPOC.

The only news I found that was interesting enough to share with you in the past 2 weeks is this bit about another use for gold in the medical field.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/gold-nanoparticles-and-lasers-kill-crazy-cat-lady-brain-parasite Since we all know that we do not use up gold, I wondered after reading it how they removed the gold from the body. If it was left in place, would too much sun on your head heat your brain up too much? LOL! That’s probably more from me than you want.
Until next week…….
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now OPEN TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until OCTOBER 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ A prospecting forum and social posting community
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Mining the Gem Show

2010-03-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

It's Gem Show Weekend! That Means Emeralds in 18K Gold For Me.

Well, this show has crept on me and now I realise I won't have a Gazette tomorrow or Saturday.

For anyone that is going to be using the Point Bar area or Cache Creek for gold prospecting, I know of several people who have already gotten their notice level equipment packets in the mail they requested, and they say the new packets have a lot of information in them including maps to the Arkansas open public areas.

Weather is starting to warm up enough that we may get out in the next two weeks. We have family plans along with this gem show for the next few weeks, but by mid March we should be able to get once or twice......finally. We have gotten out every winter before this to metal detect for coins before now, but this year the ground has just been frozen solid.

Remember that Day Light Savings time begins Sunday, March 14th.....Spring ahead. See you on the flip side.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 2/27/2010

2010-02-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Point Bar State Recreational Area

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1118.70

• Spot price last Gazette : $1118.90
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
• Tucson Show in Tucson, Arizona
• 2nd Groundhog Day
• 4th Heritage Lecture at the Western Mining Museum SOLD OUT
• 7th Super Bowl Sunday
• 12th Lincoln’s Birthday
• 10th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Sprgs.
• Denver Museum with GPOC
• 14th Valentine’s Day
• 15th Presidents Day
• 22nd Washington’s Birthday
• 26th – 28th Gem and Mineral Guild Spring Show – Jefferson County Fairgrounds

MARCH
• 1st Motorized equipment season begins on the Arkansas River
• 14th Daylight Savings time begins
• 17th St. Patrick’s Day remember to wear your green
• 20th Spring Equinox
• 28th Palm Sunday
• 30th Passover
_______________________________________
NEWS
It was tough to find any news on gold or gold prospecting this past week. The Olympics dominated everything, as it should, so everything that had a link to gold was about gold medals.

Gold made a bit of a comeback in the markets late this week so those of us who will be prospecting for gold soon are happy the price is only down 20 cents over last week. Of course, it does help to make the backbreaking work a little easier to take when you know your gold will bring a nicer price when you sell it……if you sell it.

Some more information has come our way concerning the Point Bar claims that were claimed last year by someone from Texas. As you will recall, he listed one on E-Bay right away and sold it. He then found at least two others to buy into a third of the claims that were left, and then sold the last third on E-Bay this last week. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d like to own a third of three mining claims with two other people I may or may not know. These types of partnership never turn out well, but hopefully those involved here will get along. We all know that won’t happen, though. Remember also that these claims are not patented and so the claim owners will only be allowed to camp there 2 weeks out of six. Oh, and it looks like our friend from Texas made about 8-10 thousand dollars on the claims that he will probably never visit again and has made a mess of Colorado claims that have been available to the public for a long time now. ‘Moneygrubber’ is all I can say.

OK enough of my soapbox as this whole deal makes me sick and I try not to be to critical of prospectors, but I’m pretty sure this person is no prospector and was only interested in the money that could be made by selling these claims, which they did in less than a year. However, I also have new news about the water. Read on.

It seems the person who originally did the platting of the new claims was not entirely accurate and there is substantially more water available to the open area. I am just now reading this new information and the map provided isn’t real clear, so I will need a little more time to decipher where the open area begins and ends. The claim owners may not be aware of this yet, and so their markers will most probably have to be moved.

Spring is almost upon us and the opening of the Arkansas River to motorized equipment is on MONDAY! While we continue to be plagued with colder than usual weather, warmer weather will prevail at some point. That means we will all be able to do more prospecting for gold soon. Even metal detecting for coins has been impossible with the ground staying stubbornly frozen. Summer plans continue to be made, though, and our new areas for exploration are numerous. Setting up camp for this summer will also be interesting. I’m not sure I will have any kind of internet connection, so we may be hit and miss with blogging as connections permit. We are truly looking forward to working with Chad Watkins this summer and helping him get TinPan Prospecting up and running strong. Visit us this summer for some interesting gold prospecting when you get tired of fighting the public areas.

Trying to find other news from around the web was pretty difficult this past week. I visited a lot of blogs that had two short paragraphs with little content or they didn’t really have anything to do with the subject of gold, but Florida golden sunsets, etc. I did find a couple of interesting videos to share. The first one is an interesting one about one way to find underground streams and using culverts as a sluice box at
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-pan-gold-ancient-riverbeds-high-benches-302352 , and another from Australia testing out a new small highbanker. Looks like it works pretty good, too. http://downlinesecret.net/33949/highbanker-banjo-first-test-alluvial-gold-prospecting-in-australia

Off to Jefferson County Fairgrounds and some rock hunting under roof. Have a great week out there, and if you are on the Arkansas let us know how you are doing. Oh, and before I forget, Blogger’s new platform has changed again and is even more difficult to work around and so I will be moving this blog to a wordpress blog and using another of my hookedongold domains to run it with. I’ve been waffling about this for almost 2 years now and this final change has pushed me there. I’ll have a new template and format so the look will be a bit different, but more in my control, and we know everything is all about control, right? LOL! The old one is looking a bit messy and I can use some better aps in the wordpress version. It probably will take me a few weeks to get everything set up, so you won’t be surprised next week, but it will happen as soon as I can get everything uploaded to the server and arranged in the new template. I’ve used wordpress for a couple of other blogs I’ve run and like it much better. Hopefully you will, too. That’s it for me. How about you? :>D

Until next week…….
Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ A prospecting forum and social posting community
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 2/20/10

2010-02-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Old Smelter Stack at Smelter Town near Salida

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1118.90

• Spot price last Gazette : $1094.20

________________
Gold ‘N’ Store

Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY
• Tucson Show in Tucson, Arizona
• 2nd Groundhog Day
• 4th Heritage Lecture at the Western Mining Museum SOLD OUT
• 7th Super Bowl Sunday
• 12th Lincoln’s Birthday
• 10th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Sprgs.
• Denver Museum with GPOC
• 14th Valentine’s Day
• 15th Presidents Day
• 22nd Washington’s Birthday
• 26th – 28th Gem and Mineral Guild Spring Show – Jefferson County Fairgrounds
_______________________________________

NEWS

I’ve been catching up a bit on my reading, which has been put on hold for far too long. We have about 3 or 4 days of cold and snowy weather coming at us right now, so I hope to find time to catch up even more. That means I’ll be telling you about some of the information I find as I read.

It was very gray this morning when I got up, and was thinking about how soon March 1st will be here, reopening the Arkansas River to motorized equipment for this gold prospecting season. The storms coming at us will most certainly put some snow on the ground in that area, but March usually brings some nicer weather on the southern sections of the Arkansas, and the water level will be very low. The lower water makes it possible for you to dredge for gold by reaching some of the middle parts of the river with your dredge you can’t get to during the summer. You will have no rafters to deal with in early spring, however, finding open water that isn’t claimed and being worked will be even harder this year.

Some of what I have been reading has to do with California’s suspension of suction dredging. If you do not visit International California Mining Journal’s website at least once a month for some of their free updates on gold mining, I suggest you do. While much is only open to subscribers, you will find good information that is there for everyone. You can find information on their website under the ‘Resources’ tab and then look for Suction Gold Dredging Info. Public Lands for the People (PLP) is the organization fighting this in California courts. There is a lot more, but I probably shouldn’t waste your time with it when you can go and read it for yourself at www.icmj.com . Now, you might not think this has anything to do with you if you aren’t in California, but believe me it will spread if their legislature gets its’ way. We stand to lose another basic right granted to us by U.S. Federal laws.

Got a message from the ‘Tin Pan Prospector’, Chad Watkins this last week. He headed up to Alma just to look things over and get out of town. Also spent a day or two at his cabin in the woods. Nice looking place. One room, no heat except from the wood stove. No electricity, either. Nice and quiet with snow on the ground and the sun shining. Today is probably another story, but hopefully he got home before the skies dumped snow on us again last night. If not, he may have to stay a while. Bummer. Wish I was there. Cabin Fever is running rampant at my house. How about yours?

Our crippled up friend with the hip replacement it doing just fine, too. He is healing up pretty fast and is graduating from his walker to crutches this weekend. Gonna get out of the house and visit his doctor next week to show him how good he’s doing. Still on pain meds, but they said he would be for some time what with the bone trying to attach to the new apparatus. His physical therapist is pleased with his progress and he can also get in and out of his chair without help.

Oh, and BTW, the schist piece we went to see at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science last Saturday wasn’t out of Tarryall, but Telluride, and it still wasn’t being displayed at the museum right now. I also forgot to tell all of you that our oldest grandson was in a rollover accident very early on Saturday morning, too. I can count one of the scariest texts I ever got was “Car is totaled but he’s OK”. Everyone at the museum can attest to the quickness with which I left the gold room to get to a window so I could text back, “WHAT!” Turns out that was the second page of a two page text and the first one told me that the boy was OK and the particulars of the accident that was sent to me by his Dad. Thankfully we were not attending a funeral this week and I would now be in such a deep abyss that even thinking about writing this would be out of the question. Needless to say, it’s been a busy week.

I didn’t take time to find a video for you today and I didn’t find any other interesting links to share. Some weeks are like that. I may find a video for you in the next few days, though, so check back. That’s it for me today. Stay warm if its’ snowing where you are. If it isn’t, then don’t get sunburned! LOL! Oh, and before I forget, I noticed how sloppy my calendar got this month. Don’t know, but it looks like I forgot how to count and how to put in dates. What can I say….it’s February.

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.

_______________________________________

www.hookedongold.com

www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com A prospecting forum and social posting community

hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

BLM Gold Prospecting Regulation Changes for Gold Prospecting Public areas on the Arkansas River in Colorado 2010

2010-02-17T14:16:00.005-07:00

Orange Stripped Tree Downed Due to Undercutting

I know better than to give even an inkling as to when my next post will be, 'cause something almost always comes up. Anyway, I am back to give you some more updates on the Arkansas River valley in Colorado gold prospecting regulation changes for 2010.

Water was another item that came up at last Wednesday's GPOC meeting with guest speaker Stepanie Carter of the Royal Gorge BLM office in Canyon City, Colorado. Diversion of the water in the small creek at Cache Creek was discussed, and Ms. Carter said that even with the small creek in question, people will need to be mindful of diverting any water in the creek to even an overflow area that deprives others using any other part of the creek from water flow even for a short distance with rocks, dirt or sand.

We also discussed the 'diversion' of water by highbankers who pump water up to 300 feet away that never returns to the creek for use by sluicers and panners. The fee involved to them is in part so that they may pump water for their usage. The other involves the use of the pump. This case is not considered 'diverting the stream', but water usage.

BLM is interested in finding other water to bring to the gold prospecting area at Cache Creek, and will be looking into that possibility with available water in the area.

Another question raised was whether teachers will be required to fill out the forms and be limited to the 14 day rule if they are not in the area for finding gold, but to give assistance to others, or school groups. Since there will be a part time person this summer, they might be able to make this exception. That is to be determined, however.

