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02-11-2007, 11:30 AM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report Greetings GoldGrubbers, I recently had the chance to do some prospecting in WA State. First, the rules there are insane...you have to have an approved/WDFW published "Gold and Fish" pamphlet in your possession...as the internet downloaded version isn't "sufficient". Just dumb. Also, only a Class 0 device...basically a single non-motorized gold pan is able to be used year around on most rivers/streams, and you have to pan into a tub or water hole separate from the stream. All that said, I was able to get some time to prospect 2 areas. First was on the Sultan River East of Monroe (Northeast of Seattle in the foothills). This area was heavily prospected/mined in the late 1800s, and the GPAA has several claims up in this area. I drove from Tacoma, had a flat along the way in my rental car, got lost in the mountains for an hour (trying to find an out of the way access to the river up stream) and finally got my first pan load of gravel swirling about 9 AM. Amazingly, my very first pan had a nice gold speck in it! However, since you can not get sand/gravel from the stream itself, only between the water line and the normal high water line, I was very limited on places to dig. The water in the Sultan River is "white water" from all the upstream glacial flour/ash, so it was murky and the rocks very slimy/slippery. Also, the salmon had very recently spawned in the river and dead salmon carcasses were all over, making the air smell like a, well, dead fish. I did see 3 Bald Eagles flying up/down the river just over my head...awesome! After 2 1/2 hrs I only had about 10 specks to my name. A bit disappointing. I looked for other easy access areas on the river further up stream, as I was just out of town, but found none, and it started to rain lightly, so I pulled chalks and blasted South to the Green River North of Enumclaw. I had heard on one of the internet sites a guy had found fine gold there... It took about 1 1/2 hrs to get there and again found it hard to find legal access to the river. Way too many signs threatening a tow away, prosecution, fines and such at every easy access point. Then, I stumbled on the Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, on the river. It was open, but unmanned, so I drove to the river and looked it over. No signs saying "no prospecting here". I found a nice river bend where, at high flood, the water deposited a lot of fine sand/gravel/black sand on the inside of a tight bend. My very first pan had about 4 small specks of gold. More than 2 1/2 hrs on the Sultan River! I was able to pan for about 2 1/2 hrs until park closed at 5:30 PM. I took my black sand concentrate home in a ziplock bag. I was trying to move as much material as possible... I was fortunate to return 2 days later with a friend, Jim, to spend most of the day panning for gold. It was Jim's first-ever prospecting experience, so another one hooked on prospecting! I showed him where to "look" for gold when the river runs at flood stage, how to classify the gravel, and and how to pan in a tub. Jim did great. He soon learned how to swirl sand like a pro and pan down to black sand and backwash to reveal the tiny gold specks. The weather was a little drippy and cold, but we made it a day event and had a nice picnic lunch on the river. Very nice.... In the end we had 8 lbs of black sand concentrates. We were panning as fast as we could to maximize our time on the river as it sprinkled on us. Wish the state "rules" would have allowed us to use a sluice, as we could have moved about 20 times as much gravel/sand, but we could not, legally. In the end, we did pretty well with a pan each. We were really tired by park closing time and I decided to take the cons home and green bowl it...as this much black sand was challenging.....and I was able to get a fair amount of gold. We got 4 very small pickers, which I gave to Jim, along with some other gold I already had to show his friends. I posted 4 pics on the Forum -- one of our gold, two of my green bowling the black sand and one showing all the lead we found. LOTS of old bullets, fishing sinkers and bird shot around that area. Guess we were in the right place...where the lead collected. So, in summary, Jim and I had a blast -- he loved his very first prospecting trip out and can now pan like a pro, and even better, see that he can find gold. This summer, when the rules allow sluices (July/Aug), I told him to go to this same place and get to work. I bet he'll do well given how much color we were able to get by just panning. Gold is where you find it! Randy    Report

02-11-2007, 11:40 AM navydoc Joined on 01-25-2006 Jacksonville, N.C. Posts 1,466 Re: Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report Great story Randy...Makes me wish I could get out there and dig myself. One shot....One Kill! 'nough said.    Report

02-11-2007, 12:16 PM Bobg Joined on 12-15-2006 Supply NC Posts 380 Re: Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report I enjoyed the story, and related pics. Thanks for sharing the trip.    Report

02-11-2007, 12:26 PM twig/al Joined on 01-24-2006 Gadsden, Alabama Posts 4,627 Re: Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report Great Story!!! Alabama Prospecting Supply www.alabamaprospectingsupply.com Email: tom@alabamaprospectingsupply.com Southeast Treasure Hunters Forum www.southeasttreasurehunters.com    Report

02-12-2007, 6:09 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Thanks everyone -- Just Hoped To Point Any WA Residents In The Right Direction Greetings GoldGrubbers, Thanks for the positive comments...really wanted to share with others in WA State or possibly going there where gold has been found recently. And, if you go...take a friend!! Randy    Report

02-26-2007, 9:04 PM rimmshot Joined on 01-23-2007 Posts 4 Re: Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report Hey Randy - Good story....yet another in a series of Randy vs. The River....It never seems to come easy for you. AS long as you didn't get SKUNKED!! You'll have to come back out to CA when the temps are above 28    Report