Trees are also another probelm facing the new season. As in the photo above, you will see that BLM has marked trees that are not to be undercut or disturbed in any way. This is due to the number of trees in the area that are infested with pine beetle. There are a couple of species that are not suceptible to the beetles that they want preserved. DO NOT MINE NEAR, UNDER, or within 10 Ft. of these marked trees.

GPOC is wondering what they will be doing for Let's Go Gold Panning Days, now that they are severley restricted in the amount of area they can prospect at Point Bar. However, it was also brought up that most of the areas they prospect are within the allowed areas. There are a few riverside pits that others had used, but it is felt that should not necessarily be a problem.

Well, folks, that's about it. There will be more to tell you about as we get closer to the season open. Which, BTW is March 1st for motorized equipment on the Arkansas River or when you can stand the cold and snow everywhere else in Colorado. Better get that equipment in working order now. Spring is coming sooner than you think!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

Hooked on Gold Gazette 2/13/10

2010-02-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE

• Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1094.20
• Spot price last Gazette : $1066.90
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store

Calendar of Events

FEBRUARY
• Tucson Show in Tucson, Arizona
• 2nd Groundhog Day
• 4th Heritage Lecture at the Western Mining Museum SOLD OUT
• 7th Super Bowl Sunday
• 12th Lincoln’s Birthday
• 10th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Sprgs.
• Denver Museum with GPOC
• 14th Valentine’s Day
• 15th Presidents Day
• 22nd Washington’s Birthday
• 26th – 28th Gem and Mineral Guild Spring Show – Jefferson County Fairgrounds
_______________________________________

NEWS

Did everybody’s team win the Super Bowl? No? Bummer! Missed my deadline on the Gazette yesterday as things piled up on me. You know how it is. When it rains it pours. You go for weeks without much going on and then everything hits at once and everything has to be done at the same time. This will be short this morning as we are off in a little while to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with GPOC. The gold room is our objective and hopefully the schist piece with gold in it is in the show case that came out of the Terryall area.

Also, our friend who had hip surgery needs us to lend a hand this weekend as he is released from the hospital and goes home. They live way out of town have stairs everywhere, so we will be going along for the weekend to make sure they can get around everywhere and Larry is there to help if there are problems or things need to be modified.

BLM information for this season continues to come out and I will be posting more on what information I have next week after I am sure our friends don’t need a hand with things after this weekend. That first three days are the worst, but after that things seem to settle down.

Everyone is getting antsy to get out in the water. My monster sluice is itching to get wet, too, and everything is ready but the weather. Come on sun! All for now. Gotta run. Here are a few links to keep you busy while I’m away. In case you missed this amazing video showing an elk herd crossing a road near Estes Park you should give it a look. Over 4 minutes and they kept on coming. Several were wearing radio collars, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SxxOTkfKPk These vids are of amazing lightening strikes in extremely slow motion. http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/02/gallery-lightning . I did not find any that were interesting on gold prospecting this week, but these are definitely worth a look see. Have a happy Valentine’s Day!

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)

Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know

THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________

www.hookedongold.com

www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com A prospecting forum and social posting community

hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

New BLM regulations for Arkansas River Drainage in Colorado for 2010

2010-02-11T07:56:00.001-07:00

Cache Creek gate sign at the entrance to the area

Information concerning this year's gold prospecting season in Colorado at Cache Creek and Point Bar Recreational area is coming out as the BLM gets a handle on the huge volume of calls concerning the areas for this summer. Many calls are coming out of California this year as dredging has been discontinued there and their prospectors look for other places to find gold.

Stephanie Carter, from the BLM office in Canyon City, was the speaker at last night's GPOC meeting in Colorado Springs and talked at length about Cache Creek and the Point Bar Recreational Area. Point Bar had the entire area that was claimable claimed last summer. The claims involved include almost all of the river frontage and there is a question as to whether prospectors digging in the pit area will have access to the water.

The pit, as it is known, is not in a claimable area, and is still open to the public. BLM will research whether those digging in the pit still have a right to wash their dirt in the river located on claimed areas. The claims have also been overfiled and the new claimants are wanting BLM to police the area. Once an area is claimed, it is up to the claimants to police the claims and not the BLM. This area is a large State Recreational area and many people use the area on a regular basis. Controlling that area is the major reason GPOC did not claim it many years ago. They had worked with BLM to make the area more usable to prospectors, and effectively do the reclamation needed to keep the area up. Those responsibilities now lie with the claimants.

Cache Creek was heavily discussed as the number of people expected to be using the area will double this year, if not more. As such, many limitations are being imposed so that people have access to the area in a more orderly manor than last year, and the abuses of the area that took place will not be repeated this year.

First on their list is to hire a summer time employee who will be in charge of monitoring both the Arkansas River areas and Cache Creek. Everyone using Cache Creek will be required to fill out a day use pass each day they are there, placing half of it into a receptacle and keeping the other half on their person. These will be collected by the BLM personnel and checked for proper documentation of everyone in the area as well as what type of equipment being used. The number of days you are using Cache Creek will be counted and enforced.

Everyone will be limited to 14 days of use PER SEASON. That means you will be allowed to access Cache Creek for the purpose of prospecting for a total of 14 days this year. Not 14 days a month, or 14 days in and 14 out, or any other combination you can come up with. Your days will be counted by the BLM and enforced. People who came into the area last year and stayed all of last season will have their activities curtailed regardless of what equipment they are using. Highbankers will have their allowed days increased to 14 with a $30.00 charge but with no additional extension. NO DREDGING WILL BE ALLOWED AT CACHE CREEK.

Much more is going on, but I will save that for another day. If you have not been on the BLM website lately you should check them out. Stephanie has been working hard to revise it, integrating the geocommunicator and the LR2000 more effectively. You can access those sites at http://www.geocommunicator.gov/ , http://www.blm.gov/lr2000 , http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/rgfo.html (This link goes to the Royal Gorge Field page. Click on the first link entitled 2010 Placer Maps and Information) and the http://www.blm.gov/ site that you can click through to the state, then the field office and find most of these links from there. More this weekend after the Gazette comes out tomorrow.

Good Prospecting to You

hookedongold.com

questions?

hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 2/5/10

2010-02-05T18:47:00.004-07:00

Beautiful Diamond Heart Pendant in 14K Gold in White Quartz

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1066.90
· Spot price last Gazette : $1083.70
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment
Click around their site a bit to find what you want.
Calendar of Events
FEBRUARY
· Tucson Show in Tucson, Arizona
· 2nd Groundhog Day
· 4th Heritage Lecture at the Western Mining Museum SOLD OUT
· 7th Super Bowl Sunday
· 12th Lincoln’s Birthday
· 10th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Sprgs.
· 14th Valentine’s Day
· 15th Presidents Day
· 22nd Washington’s Birthday
· 26th – 28th Gem and Mineral Guild Spring Show – Jefferson County Fairgrounds
_______________________________________
NEWS

So, how’s your game face for this weekend. Got your favorite team to root for? Of course you do! Super Bowl hype for their famous commercials is all over the news and the web. Everyone promises to give you a special look/see at the best of ‘em, but I haven’t seen anything that has actually shown me anything. Of course, if I had the time I could do a search and probably find them, but I have been working on the website and started to upload some changes. I DID come across this item for those Super Bowl parties I thought you might like to chuckle at. http://www.sportspickle.com/article:620/super-bowl-cheat-sheet

You will notice the next time you visit on the home page that the layout is a bit different. My old website template may not be up to the changes I want to make, so I may try to rebuild it this Spring. Hopefully, it will come out similar but with some updated features in the menu. I have had a few comments about the twitter updater, but it updates the blog and home page, so I am compromising and putting it at the bottom of both. Hopefully this will satisfy all of us. If you like to follow along you still can, those who don’t like it don’t have to see it above the fold, and I get to update the pages more regularly.

Valentine’s Day is coming up soon! Check out goldnstore for that special gold jewelry or prospecting themed gift for your sweetie before it is too late to ship. Anything in stock I can get to you in three days, but the 8th will be the last ship date I can do that and get it there in time for you to wrap.

I have heard that the BLM is absolutely slammed with inquiries about Cache Creek and this summer. I have not heard what their final changes are, so I cannot update you much, but what had been discussed at the end of last year included daily fees for everyone and restrictions on the number of days you can use the area regardless of what equipment you are using. Also, they were looking into hiring a summer employee to cover both the Arkansas and Cache Creek area with someone who would be taking the fee packets in and monitoring the area with ticket writing and enforcement abilities. With the number of people using the area they need better control of the area. GPOC is looking into whether they will be assisting again this year or not. This is before their board now and will be decided in the next month.

Tin Pan Prospecting in Fairplay is getting together an interesting array of properties to prospect on, so check them out this summer, too. Chad’s areas are pay for use, and are on private or patented land. He has a large portion of Mt. Bross and the Dolly Varden properties already under agreement along with some other promising areas that have not committed as of yet. His website is also undergoing a facelift and changes. Looks like a good season of gold prospecting is in store on the East side of Mosquito Pass, too.

If anyone cares, the weather at the Tucson show started out wet and cold, but I got a report today that said it was about 65 degrees. With all of the rain the cacti should bloom well in about a month or so. That’s about when the snakes come out, too. LOL!

GPOC members might like to know that our good friend Glen Orhns is going into surgery on the 10th to finally have his hip replaced. He should have plenty of time to heal up in time to tramp around the mountains this summer prospecting for gold and get in a few hunts next Fall. Too bad he will miss the pig hunt in March, but, hey, nobody said it would be all gravy. Besides, when he went in for the evaluation they said he was a 10. Probably the only time in his whole life he was ever a 10. LOL!

I keep finding a few blogs on gold prospecting, or blogs that put up a page or two on the subject, and I always notice how nicely the articles read and look. I always think I should do the same, but I always seem to come back here just to chat with you about gold, gold prospecting and finding gold while sharing with you some of the interesting things I find on the web and the outings we go on. I should do it more often, but I actually do have a life outside of the web, and today, I don’t have the vacuuming done. Is that ‘real’ enough for ya? I guess I’ll let the website give you the information you want and use the email address to answer questions with. If I do that, I can ramble here all I want to, and you can read it or not as you like. Hopefully, I get some good information and updates out to you, or least a little bit of fun now and again.
Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com A prospecting forum and social posting community
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 1/29/10

2010-01-29T18:33:00.005-07:00

One case of gold at the Tucson Show in '06

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1083.70
· Spot price last Gazette : $1093.10
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
FEBRUARY
· Tucson Show in Tucson, Arizona
· 2nd Groundhog Day
· 4th Heritage Lecture at the Western Mining Museum SOLD OUT
· 7th Super Bowl Sunday
· 12th Lincoln’s Birthday
· 10th GPOC General Meeting 7:00 p.m. Colo. Sprgs.
· 14th Valentine’s Day
· 15th Presidents Day
· 22nd Washington’s Birthday
· 26th – 28th Gem and Mineral Guild Spring Show – Jefferson County Fairgrounds
_______________________________________
NEWS

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE!? Pro Bowl this weekend and super bowl next with some of the best commercials you will see all year. Yeah, I know this doesn’t have anything to do with gold prospecting, but, let’s face it, most of you won’t be out on those days anyway. LOL! Gridiron face offs, that’s what you’re waiting for and you know it. The clash of the Titans, the roar of the crowd. Tailgate parties in your basement (Gotta get THAT cleaned up) or favorite sports bar with your closest friends over beer and hot dogs or your favorite three alarm chili. Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout. Gold and prospecting will take a back seat to the excitement on your widescreen TV the next two weekends.

After all the ‘wars’ have been won and lost, and you are back to whatever normal is for you, you might want to mosey on over to the ning site, if you’re a member, and check out a new forum post called ‘auto sluice feeder’ about ideas on how to use a spreader to get material to your sluice box faster and with more volume. Interesting idea, but we could use some more input into the idea. Lots of obstacles to overcome, too.

Tucson Show is beginning this weekend, too, and should run for about three weeks or so into February. Hopefully the weather has cleared up for them some down south or it could be a mite wet this year. Any reports from any of you headed that direction would be welcome.

As you can see, February is a very busy, short month. March 1st opens up the Arkansas River to motorized equipment and warmer days for gold prospecting in Colorado. Everyone is antsy by February and so there are lots of things going on to help you pass the time. You could even get started on repairing all your equipment instead of waiting until May, again this year.

Fun stuff for you to read this week include a report out of China about some miners there that don’t know when to come in out of the cold http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFTOE60N00B20100124 Melman on gold in ICMJ http://www.icmj.com/article.php?id=767&keywords=Melman_on_Gold_&_Silver
This video from Australia will make you sick http://goldrevenue.com/gold-digging-prospecting-nugget-hunting/5-ounce-gold-nugget-found-sunbaking-while-prospecting-for-gold
And, with that one I’ll give it a rest.

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com A prospecting forum and social posting community
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 1/22/10

2010-01-22T18:14:00.004-07:00

Australian Gold Nugget Pendant with diamond in 14 K gold wire wrap

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1093.10
· Spot price last Gazette : $1137.00
________________
Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Ok, I know it’s been two weeks, but like I said in the last Gazette, it’s winter and we are hibernating. LOL! Haven’t even taken time for twitter much, either. We have had some nicer weather, though, and have been able to get out and do things that need done around the house, but it is still a bit too cold for me to do much prospecting. Plans for next summer are under way, and we are deeply disappointed that we cannot make points south this year. However, we should have Larry’s work and play schedule under better control this year and plan to get ourselves to Tucson next year.

Do you have any prospecting going on? Share with us by leaving a comment with this blog. We enjoy real content and comments on gold prospecting, not just the occasional backlink to a website.

Gold took a dive this week as the dollar is expected to strengthen, but no matter. We will still prospect for gold when we can.

Weather in California lately should move some of their gold around, what with the huge rains and sliding earth. Arizona is getting hammered as well, with Scottsdale having a tornado warning out yesterday. Sure hope it dries up in the next week or so, or the big show in Tucson could be chilly and wet. No one will care but the outside vendors, though.

Itching to get out? We sure are. The house is nice and cozy, but the recent sunshine has us wishing the temps were a bit higher so we could get out some equipment and at least metal detect. Ground is still too frozen to even dig the parks much. Can’t complain, though, after the mess December was. Larry and a friend took the metal detectors up to Idaho Springs one day. They came back with a bit of galena ore, but they could not even pick through the frozen earth. LOL! Still, they had a good time just being out. I stayed home and went to the movies, also with friends. No sense in me slipping a sliding all day through the snow.

We did attend the RV Show that was in Denver last Friday, which is why the Gazette didn’t get out. Nice show and always fun to see the new models. Again, we went with friends and they are looking to purchase some type of RV this year. We went along as ‘consultants’. LOL! The show was at the Convention Center and that meant parking downtown Denver, which is always expensive. Oh, well. We will just have to find MORE gold this summer.

A link I found for you to follow is about an Arizona ride into the Bradshaw’s http://goldrevenue.com/gold-digging-prospecting-nugget-hunting/arizona-gold-prospecting-4x4-gold-mine-ride-wmv .

That should be enough rambling for now. Wish I could show you a nice big nugget we had found, but the one in the photo should keep you drooling even if WE didn’t find it. There are some gem and gold shows coming up here in Denver, and I’ll get those dates posted soon.

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 1/09/10

2010-01-09T07:02:00.004-07:00

Prospecting Badger Creek this past summer with Gene and Paulette

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1137.00
· Spot price last Gazette : $1096.60
________________

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

The holidays are over, winter has set in and we are hibernating until the sun and longer days come back. Was it Friday already yesterday? The week has gone by fast as we tend to household things and get everything back on a winter schedule. Updates to computers and some just plain down time seemed to be in order, and so the days passed with us not doing much of anything. Everything has been updated to Windows 7 with a few programs are left to be tweeked and reinstalled, but all in all, it went pretty smoothly. Win7 did much of itself, to our surprise. The worst part was buying the external drive to back up everything to in case anything went wrong.

I have a couple of interesting videos about winter time dredging and gold prospecting for you to see. If you are on youtube much, you have probably already viewed them, but it is still interesting to watch these guys finding gold in the snow and ice. The first one was 2 years ago in Leadville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W6NURzA-jE and the second one was shot last Feb. in Clear Creek, but posted this past summer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rWC08nrKBc .

An interesting article that came up this week was about what gold prices are expected to be at by the end of the year. With it already having hit my projected price of $1200, it isn’t surprising that it is predicted to hit $1500. I’ll wait a bit longer before I decide what I think, as we are a little too early in the year to be able to tell where gold will settle, though. You can read it and decide for yourself. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page33?oid=95532&sn=Detail

Another interesting article I picked up was on Vietnam planning to suspend its gold trading floor by March. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/abccc624-f73d-11de-9fb5-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1 .

The Western Stock Show will be in town this next week, which means plenty of beef will be on the menu and local eateries will be out to capture every cattleman’s dinner dollar. From reports on the news this past week, they will have a great selection of wonderful food to choose from. We will be having coffee with friends from this summer to catch up with and exchange tall tales about our gold adventures. It looks like we should have pretty decent weather for the events, too, as it is well known that we can have some pretty brutal weather during the show dates. Well, that looks like 30 to me. Those of you on Facebook will understand this last comment, or at least the women will. White with red polka dots. Stay warm and remember it is now time to play with your concentrates that are full of gold.

Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 01/01/10

2010-01-01T18:09:00.006-07:00

Yes, that's the new granddaughter Tegan

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1096.60
· Spot price last Gazette : $1106.60
________________

Calendar of Events
JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Short Gazette today due to the Holiday, but I thought I would send you a spot of news for the weekend. Gold is down again this week and looks to go lower before it trends up again.

With winter officially here, it’s time to start looking at repairing that gold prospecting equipment you had break this past season, and get it up and running before next season begins. Do you have any good gold prospecting tips to share with us about this past gold hunting season? You hear about our adventures all the time. If you have an interesting story to tell, let us know by replying to this blog. Everyone would appreciate the input and the insight. Did you find an easier way to haul dirt, or work a pan, or find gold in some unique way that everyone could learn from? Teach us.

Here is a video I ran across showing the mercury dredgers take out of rivers: http://goldrevenue.com/gold-digging-prospecting-nugget-hunting/gold-dredging-removes-mercury-from-waterways There was also a twitter alert this past week advising people that wearing denim looks to be a deterrent to the amount of venom that you get when you are bitten by a poisonous snake. It seems that the heavier denim causes most of the venom to leak out on the fabric and not into your bloodstream; a good thing for metal detectorists and dry washers to be aware of, as well as anyone who walks where the snakes like to be around.

That’s it for now. How many of you can say you celebrated New Year’s Eve once in a blue moon?

Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Gold Panning Kits
Monthly Gold Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Gold Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette

2009-12-24T17:05:00.002-07:00

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1106.60
· Spot price last Gazette : $1115.10
________________

Calendar of Events

DECEMBER
· 9th GPOC Christmas Party
· 21st Winter Solstice
· 24th Christmas Eve (That’s Today!)
· 25th Christmas Day
· 31st New Year’s Eve

JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Happy Christmas Eve to you all and a MERRY CHRISTMAS to you tomorrow!

Since all markets will be closed tomorrow and we will all be enjoying a Christmas Dinner, you get a treat by getting the Gazette early this week instead of late. Lucky you! We are still awaiting the birth of our granddaughter and are now thinking she will wait until next year just to be a girl and make us wait. LOL!

The metal detecting trip was interesting. The day was warm enough for the guys, but they forgot about the frozen ground. Instead of digging, they ended up hacking at the ground to find the center of an ore cart wheel, bullets, etc, and a few pieces of pyritic gold ore, typical of the Idaho Springs area. Nothing new was found on the private property, though, and they spent some time hunting a couple of dumps in the area. Still, a better day than sitting around watching T.V.! The ladies stayed in town and finished up their Christmas shopping. While we Do enjoy prospecting for gold, we needed to have some extra time to find our golden gifts for Christmas.

Bright sunshine greets me again this morning after a couple of days of light snow that left us about 7 inches of powder glistening in the sunlight. Temps this morning were 12 degrees but with no wind that blew everything around. Not so for points east of us, but here in the city, the snow fell softly and consistently over the duration of the storm.

Sure hope you asked for gold and silver bullion in your stockings this year so you have that special hedge against inflation this next year. We stored a bunch away years ago and it has appreciated nicely since then. All in the safety deposit box, of course. The new green energy may turn into gold for us, too, this next year. I hate the idea of carbon credits, but won’t mind making money from them at all. Somebody has to do it, might as well be us.

You may have noticed that I have removed the twitter updates from both the blog and the website. I had a few complaints about the threads being too hard to follow, and think that many of you may not like them either. The reason was to update the pages regularly so that the site can be found more easily. Daily updates help in the search engines, but what you want is more important. If you have an opinion about the PLEASE let me know. I have kept the link on the ning site in a sidebar to help update that as it is new and needs constant refreshing in the searches.

Win7 has been pretty easy to switch to, but many older programs on the old laptop will now transfer and I will have to repurchase things like Word, or so it seems. That means that the website in Front Page and the store program will not load correctly here, so they will still have to be published from the old computer until I can figure out how to transfer it all to the new computer.

I read a few articles from time to time about gold prospecting, but there aren’t too many worth sharing right now. However, I did find a couple for you to read. Ok, the first one you have to watch. It’s a Youtube about a trommel in use http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHb-kawshiY Here’s a nice story about Christmas, Arizona http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1212christmas1212.html

Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 12/19/09

2009-12-19T08:46:00.004-07:00

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1115.10
· Spot price last Gazette : $1150.10
________________

Calendar of Events
DECEMBER
· 9th GPOC Christmas Party
· 21st Winter Solstice
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
· 31st New Year’s Eve
JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Golden sunshine greets me today and it is very welcome! As those who follow know, windows7 conversion has been keeping us busy, along with all the regular holiday things. With Christmas only a week away, we are scrambling to get everything ready. We are also still awaiting the birth of our first granddaughter. Mom is very far along with the beginnings of labor and she may have her bundle of joy before Christmas. With this birth looming, our Christmas get together is up in the air as to when it will happen. No matter when that is, it will be joyous!

Gold prospecting for us has been limited to the stores, but we do have a metal detecting opportunity in the next few days. We are also predicted to have a white Christmas this year, although not much of the white stuff is supposed to be on the ground. The ski areas have gotten hammered again and they are happy with their good fortune.

Predictions for where gold will be in the next few months have been mostly down. The most relevant predictions are putting at around $950, although I have seen predictions in the mid 800’s. This will be a buying opportunity for those who buy gold as it will begin another uptrend soon.

If you haven’t checked out the store, you might want to. I have at least one 14K gold nugget pendant whose price is just above spot. More gold nuggets and gold jewelry was posted, too.

Speaking of the store, I was able to find the error that gave the error messages and have corrected it, so the checkout cart is working again for all products. Now, the trick will be to transfer the program to the new computer without having to rebuild the whole thing again. Already tried the transfer suggestions that came with the software, but that didn’t work. In the mean time, the old computer will do the work just fine. I have some interesting options for the gazette’s format that I didn’t have with XP that I’ll try out in the next week or so. Watch for some changes as I play with the new formatting tools.