02-28-2007, 9:17 AM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Would Love to Prospect Kalifornia Again! Rimmshot, Yeah, WA State is in a sad state of affairs....as it relates to common sense small scale prospecting rules/regulations.  In a word -- dumb. Would dearly love to venture back to California and visit the gold country again and do some more prospecting with you!  I will buy a dredge after I retire from the Air Force, so I can get deep and vacuum the creek/river bottoms and find the big stuff stored there just waiting for me/you/us.  Panning & sluicing are great, but only allow me to scratch the surface of gold bearing sand/gravels....I want more and more often!!! That said, I'll let you know how my new sluice works out if I can get it wet. I'll keep posting my stories for all to read.  Hope to have a great "adventure" soon in the Carolinas in mid-March if all goes well. Randy    Report

02-28-2007, 9:28 AM socalgold Joined on 01-25-2006 Fighting for Miners Rights & Our Civil Liberties Posts 2,007 Re: Would Love to Prospect Kalifornia Again! Randy, my offer still stands. If you can find a week or so to come out with your wet suit, I will have 4 or 5 dredges in the water and a highbanker or two you can use one like your own while you're here. Camping is on your own hook also. Then again, we may have a tent laying around somewhere you can use. Ah heck, you just come, we'll make it work somehow Lee I Love My Country It's the government I'm Afraid OF    Report

02-28-2007, 7:31 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Re: Would Love to Prospect Kalifornia Again! Lee, I can't thank you enough for the kind and generous offer...I just don't think I can come out this summer. I came out in December for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary with my family. Got a day of sluicing in the Sierras with my brother in law Steve in some nice/cold weather. I will be in Colorado in late June to work on my rental house and maybe get some extra time to do a little prospecting, and then we move from Scott AFB to Rhode Island in mid-July. A move summer is a busy summer! Just don't see CA this year. I'll just have to live this thru your eyes and stories on the Forum I guess, for now. I will move Summer 2008 as well to parts unknown as I leave military school. So next summer will be a bit busy/uncertain as well. Why don't you buy one of those gold claims Dave is selling so we'll have a great place to go Summer of 2009!!! Maybe I can work a cons deal with you as you dredge this smmer so i can have some "dirt" to pan as I enjoy the coastal areas of Rhode Island....a far cry from the western gold country of Northern CA?? Thanks again, Randy    Report

03-24-2008, 8:03 PM batts-123 Joined on 03-25-2008 Posts 1 Re: Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report well hey i was wondering were exatly in washington did you go. i live there and i wanted to do some of that this week thanks    Report

03-25-2008, 5:45 PM C-17A Joined on 01-30-2006 Posts 376 Re: Washington State Gold Panning Trip Report Batts-123, Welcome to the GoldGrubbin Forum!! This is a great place..........friendly folks, smart prospectors, wonderful advice. Where are you located?? As to locations, Washington State is pretty challenging for placer gold.............that said, here's where I went and/or researched from the Tacoma area from best to worst: 1). The Green River. Hard to get into the river on public land, so I went in at the Kanaskat-Palmer State Park near Palmer, WA, north of Enumclaw. The big gorge near there is supposed to have fine gold, but I could never get down to it. Go into the State park and hang to the left at the first big Y in the road to head to the very South part of the park. Park at the end loop pull out and walk down to the river. You should see you're at a tight bend and a big sandstone shelf out in front of you. Inaging this location at FLOOD stage 8 feet above where you are standing. All that fine sand/dirt at the bend you are standing on has a LOT of black sand and small slecks of gold in it. Stupid rules: No sluicing outside the summer months (like Jun - Aug), must pan in a tub, dump dirty water away from the river, etc. I panned there twice and found a LOT of black sand and lots of very fine gold flakes. If I had a sluice I could have processed 100 times more material than I did with a pan. 2). Sultan River: Hwy 2 out of Monroe, WA. The whole area around Sultan has placer gold........Startup, Gold Bar, and local streams that feed into the river and even up towards Lake Chaplain. Hard part again is safe, legal access. Look for pullouts...I only found a few specks of gold in the Sultan. Can't dig in the stream in the water, or above the water line....bla, bla, bla. Stupid rules. 3). More placer located near Levenworth, WA. The Icicle River near Peshashtin, WA, has gold I am told. This area seemed real promising due to the lode gold mining around there too. The stream that follows Hwy 97 up to Levenworth might have some gold too. An Old Mining Arrastra (lode gold ore grinding stone set-up) is along the way on Hwy 97. This bodes well gold is around. Unfortunately, never got over there to pan/sluice. 4). Whatcom county up near Glacier & Maple Falls, and the Baker ski area is one to try too. I bought an ounce of REALLY nice gold flakes from a guy that worked a gravel yard/pit near Kendall area. He was 7 miles South of the border. Never got up there.............sadly. He set up a long tom sluice up at the end of gravel line and did real well selling gravel and sluicing for gold at the same time. That's it for my research and experience. Take a big magnet in a ziplock bag to clean out the magnitite black sands from your cons, have a "original" copy of the WA State Fish and Gold Pamphlet in hand (download copies (stupid) are not acceptable), so go to a local state office.........I had to drive to Olympia from Tacoma. There's regional offices around. Read up on their Class 0, 1,2,3,4 equipment restrictions.............it's krazy. The pan is the only year around device, and a lot depends on stream by stream name. Hope this helps and good luck! Plz come back and post a trip report and pics too. Randy    Report

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