No time this week to look for much information for you. Also, be aware that there will be no regular gazette next week since it will be Christmas! :>D I’ll get a blog up so you get next week’s gold close and let you know how the metal detecting went. Have a great Holiday Season and a Merry Christmas!

Gold ‘N’ Store
(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 12/13/09

2009-12-13T09:12:00.007-07:00

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE
· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1115.10
· Spot price last Gazette : $1150.90
________________

Calendar of Events

DECEMBER
· 9th GPOC Christmas Party…Remember your unwrapped toys for children. Our Marine friends will be there to pick them up. You may also make cash donations.
· 21st Winter Solstice
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
· 31st New Year’s Eve

JANUARY
· 1st New Year’s Day
· 13th GPOC Members Meeting 7:00 p.m.
_______________________________________
NEWS

Have any of you had any of that golden white stuff lately? We have had a bit, but the cold has been bitter! -15 degrees at night and around +12 during the day. I think Alaska was warmer than we were this past week! And to boot, we had a gem and mineral show to help out and a GPOC Potluck to attend. BRRRR! It is WAY too early in the year for this kind of weather for me. We are all wondering what WINTER has in store for us after the 21st. Ski resorts are cheering, though, so if you are here for the high country snow, it is pretty good right now. Thankfully, we have started a warm up that is thawing all of us out.

Along with the cold we have had a bout of the runny noses and the usual maladies that go along with being cooped up in the house too long in frigid weather. Windows Seven was successfully installed on the new laptop and is running this morning. Now the task of transfering all the files from the old laptop to the new begins. In case you are wondering, it took about 8 hours to complete the update on a new laptop that didn’t have anything but the basic stuff it came with, and a couple of extra browsers. Time consuming, but pretty easy.

ICMJ had a report in their latest issue about California and the ban on dredging. It seems that the federal agencies consider the new ban a violation of the mining laws and are not, for now, enforcing it. Because of this opinion, state officials are also reluctant to enforce the ban, so dredging is continuing. It seems the dredgers have called the government's bluff and have won the first round. This situation should be interesting to watch as it could set precedence for future problems with dredging. Small towns are also noticing a marked decline in revenue due to the lack of dredgers who use camp grounds and town stores for supplies and gas when they are in the areas. Oregon continues to look at a ban themselves.

Christmas Season is upon us all, and after all the cold weather it is taking some doing to get caught up with all the Holiday stuff. Haven’t even had time for twitter lately, and we’ve been holed up for more than a week. You would think you could get caught up in those circumstances, but when it’s that cold, you don’t seem to want to do much of anything except try to stay warm. As such, I haven’t searched the internet much for info, but I have a link or two lurking in one of my files for you to read. Here is one on prospecting instructions that was good http://www.ehow.com/how_5689312_pan-gold-mines.html . In world news, Russia is planning a gold sale to the central bank this next week. http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-central-bank-buys-30-tons-of-gold-from-state-repository-2009-12 and China has a gold mining problem of its’ own http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/world/asia/11briefs-ChinaBrf.html?_r=1

As you can see from the top of the page, gold has begun to slide from its’ highs. The charts are looking bearish and predictions are that the metal could plunge to the mid 900’s or more. Looks like we could have a buy signal soon. We hope it stays around for the Tucson show and we can buy gold at a cheaper price, too. :>D Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”!

(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Christmas Shopping

2009-12-12T18:22:00.004-07:00

Ah, Christmas shopping!

No I haven't forgotten you. We had the DSL go down yesterday and, so, I am late getting the Gazette up this weekend. You'll have it sometime tomorrow after I get the Christmas Shopping caught up after all the frigid weather we've had the last couple of weeks that made want to just sit under a warm blanket and hibernate. The sun is back out and it was over 50 degrees today. That also means that everyone else is out, too, and it takes twice as long to get things done as usual.

To boot, the store checkout isn't working. Literally, one minute it was working and the next it wasn't. Everything looks good, but something is wrong. Probably have to spend some time with tech support to find out what's up with the program. (sigh) Talk to you more tomorrow. Hope your Holiday Season is going well.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

www.hookedongold.com

Gold 'N' Store updates

2009-12-09T09:13:00.004-07:00

Yup, that's what it looks like around here. VERY pretty, and VERY cold!

The one good thing about the cold and snow is that I actually found a window with light coming through it that was good enough to photograph gold nuggets. That means I can get some more of them uploaded and listed on the store for sale in the next week.

I have one report of a problem with the check out on the new store. If you have ANY problems with it, please contact me so I can track down what happened. I have another invoicing option we can do, too, so don't give up on the new store if you are having trouble ordering from it. I DO have successful orders coming through, so the whole thing isn't a problem. There may just be a glitch or two to work out. Also, there seems to still be links to the old store. Make sure you are ordering from the store that does NOT have the website template, but shows the goldpanner in the upper left hand corner. If you find a link to the old store, let me know so that I can get rid of it. I did delete the page, so you may only get a blank page. That means you are on the wrong page. I'll work on a redirect tomorrow after we are finished with the GPOC potluck and meeting today. Check out the store for gifts with gold prospecting themes, gold nuggets for sale, gold nugget jewelry, and gold in white or black quartz jewelry.

I am reading new reports about the new no dredging regulations in California, but I'll save that for the Gazette on Friday. Hope you Season of Holidays is going well, and that you are enjoying all the people you love during this time of year.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com

Not the Hooked on Gold Gazette

2009-12-04T20:45:00.004-07:00

Sure wish this was MY store. LOL! However, this is a picture of one of the gold jewelry stores in the Souk at Dubai Gold Market. Yeah, they're the ones who are thinking about defaulting on their loans to European Banks that sent everything into a tail spin Thanksgiving weekend.

Gold closed the weekend at $1161.40 after reaching a high in the neighborhood of $1225. Didn't have time to look today as we were in Colo. Springs helping GPOC set up for the mineral show this weekend at the Phil Long Ford Expo. I'll get back to you next week.

We had forgotten how hard it is to photograph gold really well. We took literally hundreds of pictures of gold to put up for sale on the website and only got two to come out good enough to use. We will try again this week. You will find one new piece up on the store and a couple more pendants for your Christmas lists.

GPOC was greeted with frozen sand and frozen buckets when they gathered to set up for the weekend earlier today. Hopefully all will be thawed out by tomorrow for opening. See you all in the funny papers, and from Hooked on Gold, may your Holidays be filled with Joy, Laughter and Good Cheer. Remember to be kind to one another and hold your family dear.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com

Wishing you a Golden Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T09:58:00.006-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to All! We hope everyone has a wonderful time with family and freinds this holiday. The turkey is in the oven and we are getting ready for our feast, but I have a few minutes to chat with you since there will be no Gazette tomorrow.

Gold is down today around $1186 as Dubai asked for a 6 month extension on its' loans, which, in turn, sent the London Stock Exchange tumbling and forcing a three hour closure. This should frim up the dollar sending gold lower, but I'll be watching to see what happens later.

We got the tile laid in the entry way yesterday, so we will be looking for another project to work on. Shopping will be taking up some time and there are get togethers with friends to look forward to in the coming weeks. Have a happy and safe holiday season, and may your golden wishes all come true. Check Gold 'N' Store for that special gold nugget jewelry item your looking for. Check back next week, too, as I get more raw gold for sale posted. We should have some time in the next few days to get it photgraphed and posted on the store site. Looking for a prospecting gift or stocking stuffer with a gold prospecting theme? We have those, too.

Until next week,

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Hooked on Gold Gazette 11/20/09

2009-11-20T17:58:00.003-07:00

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE
· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1150.90
· Spot price last Gazette : $1096.90
________________

Calendar of Events

NOVEMBER

· 3rd Election Day
· 11th GPOC Meeting
· 13th-15th Gem Show at Merchandise Mart
· 26th Thanksgiving

DECEMBER

· 9th GPOC Christmas Party…Remember your unwrapped toys for children. Our Marine friends will be there to pick them up. You may also make cash donations.
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

As with all good intentions that fail, things this past week have gotten in the way of my getting back to you before now. Our friend Pedro, from Colombia, S.A., had some extra time in Denver this week, so we spent our week with him. We don’t get these chances often, so we take them when we can. We visited the Denver Museum and the Garden of the Gods, and even though we had snow last weekend, the days we were out were very nice, indeed. Beautiful blue skies and warm weather made for a very enjoyable time together.

I’ll be working on internal linking to Gold ‘N’ Store as I am sure the text links go to the wrong page. I thought about that this past weekend and realized that I still have more work to do on the store, too. I’ll be putting up more page links and getting some more gold listed, as well as working on meta tags and descriptions. Check back on Cyber Monday to see what I have that is new.

Cache Creek still had gold prospectors in and out as of a couple of weeks ago, even with 4 inches of snow still on the ground. The Game and Fish Dept. has been watching for hunters in the area, too. As a conservation area, it is closed to hunting, and there have been several hunters in there this season.

Hope you have been watching gold jump up and down this past week. It touched $1170 before falling back again. Still, a nice run up in the metal. Everyone at the Gem Show was talking about the healthcare bill and the state of the economy around the world. All news bodes well for gold, but silver may be the story of note after all is said and done. It closed today at $18.51.

Looking for some extra cash? You might want to ‘get your teeth’ into selling gold. Read about it here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/19/business/main5711640.shtml . And, is you are interested in buying or have bought gold ingot bars, you might want to check into this article about how some of them may be filled with tungsten http://www.businessinsider.com/the-tungsten-filled-gold-bar-conspiracy-gets-discussed-on-cnbc-2009-11 .

There is probably a ton of other news out there that I missed while I was gallivanting around Colorado. With the holidays beginning next week, we are looking forward to a quiet weekend before the Thanksgiving Holiday and the mad rush to Christmas begins. This also means that there will be no Gazette next Friday as we spend time with our extended families. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, and a Holiday Season that is filled with Joy, and remember to visit Gold ‘N’ Store for your prospecting gifts.

(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Playing with a Different Kind of Gold This Weekend

2009-11-13T08:20:00.008-07:00

Two of the gold panner examples of gifts for prospectors in Gold 'N' Store

Guess what? This is Gem Show weekend! All of you that have read this blog for a while know that means I will be playing with a different kind of gold as I spending the weekend in the Columbian Emerald Booth with 18K jewelry gold at the Merchandise Mart. That also means you will not get a Newsletter today, but I'll get back with you on Tuesday with what news I have for you.

Gold spot price is staying above $1100 as of this morning, and I'll be watching it to see if it holds for the weekend. It has only $7.00 to fall before it closes below $1100, so today will be an interesting day to watch it.

I have news on Cache Creek, too, for you.

Remember that the new store is back up and running. I have spent time this past week getting the descriptions up to snuff and I have started to add the gold back to it, too. Check back often to see what is new and what has sold already. Get ready for Christmas realy so you don't miss the old priced 14K gold nugget jewelry I still have in stock. You can check out Gold 'N' Store now if you like.

(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)

http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

New Store at Hooked on Gold

2009-11-09T10:23:00.004-07:00

Good Day to everyone. I have had a wonderful start to my day by being able to finish, upload and link the new store. That's right! Hooked on Gold has a new gold prospectors store. After last year's attempt to replace the pages that I had spent weeks constructing and never did work well, I found a program that was easy to use and purchased it. Last year I purchased a program that was so confusing to use I gave up on it after about 8 weeks.

My experience with it was so bad, I was reluctant to try the new one, but I have to say it has delivered everything it said it would so far, and more. While it still took some time and effort to put together, the instructions were easy to understand and implement. CoffeeCup has really good programs on its' website that include my new store.

Now, I didn't spring for the customizable template options since I didn't know if it would even work well, but I did include the familiar goldpanner icon I have on my webpages. The "HOME" button at the top of the menu takes you back to the hookdeongold home page.

You will find only a few of the items listed on the store home page, and more if you click on the categories either in the menu or on the page. I'll add more items and some gold in the next week, so check back to see what else is going on. Christmas is coming!

While going through the links after I had uploaded everything, I found the Cache Creek page is not loading, so I'll have to work on that this afternoon. For now, you can see and use the new store at http://www.hookedongold.com/store

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

Hooked on Gold Gazette 11/06/09

2009-11-06T18:50:00.004-07:00

Good News! Ben Parker's book is back in print. New link should be up in the store this weekend.

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1096.90
· Spot price last Gazette : $1044.70
________________

Calendar of Events

NOVEMBER

· 3rd Election Day
· 11th GPOC Meeting
· 13th-15th Gem Show at Merchandise Mart
· 26th Thanksgiving

DECEMBER
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

What a difference a week makes! Freezing temps last week and mid 70’s this week. Being out of doors was really pleasant the past few days, and we are thinking about a metal detecting trip tomorrow. Or perhaps I should say Larry is. I’m not ready to be cold again quite so soon.

Gold, now there was a story this past week. It jumped over $52.00 and even touched $1001.00 before retreating on Thursday. With economic concerns in everyone’s minds, many are picking up gold as a hedge more now. India’s purchase of IMF gold didn’t hurt either, and has caused people to take their gold into the markets in exchange for money. Many are melting older pieces to be made into new for their brides.

I found this interesting article this past week on why the government won’t confiscate your gold. The first reason is that circumstances now are simply not what they were in the 1930’s, another is that we are already off the gold standard. Several other points are very well made in the article. A very good read. http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1257177600.php

I was wandering around the internet looking for information on another subject when I came across this very god website about Victor, Colorado at http://www.victorcolorado.com/history.htm

Oregon has been in the news concerning gold prospecting and dredging for gold. ICMJ has an article on their Governor wanting to have many acres withdrawn from mineral entry so that all gold prospecting and mining will be halted or severely restricted in those areas. ICMJ has a great quote in it’s article by Mike Higbee about dredgers and fishermen. http://icmj.com/index.php for more info. Oregon is also attempting to curtail dredging there as California has done, and you can read about that at http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/ap/kulongoski-wants-to-head-off-calif-gold-miners-64391782.html I probably gave you that last one before, but this situation bears repeating the article.

That’s about it, folks. Enjoy the nice weather while we have it. Thanksgiving is coming up fast and I have almost all my Christmas shopping finished. Still hoping I can get my new sluice box in the water before everything freezes up, but who knows. Maybe it won’t see water until next Spring.

(Links to our affiliates for gold prospecting equipment
Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.
World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

Hooked on Gold Gazette 10/30/09

2009-10-30T20:34:00.007-06:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN HAUNTINGS!

Our Winter Wonderland Yesterday at noon.
[Half of what we got for a total]
HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE
· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday: $1044.70
· Spot price last Gazette: $1054.80
________________

Calendar of Events
OCTOBER
· 31st Halloween
NOVEMBER
· 3rd Election Day
· 11th GPOC Meeting
· 26th Thanksgiving
DECEMBER
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

If you haven’t checked out the Prospecting Community Network you might want to. We have a great group started with several already blogging and getting involved. You will be able to view the main page when you pull the site up to decide if it is a place you would like to hang out at.

So, where did I leave off last week? I know on Monday I told you about the e-bay listing, and then everything went to H**l in a hand basket as Old Man Winter settled in on us with a vengeance. We have about 22 inches here at the house, and today’s temps didn’t get much above 45 degrees. I bet there I still snow on the ground for Halloween tomorrow night. BRRRR!

Gold took back some of its’ gains this last week, but ended higher than earlier with it dipping near $1030 and rising to around $1060. Yes, my friends, your gold will be worth more in the near future, so get to working those cons so you can see that yellow stuff.

New news this past week was more about the dollar and the stock market than about gold. With Halloween tomorrow night, we are entering into the holiday seasons, and gold jewelry prices should be a bit higher this year with gold demands being more and jewelers having to pay more for the metal. Many are having a hard time selling gold jewelry due to the price. Many have begun offering jewelry in silver to reduce the costs to the buyer. I have also begun to see copper crop up in jewelry this summer, so look for some jewelers to begin to use that metal as well.

I have a new store program that I am working on. I got a long way yesterday putting it together, found that one of the files had been corrupted, and had to delete the whole thing. Not only that, but I had to purge the program from the computer and upload it again to start all over. BUMMER! I had spent about 6 hours getting it set up and adding items to it before the corrupted file showed up. Starting over on a project of this size is hard to do, but I opened it up this morning and started a new one. We’ll see how far I get this time before I have a problem with it. Last year’s attempt was a total and utter disaster. I do hope this year’s program will be easier and I can finally get a decent store uploaded. If anyone ever tells you building and updating a website, or making money online is easy, kick them in the shins for me, eh? The only thing I ever put this much time and work into for so little money back was raising my kids. That was worth the years of trial, etc., but THIS is ridiculous.

Do you have any gold prospecting stories to share with all of us? Send me some in the comments box. I’m sure everyone would love to hear someone else ramble on, or do you just love ME? :>D

I don’t have any final results on the changes at Cache Creek for next year, but I will keep my ears open so when I do, you’ll know almost as soon as I do. Have and safe and happy Halloween!

(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.
If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
PLEASE BE ADVISED: Ads that you might find on this blog or on a website using ads, may use cookies or other tracking means to track your movements on the web. Please read our Privacy Policy to see how this affects you and what you might want to do to prevent cookies being used to track you.

New Claims at Point Bar

2009-10-26T11:52:00.004-06:00

Hey all!

Bet you didn't thing you'd be hearing from me again so soon. LOL! Well, I have more information for you on the 4 gold mining claims that were filed at Point Bar in September. The first of them is up for sale on E-bay. Going price right now is $3300.00. I would imagine the other three will find their way there in the near future. The seller isn't mentioning anything about the irrigation ditch that has a right of way on the claim, just that it has about half a mile of river, and it only costs $25.00 a year to dredge it, along with some other nice things about it. You can find this page by searching E-bay for claims; I'm not going to link it out for you. You can probably bookmark this person and check back for the other three claims if you are interested in your own place to highbank or dredge for gold. Cheers!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley

Hooked on Gold Gazette 10/24/09

2009-10-24T10:45:00.010-06:00

Panning in Fairplay with the 4th Grade
That's our setup area

We broke up into two groups
Chad & Larry helped with the panning lessons

Everyone found gold! And all had a great time.
Even though it was cold, they didn't want to stop.

· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday, last Gazette: $1054.80
· Spot price last Gazette May 2nd: $1052.80
________________

Calendar of Events

OCTOBER
· 31st Halloween

NOVEMBER
· 3rd Election Day
· 11th GPOC Meeting
· 26th Thanksgiving

DECEMBER
· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

If you haven’t checked out the Prospecting Community Network you might want to. We have a great group started with several already blogging and getting involved. You will be able to view the main page when you pull the site up to decide if it is a place you would like to hang out at.

It’s Not My Fault! The Gazette is a day late because we were gone for two days helping Tin Pan Prospecting teach gold panning to the 4th grade class in Fairplay…..on the S. Platte, no less; in the snow; it was 22 degrees. Welcome to Colorado! :>D After staying in Colorado Springs that night with friends, we then attended Dan Grenard’s (Our BLM department head GPOC has worked with for many years) retirement party in Canyon City on Friday and were not back at home until late. Hence, the Saturday morning Gazette publishing.

Gold didn’t move much this week, as you can see from the quotes at the top. After reaching $1071 it has retreated as expected. Silver, however, is up at $17.66 and its’ long term outlook is much better than gold’s for overall price increase in the near future. It has a LONG way to go to reach that 16 to one ratio it has historically held with gold.

It snowed last week, as I mentioned, and we are expecting more snow this week here in Denver. I have had several inquiries about prospecting at Cache Creek in November, and I have no idea what it is doing up there. We were in the area but didn’t have enough time to make the trek that far north on the Arkansas on Thursday to actually see what is going on up there weather wise. If any one has info on Cache Creek, please leave a comment here for everyone. The weather is turning much colder pretty fast all over the central and eastern parts of Colorado with the western side staying mild.

And so, Point Bar is a subject that is being discussed all over, now, with the claims that have been filed. While I did blog about this a few weeks ago, I want to go back over this a little more to make sure I haven’t missed anything I need to discuss with you. First, even if there is a claim on an area, they do not own the water rights, which means the claimant cannot keep you out of the water. You can still access the water with your prospecting equipment anywhere on the point as long as the material you are using comes out of the public recreation area near the pit. Another item is that this person also cannot keep you from camping in the area. Having a claim on public land does not mean that anyone can keep you from camping on public BLM lands. This only means that no one else can prospect or mine there. You only have a claim on the minerals that might be found there and only you have the right to extract them. The claimant will now be required to properly post his area and do any reclamation of the area himself.

Several people in GPOC have asked why the club has not claimed this area for members. There are several reasons for this. First, is policing the area. The area has been an open area for prospecting for so long that it would have been nearly impossible to keep anyone who is not a GPOC member from prospecting the area. Second, once the claim is made the claimant is then responsible for any reclamation or damage repair involved with keeping the area. As an open area, GPOC can apply for grant money from the BLM to do damage repair and reclamation in public prospecting areas on the Arkansas River, and that would be money not coming out of our treasury. Third the amount of money that would be required to keep the area up would have been substantial. Look at what we go through to keep Beaver Creek claims open. When we have a plan of operation in place, damage and reclamation can cost upwards of $2,000 a year to keep up. Our dues are extremely cheap now and we would have to raise them to be able to keep up with costs on 4 claims on point bar. They were open to you the way it was. Why claim them and have the hassles. This claimant may not be able to keep up with what will be required, either and you may have them back in public hands in a year or two. GPOC’s grant for damage repair and reclamation will not have to be used in the claimants areas either, and can be used to keep up other public areas. How many of you actually used any of those areas? GPOC now has what is probably the best of those claims, and there are numerous reasons why we have those and not the others. How many of you have used those claims? The irrigation ditch is another thing the claimant will have to address as well. I also wonder how much cleanup and fire control he will have to deal with in this very well used recreation area.

I didn’t find any interesting links this week for you. Usually there is a lot going on, but this past week was pretty dead for news on gold or gold prospecting. I’ve probably taken enough of your time for now, anyway, so I’ll say TTFN and call it all good. Any questions? Comment here or you can email me. I’ll give it my best shot. If you comment here, you probably will get someone else to give their two cents worth, too. I can’t know everything….my head is too small. :>D

(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
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Hooked on Gold Gazette 10/17/09

2009-10-17T08:14:00.005-06:00

Two pieces of equipment used at Cache Creek to muck out the beaver pond.

Mucking out the beaver pond. This is about the size the pond ended up being. It goes a ways to the left of this shot, but I couldn't get it all in.

HOOKED ON GOLD GAZETTE
· Gold Spot Closing Price for Friday, last Gazette: $1052.80
· Spot price last Gazette May 2nd: $885.80
________________

Calendar of Events

OCTOBER

· 31st Halloween

NOVEMBER

· 26th Thanksgiving

DECEMBER

· 24th Christmas Eve
· 25th Christmas Day
_______________________________________
NEWS

If you haven’t checked out the Prospecting Community Network you might want to. We have a great group started with several already blogging and getting involved. You will be able to view the main page when you pull the site up to decide if it is a place you would like to hang out at.

As it ended, the first Gazette of the Fall is a day late. I considered waiting until next week, but I have enough info to share now and an hour this early morning to get the Gazette to you even if it is a little late. Why is it late, you might ask? Well, I am painting one room upstairs while we have a few nice days and I can open the house to dry it, AND I was playing a new game. Yes, I know it is hard to believe that a new game could deter me from writing to you, but it is true. So, I am up early to atone for my wasted time yesterday that should have been devoted to you. :>D

So, what have all of you been up to this summer? Have you found gold? Won gold at a meeting? Had hail break all the windows in your house? What? Leave some comments to this blog so I don’t think I’m out there all alone. Some of you are wondering why I twitter and Facebook so much, and I have decided that it is because those places are where I have interaction with other prospectors and those interested in gold. It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing this blog, but there is very little input from you. It is hard to know what you want to read when there are no comments left for me to comment on. A blog can be almost as interactive as any social networking site, in fact they are an extension of blogs and the interactivity that was first born in blogs. So, take a minute and make a comment when you find something you like or don’t like. YOU hate it when I’m not blogging, but a blog is supposed to be two way. Give me something more to write about, and I’ll write. I’m a writing fool, as you can tell from all the sites I have, and anyone who has emailed me will tell you that I LOVE trying to answer questions.

We found gold this summer. Not a lot, but we did find gold. Helped a lot of other people find gold, too. We spent a great deal of time hosting at Cache Creek, and the BLM tells us that most people appreciated someone being in the area to help them set up equipment, teach panning and tell them where in area to find gold. The area was absolutely SLAMMED this summer, and so new regulations are being drawn up by the BLM to get some control over the area. Larry and I have been allowed to put our two cents in, and they are looking at our recommendations as guidelines. If you don’t like the new ones, you can blame us for being in there so much and people who were in there all summer moving over 100 yards of material with sluice boxes. Limits will be imposed next year, and a fee structure that will be more fair to everyone. This area is meant for RECREATIONAL PROSPECTING, which means it is not governed by the mining laws. BLM is free to impose regulations on the area as they deem necessary as with any campground, parking area that has a fee, etc.

The pond was mucked out in late September, and a couple of additional settling ponds were dug in, too. The two smaller ponds will not stop the silt from going into the beaver pond if the present amount of silt continues to run down the creek. Most people will say the highbankers are at fault for this, but from personal experience, I can say that the majority of it comes from the sluices that are run directly in the creek. Highbankers are required to settle their material before it returns to the creek, which also means the water must be diverted away from the main creek. There can be as many as 6 highbankers in the area, but on most days the sluice boxes outnumber them by about 5 to one, and I have watched sluicers move as much material through one sluice box as a ‘banker. Our average count of vehicles in the parking lot was around 28. That means on most days there were between 40 and 75 people in the area a day; every day. We ended up with two port a jons to handle the wastes, and had we not been there to get that done, the place would have been an even bigger mess than it has been in past years.

As a result of this year’s use and our record taking for the BLM, they are considering hiring a summer time employee to help regulate the Arkansas River and Cache Creek. That means that all of you who have bragged about being able to get away with anything because there is not anyone in the area to make sure you comply, have created a situation where we now have to pay a salary to keep you in line because you can’t be relied on to be personally responsible for yourself on public lands without law enforcement there to make sure you do. This means that everyone who uses the area will probably be required to pay a daily fee, and most probably have restrictions on the number of days you can use the area per season. Thanks a bunch. The ounces of gold I saw taken out of there by single or two man teams of men who worked the area all summer was substantial, and they all should have had their own claims and not using public lands in this way. All were using sluice boxes which have no fees, so they took it out for free. One team switched to a highbanker, but also stayed in the area with it for over 6 weeks. Almost all were very protective of their area and kept others out by placing equipment near and around their work areas. If you even looked like you might want to work near them they became irate and combative. Some situations were volatile enough to call in law enforcement, and there are charges still pending on at least one case. Oh, and then there was the fire, which apparently was started by a small campfire that had been left unattended above the last hydraulicing wall, most probably by prospectors. There were also reports of dredging going on and spies who watched everyone from the rock burms. Yes, we need to be able to keep people in line at Cache Creek. Some people are reporting that they feel the area is dangerous and being taken over by lawlessness. And there we were. With a sign and a green cap and a note book. There were days I carried my hand pick for defense. Yes, we need more regulation at Cache Creek. No, we aren’t happy about it, but yes, we (the public) need this regulation and support.

Another thing that came to our attention was that the GPAA put the area in their claims guide as an open area. This brought in many more people than the area was ever meant to support, and while the area was originally expected to last 20 years, the number of years left for the area could be less than 10. Long range plans for the area had included a campground, but with so few years left for use, those plans have been put on hold. Right now, everyone is scrambling to get the area under control and limit the environmental and use impact. Remember this area is a conservation area, and we are confident that had we not been there to document what was going on and help BLM understand what needs to be done, Cache Creek would have been closed this year due to extreme damage to the area and the amount of material moved and silt sent down the creek. The area was originally closed down, you will remember, due to silting of the Arkansas River, and so silting is a major concern to keeping the area open. While we are not sending silt into the Arkansas, it is sent to a beaver pond and over the dam into the conservation area below. We are confident the new regulations will give us many more years of safe use, but we NEED the cooperation of everyone to keep the area open.

I have a few links for you to follow. The first is to an animated film on youtube about an Alaskan prospector and is appropriate for our Halloween holiday coming up soon. It is about 8 minutes long http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYqtDqE69no
Another is an article about bacteria that could be an explanation for some gold deposits. It also could allow gold to be grown in a lab and lead to new technology for finding gold http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/esrf-bhf100709.php
And now Oregon wants to be like California. They are now looking to ban recreational prospecting there, too. Read: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/ap/kulongoski-wants-to-head-off-calif-gold-miners-64391782.html

(Links to our affiliates. Good deals, and GREAT folks)
You can find Panning Kits
Monthly Prospecting Equipment Specials
Basic Prospecting Equipment

Until next week…….

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley (MQS)
Google has begun running third party ads and is requiring adsense sites to include information about this change on their websites. You can read about this on our Privacy Policy page.

World Open Panning website has this year’s world wide panning competitions listed and they add more all the time. A great site to visit: http://www.worldopenpanning.homestead.com/ . If the links do not work, copy and paste them into your browser.

If you find a broken link, please let us know
THE ARKANSAS RIVER is now CLOSED TO MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT until MARCH 1st.
_______________________________________
http://www.hookedongold.com/
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us
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Prospecting Point Bar for Gold Gets Dicy

2009-10-14T14:27:00.005-06:00

This is the sand bar west of the pit that we think is part of the Colorado State Recreation land

For those of you who have prospected and found gold at Point Bar in years past, you are aware that a large amount of area has remained open to the public for prospecting. This has been by design, and GPOC has tried to help in the BLM efforts to keep this area open for all.

This summer, all the open area was claimed by a person from Texas and is now closed to the public for prospecting. This does NOT include the pit and the access to the river from the pit. That area is State Land and is not claimable. However, this person did claim the State Land in error. There are 4/40 acre claims that have been filed from the bottom of Woody's claims to below the GPOC claim at Badger Creek. This is not something that can be unfiled or disallowed.

GPOC has refrained from claiming all of this area so that it could remain open for public prospecting. However, since the area was not removed from locatable mineral entry, the claims are valid and the public will have to stay off these claims in the future. The claimant should be putting up markers with the names 'Colorado Dream', 'Arkansas Gold Dream', 'Arkansas Dream Claim' and 'Ginger Girl'. Sorry folks. Your fun is over. Stick to the pit and the river access to it so you stay out of trouble. The site will be updated later this month with this info. All for now. More on other areas and information later this week.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

http://www.hookedongold.com/

hookedongold@gmail.com

Point Bar and Other Updates on Gold in Colorado

2009-10-13T11:05:00.006-06:00

BLM Volunteer Day at Cache Ck. 9-26-09

Coyote holes and diggings too close to trees were filled in by volunteers.

More of the crew, here. Signs were posted concerning the power line pole easements and a boundary established with a branch with sign attached. This boundary is NOT arbitrary. It is established by the power line owner and Colorado State Law.

Summer has definitely ended here in Colorado. For those of you who regularly look for the blog, I applogize for not updating it lately enough for you. My only defense is the amount of work that has been going on with Cache Creek, Point Bar and the Denver Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show. Those items coupled with closing our summer camp and getting things back up and running in the winter quarters has left me with little time to update the blog.

First up is to inform you that the Newsletter will be brought back this Fall, if not this Friday then next Friday. For anyone who does not remember it, I post it on Friday evening after all the markets have closed so you have up to date info on gold prices for the weekend.

Next, I will be bringing you new information about Point Bar Recreational Area near Salida, Colorado, and you will find out more about what changes may be in store for Cache Creek for next gold season. In the mean time, there is plenty to catch up on about what has been going on in the past month, so look forward to several posts this week and next concerning all the changes and news about gold, finding gold, and some of your favorite places to play in.

I found an interesting article today about gold nuggets and nugget shooting. You can read it at http://salars.net/treasure/nugget-shooting . More info in the next few days.

Good Prospecting to You,
www.hookedongold.com
hookedongold@gmail.com

Snow in the Gold Country of Colorado

2009-09-24T12:01:00.008-06:00

Mt. Antero on Tuesday. Doesn't look any better today.
Temps in the upper 40's. BRRRR!

More Panning Gold From Tin Pan Prospecting

Took a couple of friends to Tin Pan for a day of just gold panning and this is what we got. Thought you'd like to see it. There's about half a gram, there, in the pan.

For those of you on my case about blog posts, This blog's for you. :>D Denver Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show was a bit slow for wholesalers, but retailers saw a lot of traffic all days. Gold Prospectors of Colorado had their gold panning troughs out all three days, and of course they were very busy. The display cases had some awesome items in them, including one that had some very nice blue colored aquamarine from the Mt. Antero area. Most of you know I spent my time with T.L.E. International selling Emeralds.

After the show, we took up where we left off with the BLM and Cache Creek. GPOC will have volunteers up there this Saturday to do some cleanup and tree removal. The trees are already down and ready to be moved, and they will be knocking down coyote holes and general cleanup. The Beaver pond will get mucked out next Tuesday and an additional pond put in above the exsisting beaver pond to try and catch sediment before it enters the beaver pond. The sediment removed from the pond will NOT be available for prospecting and an effort will be made to spread it out to begin our long term reseeding effort.

We are also engaged in talks with BLM to modify the area's use regulations for next year, and there will be many changes. Everyone needs to remember that this area was developed originally as a wildlife refuge, and mining a small part of this area is a secondary concern.

To protect the wildlife aspect of the area, mining usage will need to be restricted further to prevent destruction of the downstream areas. Sluicing and panning will be restricted next year to a reasonable time limit, as there were many with sluice boxes who came into the area and stayed all season. Some are still there. This amount of use was never intended for this area. It was intended for casual, recreational, vacation time use and not to be mined as one would mine their own claim.

Should an individual or group want to do this level of work, they should be filing their own claim and dealing with the bonding issues connected with that claim, and not be doing this level of work on public land. Altercations with individuals concerning water usage and regulations was a big problem for hosts this year, and the new regulations will insure that these problems are kept to a minimum next year.

You will be required to fill out a short form to be placed in a collection box, like is used for fee for use parking areas, but there will be no fee. Collection of this information is to ensure that individuals are not in the area past their bonding permits or their number of allowed usage days.

Information on the area will be consolidated and all forms, website and kiosk will be in sync to minimize confusion. Highbanking permits will remain as they were this season, but without the extension. There were very few extensions asked for, and there were many highbankers who stayed in the area far past their permits plus any extensions they would have had. The elimination of the extension will help in tracking how many days a highbanker has been set up. (Leaving your highbanker set up is counted as a days work, whether you work or not).

Weather is too cold here today to get out much, and so, those of you who are blog starved get a treat. The fourteeners are covered in snow and the sky is cloudy. This weekend promises to be much better, and our last week in B.V. this season should end on a pleasant note. Hopefully, all of you had a successful prospecting season.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

Gold Panning at Cache Creek

2009-09-15T19:30:00.007-06:00

The high country is really starting to put on a wonderful show. We got some very nice pictures of the turning leaves this past Friday while we walked around Cache Creek with Gayle Gresham and her husband John.

Gayle is writing a piece about one of her relatives and 'rustling' which should be interesting, and we certainly will be looking forward to reading it when it is finished. She has several generations of miners in her 'tree', and her G.G.Granddad happened to be working at Cache Creek while they were mining the area early on. She has been to the area several times, but never up around where they had stopped the mining, so we offered to give her a tour and teach her how to pan for gold like her ancestors did.

She was a quick study and proved that gold mining is in her blood. She picked up the swishing motion to separate the black sand from the gold at the end of the process really well, and with a little practice, we are sure she will be using that gold pan as well as the rest of us.

That was what she found in her very first spade full of dirt from Cache Creek. 4 small pieces of gold, and not bad if we do say so ourselves! We panned the day away along with a home schooled group from Colorado Springs who were on a field trip with their kids. Gayle spent a few minutes with them to give them some of the history of the area and to share a couple of stories about her grandfathers. (More on them later) :>D

We spent a very pleasant day with everyone on Friday...that is until we all decided the smoke from the "camp fire" wasn't a "campfire" but had become something much bigger. We have since heard from the Chafee County Fire Dept. that it did look like it began as a camp fire, so everyone needs to be very aware of the danger of fire out there concerning your camp fires.

Gayle runs a blog on the history of her family, which includes mining, that you can see here at http://www.coloradoreflections.blogspot.com/ , and I must say it has some very interesting information on it.

I have two more posts to get in before next week. As most of you know, this weekend is the Denver Gem, Mineral and Fossil show at the Merchandise Mart along with several other hotels and, we hear, some goings on at the Coliseum. That means I will be spending 10 hour days in the emerald booth with my friend Pedro from Colombia. Come out and see some of the most amazing rocks, gems, and fossils this side of the Tucson Show. Stop by the panning troughs set up each year by the Gold Prospectors of Colorado in the N.E. corner of the Merchandise Mart.

Lots more mining to do yet this year, so get out there and find some gold!

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley Weilnau

Gold Prospecting in the Mountains of Colorado

2009-09-12T06:23:00.006-06:00

Yup, that's a forest fire starting up. at Cache Creek Sept. 11th, '09

Are you looking for mining equipment at good prices on hand tools and accessories? How about some gold concentrates to have on hand for indoor panning? Find what you are looking for and monthly specials on mining equipment, too.

A great big "HOWDY" to all of you today. My posts seem to get farther and farther apart, but rest assured, I haven't forgotten you. Every time I log in I cannot believe how long it has been since the last post. We ARE having FUN, however, and time is flying by. :>D

Since my last post, we have visited Tin Pan several times with friends, dredged a bit on the river, collected Apache Tears and Garnets on Ruby Mt., met people at Cache Ck for gold panning lessons and walk throughs, met with BLM twice on site, and had a forest fire crop up above the work area on the Cache Ck. open area. Yes, it has been a busy couple of weeks!

Aspen trees have started to turn yellow, gold and red, and each day, now, we find many more have followed suit. If we don't get too much early snow higher, we could be in for some really nice viewing this year. Beetle kill continues to advance at an alarming rate, though, and you will find many more forests with grey, needle less pine trees next year.

Denver Gem, Fossil and Mineral Show will be Sept. 18th through 20th, so put that on your calendar and go spend a day there if you are in the area. GPOC will have their gold panning troughs out for the public to pan from, too.

I came across an interesting piece this past week by miningweekly on the rise in gold prices I thought you might like to read. There was also an article on Gold Rush Days in Sacramento, Ca. that was a lot of fun.

Well, that's about it for today. I have a lot of information to get onsite and will begin to work on that next month. In the mean time....

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/
hookedongold@gmail.com
http://www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com/ a prospecting community/forum

Review of Tin Pan Prospecting in Fairplay

2009-08-31T09:39:00.007-06:00

We had the opportunity to stop in at Tin Pan Prospector/Outfitter, the new panning/prospecting pay for use area located west of the highway 285 bridge, just south of the light, in Fairplay this weekend. The operator, Chad, was informative, pleasant, and really knew his stuff.

We tried out the panning ‘tub’ and were surprised at the amount and size of the gold we found. Panning is 10 bucks a day per person, and from what we saw, it is one of the best values around that we have seen lately, as you can see above.

That's your host, Chad. Great guy!

Tin Pan Prospecting is located south of the light at Fairplay on highway 285 on the west side of the bridge that crosses over the South Platte River.

Gravel is brought in from off the property, for panning, so we decided to try out the highbanking area for a couple of hours. We had two shoveling and one classifying, and came away with roughly a gram of gold for our efforts, which we all thought was a pretty good deal.

Most of the gold was nice sized flakes right out of the moraine bank, and Chad told us we had brought back more than what had been showing in that area. He proceeded to take material from our bank back to the panning area. Highbanking runs around $30.00 a day with your own equipment, and there is equipment for rent on site starting at $30.00, too. Sluicing, dredging, and metal detecting are available, but dredging is closed on the river for this season.

This pan shows what we got out of the $25.00 can o dirt. They also carry $10, $15 and $50 cans.

Chad tells us that the company will be adding several new properties next year to those already available to prospectors. You can even purchase a season pass that gives you access to all the properties. They will be looking at the possibility offering weekly or monthly rates next year. For the money, it looks to me like this is a good deal, and you will have access to patented and private property claims. We were impressed with the areas they are looking at having available for next years’ season. I know where we will be spending more of our own prospecting season next year. Heck, I know where we will be spending some of THIS years’ season that is left to us. LOL!

Their website is located at http://www.coloradogoldprospecting.com/ , but the prices quoted there are higher than they are presently charging. Chad says he will be open daily until after Labor Day weekend, and then you will need to call during the week to use the property. He will stay open to the public on weekends until the season winds down and snow is falling.

So, what do I think? I liked the atmosphere, the property, how it was managed and most of all the gold. Pictures prove my point. I also purchased one of the $25.00 cans o dirt and weighed out ½ a gram (7.5 grains) of nice sized flake.

Looks good in the pan above, doesn’t it? Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will find that much, but at least you can see what I got. They offer $10.00, $15.00, $25.00 and $50.00 cans o dirt, but they are out of the 10 and 15 dollars cans right now. Nice gift idea for that prospector you know for Christmas or a drawing at a club meeting.

If you are looking for a good place to spend some time panning, this is one to try out and lessons are included with the price. If you are looking for where you want to play in the dirt next year, consider Tin Pan Prospecting's season pass. Remeber, you will have access to all their properties for the season. Good people to work with, and a lot of really good gold. They also work with groups and offer a variety of outfitter prospecting experiences, including BBQ and camping arrangements. Stop by their spot just south of the light in Fairplay on highway 285. You won’t be sorry!

Gold Prospecting and Golden Yellow Leaves

2009-08-13T18:17:00.005-06:00

We came back to B.V. from spending 6 days at home, to beautiful azure blue skies, whispy clouds and high 70's temps......this is August. August, when temps should be in the mid 80's and we should be needing the fan on all night long and still sweat.

Prospecting for gold has been hit and miss all summer, what with hosting Cache Creek more than we intended, and having major problems crop up there, too. However, we still have, what, 6 weeks to find gold. I think we have had time to pick up a whole 4 grams of placer gold and under half an ounce metal detecting. We are hopeful the rest of the season will be better gold wise. :>D

Trees are turning yellow already, and frost has been around each night above 9,000 ft. Looks like fall is coming in early, but fall is my favorite time of year. Warm days and cool nights. AND no work to go to each day. AAHHHH!

We took a trip yesterday east of Salida to try and find a peridot field we could hunt. No luck in finding the field, but the weather was wonderful, and we saw country we had never seen before. Placid ranches with lush grass and fat cows. What hasn't gotten frosted and turned yellow is still green like it was spring. Trees looks well watered, and perhaps they can begin to resist the pine beetle that is decimating the forests in Colorado.

Circumstances at Cache Creek have quieted down and things seem to running more smoothly than in July. The place looks like it has been bombed out and holes are really big. The parking lot is still full every day and there are large groups who come in on the weekends. Plan accordingly if you are coming there. Good luck to you in your search for gold, and may you find enough gold to make your experience worth all your effort. I know finding gold is only one of the aspects of prospecting for gold. Having the opportunity to be in the out of doors with a purpose, or not, is certainly worth getting up in the morning for. I hope you feel the same way. :>D

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com

'09 Colorado State Gold Panning Championships

2009-08-06T07:18:00.005-06:00

Colorado State Gold Panning Championships '09

Yes, that's the 'get up' I wear to 'official' events. I think I'll post it on FB, too! :>D

Colorado State Gold Panning Championships in Breckenridge last weekend were hectic, but we were able to get through everything before close on Sunday.

Rain (and snow above 11,000 feet) greeted us on Friday morning and made it difficult to get started on time. Junior events had to be postponed until later in the weekend so that Old Timers and National Style could get completed on Friday.

Saturday morning we found ice on the truck windshield, but clear skies and sunshine at breakfast time. We squeezed one of the Jrs. events in the morning, and had a very full field of teams, women's and men's events, which left us with no time to finish men's on Saturday. Sunshine abounded, though, and everyone was in good spirits with good competition and camaraderie. Cleaning enough sand became a problem with equipment that kept breaking down, which also slowed everything down. Fortunately, we had a back up system that could be run to help get the sand cleaned of gold for competition.

Sunday morning also was sunny but without ice on the windshield, and we started the day squeezing in the last Jrs. competition and then finishing men's before moving on to State in the afternoon. There were 25 competitors signed up and I dropped to judge so we could run dry and speed simultaneously, which helps to speed things along. This gave us just enough time afterward to run World's Dry before we had to begin tearing everything down to go home.

This had to be one of the toughest years to get everything in with rain, equipment, and the large number of competitors, but everyone had a great time and most of the weather was very good. More pictures will get posted in the next week as I get them resized, as well as announcements of the winners, hopefully tomorrow as I go through and find them all. We have video to post as well, as soon as Larry gets it put together. Have you ever seen anyone pan for gold blindfolded? Well, we did a panoff blindfolded. It was really something to see! Lots of fun. Had to have two competitors that were evenly matched to do it, and they both did a good job.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

Colorado State Gold Panning Championships National Style Champions

2009-08-01T06:39:00.003-06:00

'09 National Style Champions

Left to right, Gary Beaderstadt 2nd, Eric Vesterby 1st, Stacey Smith 3rd, Sue Drewes 3rd. Congratulations to the first of our Colorado State Gold Panning Champions for '09.

Weather in Breckenridge was wet and cold, but we managed to find enough dry skies to get the competitions started. Weather today should be better as we start today with Teams and move on to Jrs, Women's, and Men's. Come on out and join us! Weather is predicted to be sunny and in the 70's. See you there.

Good Prospecting to You,

Shirley

www.hookedongold.com

'09 Colorado State Gold Panning Championships

2009-07-30T20:26:00.004-06:00

Come one, come all to the '09 Colorado State Gold Panning Championships this Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Breckenridge, Colorado. Brought to you by Gold Prospectors of Colorado, we will hold three days of gold panning competitions that will include Jrs., Old Timers, National, Teams, Women's, Men's, State, and Worlds Dry.

GPOC will also have their panning troughs out for the public to try their hand at gold panning as well as watching some of the best panners in the country compete for this year's titles.

Come on out and join us for three days of fun in the high country, and try your hand at finding gold with a gold pan like the old timers did! See you there.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com

Resolution of Issues at Cache Creek

2009-07-25T06:43:00.004-06:00

I posted this today on the ning site, too, and rather than have to retype the information, I am going to just copy it for you here. I can't really make it better or different. Spelling probably will be better here, though, as I wrote this very early this morning. :>D

I am VERY happy to report to you this morning that the situation at Cache Creek this past week has been resolved without arrest or revocation of permit. I also want all of you to know that the BLM was very cooperative in sending a team to get this under control, going so far as to pull a ranger from Montrose to assist while the Canyon City field office ranger was unavailable. We want to thank them for their response.

The person in question was successfully contacted by Ranger Ted and other BLM department heads and was made to understand what violations he had made and what consequences there would be if he did not cease his line of belligerence. No matter what happens up there, assault is not OK. It is against criminal law and we still have the option to have this person arrested and prosecuted, so watch your conduct out there. This is not the wild wild west.

For any one's information, the distance from each other needs to be at least a shovel's length or ten feet. An 18 foot perimeter around you is unreasonable and BLM officers have said that no one may interfere with anyone else prospecting there that is doing so lawfully. The area is public land and any one has the same rights to digging in any spot as any one else. We will continue to respect, at minimum, the 10 foot rule and not digging in someones hole that has a bucket in it and shows up each day by noon to work that hole. Let me make it clear here, that we are not required to do this. We are trying to extend some common courtesy to all of you.

Only one highbanking permit is permited per person for the year and can be extended for an additional 10 days for a total of 20 days per season. On the KIOSK you will also see a regulation that says if your highbanker is set up and you do not run that day, you must count that day as a day used. We lost two days ourselves this past week on our permit dealing with storms and this situation. THRILLED that we lost a day to this mess!

Anyway, rest assured that the situation has been dealt with and this individual is now aware that BLM does know what is going on and that they are prepared to defend us and what we are doing. Also that we, under the hosting contract with GPOC, are under their federal employee umbrella for defense. We cannot control the bear, however, and all of you are on your own where it is concerned. LOL! Make sure you keep you food, toiletries, and anything that has scent under control at all times. You are in his backyard, not the other way around.

One other thing I would like to bring up is that BLM will be modifying the regulations this fall to deal with some new things that are coming up this summer. One will most probably deal with the number of days sluicers will be allowed to use the area. This is NOT an area to come in and mine all summer like a claim, monopolizing large areas that others should have equal access to.

Please help us bring a good experience to the hundreds of people who access this area.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com

Obeying Gold Prospecting Rules and Regulations

2009-07-23T15:41:00.006-06:00

Natural Granite Arch east of Buena Vista

Time is just going too quickly. I think I'm doing OK with information and then find out that I haven't blogged for weeks! As you can see, we have been having a bit of fun with the UTV wandering around seeing things we cannot see with the truck. Oh, we find some gold, too. :>D

Hosting occasionally up at Cache Creek is interesting to say the least. We find all kinds of people there, and most are very nice. We enjoy talking with them and giving them out information along with tips on what to do with equipment or how to use a pan. Every once in a while, we come across someone who just does not play by the regulations and it makes it VERY hard for everyone there, least of all us. Law enforcement has had to be called this last week, and we are still trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time to straighten out a few people who think they have a 'claim' up there on some of the ground.

Yes, we have been threatened and acosted, too, as many of your have read elsewhere, but we do hope to be able to solve this problem without anyone getting hurt or arrested. A word to everyone about public land; you cannot come to Colorado and set yourself up to make a living finding gold on public land. First, you have to move too much dirt, and second the BLM frowns on it. Yes, it is hard to catch you at it, but, come on, people, you are on the honor system with this, and apparently some of you are pretty dishonest. The area can be shut down in an instant, and quite frankly, we are getting tired of a few others coming here from other states and ruining these areas for us, the residents of this state. Just because you can does NOT mean that you SHOULD. Right now, if they close down Cache Creek, I will not miss it. I am REALLY tired of the B.S.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
http://www.hookedongold.com/

Time Passes Quickly When You Are Finding Gold

2009-07-05T18:30:00.006-06:00

Mountain Vistas in Gold Country!

It's July 5th. I am having a hard time believing that my last post here was on June 27th! I am online almost every day writing somewhere and answering questions, so if I have neglected you here, I am sorry.

Gold closed last Friday around $931.00 and it is at $929.60 now. The 4th of July weekend was quiet at Cache Creek, and we are looking at our second trip back home to pick up mail. That might not seem significant to you, but that means we have been away for almost a month, since the P.O. will only hold for 30 days. Our oldest son will be celebrating his 35th birthday this week, and the youngest is moving. Needless to say, this trip back will be very busy although short.

We have found gold most days we have looked, and with the Arkansas still near flood stage, Cache Creek and Point Bar are about all there is that can be worked right now. Lots of nice gold is still coming out regularly. Most days there is one highbanker to every 4 sluices at Cache Creek, and some days there are no 'bankers at all. Weather has been cool with rain most days, too. New signs have been placed by the BLM concerning trees as too many are being undercut and taken down. They also placed a piece of plexi glass on the permanent information side of the Kiosk so weather and wind doesn't send the papers flying all over the parking lot.

We had our water pump go out on the new UTV on Saturday, and we suspect it was damaged in the first place, as I could smell coolant and water vapor from the start. The impeller also does not turn, so we are looking at conversations with the shiper tomorrow morning to see what needs to be done. We are looking forward to some July sunshine, and then will probably complain about how hot it is. LOL! DID find some more old markers and got a better look at others that we have photographed before the pump went out. Until next time...

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley

Cache Creek Gold Prospecting Responsibilities

2009-06-27T08:07:00.008-06:00

Trees should stand tall at Cache Creek, not down in a hole!

Cache Creek is becoming a challenge to keep things from getting out of control. While most miners in the area adhere to the regs, there are those who feel the regs do not apply to them when no one is watching. Several violations will be addressed here, and hopefully get the word out that these types of infractions jeopardize the continuation of keeping the area open to the public.

First is the undermining of trees. NO ONE who has NOT contacted the BLM about tree removal is allowed to remove ANY tree for ANY reason. The tree above was undercut three feet past its' tap root. This tree was also marked in orange and was to be saved. Who in their right mind would undermine a tree to this extent and cause such a hazard to all who are in the area? Camp Hosts called BLM concerning it and obtained permission to take it down, but if this irresponsible conduct continues, BLM will close this area due to the unsafe nature of the area to all who visit.

FIRES MUST BE CONTAINED IN A METAL FIRE CONTAINER, AND MUST BE OUTSIDE THE DAY USE AREA! In case you are not aware, the middle mountains of Colorado are under extreme fire danger regardless of the amount of rain we get. Beetle kill is so wide spread that any fire is potentially the start of a fire here that will be unstoppable due to the number of dead and dying trees. Certainly, no one using Cache Creek would want to be responsible for or prosecuted for starting such a fire. This is NO JOKE! It is VERY serious, and beyond being ticketed for having a fire on the ground and not in an elevated metal fire pan, the Federal Government WILL jail you for starting a forest fire, as they have before for irresponsible behavior.

PICK UP YOUR CIGARETTE BUTTS!

FILL IN YOUR HOLES! While we are aware that many leave the holes open for themselves or others to use after they have left the area, this poses a danger for anyone walking above them. Camp Hosts are constantly filling in holes and pits that others leave. This is exhausting work, and if you think it takes too much of your time, imagine how much time it takes for those who did not make them in the first place.

The bear is becoming more aggressive. It is appearing earlier in the evening and is getting used to people, their noises and movements. This is creating a situation where the camping signs will need to be moved so that all the camps are not so close together creating a foraging opportunity for the bear. You are in its' habitat, not the other way around, and it would be prudent for campers to spread out a bit so that a confrontation with the bear is less likely to happen. The area being used now may be convenient, but it is creating a problem with congestion, etc.

We are hopeful that all will abide by common sense and the regulations posted on the kiosk, as well as not pushing the envelope when no one is watching. We are not there to babysit all of you, but it seems as if some of you need that. We truly do not want to lose this area to the irresponsible actions of a few. Please do not shoot at the bear. An attack will close the area and the bear will suffer the consequences as well as you will. All of you are responsible for policing yourselves and questioning your neighbors if their actions are not in compliance with regulations. Enforcement is NOT your duty, but you can ask why they are acting the way they are, and report to the camp host any questionable activity as soon as possible so that action by them can be taken.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com

New Gold Prospecting Toy

2009-06-25T09:51:00.004-06:00

Ready to find those yellow rocks!

Wow! getting everything written and posted while being involved with all we are doing in reallife is becoming more challenging. I will have several posts in the next couple of days concerning gold and Cache Creek, and other things going on.

Today, the UTV is finished and ready to roll. Cloudy weather may keep us close to 'home' and not out finding gold, but we should be able to take our new toy out for a spin on some back roads to see how it handles. That's it in the photo, and yeah it's for us old people. Originally developed for light duty use on a farm, it looks like it will be just what we need to get around on those roads we cannot get the truck up.

The gold prospecting season here on the Arkansas is starting to heat up, even though weather has been a hinderance. Most days have been warm until early afternoon when we get showers, sometimes lasting into the evening. Everything here seems to be about a month behind and we still have cottonwood cotton flying around. We have found gold with our pans while we are hosting at Cache Creek and taken the metal detectors out to find some more gold, too. Website should show you the changes in the claim status at Cache Creek in the next day or so. We have active claims now at the cemetery, so you need to stay out of there. All for now. Stay tuned!

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley Weilnau
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com contact us

Cache Creek Gold Prospecting

2009-06-16T18:44:00.004-06:00

Building from days long ago

Ok, Ok, it's been a while since I have had time to enter a blog post on this site, but we have been SUPER busy. Twitter helps with info, but it just isn't the same, is it? Weather has not been with us so far, but it should be getting better as June turns into July.

We have begun the Camp Host program at Cache Creek and begun trying to address some of the problems in the area. Undercutting of trees is still going on and everyone needs to remember that you need to stay 10 feet from the trees leaving their main roots alone. Cutting of trees is prohibited and the digging of straight down pits is dangerous. Anyone doing that needs to fill those in completely. It is NOT the Camp Hosts job to clean up your mess.

Another item that came to our attention is the claims at the bottom of the valley near the highway and below the cemetery. Those are now active and everyone needs to respect that and stay out of there.

The Porta Potty has been a big hit, so much so that GPOC is looking into having it pumped either twice a week or putting in a second one if funds permit from the grant money. All for now.

Good Prospecting to You,
Shirley
www.hookedongold.com
www.hookedongoldprospecting.ning.com
hookedongold@gmail.com